George A. Romero enjoyed a long and varied career. His directorial debut defined a horror subgenre that's still prominent today. His name remains the watchword for any zombie movie, but he made movies without stumbling undead. From The Crazies, to Knightriders to Martin, Romero's filmography packs in various unique and fascinating projects. Bruiser may be his least-discussed film, but it's well worth a look back.
The early 2000s were a specific era in horror cinema. The techniques and tones that were iconic at the time fell out of fashion fast. Any trailer from the Y2K period comes across like it was edited by someone angry at the audience. It's jarring and aggressive in a way that modern film rarely captures. Bruiser comes from a place of rage, and every element of the production reflects that.
What is Bruiser about?
Director | George A. Romero |
|---|---|
Writer | George A. Romero |
Cast | Jason Flemyng, Peter Stormare, Leslie Hope, Tom Atkins |
Release Date | 13 February 2000 |
Runtime | 99 Minutes |
Box Office | $14,960 |
Henry Creedlow is a miserable man. He's a successful creative director at a flourishing magazine, but his money brings him no happiness. His wife, Janine, is high-strung, demanding, and utterly indifferent to him. He feels used and ignored. He works with his best friend, Jimmy, and his sleazy, demeaning boss, Milo. Henry fantasizes about killing his wife, his boss, and even strangers who inconvenience him. Henry attends a party at Milo's, where his wife, Rosie, makes him a featureless white mask. She asks him to decorate it, but he leaves it blank. That night, he sees his wife growing intimate with his boss. He tries to confront her, but she chides him for being a pushover. The following morning, he wakes up without a face.
Henry has a white, featureless mask grafted to his skin. Trying to remove it splits his skin. Terrified and disgusted with his new form, he hides from his maid. He spots her snagging his possessions. In a fit of rage, he beats her to death with the bag of valuables. Henry discovers his new faceless form is as capable as it is horrific. He decides to seek out those who've wronged him and exact vengeance through gruesome violence. Henry will live out his fantasies at the expense of his former loved ones. It's a revenge movie with the usual betrayal replaced with a thousand indignities. It's a brutally angry film.
Bruiser is available to stream free on Plex
What is Bruiser's Rotten Tomatoes score?
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes gave Bruiser a 67% positive score. Only nine professionals weighed in on the film. Of those, only one spoke up in its release year. Audience reviews were far less kind and far more numerous. More than 2,500 people awarded Bruiser a 32% positive score. The average from critics was a six out of ten, while the average rating by audiences was 2.8 out of 5 stars. Writing for Film Freak Central, Walter Chaw gave Bruiser three out of four stars, calling it:
A fairy tale worth telling for Romero who, even in his minor failures, exposes by example the dearth of significance and heart in the majority of today's lifeless knock-offs.
How does Bruiser end?
Henry follows Janine to his office, where he catches her and Milo having sex. Rosie arrives, finding her husband in the act, and chasing him out into the street, where she swears revenge. While Milo is away, Henry attacks his unfaithful wife. He strangles her with an extension cord, then pushes her out a window to hang to death. Henry dodges the cops and fakes his suicide to escape suspicion. Henry then confronts his best friend, Jimmy, who has been stealing money from his bank accounts. Jimmy explains that Janine insisted on the theft, used the money for herself, and slept with Jimmy as well. Jimmy pulls a gun, but Henry quickly shoots him in the chest, mortally wounding him. Henry calls a radio show and decides that he can only have his face back after he's killed everyone who has betrayed him. He shows up at Milo's Halloween party dressed as Zorro, wires him to the ceiling, shoots him with a laser, and kills him. Rosie appears, takes the blame, and lets Henry escape with his original face intact. Some years later, Henry takes an office job in a new city. He sees a manager screaming at employees. When the boss's ire finds Henry, he turns to reveal his blank face has returned.
Bruiser is far from a perfect film. It's lurid and gross in a way that only films of that era could be. It never asks the audience to see Henry as a hero, though the catharsis of seeing him kill his former loved ones comes with a thick coating of shame. The imagery is stronger than anything the film manages to say about it. Bruiser doesn't stand out among George A. Romero's excellent filmography, but it reflects something haunting that few of his other works capture. Bruiser is a bizarre entry in Romero's canon, but it's still worth hunting down.