5 out of 5

Directed by: Frank Henenlotter

I love that you can look at this 70s short from shlockmeister Frank Henenlotter and pretty much see where his obsessions would lead, up through his (as of now) last feature film, Bad Biology.  To wit: over-the-top gore / gross-outs; campy sex humor; willfully self-aware dumb dialogue; penises.  This is a man who revels in making “bad” films, and who finds penises endlessly funny, and has made several successful combinations of that skill and sensibility.  And, y’know, the joke keeps being funny.  Almost especially at this early stage’s hilarious central premise, a “cautionary” “documentary” on the “dangers” of not circumcising.

Happy to show us uncut weiners and to have doctors with names like (of course) Smegma explain to us how not circumcising is likely to cause madness and destitution, Slash of the Knife’s grainy, black and white presentation is so perfectly bland, casting the best/worst presenters and shooting the unfortunate focus of our short, with all due Z-movie zest for people vomiting at the site of foreskin.

Its been a while since I’ve laughed out loud this much, and it’s capped by the most amazingly sloppy, ridiculous, unpredictable (except its Henenlotter…) use of stop motion.

Maybe I was confused by Bad Biology, but if I had started with Slash of the Knife, lordy lord would it all make sense.