Cleaning Up

Sometimes, a movie can have all the right ingredients but still not quite come off. 1996's Curdled was executive produced by Quentin Tarantino and stars Angela Jones (Esmeralda Villalobos from Pulp Fiction) as a young woman obsessed with crime scenes and beheadings. It even features a crossover character from From Dusk Till Dawn. For whatever reason, the film just can't seem to muster enough energy to come to life.

It has a splashy beginning. Jones' character as a little girl witnesses a mob hit and is immediately transfixed. Cut to years later and the young woman, chewing bubblegum, sees a TV ad for forensics cleanup crews and decides it's the job for her.



She becomes fascinated with a serial killer played by William Baldwin leading to a long scene in which she finds herself trapped at the crime scene with him. The two carry on a bizarre flirtation that should be a lot more fascinating than it is. Why doesn't it work? Maybe it's the omnipresent samba music that makes the film feel like a generic '90s indie film. Mostly I think it's the editing and pacing. This was originally a short film and maybe it works better in that format. Angela Jones is really good, though.