It’s safe to say that Astron-6’s “Father’s Day” is nothing but nonsense and pure utter drivel, but I think it’s also safe to say that Troma audiences basically eat that shit up like it’s going out of style. I’ve met plenty of people who giggle through random bull crap on-screen as long as it tickles their funny bone. “Father’s Day” did nothing of the sort for me. Now many will argue “Don’t take it so seriously!” and “It’s not meant to be grade A entertainment,” but my question is: What the hell is it actually supposed to be? I mean, seriously, what is it?
“Father’s Day” is really nothing but a long bout of nonsense followed by some truly excruciating scenes of sodomy and torture that are neither pleasant nor funny. The killer in the film takes the time out to stalk middle aged men, and then over powers them managing to anally rape them. And Astron 6 are kind enough to show the full rape on screen for at least ten minutes in length. After the rape is done, the killer tortures and mutilates the men, eating their parts, and then reveling in the kill. I’m not entirely sure how this amounts to entertainment for anyone else, but for me, I sat through it mostly cringing in sheer disgust and pondered on why this was at all necessary to feature for the sake of the narrative.
Meanwhile, on his tail is the eye patched avenger known as Fuchman (yes, as in Fuck Man, subtle no?) who seeks the killer at every turn. For some reason just when he’s about to capture the killer he finds that he can’t quite foil him fast enough to ensure he doesn’t move on to another victim. One of the killer’s latest prey had a long lost son who lives on the street. Named Twink (Get it?), he lives off of performing oral favors for men and robbing them blind. But a local priest seeks to help Twink avenge his father’s life along with Fuchman. I assume there were characters in the early draft of the script named John Anus, Roy Queer, and Larry Sphincter, but that would be too crude and played for cheap laughs.
And “Father’s Day” is above that. Right? Much of what occurs in “Father’s Day” makes zero sense from the start gates and as the story progresses it becomes all the more convoluted and utterly pointless an endeavor. I love exploitation, and I adore faux-grindhouse films, but “Father’s Day” is too much of a chore to sit through and just isn’t good enough to endure the grueling scenes of anal rape and mutilation. Ultimately it’s yet another movie that probably seemed good on page, and just didn’t translate in to a watchable movie. I’ve enjoyed a lot of what Troma has put out for audiences lately, but “Father’s Day” is a wretched and nonsensical bit of genre dribble that’s mean-spirited, cruel, and utterly grueling to sit through.