I knew I was in for a treat with this film early on when Dr. Max Fielding (Ed Brigadier) chops off a victim's right hand and the director shows a left hand in a bowl. Ah, so that is why they call him Dr. Chopper. He chops people. Nope! Minutes later the cops raid his empty house, spot a picture of him on a motorcycle and exclaim, "Dr. Chopper!" But our plastic surgeon-turned-madman escapes with his two nurses. On his chopper, we must assume. Cut to 20 years later and sullen Nick (Robert Adamson) is recovering from his mother's death when he finds the deed to a cabin in the woods. His girlfriend Jessica (Chelsey Crisp) suggests they head there with some friends for a weekend ("You turn my tears into wine" Nick realistically says). So with Ginsberg-loving Jimmy (Butch Hansen) plus couple Reese (Chase Hoyt) and Tamara (Ashley McCarthy), the fivesome head up to the cabin to help Nick inspect the place. The bad news is this isolated area is Dr. Chopper's new...uh, chopping grounds. Their only hope is an embittered, alcoholic park ranger (Costa Mandylor).
When recommending this film, my friend mentioned that nearly every line of dialogue is hilarious and he wasn't lying. I laughed harder at this film than any comedy from the last twenty years. It is full of nonsensical stuff. For example, Jimmy from outer appearances is shown as a beer guzzling jock, yet he is annoying people with his neurotic ticks and talks of Allen Ginsberg. The latter leads to a great bit of dialogue where the kids stop at a roadside store and Jimmy immediately shouts this to the older black store owner. This is literally said as their Jeep pulls to a halt in the parking lot.
Jimmy: "You like Ginsberg?"
Store owner: "Ginsberg? Jeez, everything he wrote after 1980 was crap."
Later when the owner sees a earlier Chopper victim pleading for help to the kids to find her girlfriend, he says, "White folks!" I was also legit dying during an emotional exchange between the kids at the cabin (after a cleaning montage, naturally) where Nick guilt trips everyone for not being their when his mom died.
Nick: "I didn't see you at my mom's wake."
Tamara: "Where were you when Reese and I broke up last semester? Friendship is a two-way street, Nick."
Nick: "Where was I? I was with my mother, who was dying. That's where I was."
However, nothing tops the bit where Mandylor is talking to his new trainee about his past. Screenwriter Ian Holt is hoping to go for metaphor here as Mandylor's character starts talking about the elephant graveyard. I get it, dude is burnt out after his wife's death and just looking for that mythical place to go and lay down to die. But if you start your goddang backstory with "Once upon a time I was a chiropractor and holistic healer..." I can't help but burst out laughing. Less than a decade removed from Picket Fences, Mandylor had to be channeling some real life angst and frustration into this role. Luckily for him, the Saw series would pick him up the following year and Dr. Chopper would be a minor speed bump in his long career and I couldn't be happier he hit this slump. Director-editor Lewis Schoenbrun made his feature debut with this film and - wait for it - he was also editor on Children of the Living Dead (2001), which I saw a few months before this and declared one of the most unintentionally funny films I'd seen. It is uncanny how both films have the exact same feel, from the stilted dubbed in lines right down to the neon green DVD cover. Dude has the magic touch. Dr. Chopper might still be looking for its cult, but it is two strong right now.
When recommending this film, my friend mentioned that nearly every line of dialogue is hilarious and he wasn't lying. I laughed harder at this film than any comedy from the last twenty years. It is full of nonsensical stuff. For example, Jimmy from outer appearances is shown as a beer guzzling jock, yet he is annoying people with his neurotic ticks and talks of Allen Ginsberg. The latter leads to a great bit of dialogue where the kids stop at a roadside store and Jimmy immediately shouts this to the older black store owner. This is literally said as their Jeep pulls to a halt in the parking lot.
Jimmy: "You like Ginsberg?"
Store owner: "Ginsberg? Jeez, everything he wrote after 1980 was crap."
Later when the owner sees a earlier Chopper victim pleading for help to the kids to find her girlfriend, he says, "White folks!" I was also legit dying during an emotional exchange between the kids at the cabin (after a cleaning montage, naturally) where Nick guilt trips everyone for not being their when his mom died.
Nick: "I didn't see you at my mom's wake."
Tamara: "Where were you when Reese and I broke up last semester? Friendship is a two-way street, Nick."
Nick: "Where was I? I was with my mother, who was dying. That's where I was."
However, nothing tops the bit where Mandylor is talking to his new trainee about his past. Screenwriter Ian Holt is hoping to go for metaphor here as Mandylor's character starts talking about the elephant graveyard. I get it, dude is burnt out after his wife's death and just looking for that mythical place to go and lay down to die. But if you start your goddang backstory with "Once upon a time I was a chiropractor and holistic healer..." I can't help but burst out laughing. Less than a decade removed from Picket Fences, Mandylor had to be channeling some real life angst and frustration into this role. Luckily for him, the Saw series would pick him up the following year and Dr. Chopper would be a minor speed bump in his long career and I couldn't be happier he hit this slump. Director-editor Lewis Schoenbrun made his feature debut with this film and - wait for it - he was also editor on Children of the Living Dead (2001), which I saw a few months before this and declared one of the most unintentionally funny films I'd seen. It is uncanny how both films have the exact same feel, from the stilted dubbed in lines right down to the neon green DVD cover. Dude has the magic touch. Dr. Chopper might still be looking for its cult, but it is two strong right now.