Project Terrible 9: Stuff Stephanie in the Incinerator

This is the end- thank God!  Today's film is Stuff Stephanie in the Incinerator, which is a Troma release.  Given that all of my film choices for others this Round were Troma films, Mr. Alex Jowski thought it was fitting that I got one too.  Fair enough.  This title- like the cake- is a lie.  I'll go into more detail in the review, but it's pretty damn misleading.  According to some reviewers, I'm supposed to ignore the title- and the fact that it's a Troma release- and just enjoy the film.  Let's examine that logic for a minute.  Take Lawrence of Arabia as our example.  Imagine if it was released as Kill Boldly for the Kingdom by the infamous Mitchell Brothers.  Would you go around to people and say 'trust me- it's great.'  It might be the same movie, but it would be a hard sell.  Mind you, this film is no Lawrence.  The film starts off as a tale of a man who gets kidnapped and forced into a weird sort of sex pact.  It's...complicated.  Around the thirty-minute mark, however, the film takes a weird jump and goes completely in another direction.  This is one of those films that  thinks that putting in plot twists equals clever writing on its own.  You can have stupid twists- see Rats: Night of Terror- and you can have good twists- see The Sixth Sense.  The two are not universally the same.  I have another real problem with this film, but I'll see if you can pick it up.  To find out just how fake this title is, read on...

Our hero is grabbed by some mysterious men and wakes up in a Mansion with a mysterious older woman and a lady named Stephanie- hence the title.

The matron- Roberta- wants him to have sex with Stephanie while she watches.

Our hero, however, has other plans and tries to make an escape.  It doesn't work out too well though.

Things appear to be all for naught.  All hope is lost until...

 They suddenly call 'the game' off and end the charade.  Yeah, the first third of this film was all staged.  Stephanie and our hero are actually married and this guy in drag is an Actor.

Unfortunately, real life for the couple has its own problems.  You see our hero and Not Really Stephanie have communication problems.  Most of it stems from her husband constantly trying to do 'plays' and staying in character.

Yes, he is dressed as Beethoven and I have no idea why.

To deal with her issues, she and the Actor previously known as Roberta conspire to kill the husband.  Their plan goes awry...

...when he figures it all out and sets them up Most Dangerous Game-style.  This leads to a long, drawn-out chase in the house.  I hope you like the same three rooms thirty or forty times!

After all of them die in their revenge scheme, we get one last twist: this whole thing was a game.  Yes, even the part where they stopped the game before.  Holy double-Meta super-duper twist!!!

Yeah, this is stupid.  The End.

You're not as clever as you think.  This movie really think that it is this super-clever film that misdirects you and will ultimately make you feel smarter for having seen it.  Let's clear that up, shall we?  The film outright cheats.  On Le Femme Nikita, they would have characters act normally even when there was nobody around.  When the plot dictated that they actually have been evil that whole time, it's explained in a silly way such as 'I knew I was being watched.  This film essentially works on the same principle.  You're supposed to believe that the whole film is rigged up with cameras, which presents a number of issues.  As Stephanie, our heroine doesn't know that there are cameras, but seems to both know and not know about as 'herself.'  Confused?  It gets better.  The film uses a normal perspective, yet we see the 'reveal' at the end from a different, CCTV Camera Angle.  So what was our perspective before then?  This is one of the few times that I would actually want some sort of Found Footage concept (to a certain extent).  It raises further issues, including how they have cameras at an Auto Garage and a Private Airport.  Aside from issues like that, there are weird things like scenes where it's not snowing book-ended by scenes of snowing in surrounding areas.  Oh and 'Stephanie' is a character and is never once threatened to be shoved in an Incinerator   Thanks for nothing, jerks!  This film is just dumb, no matter what they think.  Isn't that right, guy pretending to be a famous(ly short) Painter for no reason at all?

Next up, I cover the Sequel/Remake to a bad Remake of a good Remake of a Good film.  As a bonus, it features an Actor I like and an Actress that I hate.  Stay tuned...