Plot summaries may suggest that this is a movie about boxing, but boxing has nothing to do with the point of the story; like the killer in Angel, boxing is a McGuffin that moves the story along but otherwise doesn't matter. So if you're not a boxing fan then don't worry about it. Instead, this is a brilliantly told downbeat story about the loneliness of regular people living out their lives and obliviously going nowhere. Hopes and dreams rarely come to fruition in real life, so why should they in this movie? The characters are working class but the lessons apply to everyone; there's truth in this movie, a depressing truth but truth it is. Depending upon one's attitude one'll come out of this movie either slightly despondent or inspired to do something with one's life.

I was so caught up in the story that the end credits took me by surprise when they showed up but I immediately knew they came at the right time. I realized I'd just seen the climax of the story but it had taken a few seconds for me to catch up and understand half of what I'd just seen, further understanding came later after digesting the ending a few more times. What follows is my interpretation of that ending. It's a major spoiler for the point of the story so you'll have to highlight the text if you want to read it, but rather than reading it go and watch the movie instead and discover its meaning yourself.

The story is over when Stacy Keach's character, Tully, has an epiphany that shows him just where he is in the cycle of life. It's presented as a couple of freeze-frame scenes where he witnesses that time has passed by a group of older people playing cards just as time is passing by a group of younger people playing cards; his self awareness is that he's in neither group, he's in a limbo between young and old (remember, he's not yet 30) and he's alone. Just then the young boxer, who he's drinking coffee with, says he has to leave, a prospect of loneliness which frightens Tully for a moment so he asks him to stay and talk. They don't talk and as the camera pulls back their placement on-screen is the same as the two tables of old and young card players, which suggests what Tully's fate will be. But director John Huston doesn't stop there. In this long final scene there are a few moments where nothing on screen moves; it's not freeze-frame, Huston's being more subtle than that, but it's the same effect: Instead of time passing Tully by, Huston is now pointing out that time is passing the audience by. Incredibly subtle storytelling. One should now sit back for a while and ponder the truths in this story.

The realism in this movie strikes the same chord in me that Angel does, but in a more pure way. The characters in Angel could be real people, and Hollywood Blvd itself is real, but they don't feel quite as real as the people in Fat City do amidst their run down reality of Stockton, California. Every major city has a skid row, thus the reality of Fat City should be easier to perceive by everyone that sees it, helping the bleakness of the story make its point.

Telling a story about mundane everyday life runs the risk of boring the audience, so the characters have to make up the entertainment balance. It helps a great deal that these characters are likeable and real so their interaction keeps the audience's attention, especially Tyrrell's character. Again she's playing an outrageous whacko but it's a totally different performance than the other movies where she plays an outrageous whacko. Tyrrell has the gift of being able to be a new character for each of her roles. Here she also does something different with her style of line delivery which distances her character further from other roles she's played.

Again Tyrrell shows off her acting talent by playing a totally different character than she does in other movies while still being completely outrageous.

What can I say? This is a wonderfully insane movie that maintains the quality of its insanity for the entire length of the film, and that's not an easy thing to do. This is a masterpiece. Each time I watch it my sense of wonder comes away satisfied. If you're looking for a fun movie that is something totally different (seriously!) then watch this. Highly recommended.

Low budget creepy horror, but good creepy horror. Once more a totally different character for Tyrrell to play; this movie must be watched for her performance as the totally bonkers aunt. The horror and creepiness becomes really intense when the script calls for her to let loose.

Earns lots of points for being one of the original Video Nasties, surprisingly still unavailable in the UK. Loses points for its overuse of the cliché where the supposedly dead killer hasn't quite been finished off yet and comes back for more.

I'm guessing that due to the loss of the talents of Donna Wilkes, Cliff Gorman, and Dick Shawn, the powers that be had to give more prominence to Tyrrell and Rory Calhoun in order to have a sense of character continuity in this sequel. That's not a bad thing but the replacements for those three don't have the same charisma and so the sequel's lost the balance of character that helped make Angel special. In that movie we didn't see anything of Tyrrell's character outside of her apartment building so without any prior experience it feels strange seeing her take part in the action in this movie.

From watching her performance one gets the impression that Tyrrell was happy making this sequel, although I prefer her performance as Solly from the first movie where it wasn't overshadowed by the cartoon feeling that this sequel has.