"Hanger" review

Hanger (2009)

Director: Ryan Nicholson
Writers: Ryan Nicholson Patrick Coble

Debbie Rochon... Rose
Dan Ellis... The John
Nathan Dashwood... Hanger
Ronald Patrick Thompson... Leroy
Lloyd Kaufman... Melvina the Tranny
Wade Gibb... Russell
Alastair Gamble... Phil
Candice Lewald... Nicole (as Candice Le)
Nadia Grey... Smashy
Stephanie Walker... Trashy
Michelle Grady... Trixie the Mangled Whore

Debbie Rochon is pregnant and her pimp doesn't like it. He decides to be proactive with Debbie's due date and yanks her fetus right out of her womb. Debbie doesn't survive her motel room abortion but the baby does. He grows up to be Hanger, a hideously scarred freak with a penchant for extreme violence. Hanger's dad finds him and gets him a job working with some other freaks at the city dump. Hanger gets set up in a new apartment with a roommate who has a thing for beer, porn and used tampons. Life couldn't get any better for Hanger. Unfortunately Debbie's old pimp shows up and is looking for revenge. Hanger's dad will stand up for the freak so that Hanger can live to find some meaning to his almost aborted, violent life.

The filmmakers behind "Live Feed" and "Gutterballs" return for another nasty exploitation movie. I really liked "Live Feed" but thought "Gutterballs" was far too obnoxious too enjoy. Now along comes "Hanger". The director, (Ryan Nicholson), is turning into a sleaze auteur. First he tackles the sordid world of snuff films. Then comes his take on 80's slasher flicks. And now the aborted baby revenge flick "Hanger" crawls its way out of the uterus for our presumed enjoyment.

By all accounts, I should have liked "Hanger". It had all the elements I normally associate with fine cinema. Sex, violence, topless women, deranged psychos and female masturbation on top of a desk with a Hello Kitty product. Nothing says Oscar season like rubbing one out with your Hello Kitty doll.

But "Hanger" turns out to be a random assortment of sleaze moments that lead nowhere. It's a movie with no real purpose other than to delight its audience with bad acting, sporadic gore and aborted baby revenge. "Hanger" meanders through various sleaze scenarios but it turns into a chore to watch as the freaks slowly get around to beating and penetrating each other. The pacing of the freak show was a little sluggish and caused my mind to wander. Mostly I was thinking why I was bothering to watch this movie.

Although "Hanger" does have some charming traits so it's not completely worthless. Candice Lewald deserves special mention for her brilliant rendition of a secretary in heat. Her scene masturbating on her desk is a fine B-movie moment. There are some other topless women in this movie and they are all appreciated. Ryan Nicholson also deserves some kudos for standing by his convictions and packing as much extreme sexual violence in his films as possible. He has shown a rare commitment to the art of exploitation and it is to be commended. Well, at least it is by me.

But "Hanger" turns out to be less than the sum of its parts. Random sleazebag scenes cannot hold the movie together until the end. The main problem with "Hanger" is Hanger. He doesn't do much. He was not as committed to his blood lust as I was hoping he would be. His dad does most of the killing for him. This leaves Hanger plenty of time to hang around his apartment with his bloody tampon loving roommate. Not exactly the kind of homicidal attitude you're looking for in your repressed psycho killers.

Overall, "Hanger" can be skipped. It has some nasty, sleazy moments but they're not enough to warrant a viewing. Unless you're in desperate need to see the horrors of a B-movie abortion up close, you can let this one go.

SCORE: 2 out of 4 no choice abortions