Curdled. And I'm not talking about milk. I'm talking about the blood that congeals after an outline has been drawn and the body has been taken away by the coroner. As the newest Tarantino-istic offering from the movie industry, "Curdled" comes packaged with all the blood, gore and perversion you can handle.
But be warned: This is not a dinner-and-date movie. (Skip dinner unless you want to risk having your date see once again what you ate.) In fact, this is a come-on-an-empty-stomach-and-don't-eat-for-the-next-three-days type of movie. In order to fully appreciate this dark comedy, a strong stomach and a warped sense of humor is highly recommended.
Gabriela (Angela Jones), is a young Colombian woman living in Miami who has a strange penchant for murders and serial killers. She is intrigued with the act of killing and keeps a large scrapbook containing newspaper articles about various murders from around the world. Her current obsession follows the works of a Miami serial killer dubbed The Blue Blood Killer, played by William Baldwin. The killer's signature involves torturously stabbing his victims multiple times, before finally decapitating them.
While watching television, Gabriela spies an ad for the P.F.C.S. (Post-Forensic Cleaning Service). She immediately quits her job and eagerly joins their ranks. As a member of P.F.C.S., her job is to enter a crime scene after the forensics team is through and clean up the mess. This includes the disposal of skull fragments and scrubbing off the "curdled" blood. For every one else, it is only a gruesome job. For Gabriela, it is a fantasy come true. Filled with wide-eyed questions and ponderings of the details of the murders, she makes her co-workers uneasy, as she spends much of her time discussing why or how the murders were committed.
When the job of cleaning up a murder scene left by The Blue Blood Killer is up for grabs, Gabriela jumps at the chance, to the dismay of her partner. Unfortunately, it is also this crime scene that contains a clue which will reveal the identity of the killer, if found. With Gabriela at the scene to clean up and the killer returning to destroy the evidence, the plot leads inevitably to the meeting of the two.
"Curdled" is the remake of a 1991 short film of the same name, written by Reb Braddock and John Maass, and directed by Braddock. Executive produced by Quentin Tarantino, it shows definite signs of his influence, from the warped sense of humor to the multiple scenes of bloodbaths. This movie is another one which makes a person wonder: How many gallons of fake blood does a production team have to go through when Mr. Tarantino is involved?
"Curdled" can be best compared to a "Tales From the Crypt" movie - it is thin on plot but extremely twisted. The film is fairly quick-paced, though the first hour seems to be devoted to an attempt at some sort of character development. Despite that, in the end, nobody really understands the motives of any of the characters. The cinematography is excellent: One highlight is a sequence in which Gabriela dances out a reenactment of a murder to the beat of festive Latino music, as Baldwin watches in the shadows.
Jones, best known for her role in "Pulp Fiction" as Esmarelda Villalobos, plays the naively curious Gabriela well. Because we never really understand the reasoning behind her fascination with murder, we feel uneasy toward her character. She is a beautiful, seemingly innocent young woman who possesses some hidden yet extreme psychological derangement. One hysterical scene occurs when she passes out cookies to her co-workers, and one cookie, a headless gingerbread man, catches a co-worker off-guard. Gabriela is a person who truly sees nothing wrong with her fascination with gore, and Jones is able to play this intriguing character convincingly.
Baldwin's Blue Blood Killer is one that relies on (surprise, surprise) charm. He is the sexy yet dangerous killer who enjoys the act of slaughtering socialites. The makers of this movie apparently believed that if they focused on Baldwin's good looks, the audience would forget to pay attention to his lack of acting skills. Nonetheless, Baldwin doesn't do much in this film except look seductive and occasionally butcher someone.
MTV's Daisy Fuentes debuts in the film as a co-worker at P.F.C.S. Fuentes' acting is something straight out of a "Sweet Valley High" movie: forced and worthy of a good laugh.
The whole premise of this film is to explore psychosis. The question is never who's crazy, but who's crazier. And from beginning to end, "Curdled" has a surreal quality about it. The opening credits are accompanied by festive music and various drawings of shootings and decapitations, foreshadowing the psychotic romp to come in the perverse final scene. Overall, this film is well-crafted and nicely shot, if the audience is able to see past the disgusting components to notice. As Baldwin exclaims after catching Gabriela dancing out the murder, "That's just about the sickest thing I've ever seen!"
Billy Baldwin tangoes in "Curdled." He wants to be just like Al Pacino in "Scent of a Woman," but he never will, he never will.