KnotStronger
This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.
Marva
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
Geraldine
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
chow913
IMDb does it again. They list this film as "1987" despite the fact that the MPAA copyright date clearly says, "XMLXXXV." That's Roman numerals for 1985! Also NONE of the images used they include are actually part of the actual movie! IMDb.com, always trying to outdo Censorpedia's inaccuracy.Now that I've release that from my system, I'd first like to state that I've never been a big fan of going postal films. They never seem bold enough to take a stand as to whether the mass shooter is justified in his actions, tragic victim of circumstances, mentally ill or just plain evil. But 'Blood Wednesday' is just goofy enough to work.Not "goofy" as in a dark comedy, but goofy as in there are A LOT of elements in play here.Our dangerous loner is Harry. Right from the opening scene it's obvious Harry is mentally ill. He looses his job as an auto mechanic after he simply forgets how to put an engine back together. Something he's done many times before.Harry is hospitalized and an attractive doctor Dr. Johnson first speaks with Harry's ex wife whom wants nothing to do with him. So he's left in the custody of his older brother Ben who doesn't really care about him either. Ben just abandons him in an abandoned hotel. It's this old haunted abandoned hotel which gives 'Bloody Wednesday' its real unique edge. The audience themselves doesn't know where reality ends and Harry's insanity begins. Is the hotel really haunted? Is Harry really having an affair with Dr. Johnson? Just because Harry's clearly crazy doesn't mean these things aren't true. The viewer is left to decide for themselves.Most of the ghosts in the hotel are nice. The friendly bellboy warns Harry about a haunted room which stopped being rented out after two suicides. But when Harry actually talks with their ghosts he's discovers their deaths weren't so simple.Harry also talks with his teddy bear whom tells him to kill. When a gang of street thugs break in, Harry holds them at gun point while the bear weighs judgment on whether they should live or die.Harry also starts an affair with Dr. Johnson. Or does he? She denies it. But later lets him sleep on her couch. And Harry's ex wife later says she knows about the affair and wants to blackmail Dr. Johnson. So was it real after all?The same gang of muggers see Harry admiring an Uzi in a store window and ask, "What are you going to do with a machinegun?" Gee what would a mental patient want a machinegun for? Harry answers, "Use it." The thug later steals the Uzi and gives it to Harry just of laughs. Wow, what a nice guy! He steals a $10,000 gun and just gives it away? Harry's first fatality is an elderly security guard whom one of the hotel ghosts says murdered him. Has Harry just committed a cold blooded murder? Or has he merely brought justice to a tormented soul? Harry's next victim is his ex wife, simply because the teddy bear tells him to kill her.The final shooting rampage is so over the top it's comical. Harry merely enters a dinner and fires non stop with his Uzi for three full minutes, releasing hundreds of rounds! He then loads another clip and fires hundreds more! While he's clearly using a 25 round magazine he only reloaded after hundreds of shots! This is just plain silly. Also, since this all takes place over the course of six minutes, why are all the victims just standing there waiting to get shot? There's no rush for the back door or people hiding under tables or pleading for mercy! They just stand still for six full minutes! The ONLY diner who actually does anything is the one man who shoots Harry dead with one head shot from his own gun. Why was he waiting six minutes to shoot back? All in all 'Bloody Wednesday' has its moments. The story is a gripping one you'll want to follow. The big question is why Harry goes postal. He isn't angry at life or society. The climax just seems tacked on as a way to end it with fan service.
BA_Harrison
The brain is a complex and fragile organ that can easily develop a fault if not properly maintained, and severe mental illness, if left unchecked, can have dire consequences. In Bloody Wednesday, a nifty low-budget study of a man's descent into violent madness, stressed mechanic Harry blows a brain gasket and is taken into psychiatric care, but is later released into the community under the care of his brother (who is far too busy to give the job the time it really requires).Unfortunately, Harry is still not firing on all pistons: he imagines other people in the vacant hotel where he resides (shades of The Shining here—another great study of insanity); he believes that he has intimate relations with his doctor; he talks to his teddy bear; he is attacked by snakes in his sleep. Harry's fragile state is further exacerbated by a gang of street punks with a score to settle. A complete and utter breakdown is inevitable and with Harry possessing firearms, the outcome is going to be bloody.Given this film's current low rating on IMDb (3.7 out of 10) I can only imagine that viewers were expecting a totally different type of movie (a cheesy 80s slasher perhaps) and reacted negatively out of disappointment. A shame, because behind the somewhat exploitative title and tag-line (You'll pray for Thursday!) lies a really powerful and intelligent film that deserves far better treatment.Raymond Elmendorf's central performance is superb, the actor creating a believable, complex character that deserves the viewer's sympathy—a severely ill person requiring close medical supervision but who has sadly fallen through the cracks of an overworked and under resourced system. Director Mark G. Gilhuis skilfully and sensitively handles Harry's mental disintegration, masterfully blending his fantasy world with reality so that, just as it seems like Harry is making progress, it becomes clear that he is in fact spiralling even further out of control, his delusional state becoming more and more commonplace. The tragedy is heartbreaking.The final act—in which Harry enters a coffee shop armed to the teeth and proceeds to blow away the customers—is suitably brutal, bloody and chilling, a shocking reminder of similar horrific stories that regularly make the news—events that might have been avoided if only the signals had been spotted early enough and the correct course of action taken.
classicsoncall
In my Mill Creek Entertainment collection of mystery movies, "Bloody Wednesday" is paired on the same side of a disc with "Bloody Friday". Creative marketing there, huh? Anyway, I'm going to take a different approach here from all the other reviewers for this picture so far. That's because mental illness runs in my own family, and I was able to relate to Harry's (Raymond Elmendorf) slipping in and out of reality over the course of the film. Living with someone like that is a harrowing experience because you never know what might come of an outburst that's completely rooted in unreality. Fortunately, most tantrums don't result in the massacre of three dozen people at a diner, but they end sadly nonetheless when you have to call the mental health unit for another trip to the hospital.I can see how the movie wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea and how it bums out so many viewers. Most of it plays as a manic, make believe fantasy in which the lead character is stuck, but believes it all to be happening in real time. Actor Elmendorf is actually a good looking guy, so having him portray a nutcase kind of goes against the grain of your stereotype loonie, so it doesn't surprise that he once had a good looking wife (or did he?) and a therapist who he fantasizes about. The one aspect of the story that bothered me was how he wound up living at an abandoned hotel with all the utilities still operational. That didn't really ring true to me, but then again, was it supposed to? You know, some days it just doesn't pay to chew through the restraints.
zium
This movie is not for everybody. Not just because of its violent content but also because it's very cheap. In fact, not much of the movie shines. The directing sucks, there are full of editing bugs and the acting isn't at its best. But, the storyline is quite original, but a little based on "The Shining", and the ending sequence is excellent. Exactly my kind of ending. This is a good movie to watch at 2 a.m. I would definitively make a remake of this.
