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BETTER LIVING THROUGH KILLING
Directed and Written by Brendan Deininger
Edited and Videotaped by Dustin Glasco, Jeff Roop, and Brendan DeiningerWelford Moses -Todd Taylor
Otis Moses - Benjamin Crendander (Brendan Deininger)
Sheriff - Ted Taylor
Papa Moses - Danny Boyd
Sexy Girl - Bebe Bellamont
Professor Bonaparte - HimselfOn his candidly hilarious commentary, director Brendan Deininger confesses flatout that he rips off Nathan Schiff's THEY DON'T CUT GRASS ANYMORE for his movie BETTER LIVING THROUGH KILLING, even going so far as to steal Schiff's title for BLTK's tag line. I've never seen Schiff's movie, but the lunacy of Deininger's BLTK inspired me to add it to my Netflix queue. Depending on the level of direct lifts, that movie might be completely ruined for me, or it could change my opinion of BLTK for the worse.
BETTER LIVING THROUGH KILLING is extremely rough around the edges. Some might be turned off by its lack of production value, but if one can get past the stilted acting and dime store effects, they'll see a damn funny comedy that revels in its gleeful vulgarity like a kid on Halloween with a ten-pound haul of sugary bounty. Pulling from Schiff, H.G. Lewis, Troma, and South Park, Deininger's sole purpose is to deliver exploitation entertainment in the spirit of those that inspired him. To Deininger's credit, BLTK far surpasses much of the work of those mentioned and often left me with full gut-busting bellylaughs.
When we first meet Otis and Welford Moses they're getting the news via answering machine that their father has gambled away their home and skipped town. He also informs that that he's closing the family landscaping business, the boys sole source of income. Not knowing what to do, they opt to move into the nearby woods and do their best to continue cutting lawns. After all, they need to do something to keep themselves in beer and pizza.
In their first solo gig, they find themselves working for a towel-clad homeowner played by Bebe Bellamont, also known as "She of the Perfect Breasts," who wants little more then to dance around naked in her bedroom while the two beer-swilling slobs cut her grass - no innuendo intended....whatsoever. Their attitude towards lawnwork is summed up in the previous scene where they discuss joy of cutting "some dick's grass." With their self-esteem already low, all it takes is a few sharp barbs aimed at Otis' unkept ballsack to push him over the edge. In his rage, he throws the housewife off the porch and smashes her head, like a ripe melon, with a 25lb weight.
At this point, it could be argued that BETTER LIVING THROUGH KILLING is about the class struggle between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. How the oppressed workforce needs to rise against the upper class in order to bring about equality. It wouldn't be an invalid argument either as there are numerous scenes that could support such a notion. Not just with the murdered housefrau and the subsequent victims, but also in a subplot involving a dejected pizzaboy who is being driven out of business by a snooty customer. But over the years I've come to believe that over-analyzing something can take away the entertainment value and I don't want to do Deininger that disservice. He never mentions his social views during his commentary and I won't discuss them farther.
What Deininger does discuss are all the happy accidents that made his movie a success. He goes on about how networking on other people's projects led the casting on BETTER LIVING THROUGH KILLING, such as Bebe who Deininger met while assisting on the upcoming NUDIST CAMP MASSACRE. He also discusses the freedom of having a character like Professor Bonaparte, a talking owl statue that eggs on the boy's murderous tendencies, and at the same time fills both aesthetic and technical shortcomings.
Bonaparte assumes a leadership position among the group by asserting his mental superiority. Being that he's really a plastic lawn fixture, one would assume this to be harder than it is. Otis and Welford really are that lacking in every way and prove to be Bonaparte's intellectual inferiors. He berates the pair with the same sort of foul-mouthed Shakespearean rhetoric spewed fourth by the great R. Lee Ermy in FULL METAL JACKET. Often dumbfounded to the point of complete silence, Otis and Welford are more shamed into following the owl than anything else.
Once Bonaparte enters the scene, the movie descends into complete anarchy. Random breasts (including the biggest pair you'll ever see that actually appear real), loads of carnage (the human pizza is especially funny and the exploding jogger is amazing), absurdist humor (social satire from a plastic talking owl, seriously), surreal dreamscapes (think David Lynch by way of John Waters), and loads of blaring rockabilly that all come fast and furious. It's like a Tex Avery cartoon spun out on meth.
Holding the film together is a subplot involving the local sheriff who's caught on to Otis and Welford's shenanigans. The character is only present in the movie long enough to facilitate a climax (one that comes straight from any episode of Scooby-Doo but fits in perfectly with the tone of the movie). BETTER LIVING THROUGH KILLING is so loosely structured that an ending almost feels like an afterthought, but the sheriff functions as a sort of deus ex machina for the boys to show the world it's appreciation as they go about eliminating smug elitists. The Sheriff and the Moses boys are two sides of the same coin existing for a similar purpose but going about it in different means.
Brendan Deininger has crafted a supremely funny movie that succeeds despite itself. The movie often feels like two friends got together in the backyard to make a movie, but they're two friends blessed with an acerbic wit and a keen sense of the surreal. If you're a fan of old-school exploitation, like I am, you should be pleasantly surprised by BETTER LIVING THROUGH KILLING, if it is an admitted rip-off.
The dvd contains little in the way of extras, but Deininger's commentary track is just as funny as his movie and should count as a second feature.