rubber movie still

Back in 2011 in my review of the campaign for Rubber I wrote:

If there’s a complaint that has no place in reviewing this campaign it’s that the marketing takes the movie too seriously. On the contrary there’s nary a frame that’s shown or any other component that isn’t actively winking at the audience about how ridiculous this whole conceit is. That’s not to say it isn’t good – especially in terms of trying to reach the people who are into movies like Scanners and other classic horror films that have crazy concepts. They’re the ones who have latched on to the movie and who may turn it into a cult classic over a period of time.

I’m not sure if the movie has become a cult classic in the last five years but it certainly does live up to the “crazy concept” I was picking up from the campaign. In fact, the marketing didn’t even come close to doing justice to the level of insanity in the story, which deals with a sentient and homicidal tire that goes around blowing things and people up with its mind.

It’s more or less pointless to compare the marketing to the finished movie. The trailer in particular sells something that’s so disjointed and insane there’s no attempt to mislead the audience or sell the movie as something other than what it is. The only complaint along these lines I have is that there is a big chunk of the story – an entire framing device – that’s not hinted at at all in the campaign. I understand why they did that since it provides some crucial story elements and indeed much of the morbid humor that runs throughout the story, but it’s something I wasn’t expecting at all while watching it.