REPULSION - Chico Hamilton - Gábor Szabó - Roman Polanski - Catherine Deneuve (1965)

Okay, you didn't ask for it, so you're damn sure gonna get it! Tonight's Saturday Night Special comes from the deep, dank, and dark torture room of The Dungeon, and is rightfully titled "REPULSION!"

"REPULSION!"  It just has a happy ring to it, don't you agree? It's also a masterful mess of rancid eye candy chock full of talent from controversial Director Roman Polanski to beautiful diminutive starlet Catherine Deneuve! And to think, this movie is just a small footnote in what could also be known as "The Strange Life Of Roman Polanski!"

IF you like movies about beautiful but insane women, then "REPULSION" is the movie for you! Catherine Deneuve puts in a nail biting and almost solo performance as crazy Carol! I'm guessing that about 71 1/2% of the film is just Catherine, and with Polanski at the helm, I would imagine there are stories to be told about the making of this film!

"REPULSION" offers the viewer lots of questions, and not a lot of answers!

I'm talkin' about questions like why this still is sepia toned and why shouldn't every beautiful girl in the world have a perfect life even if they're nuttier than a fruitcake!

This is Carol's Sister Helen as played by Yvonne (THE MUMMY) Furneaux, and Ian (TALES FROM THE CRYPT) Hendry, as her asshole boyfriend Michael! Helen and Michael are going on a little trip and they're leaving Carol behind to take care of the apartment!

Well, I don't know, everything seems okay, Carol's going to listen to some music created by two classic cats in the world of jazz, percussionist Chico Hamilton, and guitarist Gábor Szabó! It makes for a very fine blend!

Then, everything goes South for Carol as quickly as a flea's fart, and it gets darker, and darker! She loses her job at the beauty salon, and her whole life turns into one big brown material highway!

In two separate scenes this trio of street urchin spoon folk musicians take command of the shot! I'm sure I'm supposed to read deep meaning into this, but since I don't know what meaning deep is, it's lost on me except for the fact that it's pretty weird! Even weirder, I'm pretty sure that the spoon player with his back to you is Roman Polanski himself!

John (A Study In Terror) Fraser as Colin, is a real dumb ass, and his drinking buddies are even more annoying, even to him! For some unexplained reason, he thinks that he is Carol's boyfriend, but she doesn't see it that way because for whatever reason, she is genuinely lost in the ozone!

Every so often in Carol's life, something cracks, a street or a wall, and the cracks just keep getting bigger! Now I'm no Aristotle, so I'm not even going to suggest that I know what the Hell is going on, but I really think if you distill it down to it's purest form, it's as simple as the fact that Carol is completely and totally, screaming yellow zonkers!!! Like Gonzo!!

This just might be the best shot ever of somebody watching wrasslin' on the tube!!

Carol is not eating, damn sure not cleaning, and she's not sleeping much either! The rabbit her Sister was going to cook before she left is still sitting out and starting to stink, and Carol is sinking farther and further from reality!

Even though they never really had a relationship, Colin is so worried about Carol, he breaks down the door to her flat, and then acts like they are just having a lover's quarrel as one of Carol's neighbors peers in through the open door!

Colin is oblivious to the fact that Carol is completely gone; maybe the fact that she hasn't uttered a word to him lately should have tipped him off! He was either so lovestruck or so completely stupid that I guess he deserves to get his brains beat in with a candlestick! Dumbass never saw it coming!

Jeez, what next? The landlord shows up, and demands to be let it!

To any normal person, Carol is obviously mad as a hatter, but to the landlord, she is sexy as Hell, and he offers her free rent if she will just give him some special attention!

The bathtub is getting pretty full of bloody dead bodies!

Other than the fact that Carol was raped by her Sister's boyfriend Michael, there are no excuses given for Carol's state of mental distress! She's just a freakin' train wreck!

When Helen and Michael arrive back home, the whole apartment is in disarray, it doesn't smell very good either and Carol...................

The neighbors all show up to view that one last WTF happened here moment! Four years later Roman Polanski's life would change forever when his beautiful wife Sharon Tate was slaughtered by the Manson clan! The weirdest thing is, I'll bet they never even knew this movie existed!