Chicago Rot (2017)
Matt Boiselle
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Starring Brant McCrea, Dave Cartwright, Shira Barber
Directed by Dorian Weinzimmer
We’re all looking for that next-level vigilante to root for – someone who’s dead-set against the evil-doers, and is bent on punishing them for their reprehensible actions…now if the vigilante was formerly one of those reprehensible types in their past…that changes the game a bit, now doesn’t it?
In Chicago Rot, the latest film from Dorian Weinzimmer, the crimes against society have landed Les “The Ghoul” (McCrea) behind bars – you know, he’s one of those “serial-killer” types. After his sentence in Joliet has expired, he’s now left to wander the streets of the city – is he going to be one of those feel-good stories about the recently liberated convict who’s intent on making their life a positive beacon for others to follow? I’ll answer that question with a resounding “NO.” You see, Les is on the hunt for the person who killed his mother years prior, and he’s prepared to scour every scummy inch of the very wretched city he’s walking the pavement of in the hopes of some bloody retribution. His main squeeze Alex (Barber) reunites with him, and together the couple dive head-first into all the muck and mire this metropolis has to offer.
Now what would a stone-cold revenge flick be without an even seedier cop hot on the trails of a couple of lawbreakers? Enter Detective Simmons (Cartwright) – his methods are shoddy at best, but he’s got a nose for souls who run afoul of the law, and this chase looks to be an entertaining one. The landscapes that surround our main cast are simply the stuff of inner-city nightmares – these are the places that no one likes to talk about, and it’s better off that way, however Les seems to thrive in this den of inequity. There are more than enough insanely violent scenes crammed into this film that the lovers of brutality should be satiated, and the grittiness extends far beyond the movie’s runtime – trust me, after this one is long over you’ll want to take a leap into a turpentine-filled bathtub to get the scum off of you. There were a few moments of instability when it came to cohesiveness and editing – lots of jumping around in scenes made it a bit tough to tell which end was up, but if you can look past these shortcomings, you’ll get over them quickly.
With a decent representation by the cast (supporting characters are unique and interesting, for sure), and some impressive visuals that frame the bedraggled region on display, Chicago Rot is certainly not one of those films you’d sit the family down to check out on a Saturday night. Then again, depending on the free-range demented sense of merriment that your family might possess, by all means, indulge on this one – it’s purely polluted fun.
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Film
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