If anyone knows a thing or two about society on the brink, it's the author of Clown in a Cornfield 2: Frendo Lives. Writer and erstwhile film critic Adam Cesare may have cut his teeth on film criticism, but now he's crafting his own scary stories for the next generation of horror fans. And that makes him the perfect person to weigh in on George Romero's Bruiser, an underrated slasher from the maestro of zombie movies.
Henry Creedlow’s (Jason Flemyng) life sucks. On paper, he’s the creative director of Bruiser, a popular men’s magazine – but in real life, he has a wife (Nina Garbiras) who’s unfaithful, a friend (Andrew Tarbet) he can’t trust, and a boss (Peter Stormare) who thinks he’s an idiot. But when Henry wakes up with a blank mask on his face, he realizes that he can finally live the life he’s never had the courage to do. One of the more under-discussed films in Romero’s catalogue, Bruiser sits alongside American Psycho as movies of 20th Century masculinity and capitalism run amok.
In this short excerpt from the episode, Adam explains why Bruiser makes for the perfect companion piece to Mary Harron's beloved thriller:
"I think American Psycho is a good point of comparison. And I find it so interesting watching this film and knowing that American Psycho came out the same year. They really are kind of like convergent evolution. They have a lot of, not just plot similarities, but aesthetic similarities, this kind of yuppie excess, new media-type stuff. Elitism versus general decency.
The Bruiser episode of the Certified Forgotten podcast is now available to stream on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or the podcast platform of your choice.
