I’ve been friends with BJP for many years and followed their work from the start. I’ve probably been their harshest critic, but always support them and try to find good things to point out and also give suggestions.

What I’m getting at is this: Even though I am friends with them, I have never and will never pull any punches when I give them my opinions.

This means that we’ve had our disagreements. Many times.

They usually shoot their films under strict time constraints for competitions. Such as the 48 Hour Film Project. And I understand that they have to write, film and edit in a very short time period.

Clinical Research is a comedy/sci-fi sorta…I can’t fucking classify it.

Chiropractor Alex Watkins wants to end the world of back pain. And he will go to any lengths to do so.

Such as kidnapping and experimenting on people.

He locks them in cages and drills holes into their backs all in the name of SCIENCE!

Finally, he seems to have found the cure and shares it with the world…without them knowing.

Things don’t really go as planned.

First of all, David Province, who plays the doctor, is a riot.

It’s strange to see him go from being serious, as the “addiction”, in Burnout to straight up hilariously maniacal, in this short.

His googly eyes and manic performance are perfect for this role. He really seems to have some great comedic timing, as well.

We don’t really get to spend much time with any other characters, as this is a one-man show.

However, behind the camera, we’ve got an incredible show of talent.

Gone are the days of just point the camera and shoot.

The use of lighting is excellent. It’s so vibrant, that sometimes I forgot to pay attention to the story. And the camera-work helps to make it look so interesting. (There were a couple times where it was too dark to see the actors, but that could be my computer screen.)

As a matter of fact, when they were filming, one of the actors, Spawn of Brainshift, stated that I was gonna love this. And he was right. They really put a lot of thought into every shot.

I had a great time watching this. Just the utter ridiculousness of the plot had me giggling.

You want to cure back pain? That, right there, had me laugh.

So you lock someone in a dog cage? You drill holes in their back? WTF?

Yes, none of it makes sense in our reality. But in its’ own crazy, little world, you can just roll with it and enjoy the ride.

The acting by Dave, the lighting, direction and camera work, the music and the editing all come together to make this the best BJ project ever. And one of the best micro-budget indie shorts I’ve seen.

And even if you don’t know the guys, it WILL entertain.

And that’s the whole point.

Entertain me, make it look good, make me laugh and you’ve done your job as filmmakers.

Nutjob travels through time and gives her opinion:

So it's National Film Contest time again, and again Bugjuice Productions have asked me to write a review on their sci-fi/horror film Clinical Research. I was more than enthusiastic in my last review, so I guess they thought I'd be similar towards this film. At first, I was excited to see another one of their films from a 48 hour type competition. I liked last year's film, and now after a year of growth, they should have really grown by leaps and bounds.

I was, to an extent... right. This is one of their more stylistic pieces. They have learned a lot about cinematography, story-boarding, and playing up the actor's strengths (as all actors are volunteers and not professionals). They really did up the chaotic mind-fuck sensory overboard in the montage. There is too much to look at and watch, and even more to hear... that adds to that creepiness of this film. Everything on the production, acting, and filming end was put together beautifully....

Except, I hate it and let me explain why. It's the plot. This is a Mad "Scientist" film about an insane Chiropractor who wants to rid the world of back pain. Like most mad doctor/scientists, he's willing to do some unorthodox things to accomplish his goal... like capturing a man and putting him in a dog cage (as they never show an actual lock on this cage), strap another man to a table and drills holes into his back, and so on. It's for this very reason, I hate this film. It's absolutely and completely rediculous. (Nix Says: You’re misspelling this on purpose.)

For starters, most chiropractors aren't scientists or even MD's... they are instead DC's (doctors of chiropractics), and are similar to DDS (Doctors of Dental Surgery), as in they are extremely specialized in their knowledge, and wouldn't know the over-all medical complexities that a Medical Doctor would know. So, for a Chiropractor to decide he will use his chemistry set, drill, and dog cage to cure back pain.... after having no formal medical training (as Wiki suggests) is a bit far fetched.

However, for the sake of argument, lets say this Chiropractor did flip his lid and decide to do strange experimentation, his methods are completely counter-productive. Sticking one guy in a dog cage wouldn't help his back pain in the least... if anything, a normal pain-free person would have intense back pain from the tiny cramped space, so that lacks logic and planning. You don't drill holes into people to explain back pain that can be explained by x-ray and other diagnostic devices. Nothing that this Chiropractor does makes any sense.

Still, lets try to suspend belief enough to think that this Chiropractor is beyond all logic and reason, there are still flaws with this concept. Like how this Chiropractor captures his hapless victims. He gets a large net and surprises them by practically tackling them and wrestling them to the ground. In theory, this works in the complete surprise element, however I wonder how many times he lost his victim due to the fact they are faster/stronger or realize what’s happening before the Chiropractor is capable to capture him... wouldn't those people go running and screaming to the police? Wouldn't there be an all points bulletin out for this chiropractor, or a doctor like person who matches this description? Those he does succeed in capturing, how does he keep them from escaping from his basement/garage/lab place thing? One guy he has in an unlocked but closed dog cage... which works great for dogs, because dogs don't have opposable thumbs, but this guy does. Don't you think that when the Chiropractor goes off to his "day job" this man can get out of his cage, help free the others and escape? Finally, if you let those two factors go, and you think about it more realistically, there is already a "cure" for back pain. It's called Vicodin or Persocet. Sure those are heavy duty painkillers, but they do solve the no pain concept rather efficiently. Why would a chiropractor look for a magic wonder serum to cure something that already has a pill that does the job? Wouldn't he try to find something less medicated and more... um, natural to solve this issue, like some special adjustment, or particular brace?

In short (though what I just typed up was far from short) it's the whole concept of this film that bothers me. It's not that it doesn't work with the "mad scientist" type movies, because the few I've seen, which off of the top of my head number as Frankenstein only, it's on par with the illogical insanity you see in that type of film. I've never been one to get immersed into a "mad scientist" film, and usually avoid them like the plague. I just don't enjoy things I can look at and say "but, this or that doesn't make sense because it won't accomplish this/that." I find the whole concept of a "mad scientist" rediculous, (Nix Says: Stop that.) and that keeps me from really enjoying the film. So it's for this reason, I give this film 3 stars... I hate it, but, I can't blame the filmmakers for the fact I hate it (with a low star rating)... and I don't want to reward them for making a completely rediculous (Nix says: Seriously, I know you’re doing this on purpose!|) film (by giving them a high star rating)... so I give them the middle of the road rating. If you can overlook the above, and get into the whole mad chiropractor jive of this film, you should love it. Personally, I don't, but then again, I can't get into it due to how I look at films for the most part.

Oh, and those who might argue with me, and say I did like Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog... let me clarify one point on that. Yes, there are some parts of Clinical Research that do emulate Joss Whedon's internet film phenomenon (like there is a video blog sequence)... Clinical Research is not a Super Hero/Super Villain film. Dr. Horrible wasn't a mad scientist with good intentions... he was a mediocre villain who wanted to be a super villain. Sure he liked to use science to accomplish this goal, still, he was out for world domination, which of course is why I could get into that film. It's far easier to understand a character who is out to conquer the world, than to understand a character that is out to cure back pain... but again, that's just me.

Just to summarize, if you like mad scientist type films, you should like Clinical Research... If you don't, well.... then why bother?

NutJob makes some good points.

We chatted about this: