Lengthy description to describe a movie that runs less than 90 minutes, but wow, can't say I've ever seen anything quite like it. I'm sure plenty of people would find this movie dull, as it moves at a snail's pace. It is early 80s B-movie schlock, which is exactly what I liked about it. What's there not to like about a couple with zero sex drive that decides, right after killing a few people, to make their money by advertising sexual fantasies, sexually enticing people, then whacking them with a frying pan before enthusiastically emptying their wallets.
I wanted to see this movie because I knew Paul Bartel was a cult flick God, having seen his master cheese flick Death Race 2000 and his rebellious teacher role in Rock N Roll High School. Shabby dialog throughout, awful (but wonderfully so) dubbing, don't watch this movie to add points on your IQ test. The pace is rather slow throughout, yet Eating Raoul is also goofy and surrealistic. The over the top sexual innuendos and rampant sexual scenes are countered by the bizarre calmness of Mary and Paul Bland (Mary Woronov and Paul Bartel, respectively) as they take care of victim after victim. Not really a laugh out loud movie (except for the botched robbery scene and the hot tub sequence, they were freakin funny) but it will make you chuckle.
One thing that was great about this movie is that even though it was obviously an 80s cult flick, the music was, for the most part, great. It gave a cartoonish feel to large portions of the movie and added atmosphere to the strangeness that permeated throughout. The hammy manner in which the murders take place also adds to the offbeat feel of this film as there is no emphasis on violence and blood. No gruesomeness needed, for if the frying pan does the job, why not use it?
I would recommend this flick to cult movie fans but it's a lot more off kilter than anything you've ever seen. I found much of the humor to be delectably inane, and even though the pace was slow, I had a good time watching this Paul Bartel vehicle. Roles by Buck Henry, Ed Begley Jr and Don Steele (you know, the DJ guy from Rock N Roll High School and Death Race 2000) add to the zaniness of a flick that rightly could offend many but could also be found endlessly amusing, as I did.
