I absolutely love that some horror fans HATE Quentin Dupiex’ Rubber (or as it’s called in France, Rubber) for a few reasons. I’m betting he knew that’s just what would happen when the jaded but none too bright gore fanatics out there rolled into theaters or caught this on cable thinking they’d be getting a relentlessly violent and gory flick that just so happened to be non-stop hilarious. Well, it IS indeed gory and often quite funny… but it’s also a one or two gag film that works it hard by going in many directions (often at once) as well as one of the more absurdly meta movies you’ll ever see. You know you’re in for a weird time when a movie starts off with two characters on a desert road talking about how things happen for “no reason” before an audience in the distance waiting around is handed binoculars in order to watch what happens next. That’s probably the most normal thing you’ll see for the next 80+ minutes, by the way…

I could sit here and try and describe the rest of what takes place, but the fun of watching Rubber cold is watching what happens and rolling with the punches. All you need to know is the film being watched by that desert (and as you’ll discover, deserted) audience is about an abandoned tire that becomes self aware and takes to the road with the ability to make heads explode. As you’re wrapping your brain around that bit of information, the film veers off into even stranger territory and by the end, it’s orbiting an entirely new plane of genius. Of course, it sticks to Horror 101 conventions throughout (to the point that this gets mentioned by a few people in the film’s audience and the film being played for them), so in some respects, much of what occurs is predictable to a fault.

That said, I will say that a lot of people die by the time those awesome end credits kick in (not all due to tire damage, by the way) and even more questions are raised that don’t necessary need to be answered. Particularly to a real-life audience that went into the film thinking they were getting something a lot less cerebral (but a lot more mental). Dupiex’ many hats approach (writing, direction, cinematography, editing and some of the music) and the excellent work by the special effects team keeps things interesting even when the movie loops around on itself on occasion for some slightly confusing bits. Well, I wasn’t “confused” at all when I saw this on cable, but I recommended it to a friend who’s a big horror fan and he couldn’t stand the more quirky parts where the film switched focus off the tire doing its nasty deeds.

Still, as I noted above (like any good tire, this column is cyclical and groovy) I have the feeling that the director certainly knew what he was doing in making his movie as intentionally bizarre as he could. Especially as the film repeats part of the opening speech during the credits (is it an outtake or a different version of the scene?) and leaves you maybe wondering if the purpose of the film was to be entertainingly unbalanced as possible while still sticking to familiar genre ground. Of course, the best thing I can recommend here is to rent this, pop into a nice soft seat, turn your brain off (remove your head if you can,just in case you’re really scared of sentient tires) and enjoy the ride. By the way, the tire gets a screen credit as “Robert” and I’m thinking there’s a good future for him if he’s not too spoiled in Hollywood these days…