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See also: SHADOWS FILM FESTIVAL | Last update 18.Feb.26

Jimmy and Stiggs
Review by Rich Cline | 3/5

dir-scr Joe Begos
prd Joe Begos, Josh Ethier, Matt Mercer, Josh Russell, Sierra Russell
with Joe Begos, Matt Mercer, James Russo, Riley Dandy, Josh Ethier, Josh Miller, Jason Eisener, Jim Kunz, Stephen Scarlata, Dean Evans, Jen Yamato, Shane Ledry
release US 17.Aug.25,
UK 20.Feb.26
25/US 1h23

Is it streaming?

Opening with two bonkers horror trailers from executive producer Eli Roth, this comically nightmarish romp gets underway with an extended first-person take that skilfully introduces an outrageous odyssey. Actor-filmmaker Joe Bego shot this in his home over four years, and the home-made vibe is inventively fuelled by alcohol, drugs and grisly violence. So even if it's relentlessly corny, the scrappy attitude and colour-drenched imagery build real tension.

After losing 12 hours of time one night, Jimmy (Begos) is convinced that he was abducted by aliens. But his pal Stiggs (Mercer) thinks Jimmy has merely had a really bad trip. With his paranoid mindset fuelled by abductee videos posted online by people like Redgrave (Russo), Jimmy quickly becomes sure that Stiggs has been tagged by aliens as well. It sure seems like something otherworldly is happening in Jimmy's flat. And after Stiggs joins Jimmy in his drugs and alcohol-induced haze, the slimy creatures attack again, leading to a desperate battle for survival.

Hyper-stylised ultraviolet lighting and day-glo neon flourishes create a superbly otherworldly atmosphere that's fun to visit for 83 minutes. To overcome his micro-budget, Begos also deploys blackout sequences, a freaky sound mix, practical makeup effects and marauding aliens that are ingeniously created with puppets. This leads to a series of outrageously violent fight scenes that are performed with a generous dose of witty energy and buckets of glow-in-the-dark blood and goo. And these wrinkly little fork-tongued beasts are relentless.

Battling them, the woolly Jimmy and Stiggs are hilariously short-tempered, arguing about pretty much anything that happens. Even though both actors go way over the top as these astonishingly foul-mouthed guys become increasingly inebriated, Begos and Mercer maintain a sparky likeability that spurs us to root for them. Jimmy has mind-spinning visions that seem to reveal the future. Stiggs is marginally more sensible until he falls off the wagon and joins Jimmy down this crazed rabbit hole.

Early on, Jimmy admits that he likes to hyperbolise everything. So things get exponentially yucky as this wildly destructive situation, completely contained within Jimmy's apartment, spirals outrageously out of control, leading to an insanely nasty final sequence, again shot through a first-person lens. There's some emotional subtext in the way this unhinged experience begins to pit two friends against each other. But it's also clear that this essentially nonsensical movie was made simply to create the yuckiest, scariest movie imaginable.

themes, language, violence, sexuality 16.Feb.26

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See also: SHADOWS FILM FESTIVAL