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Review: 'Dangerous Men' a wonderful oddity

Alex Biese
A scene from John S. Rad's "Dangerous Men," now playing in select theaters from Drafthouse Films.

In cinema, broadly speaking, there are good movies and there are bad movies. And then, there is the rarefied air of a third category: the so bad it's good movies. These are the cinematic works that transcend conventional definitions of what's good and what's bad is pursuit of a vision so singular, so strange that it simply demands to be seen, low production values and lapses of logic be damned.

Odds are you've heard of at least some of these movies, be they classics like Ed Wood's "Plan 9 From Outer Space" (1959) or Hal Warren's "Manos: The Hands of Fate" (1966) or newer entries into the midnight movie canon such as Tommy Wiseau's "The Room" (2003) or James Nguyen's "Birdemic: Shock and Terror" (2010).

Now Drafthouse Films, the Austin, Texas based company that unearthed the martial arts misfire turned cult classic "Miami Connection" (1987) a few years back, is delivering another inexplicable wonder: "Dangerous Men."

Directed by John S. Rad, an Iranian immigrant and architect-turned-filmmaker who died in 2007, the film was in the works from 1979 until 2005, when Rad self-financed its release to around five theaters, according to Rad's L.A. Weekly obituary.

In broad strokes, "Dangerous Men" is a low-rent riff on Abel Ferrara's "Ms. 45" (1981), the story of a woman who goes on a killing spree after her fiance is murdered by thugs. But then, the movie turns on a dime into the story of a renegade cop waging war against a gang.

Currently playing in select theaters after 26 years in the making and a subsequent decade of near-total obscurity, the film's long and rocky road to the big screen is plainly evident as plot threads begin out of nowhere and end just as abruptly, sound and picture quality varies drastically from scene to scene, even second to second.

Muddled plot lines aside, "Dangerous Men" succeeds as an undeniably fascinating patchwork of sex, violence and synthesizers that, after 80 or so minutes, leaves the viewer with the overwhelming sensation of "What the heck did I just see?"


INFO: 79 minutes, not rated

WHEN/WHERE: Now playing in select theaters

INFO: http://dangerousmenthemovie.com