Hideous!

i am not and have never been a big fan of full moon. most of the films ive seen of theirs have been very dissapointing. hideous is one of the few exceptions, another being the gingerdead man (yes i'm serious). hideous is about a couple collectors of biological oddities who's latest catch has decided to break free and along with a couple other little freaks get revenge. while nothing special, hideous is enjoyable and fun to watch. the little mutants are fun and sometimes funny. one of them steals the show in a very disturbing and hilarious sexual encounter. hideous is not without its problems. it drags on alot in the middle and takes about 40 minutes to get going and i was hoping for a little more action near the end. the only other real problems come from the overall cheesiness of the film but this isnt a huge problem because the whole movie is fun. if you like absurd and funny horror films then hideous will not dissapoint. its enjoyable and funny, just dont go in expecting a masterpeice. 3 1/2

HIDEOUS! is one of my favorite Full Moon classics, w/ everything I love in a movie. I mean, how many movies begin w/ three guys skimming "artifacts" from out of a raw sewage vat? In this wonderful film we get freakish-mutant-fetus', and the greedy/insane men who collect them! Plus, there's Shiela (Jacqueline Lovell from Head Of The Family), in her gorilla mask and leather shorts (topless of course) in the snow! If that's not enough, there's even a gloomy castle full of trapped victims! This huge place has lots of room for the little baby-mutants to run around in, planning their vengeance! If any of this sounds like heaven to you, then you just might be as demented as I am! Weird is good...

Outrageous and funny. Perfect for those in the deformed gendre. I recommend it.

Okay now, when it comes from Full Moon Pictures and has a title like HIDEOUS!, it should be obvious to any potential customer or renter that the film is not going to be Oscar quality. But it is equally reasonable to assume that connoisseurs of the tasteless and the outrageous are gonna be in for a treat. 1997's HIDEOUS! is another direct-to-video flick from the Full Moon duo of director Charles Band and writer Benjamin Carr, the same pair who gave the public B-movie gems like HEAD OF THE FAMILY (1996), THE CREEPS (1997), and Mystery Monsters (1997), to name but a few.

According to the plot of HIDEOUS!, there is a semi-underground network of the obscenely wealthy who collect "pickled" examples of biological deformities. The more unusual the deformity, the more valuable the piece to the collector. Superbitch Belinda Yost (Tracie May) is an opportunist who earns her very comfortable living by brokering sales of these titular "collectibles." She has connections to unsavories who work in places like sewage processing plants, and these folks seem to find all kinds of, um, interesting samples of biological deformities (both animal and human). And since Ms. Yost also knows the twisted moneyed folks who want these items, she's more than willing to act as the middle man.

When one of Ms. Yost's "suppliers" comes across a grossly mutated human embryo, she knows just who to sell it to and how to get the best price. Unfortunately, she underestimates the intelligence of her ditzy blonde secretary, who herself informs another collector of the bizarre find. And when the two rival collectors engage in a one-on-one struggle to gain possession of the unique freak, things get really weird!

The acting in HIDEOUS! is surprisingly good for a direct-to-video flick. Former soft-core porn star Jacqueline Lovell expertly delivers a lot of hilarious off-color quips and retorts, and the aforementioned Ms. May convincingly portrays Belinda Yost as one of those money-hungry sirens that you just love to hate. Michael Citriniti (a.k.a., J.W. Perra) is wonderfully smarmy as one of the rich collectors, and Mel Johnson, Jr., delivers one of his best performances to date as the prim and proper rival collector. Genre fans will recognize Mr. Johnson from his role as Benny, the mutant traitor, in 1990's Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle TOTAL RECALL.

The production design is fabulous, providing a deliciously dark ambiance. Most of the story is set inside of an old gothic castle owned by one of the collectors, and the sets, props, and set dressing are as fun to look at as the actors. The little mutant creatures look pretty cool, too, when they are not moving. Unfortunately, bugetary restrictions reduce the special FX to mere human-hand puppetry, and it is very noticeable when the "hideous" little buggers come to life. Nonetheless, this doesn't detract from enjoyment of the film whatsoever. (Indeed, some B-movie fans are known to admit that poor FX actually enhance the fun.)

Though HIDEOUS! is not nearly as witty or satirical as Full Moon's previous offering HEAD OF THE FAMILY, it is still pretty entertaining fodder for movie watchers who love the bizarrely burlesque, the lusciously ludicrous, and the truly tasteless. And for those film fans who watch horror solely for the gratuitous T&A--and you know who you are--the scene where the shapely Ms. Lovell runs around in the snow wearing nothing but a leather skirt and a gorilla mask is must-see video!

The DVD edition of HIDEOUS! is of the standard quality that one would expect from Full Moon. The film is offered in its original aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and digital transfer is pretty good (the colors seem a bit too saturated, but not unbearably so). There is also a featurette with some behind-the-scenes footage, and as usual, there are several trailers for other Full Moon offerings. Well worth the reasonable price for collectors of "hideous" B-movie fare.

NOTE: If amazon.com allowed the use of half-stars in their rating system, HIDEOUS! would get 3.5 stars. But it's just not quite good enough to justify rounding up to 4 stars, hence the 3-star rating.

Great memories here. I saw this movie on Sci-Fi channel one night at 4am when me and my brother were just sitting up all night grooving (like always). Let me tell you, if a movie is so spectacular that they have to show it at 4 in the morning, then you KNOW it's worth it! In fact, watching movies in the middle of the night is the best way to find worthwhile films. When the commercail was on before Hideous, I asked my brother "Why do they call it hideous?" ...and then we found out!

Now that I've found this movie on DVD here at Amazon, I'm definetly going to buy it. It may not have a worthwhile plot, any innovative traits, or a supreme soundtrack (from what I remember), but life would be boring if every movie was the best. What 'Hideous' does have is freaky monsters and a weirdo plot. I've always been a fan of movies that are so off the senses and anti-good that they are great movies, but it's hard to know which ones to buy. Afterall, you don't want to get a movie if you're only ever going to enjoy it once. Hideous though, is one that I think will be worthwhile. Unfortunately, and I ask your forgiveness for this, I can't say much about the movie since I only saw it once, a year or so ago, and it was in the middle of the night. I can, however, promise that it's a fine movie to watch sporadically (don't worry about missing some parts if you're doing other things) when you're dazed & confused and you're with some friends or it's the middle of the night.