Movie Review: Harry Knuckles and the Pearl Necklace

Enthusiasm is always a good quality for young independent filmmakers to possess. Director Lee Gordon Demarbe and writer Ian Driscoll, by all evidence, have plenty of enthusiasm to burn; their film Harry Knuckles and the Pearl Necklace, like their previous Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter, is goofy and unpretentious and, above all, genially enthusiastic. Watching it, you can tell that all involved had a swell time making it. The difficult thing about enthusiasm, though, is that it often supersedes discipline. And if there was ever a film that would benefit from a little structure, it's Harry Knuckles and the Pearl Necklace.

For instance, it would be convenient if there was a plot of which to speak. To put it simply, I have no goddamn idea what happens in Harry Knuckles and the Pearl Necklace. I have to wonder if Driscoll knows what happens or even in what order he arranged the scenes. There's stuff that happens, true, and I think it involves special agent/superhero Harry Knuckles (Phil Caracas) trying to track down a stolen necklace and encountering Bigfoot, ninjas, drunks in hats, masked wrestler El Santos (Jeff Moffat) and a secret from his past; however, the progression of events doesn't seem to matter as much as the events themselves. It's a film that lives in the present at the expense of all else.

For a while, this approach is amusing. The rate at which Demarbe and Driscoll throw out crazy shit is impressive - it's as if this film has been designed as a clearing-house for all the stuff they've ever wanted to put into a movie. A lot of the early scenes, like the bit where Harry takes on two lingerie-wearing, kickboxing nuns with the help of The Unknown Gas Station Attendent (wearing a bag on his head like The Unknown Comic), or the bit where Harry has to duke it out with a malicious virtual reality babe, get some incredulous laughs due to their cheesy, go-for-broke sensibilities. It's akin to watching a film with a good alcohol buzz: nothing makes sense, but everything is funny. (You know the reaction: "What the hell did I just see? Oh who cares, it's funny! HA!")

Article Author: Steve Carlson

Steve Carlson, the proprietor of The Ongoing Cinematic Education of... since 2002, neither conducts electricity nor talks to reptiles. However, he knows someone who does both.

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