PATCHES 2: DIE PATCHES DIE
PLOT-A murderous scarecrow unwittingly spawns an evil twin who starts cutting in on its creator's territory.
VIOLENCE-Plentiful blood fountains, ripped-out guts, brain removal, snapped necks, head crushing, and one unlucky girl is stabbed in her "private area" with a wooden dildo.
SEX/NUDITY-None.
THE DOPE-While most indie filmmakers struggle to make their films as impressive and professional as possible, Ohio-based teenage auteur Henrique Couto stands firmly with his karo-soaked middle finger extended in the face of all standards and conventional sensibilities. He's young, he has no money, but his work ethic is so fierce and tireless that his defiant lack of style and flippant attitude towards structure make him extremely dangerous.
As the wisecracking, energetic title character "Patches", Couto wastes no time in making the audience aware that this will not be an ego-driven attempt to make a statement or an underhanded scheme to make a quick buck. As Patches urinates green bile into a horrified teenage dirtbag's mouth during the pre-credit sequence, you know you're in a world where anything goes. The whacked-out editing style and deliberate roughness is reminiscent of Richard Kern's DEATH VALLEY 69, repeating crude violent images back and forth, lingering on gory effects, making sure the viewer is aware that they are participating in a decidedly raw experience. PATCHES 2 is some of the most in-your-face and recklessly hysterical shit I have ever watched.
Movie purists and film students might see Couto's work and wish he'd shut up and go away (the same way a classical violinist would feel inclined to smash a Germs album), but what could appear to those not paying attention (or unfamiliar with the roots of underground cinema) as amateur foolishness is actually a welcome dose of truth in action. While serious artists dick around with light meters, Couto has an M-80 lit and placed in their buttholes. That, dear readers, is why he rocks and I piss myself silly watching his movies. That is why PATCHES 2 is more fun than most of what calls itself independent film these days. Henrique Couto is a renegade in the purest sense because he isn't trying to be. And if you don't get what he's doing, the joke's on you...and there's an M-80 in your butthole.
NOTES-The DVD from Freak Productions is full of great extras, including a well-assembled documentary about how the film was made. And hey, don't worry if you never saw PATCHES part one, because it's included as an extra on this disc!
(September 2004)