Main cast: Davy Raphaely (Jerry), Dave Sheridan (Mike), Sarah French (Lisa), Doug Henderson (Ivan), Susan Moses (Madame Zhora), and Paul Cottman (Detective Barnes)
Director: B Harrison Smith
Jerry is convinced that his wife Lisa is having an affair, and his friend Mike tells him that the only thing to do is for Jerry to have his own revenge affair. Even better, Mike knows just where the place to take Jerry to for his first ever adventures in infidelity.
This is how Jerry discovers The Special. At a brothel run by a so-called psychic Madame Zhora, he discovers the house speciality: a box with a hole on one side, with “Stick it in here” stenciled over the hole. Is this a joke?
Well, he has nothing else to do, so he sticks his pee-pee inside and… oh my. Whatever it is inside, it gives Jerry a mind-blowing orgasm.
Later, he learns that Lisa isn’t cheating on him. She’s been texting around to get him a surprise birthday present. Oh, and she’s pregnant.
Jerry feels a little guilty, but soon realizes that he never cheated on his wife, since there is no other person involved in that night at Madame Zhora’s. He is far more consumed with an overwhelming need to stick it inside that box again. This obsession will lead to some pretty dire consequences, as this is, after all, a horror movie.
Just what is in that box anyway, hmm?
This episode isn’t a typical horror film, in the sense that the mystery of the box and Jerry’s increasingly out of control obsession with the box don’t make of scenes that will make the audience shiver with terror. The denouement puts this movie squarely in the body horror category, make no mistake, but for the most part, the film is more of a psychological thriller.
Still, for folks that don’t mind the slow burn, this one can spring some lovely surprises, especially when the nature of the thing in the box finally becomes clear in the final act. While much of the episode leading up to the point is pretty standard stuff, the denouement elevates this movie into something that is going to stick in the mind for quite a bit.
Despite the potentially comical premise of a guy going all American Pie into a hole on a box, Dave Raphaely manages to pull it off while coming off as a somewhat misguided fellow that becomes increasingly unhinged as the movie progresses. It also helps that he is pretty cute in a nerdy way and he has made sure that his body is nice to look at in his more, er, compromising scenes.
However, working to have a nice body to show off comes with a very noticeable con: it’s hard to take the wasting of his body seriously when his body shows no signs of muscular deterioration. Those scenes make it clear that the rashes all over his body are just practical effects pasted all over—very fake practical effects, in other words.
In many ways, The Special can be considered a one-act wonder, as without the final act, this movie could have easily fizzled out.I feel that that final act is good enough to elevate the rest of the movie, however, and in many ways, this movie is certainly worth a look for fans of body horror.
