Basket Case director Frank Henenlotter explores another bizarre symbiotic human-monster relationship in this surreal horror-comedy about a young man named Brian (Rick Herbst) who emerges from a night of bizarre hallucinations to find a jovial talking slug attached to his body. The creature, a brain-eating parasite called an "Aylmer" (but who prefers the simpler handle "Elmer") came calling after abandoning his former companions — a European couple who tried to wean him from human brains by supplying him with sheep brains from the local Butcher. Preferring prey of the bipedal variety (and a younger, more mobile host), Elmer hitches a ride with Brian, administering doses of a highly addictive psychedelic drug to keep him under control, and sends him out in search of human grey-matter. Understandably, this drives a wedge in the relationship between Brian and his girlfriend Barbara (Jennifer Lowry), who doesn't buy the monster story but nevertheless begins to recognize Brian's junkie behavior patterns. Fighting a losing battle against Elmer's magic juice (and trying to keep Elmer from munching down on Barbara's skull), Brian is forced into a hideous showdown for possession of his own mind. Not quite as grotesque as its scenario suggests, this is nevertheless an inspired bit of lunacy — though Henenlotter eschews much of the horror possibilities by drawing humor from the outrageousness of the situation, making it less memorable than his darkly-chilling debut feature. Clever highlights include horror host John Zacherle as the Bing Crosby-esque voice of Elmer and a cute cameo from Basket boy Kevin Van Hentenryck.
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