Perhaps as a means of drawing in a greater number of genre fans, the full title of Jimmy and Stiggs is being reported on some marketing materials as Eli Roth Presents: Jimmy and Stiggs. It’s an understandable ploy, if not exactly an attractive one, as Roth is certainly more of a recognizable name than that of Joe Begos, the writer/director behind previous films such as VFW and Christmas Bloody Christmas. Thankfully, Roth’s creative contributions to Jimmy and Stiggs appear to be nil, which makes sense, as the film is a total romp, delivering all thrills and no frills of splattery creature mayhem in a tight runtime. Swilling a gasoline cocktail that’s part Sam Raimi, part Gaspar Noé, and part Attack the Block, Jimmy and Stiggs hunkers down in a single location as two buddies fend off an apparent alien invasion, potentially emerging as the last hope for humanity. As far as micro-budgeted servings of bloody horror go, it’s a total blast, working like gangbusters to satiate gorehounds through formal ingenuity, practical effects, and tons of goopy intestines.
Jimmy and Stiggs is bookended by two extended sequences of POV cam, literally inserting the viewer into the messy shoes of Jimmy (Begos), one of our two intrepid heroes. The opening observes what must be his typical evening routine, as he wanders his second-story apartment, tossing back liquor, doing lines of blow, and casually enjoying some pornography on television. It’s a bravura sequence, sold convincingly with eye-blinks and perfect camera placement in an environment that’s lit by neon signs and black lighting, teasing the Doom-esque carnage that is yet to come. Begos wastes no time getting to the alien action either, as just when all seems settled in Jimmy’s world, a horde of diminutive greys attack, implanting something in Jimmy’s head and unleashing hell on his apartment. It’s around this time that Stiggs (Matt Mercer), Jimmy’s filmmaking colleague, enters the picture, reluctantly so, as the two already seem at odds with each other from a past project gone wrong. Eventually buying into the fact that something otherworldly may genuinely be occurring, Stiggs is forced to fight alongside Jimmy against this unknown threat. Together, the two friends arm themselves with knives, broken beer bottles, a sawn-off shotgun, and their own fists, ready to throw down with the Third Kind.
Reportedly shot over a period of several years in Begos’ own apartment, Jimmy and Stiggs is a small-scale marvel, offering plenty of visual variety and neat camera tricks despite never leaving the walls of the single-bedroom residence. The grey aliens are also a triumph of on-screen adversaries (brought to life by remarkable puppetry), as these suckers are capable of taking quite the licking before going down for good, allowing Begos and Co. to spill an inordinate amount of orange Day-Glo as guts and brain matter are splattered all over the place. Gunshot blasts, stabbings, disembowelings, and beatings are all common occurrences here, gleefully reveling in extraterrestrial butchery. If Begos’ endgame was to nullify his own personal security deposit, it’s safe to say he succeeded. Anybody looking for something more expansive would best steer clear of Jimmy and Stiggs; the film runs under 80 minutes, even with full end credits, and as mentioned above, none of the action ever leaves Jimmy’s apartment. Dialogue is also a tad uninspired and can occasionally abrade the senses, as Jimmy and Stiggs’ conversations rarely have any character other than hostility, each sentence littered with any and all combinations of four-letter words that you can’t say on television. But even with those reservations taken into consideration, it’s impossible to discount just how downright fun Jimmy and Stiggs is. A bona fide barnstormer, Jimmy and Stiggs delivers on all the outrageous genre delights that matter.
DIRECTOR: Joe Begos; CAST: Joe Begos, Matt Mercer; DISTRIBUTOR: Iconic Events; IN THEATERS: August 15; RUNTIME: 1 hr. 30 min.
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