Liquid Sky (1982)

Every year when I attend the Rock and Shock Convention in Worcester, MA., Vinegar Syndrome would be set up with a table full of movies. Every year, I buy some DVD's and I usually watch them for a different blog. Unfortunately Rock and Shock is no more and I have one film left over from last year that I decided to check out for today and that is 1982's Liquid Sky which was written and directed by Slava Tsukerman (Stalin's Wife) and co-written by Anne Carlisle (Desperately Seeking Susan) who also stars in the film as the androgynous nymphomaniac Margaret. You see tiny invisible aliens have landed on Margaret's rooftop in New York City looking for drugs, but what they found is even better than that. They discover that orgasms cause the same reaction in the brain as opiates so every time Margaret sleeps with someone they take them when they orgasm. The only person that knows this is a German scientist named Johann (Otto von Wernherr), but can he warn her in time? The film also stars Paula E. Sheppard (Alice Sweet Alice) as Adrian, Susan Doukas (Slow Dancing In The Big City) as Sylvia, Bob Brady (A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge) as Owen, Elaine C. Grove (The Riverbed) as Katherine, Stanley Knapp (Mother's Day) as Paul, and Jack Adalist (The Last Patrol) as Vincent. 

The film is very interesting to say the least, but it's really an avant garde sci-fi film that took a chance and did something different. The idea of the film is a little insane where we have tiny aliens that land on a roof and some how this German guy knows exactly where it landed in New York. Then there are just characters that are a little over the top for me in where they are just spitting out mumbo jumbo the whole time thinking they are revolutionaries of their time which is Paula Sheppard's character. While there were moments of brilliance at times with here, I thought there were times where she was a little too much, but that could have been the intention all along. The acting in the film is not terrible by any means and in fact most everyone in the film was impressive. It was the writing that was a little off and I didn't understand if Jimmy was a different character from Margaret. You see Anne Carlisle played two different sides of the spectrum when it came to the model. She played Margaret, the girl concerned with where her career is going while playing Jimmy who just wants to get messed up. The ying and the yang, but at first I was led to believe from the back cover of the DVD that it seemed like she had split personalities, but the film treats them as two separate characters. They definitely pushed the boundaries especially seeing as for most of the movie she is getting raped by men until she uses it to her advantage to make them disappear. It was a film that definitely reflected the times in New York City and it was a job well done which is why I am giving the film an B- for a final grade.