2020’s COVID-19 pandemic was a weird, isolating time, particularly for filmmakers and natural storytellers. Joe Begos’ Jimmy and Stiggs isn’t about the pandemic or even set during that period, but it’s a movie that was born out of this event and is very much in conversation with this challenging, reflective, isolating time. And it’s DIY […]
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The most impressive thing about Jimmy and Stiggs is that it sticks the landing and somehow keeps all its plates adeptly spinning. The film, which takes place over the course of 24 hours, is a kaleidoscopic, cocaine-fueled 16mm exploitation chamber piece with zero filter or fucks to give. It operates on pure id and elegantly captures the feeling of being on a horrifying bender. It’s a horror film that, at times, feels like you’re drowning in a lava lamp or lost in a haunted house while being amped up on hallucinogenics. Jimmy and Stiggs initially has fun with making its audience wonder if Jimmy’s turmoil is real and actually happening, some drug-addled fever dream, or something in between. It puts the viewer in a perpetual haze and then relishes the accompanying chaos.
Not enough can be said about how Jimmy and Stiggs is full of glorious, visceral subversive set-pieces that leave Jimmy’s home covered in rainbow alien blood and body parts. Practical effects fans and gore hounds will go nuts. There’s dismemberment galore and a rather brilliant beer bottle blood spurt effect that will stick with the audience long after the film ends. There are multiple moments where the film feels like Begos’ answer to Peter Jackson’s Bad Taste or Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead. There’s even a lot of They Live going on when it comes to Jimmy and Stiggs’ outrageous and extended fight sequences. That being said, this isn’t just a shallow splatter showcase. The film is full of really excellent and intuitive editing and cinematography. This includes some particularly inspired first-person POV madness that turns Jimmy and Stiggs into the best unofficial Doom adaptation that the world will ever get. It’s Doom by way of Crank, channeled through Body Melt.
The dialogue repeatedly references FOX’s infamous Alien Autopsy “documentary” from the ‘90s and it wants this cultural touchstone to be on the audience’s mind throughout the film. However, Jimmy & Stiggs conjures the same experimental, exploitation energy. There’s no found-footage element to the movie, but it feels like the type of cinema that could end up on cable television and inspire, mystify, and terrify a new generation of minds in a similar fashion. It’s a rare case of a film where the first act genuinely feels like the third, only for it to further escalate and get even crazier. It’s impressive that Begos continually finds ways to up the ante and indulge in larger adrenaline bursts. Remarkably, more than half the film’s dialogue is made up of grunts, screams, and “Fucks.” This may wear some people’s patience, but it works, almost in spite of itself.
The world needs more playful, gonzo small-scale-yet-apocalyptic horror films like Jimmy and Stiggs. It’s a movie that has constant tricks on display and perpetually sprays blood in the audience’s face, but there’s an earnest, vulnerable center to it all. Jimmy may tear through extraterrestrials and treat his body like it’s a blunt weapon, but he’s just someone who wants to be seen, matter, and be taken seriously. Not everyone has aliens invade their home, but these intrusive thoughts and a desire to exceed expectations is infinitely human.
Jimmy and Stiggs premiered at Brooklyn Horror Film Festival 2024.