(Phillips, 1994)
6.0
You may never have heard the name “G.G” Allin before but after Todd Phillips little-seen, filthy, stinking documentary you may never forget it. For better, but more likely, for worse. You may never look at Todd Phillips in the same way either, so If you’ve already seen the terrible School for Scoundrels and The Hangover you may be surprised about how Phillips cut his teeth.
“G.G” Allin was born Jesus Christ Allin (yes seriously) in 1956, after his father claimed the big man upstairs had come to him in a dream. Of course, you can’t put that kind of weight on a kids shoulders and expect water into wine and bread and fishes. Allin instead decided to form a multitude of hardcore punk bands in the late 70’s and 80’s.
Allin’s intense and brutal personality pushed his live shows over the edge and by the late 80’s his naked performances (both literally and figuratively) had become legendary. Defecating and urinating on stage, self mutilation and inciting crowd riots were now staples of The Murder Junkies sweaty, crowded and smelly sets in dirty black basement rooms all over the USA.
Allin’s cheery persona was only set to sparkle in the eyes of the world when heroin and rape landed him in jail in 1989. Its after his 2 year jail term that Phillips (An NYU film student at the time) got on board filming “G.G” and The Murder Junkies until Allin’s death in 1993.
To say Hated is like watching a car crash is understatement defined. It lays bare a disgusting and brutal picture of a sad man, lost and dying, vulgar and ridiculous. Phillips lets Allin’s actions tell the story and his fans videos layer to turn the documentary into a savage punk home video.
It does become so much a case of “Watch, agasp as “G.G” beats his fans, eats his own poo poo and punches women! Look on in horror as “G.G” deflects another question with the answer “…because I don’t care!”
Why am I watching this, you might ask? Well, indeed.
Perhaps the closest visceral counter point I can think of is Kirby Dick’s Bob Flanagan Documentary, Sick. However, you can never feel as close to “G.G” Allin as you felt towards Flanagan and his own twisted journey to the grave.
That is not to say that Hated isn’t affecting, it is. But as blunt and brutal as the shocks are, the character of Allin and any insight into why he is how he is smashed away into tiny pieces. His ideology and reason, his intelligence and passions, if they did exist, are hard to find here.
You can’t help but feel at the film’s deeply depressing finale that the guy who would go on to direct other films about bodily fluid, such as : Road Trip, Old School and Starsky and Hutch didn’t really have a clue what he was trying to say about Jesus Christ Allin either.
Hated : G.G Allin and the Murder Junkies can be watched online for on week only at http://pitchfork.com/tv/
Neil Innes, 30th July 2009
