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SIXTEEN TOUNGES
Produced by Alex Kuciw
Directed and Written by Scooter McCrae
Edited by Rick O'Shea
Director of Photography - Robert FerapplesGinny Chin-Chin - Jane Chase
Adrian Torque - Crawford James
Alik Silens - Alice Liu
Latex Nun - Stark Raven
Scooter McCrae's SHATTER DEAD is a masterpiece. I've said it for years, and I'll keep on saying it. In my book, it's the premier example of what undergound cinema should be, thought provoking, subtextual and layered, and deceptively exploitative. On the surface you have a zombie picture with some pretty sick images that you can't shake for days afterward (the shotgun abortion comes immediately to mind). Subtextually, you have a work that explores the director's views on religion and society, and the corruption and desperation found within both. It's the smartest zombie movie I've ever seen.
A decade later, McCrae releases his followup film, SIXTEEN TOUNGES, and structurally it's the polar opposite of his debut effort. SD was big and sprawling, with a large cast that gave the movie an epic feel (well, epic for the budget range). 16T is small and claustrophobic, primarily taking place in a single apartment building with 3 primary actors. Internally, ST is true to form as McCrae dives headfirst into sociology and sexuality, and the consumerism that has corrupted both.
The premise is pure cyberpunk. Genetically engineered clones walk freely among us. Some are used for sex, while others are used for law enforcement. Viewed in today's world, it's a natural extension of stem cell research where debate rages on whether clones should be bred for spare parts. In McCrae's view of tomorrow, genetically engineered humans become the next wave of bourgeoisie meant to better the life of the natural born proletariat.
Even the names are straight up William Gibson: Ginny Chin-Chin, Adrian Torque, and Alik Silens. Say them aloud and tell me you don't automatically think of Ridley Scott's BLADE RUNNER and a half-naked Daryl Hannah doing backflips?
And while McCrae fills his film with sexual images, they're never pleasant. And often downright disturbing. The onslaught of gonzo perversion starts the moment you open the DVD clamshell and are hit with hardcore images of armless and legless women. From there it continues to the overall art design of the film where hallways are plastered with posters even more freakish. One that I can't shake details a gynecological close-up where the poor woman has an extra orifice in her genitalia, just off center. For no apparent reason, it's an image I equate to rural woman who don't get enough fluoride in their water and end up with a mouthful of rotten teeth, and therefore sexually unappealing.
It doesn't take long for audiences to become numb to the grotesque imagery, which seems to mirror the characters' take on the subject as well. Is McCrae commenting on the public's need for desensitization to sexuality and the need for a change in current society's overt view of sexual morals and deification? I began to wonder as I watched characters pay to have their hotel porn channel turned OFF. It harkens back to the old belief that if a word is used commonly enough then it will loose its vernacular haughtiness, like "nigger" or "fuck," two words today that I hear far too commonly from children on the playground in cheerful abandon.
The notion carries over into protagonist Ginny Chin-Chin's arc. Genetically engineered for killing, and possessing a vampiric bloodlust, she has a clitoris embedded under each eyelid. Every blink is an orgasm, and instead of her life being a bliss-filled heaven, she exists in a hell of orgasmic sensory overload. It's the constant state of sexual exhaustion that keeps rage in check.
If Ginny is a metaphor for vampirism, then Adrian Torque is Frankenstein's monster, and a more obvious reference to man's quest to play God. A cop, Torque was blown apart while on the job. Instead of having normal skin grafts to replace the burnt tissue, the titles' 16 tongues are grafted on to his body. He doesn't just feel touch sensations, he tastes them it too. The result is madness due to sensory confusion.
The two form a loosely symbiotic relationship. He requires a tender, feminine touch, and due to a change in his ejaculatory fluids, her bloodlust is fulfilled without having to kill anybody. It's sex without meaning meant to satisfy the basest of human urges - survival.
The conflict arises when a backstory is introduced regarding Ginny's lesbian lover Alik, and her past with Torque. The final bloodbath that ensues is reminiscent of SHATTER DEAD's opening home invasion massacre, both scenes posses a surrealist anarchy that I can only imagine being created by some sort of visionary madman. In SD, each image of carnage felt like Anton LeVay attempting Norman Rockwell, cliched images of Americana corrupted by violence. With 16T, the corruption carries a deeper meaning as it reveals parallels between sex and violence, and peels back layers on two basest aspects of human survival.
Through SIXTEEN TONGUES, McCrae seems to imply that consumerism is the corruption of these two urges, and if you thought consumerism is oppressive in today's world, it's nothing compared to McCrae's futuristic take. People don't just pay for sex or to have their televisions turned off, they pay to shower, they pay for ice, they pay hand over fist for life's most basic necessity - water. Money is what makes the world go round, and it tomorrow's cashless society, it literally spins the big blue orb on its axis.
Like me, McCrae is a product of a childhood spent under Republican rule, but his take is far more cynical than mine. You'll often find McCrae online soapboxing on why you should impeach Bush Jr., and you'll even find a link to help do so on the 16T website. Being right-minded and generally conservative, I should be angered at McCrae's political views, but of all the liberal filmmakers I've come across I end up respecting him more than the rest. He's the very definition of what an artist should be, someone who carries his passions and viewpoints over into his art form. Watching McCrae's work, I'm in turn inspired to answer his call and show him that the world isn't so bleak. And after watching his newest underground masterpiece, I'm sure he'd answer me back in kind with another bitchslap of cinematic magnificence. God bless his atheist nihilist self, we need more artists like him. Artists that don't kowtow to formula and cliched conventions. Remember, it's the drummers who march to their own beat that set the tempo for all of us to follow.
In its day, SHATTER DEAD was the best DVD underground cinema had to offer. It was loaded with features and commentaries. Since then, the distributor, Sub Rosa, has really cut back on what they have to offer the consumer in terms of extras. Compared to SHATTER DEAD, the disc for SIXTEEN TONGUES feels skimpy, but it's still the best Sub Rosa release to come along in ages. The disc boasts numerous featurettes from trailers to a music video to makeup and costume tests. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to review either of the two commentary tracks or the music-only track. For some reason the disc would lock up in both of my players whenever the different audio selections were chosen. It's a shame too, McCrae's personally crafted score is one of the film's highlights, it's a perfect blend of industrial noise and electronic melody. The best part is knowing that McCrae has no musical training and would test individual notes one by one to see what sounded good to him. McCrae is an experimentalist to the end.
Sixteen Tongues
Sub Rosa Studios