 Killer Condom (1996) Dir. Martin Walz, 107 mins Welcome to Tro-March! I made it a New Year’s resolution at the start of 2021 to serve up more themed months for Film Gutter this year, and in that spirit I bring you Tro-march! It actually amazed me looking back the Film Gutter output over six years just how few Troma films I’d ever taken a look at – there was Combat Shock, and as far as I can figure that’s it. Which for a movie studio specialising in low-budget, cult and often b-movie horror is pretty surprising. So throughout March I will be doing something to redress that balance with four Troma reviews, kicking off with a look at Killer Condom. It’s well acknowledged I’m a sucker for a quirky or interesting title, so Killer Condom drew me in immediately on those grounds. It’s in German but set in New York – whyever not? – which provides a little bit of an obstacle in the early going, but if you can push past that barrier this one has some value to it. The story follows grizzled, gay New York cop Luigi Mackeroni, who is of Italian descent (the name is a hint, of course) and often cruises the gay club and bar scene in the area. It’s there he meets young Billy, and an unlikely romance is struck up – until their first liaison is broken up by a killer condom munching off one of Luigi’s testicles. Of course his police chief and his partner are incredulous at the suggestion, but for Luigi this has become deeply personal. And when more and more of those violent prophylactics begin emerging into the streets and places of New York, something has to be done – and Luigi is the man to bring the madness to an end, uncovering a plot that runs far deeper than anyone would have expected… I can’t pretend that this one isn’t silly in the extreme, but there’s plenty that I found likeable about it. The lead performance by Udo Samel is hilarious, and he hams up the jaded police officer routine delightfully. The whole police environment in the movie is played for laughs to, being toxicly masculine to the point of parody. The terrifying condoms themselves do look OK effects-wise, bearing in mind this movie is now 25 years old, and of course that central concept provides a few chuckles here and there too. If you’re a fun of ridiculous and overblown B-movies and creature features, you’re bound to get something out of this one. With that said, there are some criticisms I would level. The finale of the movie – while pretty wild to look at – feels a little undercooked in terms of its set-up and comes rather out of nowhere. It’s also not a movie I would really have expected to be 107 minutes long – it feels like the sort of B-movie you could easily blow through in less than 90, and I feel like you could have trimmed some of the smaller subplots to make this tighter and leaner. It’s also maybe a bit uneasy with some of its stereotypes – the Russian mad scientist, the religious zealot and some more besides. I also can’t comment on how accurate its depiction of the gay club and bar scene in New York is, but one or two of those moments didn’t sit quite right. But if you can leave those things aside, Killer Condom is probably one of the better Troma offerings I’ve seen – there is an art to the B-movie for sure, and this one nails an awful lot of it. It’s a fine starting point for Tro-march – and next week we’ll be coming to take a look at a similarly fabulously titled film in Rabid Grannies. RATING: 8/10. This one is a fun little poke at the hardened cop movie, throwing in an element so ridiculous and unbelievable as to be naturally comic. The performances are generally pretty strong, and for all its taking the Michael it feels to me like this movie has a good heart. Silly in droves, but it’s energetic and entertaining and there are plenty of b-movies much worse out there. This one gets a snappy 8/10 from me.    |
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