Curdled

1996 dark dark dark comedy

Rating: 15/20

Plot: Gabriela has an unhealthy obsession with serial killers and their violent art, probably the result of living in a neighborhood in Columbia where people die in the street. She immigrates to Miami and takes a job with a cleaning service that cleans up murder scenes after the investigations have ended. As she scrapbooks clippings about the "Blue Blood Killer," she gets lucky and gets to clean up one of his blood baths. She and her partner show up while he's in the house trying to get rid of some incriminating evidence.

Curdled is not without its flaws, and one could accuse it of being a one-joke movie. And it's such a sick, dark joke that I imagine most viewers either won't get it or just won't find it funny at all, especially if they're into that Sarah Palin reality show. It definitely doesn't sugarcoat things. The crime scenes are gratuitously blood-splattered, and the violent scenes, even when the specific acts aren't shown, are brutal. William Baldwin nearly genteels (I know, not a verb) his way into becoming a walking stereotype, but he's better than expected as a low-budget Jeremy Irons. But it's Angela Jones as the bubble-popping, childlike Gabriela who steals the show. There's not a great deal of depth to her character, but she's got a commanding presence. And she's cute. The soundtrack plays a large role; it's a Latin-flavored guitar-heavy dance pop that had me bobbing my head, and it's the perfect accompaniment for a disturbingly seductive dance scene near the end of the film. Great dead-pan (no pun intended) fun here, as morbid as funny can possible be. Tarantino produced, and I suppose fans who like the humor in his films would have a head start with this one.