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Plot

If you like the title of this Belgian production, you'll love its source, a story by Charles Bukowski titled The Copulating Mermaid of Venice, Calif. Actually the film draws material from three different Bukowski stories to outline three crucial stages in a man's life. The hero begins as a 12-year old naif, "develops" into a miserable pimply adolescent who yearns for the girls who laugh in his face, and "matures" into an alcoholic, drug-addicted bum with a predilection for necrophilia. Amazingly, the material is handled with subtlety and sensitivity--the trick is to get through the film's first painful moments. The episodic nature of Love is a Dog From Hell is due to the fact that the film began as a 30-minute short subject, then was expanded into a feature when a distributor evinced interest. For its grindhouse playoffs, Love is a Dog From Hell was retitled Crazy Love.
MPAA Rating:
Genre(s):
Drama
Run Time:
90min.
Theatrical Release Date:
09/30/1987
DVD Release Date:
10/26/2004
Director(s):
Dominique Deruddere
Starring:
Josse de Pauw , Michaël Pas , Gene Bervoets , Amid Chakir
Themes:
Drug Addiction,Alcoholism,Sexual Awakening
Tone:
Disturbing,Hallucinatory,Lurid,Sexual,Outrageous
Keywords:
adolescence,alcoholism,coming-of-age,drug-addiction,emotion,love,necrophilia,passion,perversion,promiscuity
Country of Origin:
USA (09-30-1987)
Language:
French