NAKED LUNCH

* * * ½

STARRING: Peter Weller, Judy Davis, Ian Holm, Julian Sands, Roy Scheider, Monique Mercure, Nicholas Campbell, Michael Zelniker, Robert A. Silverman, Joseph Scorsiani

1991, 115 Minutes, Directed by: David Cronenberg

Description: Naked Lunch, William S. Burroughs' hallucinatory, "unfilmable" novel is finally realized on-screen by director David Cronenberg. Part-time exterminator and full-time drug addict Bill Lee (Peter Weller) plunges into the nightmarish netherworld of the Interzone, pursuing a mysterious project that leads him to confront sinister cabals and giant talking bugs. — Amazon.com

William Burroughs has always been considered unfilmable. He is, after all, well-known for his "cut-up" technique which basically involves physically cutting each page of your novel into four pieces and then randomly sticking them together again! And then there's the subject matter: S&M, black-humoured satire, ultra-violence and gay sex, to mention but a few - all seen through the prism of a heroin drug-induced trip. What can I say? His stuff is great!

But how does it translate to the big screen? Well, if there is anyone who can do it, it has to be Canadian director David (The Fly, Videodrome, Dead Ringers) Cronenberg who is obsessed with the bizarre and grotesque. And surprisingly this film pulls few punches, remaining very true to Burroughs's intentions. There is even a scene in which Peter Weller stumbles unto his best friend making love to his wife on a couch while another good friend is busy reciting Satanist poetry. Weller doesn't seem to mind . . .

If you haven't decided by now whether you want to see this film or not, then don't. I'm still getting flak for renting this video - and that's about more than eight years ago!