Weirdsville

Plot synopsis:
Nothing much happens in the lives of 20-something pals Dexter and Royce except for getting high and hanging out with Royce’s girlfriend, Matilda ('Mattie'). This all changes one evening in Northern Ontario town Weedsville when Mattie overdoses on a stash of Dexter and Royce’s drugs — drugs fronted by local drug kingpin and tough-guy Omar to sell in order to cover their previous drug debt. Thinking her dead and knowing that calling the cops would only land them in jail the pair decide to bury her in the boiler room of the closed drive-in theater where Royce used to work. The two set off to deal with Mattie’s dead body.
While the boys begin to dig a grave downstairs, a Satanic cult led by another former employee and (former classmate of Dexter and Royce) Abel enters the supposedly abandoned drive-in and begins a ritual involving pentagrams and human bloodletting in the upstairs concession stand. Their plan is to resurrect Jason Taylor (hippie turned reluctant but rich Internet entrepreneur and Abel’s unwitting hero) out of his coma. However, when Dexter walks in mid-sacrifice, everything goes awry.
Dexter and Royce are captured, gagged and duct-taped and Mattie’s corpse is discovered. But when some of the sacrificed follower’s blood unexpectedly 'awakens' Matilda an all out chase ensues. Royce and Dexter get to her first, and the trio escapes. After safely stowing Mattie in Dexter’s apartment, the boys run into Omar and his beefy sidekick Garry, who deliver a few swings of a curling stone and an ultimatum — debt (plus interest) paid by last call or he will severely injure the pair. Knowing that millionaire Jason Taylor has a safe full of money at his place, Dexter and Royce take off to break in and steal it, a plan previously mentioned by Mattie, who knows the combination to Taylor's safe.
With a few unexpected bumps along the way, such as running into, accidentally knocking out and then getting high the nephew of Taylor, who was housesitting, Dexter and Royce successfully manage to steal the safe. En route back to Dexter’s apartment to grab Mattie, they run into Abel. A classic car chase causes our boys to seek refuge in a mall where they encounter a midget security guard named Martin. After winning his trust (Martin has unresolved issues with cults himself) he lets them leave without further trouble.
Meanwhile at the New Age Resource Centre, Mattie (having been kidnapped by Abel) has been tied to an upside-down cross along with an unconscious Jason Taylor. Abel's plan is to offer Lucifer Mattie’s life in exchange for Jason’s. Dexter and Royce arrive to try and stop the ritual and rescue Mattie. Omar shows up looking to collect his debt and he brought Gary — and his gun — with him. In hot pursuit of Abel and his cult, Martin and his (physically) diminutive friends arrive only to crash into Dex's car, propelling the safe from the trunk into the New Age Centre, crushing Abel.
With Abel plan’s ruined and his life saved, Taylor gives Dexter and Royce the okay to hand off the safe with all of his money to clear their debt to Omar. They happily flee the scene with Mattie in tow.

Tags: comedy, flashback

Review:
I liked Trainspotting when it came out, but if there was one criticism you could make it was that the film took itself a little too seriously.
If you're looking for an enjoyable and refreshing 90 minutes that restores your faith in low budget films, buy a ticket..
From Jaws as a lady, to a Canadian romp of Satanists, gangsters and fighting midgets, Weirdsville certainly lives up to its title.
Allan Moyle, the director of 1990's Pump Up the Volume, directs another tale of disaffected youth featuring a pair of junkies as an entertaining double act, Royce and Dexter (Wes Bentley and Scott Speedman).
Trying to steal money to pay back their thumb threatening local gangster, the plot includes over doses and slap dash midnight burials in reference to 90s film-cool, Shallow Grave and Pulp Fiction.
Music video quality moments are depicted in beautiful shots of drug fuelled euphoria including Dexter skating bare foot through the snow sprinkled streets of an Ontarian cityscape.Occasionally the visual tricks jar in a Family Guy style but the interjections are smoothed over by our fortunately endearing duo and their dumb but smart dialog.
By turns genuinely engaging and laugh out loud funny, Weirdsville is daft but brilliant..
(The gritty darkness really suits the adventures of two junkies, anyway.) Scott Speedman and Wes Bentley build a real chemistry that grows on you and it's really good to see Bentley in a role that is FINALLY likable.
Taryn Manning also does a good job, although I fear she's going to get pigeon-holed into similar roles.
The rest of the cast does a solid job with no obvious weak link.Finally, people are going to draw a lot of similarities to other movies.
It has a couple of introspective, deep moments, but balances it out with lighter, playful moments the rest of the time.Really, if you ever "got the joke" of "Dude, Where's My Car?" or even found some sick humour out of the head trip of "Fear And Loathing..." check out "Weirdsville".
I went to the movie thinking, this is gonna be stupid i just know it.
for a movie surrounding an illegal substance, i think it was really great.
coming up with originality and intrigue is hard to do and i think Wennekers and Moyle both did a great job.
What a fabulous movie full of oddball characters and realistic dialog that is very funny.
Every twist in this movie is a turn into something bizarre and unexpected and delicious.I love the character of the female Satan worshiper Treena she's able to kick some ass and nothing looks sexier on a woman than some spirit like that.
One of the great things that keeps this movie together is the dialog between old party buddies, it felt very real with the games they play on each other all the time and the continual verbal sparring adds a nice jump to the flick's pace.This movie reminded me of Pulp Fiction or Killing Zoe or Love is a .45, or Way of the Gun in the way it's an indie style road movie with weird characters all over the place..
I was amazed by the outcome of every situation and I think there should be more movies like this one.
I also really like it when the makers put something useful to know in the movie and in this one, they certainly did, but what I liked most is that the piece that the mouse (or rat) played in the story, without it, the movie would have been less meaningful and I think it's really great that people can come up with these things to put in their movie which completes it ...
I've not seen a movie quite like it to date.
Great job on this movie!.
This friend of mine told me about this movie, he got some kind of a screening pass, I don't know...
I never thought a movie about junkies would be that funny and out there.
It's so much more than one of those 'don't do drugs' movies Hollywood makes - it's got car chases, gangsters, guns, and there's Satanists and midgets dressed like knights, it's messed up.
Scott Speedman and Wes Bentley were hilarious, they played off each other really well - they were funny and it didn't even look like they were acting most of the time, they looked like they've known each other their whole life.
The music is pretty cool too - The Dears is in it, so is The Constantines and Shout Out Out Out Out, it's about frigging time somebody started using cool Canadian bands in a movie.
If you want to rent a good comedy, rent one WITH 'Weirdsville' because you won't laugh at this one.
I'd really have to look long and hard to find a movie I've enjoyed less.
A lot of Canadian film is good, but this is sadly not up to par.
The most positive thing I can personally say regarding Weirdsville is that I did at least keep watching until the end.
I mean a good movie of the stoner genre is wickedly funny and built around likable stoner buddies, i.e., Cheech & Chong, Harrold & Kumar, Bill & Ted...et.al.
The ensuing situations just were not especially funny (NOT like the Blues Brothers which was uber-hilarious).Granted I'm not the primary audience this flick is aimed at, I mean I'm 48.
However, I know a good stoner flick when I see it and this misses the mark.
Weirdsville = = the off kilter of After Hours + turns of 2 Smoking Barrels + twists of Trainspotting + a dash of Reservoir Dogs + the warmth of Broomstick Boys + a shake of Run Lola Run + a sprig of Fargo and Office Space.Not what i expected in a small movie.
Drugs, crime, gangsters, prostitution, Satan cult and murder all felt like being at a cozy winter slumber party.
not in thriller suspense as much as the constant 2 hour smile and ongoing hearty feel-good laughs like i was on a crazy roller coaster of tickles in the Scooby-Doo haunted house...
As for a stoner black comedy, the Canadian made "Weirdsville" is as customary as you can get in how it goes about trying to weird you out.
Of course what happens is random, wacky and just bizarre (encounters with Satanists and dwarfs), but not too surprising when compared to films of the same ilk.
Mainly for the combination between Scott Speedman and Wes Bentley, who work off each well enough of as the two junkies involved in a crazy night of unimaginable incidents.
Stoner Dexter and Royce accidentally assume their friend Matilda has died from an overdose on the stash they are meant to sell to payback their drug dealers.
While in the process of burying her in the basement of a drive-in movie theatre, they disrupt a satanic ritual sacrifice and Matilda awakens making the Satanists believe it's the work of Satan.
At times it feels like a home video.
Still Moyle shows great pacing and flashy touches, as the visuals show some creativity, especially the drug- fuelled hallucinations and this suit's the fragmented style of the unusual narrative with numerous droll characters (Matt Frewer is very amusing in his small part).
The main problem with it is that all the weird situations feel contrived, like someone without much imagination sat around trying to think of weird things.
It doesn't have the bizarre, what-comes-next edge of a Tarantino or Lynch movie; each time something happens that is supposed to be weird, it's just banal.The acting, production and other aspects of the movie are fine; it's the script that suffers from a lack of weirdness.
No doubt it sounded funny on paper.The movie is watchable and better than a lot of films I've paid more to see.
Director Allan Moyle describes Weirdsville as, "Trainspotting shot in Canada but with more heart." It concerns Royce and Dexter, two deadbeat junkie types who "couldn't hold down a job if they were tied to it." Royce's girlfriend Matilda goes on 'business dates' - a term she prefers to 'hooking.' Meanwhile tough guy drug-dealer Omar is hassling them for their drug debts.
Mattie overdoses and, in the middle of a cover-up, Royce and Dexter come head-to-head with some self-styled murderous 'satanists.' A security guard midget called Martin and his diminutive friends complete the chaotic clashes of interests.Weirdsville starts off with the now familiar sequences of sudden camera moves and spaced-out montages that are meant to imply drugged confusion and get us in the mood.
Trainspotting drew on fine literary sources for a powerful script and projected the 'young male in crisis' with great conviction, ultimately providing a benchmark movie.
Weirsdville has poor characterisation, an average script, and a plot that looks like a mish-mash of every slackers movie so far.
Although it may appeal to some fans of drug-culture films, it has few other redeeming qualities other than the fun which cast and crew obviously had in putting it together."Are we in hell?" asks Mattie as she comes round from a death defying amount of toxic substances.
"No," comes the reply, "We were at the drive in." Not watching this movie, I thought.
need I say more?This pic'll put you in the mood for undergraduate thrills -- why is it college students are more open to experience, but that tone is so hard to catch on purpose?If you haven't seen an Allan Moyle picture since "Pump Up the Volume," this movie won't disappoint.
The basic story of "Weirdsville," is 2 stoner junkies owe one odd drug dealer money and must find a way to come up with it by last call that night.
It turns into an all out scramble through the city involving everything from their dead hooker girlfriend, a satanic cult, and a troop of little people.
Oh, and of course it all happens in the only place in the world it could...Canada.The Good: This movie was entertaining.
The acting was pretty good considering this was more of a fun movie than anything else.
The plot is a little basic but that is to be expected due to the kind of movie it is supposed to be.
It's comedy and entertainment folks, not rocketry and mathematics so if you decide to watch it than you already know what you are getting.
Get out the bong, and get ready to melt into the couch and have a good time with "Weirdsville!".
Taryn Manning is great, I have always trusted the movies she's been in (minus Crossroads) and this just validates it.
The partners in crime are brilliant and completely believable as addicts, and every character that comes in and out of the plot brings even more color to the film.
Weirdsville might come off as another stoner comedy to some, but to me it's more then that.
The story goes like this, two friends think that the girl has died from an overdose, so they go to bury her in a drive-in.
It doesn't sound like much, but it was both fresh and entertaining.Canadian films get the label of always being 'too artistic' or even for a lack of better words 'too Canadian' but Weirdsville in some sort of way breaks that mold.
Because of its review on scifi.com,I thought Weirdsville would have supernatural elements which made it a twist between a thriller and a horror film.But,the film was not like that.I would say it belongs to the genre of modern thrillers with a lot of twists and drug use,like Go and Spun,but shaken with the style of surrealistic comedies like After Hours.The final result may not be an excellent movie,but it's a very entertaining and satisfactory experience.I did not recognize his name at first,but I later noticed that Allan Moyle,the director of Weirdsville,is the same guy who made very entertaining and underrated movies I have liked pretty much,like Empire Records,Pump Up the Volume and Times Square.Weirdsville is not at the same level of that films but what it shares with them is the non-stop energy which makes it very enjoyable.I also appreciated that the screenplay exposes some valid commentaries about drug use,ambition and the friendship.The actors were very well chosen.In 1999,Wes Bentley appeared as a very promising actor because of his brilliant performance in American Beauty.But,after that,Bentley appeared on supporting roles in crappy movies,where he did not have much to do,like Ghost Rider or Soul Survivors.But,in Weirdsville,we finally back to see his talent because he brings enormous enthusiasm and conviction to his character.I had never paid too much attention to Scott Speedman because of his anonymous performances in films like Underworld,The Strangers or xXx : State of the Union.However,his performance in Weirdsville is excellent because his character is always credible and Speedman never seems to be acting.The rest of the cast is very good,specially Maggie Castle and the great Matt Frewer.The only fails I found on this movie are on the screenplay.Some elements feel forced while other elements could have been better developed.Still,I can recommend Weirdsville.It may not be a great movie,but it is very entertaining because of its energy,its humor,its atmosphere and its excellent performances..
this could have been a really fun/funny movie - a lot could have been done with the premise & story.
i was all depresed 'cause my supposed best friend had slept with my ex-girlfriend and lied to me about it.SoRonnie was getting me drunk on straight vodka and we decided to put in "Weirdsville" and holy Sh*t I gotta say this is one of the coolest damn movies ever!
I mean Scott Speedman, Wes Bentley and Taryn Manning are a perfect trio!
One of my favorite films is "Trainspotting" so of course I thought I'd like this film as well.
There are some "Trainspotting" elements, like similarity between characters Spud and Royce, throughout the film and a couple of funny scenes but while I was watching it I kept waiting for it to end as soon as possible.
Also, I recently watched "Felicity" and I have to say that Scott Speedman is almost the same in both roles as Ben and Dexter which in my opinion isn't good since those are two very different roles.
Overall experience of this film wasn't good..
It's been a long time since I was in college and encountered stoners as hapless as the heroes of "Weirdsville." The movie takes about 50 minutes to find its groove, but once it does it's quite enjoyable.
Their sordid lives and a preposterous plot -- fleeing from murderous Satan worshipers -- tempted me to turn off "Weirdsville" in the first half-hour.
Thankfully there are directors like Allen Moyle who have no problem telling a strange little story sprinkled with junkies, a burn out hippie with a head wound, Satan worshipers, talking mice, winking gnomes, and a drug dealers with strange accent who likes to curl (that sport with a big stone a brooms) in his spare time.You just don't know where this film is going most of the time, yet it's easy to follow.
Virtually every character is inept, even the drug dealer and his muscle, but they all (well most all) muddle through somehow.Not so special scenery (Canada in winter *yuck*), but it's not needed the fine cast of characters and odd little story carry the film...beautifully.
Besides that the two lead actors are pretty funny I hated most bits of this movie.
Unlike in Trainspotting these characters just act stoned and I think if they were on heroin as much as depicted they wouldn't be able to drive, communicate or function.
The movie starts out letting us know 2 guys are going to break into a home, then it goes into a flashback to one week earlier.
These two men, Dexter and Royce (Scott Speedman, Wes Bentley) owe $1700 to a drug dealer (Raoul Bhaneja), but can't pay.
Cult movie.MF, F-bomb, adult themes, a little bit of drug use (just every other scene), no nudity, Canadian..
Likable, interesting, original characters, some crime story (with little visible violence), beautiful pictures, great music, fun, craziness, orderly spick-and-span satanists, Larpers, a nightly visit in a mall, a visit in an abandoned drive-in movie theater, a cute mouse (which as the end credits reassure was not harmed in the making of the movie) - what more can you ask for?
This is not just a movie, it is a crazy, thrilling, beautiful, heartwarming fun ride, that you want to go on forever.
WARNING: I advise anyone who has not seen the film yet to not read this comment.Weirdsville was overall a pretty good and entertaining movie.
It ended up being nostalgic for me because, well, when the movie started off, I really didn't know what to expect.
I had read what it was about and after I did the movie seemed very promising, but the feeling I got from the opening just wasn't a good one, or to be more kind, a weird one, which is understandable from the obvious title.
As the film progressed, it was kind of like a roller coaster.
At points (When the Satan-worshiping cults fist come in; the midget cop and when he rounds up his medieval posse; all the Taryn Manning scenes) I was very interested and entertained and was loving it.
At others though, it was just so and quite hard to tolerate, because the characters are quite annoying and the plot really doesn't suck you in that much.I love the whole concept, though; A cult wanting the blood of a girl who they believed was brought back by Lucipher himself, while at the same time her screw-up friends who are constantly high are on the mission to pay off a guy who they had a drug dealing with and at the end the stories all collide into one; It was just so chaotic and fun.
Well, I enjoyed it to an extent and I enjoyed Taryn Manning for she made the movie so much better, but overall there are a lot of greater films I could have spent my time with.