Hooked Generation – The

The Hooked Generation is a movie that keeps getting better with multiple viewings. No, it does not become more compelling or lucid. However, you will grow in your appreciation of the quirky, drug-addled performances buried within this standard guns and ganja exploitation film. While completely formulaic in form, it's the mood method thespianism that will hook you. John Davis Chandler plays smackhead Acid like he's got track marks in his corneas. He's so nervous, itchy, and strung-out that you'll experience withdrawal symptoms just watching him. Who would have thought that sandwiched within this trippy cautionary tale about buying drugs from communists there would be such an effective, realistic performance? Even better, but on the opposite end of authenticity, is former junior heavyweight champion Willie Pastrano as the mindless muscle of the gang, the oh so apropos Dum Dum. Who cares if his character is nothing more than a lunkheaded henchman? Constantly off script and delivering his improvised musings in a decidedly low key, mostly mumbled half-laugh, Pastrano beats every scene he is in into submission with a kind of atrophied animal magnetism. It's as if they crossed Tony Montana with Stepin Fetchit. Director William Grefe handles everything in a professional, straightforward fashion. He is here to tell a story and he guides the goofball cast through this Peyote Place with only occasional quirky diversions. The Hooked Generation may not be an action packed thriller, but it is a uniquely charming film.