A BLIND BARGAIN

(director/writer: Paul Bunnell; screenwriters: John Falotico, story by Bing Bailey; cinematographer: Francisco Bulgarelli; editor: Russell Harnden; music: Ego Plum; cast: Crispin Glover (Dr. Gruder), Lucy Loken (Nurse Bannister), Jake Horowitz (Dominic), Rob Mayes (Vincent), Jed Rowen (Logos), Amy Wright (Joy Fontaine), Annalise Cochrane (young Joy); Runtime: 95; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Bing Bailey, PaVincent (Rob Mayes)ul Bunnell; Vitagraph Films; 2025)

“A re-imagining of the lost 1922 Lon Chaney silent film of the same name.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
 
Paul Bunnell (“That Little Monster”/”The Ghastly Love of Johnny X”) directs and co-writes it with John Falotico. It’s set in the late 1970s and is a re-imagining of the lost 1922 Lon Chaney silent film of the same name.

A wacky young man, playing the Chaney role but as a Vietnam War vet and heroin addict, living in L.A., Dominic (Jake Horowitz), in need of money, strikes a dark deal at his rehab center with the loony Wellness Center’s Dr. Gruder (Crispin Glover), offering his aging actress mother (Amy Wright) as a subject for the physician’s twisted experiments to make her young again. Mom’s blood it seems has value for research.

Lucy Loken adds to the mirth by playing Nurse Bannister, Gruder’s sexy assistant.

The film goes bananas when it features Vincent (Rob Mayes) and his colorful gang of villains, who emasculate and shake Dominic down for money. It gets even nuttier when Logos (Jed Rowen), Dr. Gruder’s sullen and villainous-looking assistant, develops an uncontrollable crush on Joy.

It’s a confusing, tedious and weird film that might reach a chosen few who are attracted to films that are so strangely humorless and get some laughs at how seriously the filmmaker takes his slight nonsensical satirical story.

REVIEWED ON 7/2/2026  GRADE: C+
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