Wow! Such a good movie.

There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

This film is a missed opportunity. The writer should have sped up Jack's transformation into the Septic Man, then let him loose on the township. However what you have is a meandering story of Jack who gets trapped in a water treatment plant where two maniacal killers are using one of the sluices as a dumping ground for body parts, which is causing mass contamination of a township's water supply, and his transformation... along with an awful amount of vomit.I watched this film as I had previously viewed Pontypool, which was written by the same writer. That was an original horror movie based on a noise created virus affecting people. On that, I took a chance on this.... and wish I hadn't. The two movies are similar in a couple of ways, as that they basically revolve around one man. In Pontypool, it's the DJ in his booth, Stephen McHattie (who gives a cameo in Septic Man as the Mayor), who gives a believable performance and is helped with tight direction.In Septic man, Jack, portrayed badly and unbelievably by Jason David Brown, is hindered with bad direction and strange and implausible characters, especially the killer brothers. Even Molly Dunsworth gives a lacklustre interpretation of Jacks dowdy, browbeaten, pregnant wife; I've seen her in other roles, such as Haven, and she can do so much better. And genre regular, Julian Richings, feels like he's turned up on site and read his lines. It's nice to hear his original English accent.This is a dull and boring film, for the most time, though the special effects when Septic Man starts to become are pretty nice and gruesome - respect to The Brothers Gore. The scene where Jack peels back the skin on his arm is cringe-making.There is so much of Troma's Toxic Avenger in this movie. By the end of the movie, Septic Man looks like a more up-to-date, bigger budget, Toxi. Regrettably, it's not as good.

I cannot for the life of me fathom some of negative reviews. I guess people don't go for something this far out of the horror mainstream, or something. I *loved* this movie. I see it as like a giallo film, but an especially brilliant one. Yes, it has its flaws, points where they don't even bother to try to hide the artifice, and the ending was probably its weakest point (except perhaps for that totally unnecessary first scene, which seems completely tacked- on and should just be fast-forwarded through.) It doesn't matter. Every horror movie that has ever had artistic aspirations has just been blown out of the water. This is like the "Delicatessen" or "City Of Lost Children" of horror movies. It's absurd and surreal and artificial in places and stretches the boundaries of credulity here and again and is above all pretty unique, which is fitting considering it was the same writer as "Pontypool", another flawed but extraordinary gem that is similarly unique and creative enough to be well worth seeing despite some of the weak spots.

I liked it and give it good marks for originality story wise. It's got a low score on IMDb but I think thats mostly because of people expecting something else out of it like a serious version of "The Toxic Avenger" or a horror/comedy. Overall I enjoyed the movie although it could have been so much more. It's played a little slow and it's a very drab and depressing scenario. Don't go into it expecting a wild ride or a terrifying revenge flick. Over all I liked it but thought it fell a little short of what it could have been. It's the kind of movie some will love and others will claim was a waste of time. Definitely worth a watch.

Before I begin, I am not connected to this movie in any way (check my other 100 or so reviews and you'll see) but I need to make that clear before I give it the review Im about to (in case Im accused of that).Firstly, this film has got nothing to do with The Toxic Avenger which another reviewer here seems to think it should have been (?), Im really not sure why that is. Maybe he just reads a movie title and decides what its going to be about by that, but I really don't think thats a smart way to approach cinema and I (for one) am so glad it wasn't some terrible flick by the cheesemongers at Troma as its miles above their output in terms of quality.The film opens with an outbreak of a water-born disease where a sewage system worker (hes known as the septic man as its a logo on his van) is approached to find the source and deal with it given an offer of a large sum of money. He enters the underground tunnels soon after, and quickly finds himself locked into a tank underground, where his problems really begin.While the singular elements of Septic Man may not be original on their own, what is original and fresh is how they're strung together. Be advised that this is NOT a horror comedy, in fact its quite dark, twisted, and disturbing at times, with a grim harsh plot running most of the way through. Its written by Tony Burgess, who also wrote the fantastic Pontypool (2008) and its likely if you found that slow going then this movie might not suit you either. Luckily many horror fans have progressed beyond watching a man in a mask chase teens through a forest however so we welcome anything with a modicum of the different. And I loved this film, in fact its quickly moved into my top ten horror films of the year along with the likes of Under The Skin, Found, The Borderlands, Dead Snow 2 etc.I suggest you go into Septic man not thinking you know what its about, and if you have the ability to watch a film while enjoying a build up in tension and story without it all being laid on a plate for you I think you'll love it. I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised. There have been so many mediocre horror films this year (Lord of Tears, Cross Bearer, The Cemetery etc) that its great when something comes along you thought might just be another. Septic Man is indeed a great new horror film that's an asset to the genre and one long standing horror fans (30yrs for me) will enjoy.