Is Stuart Gordons black-comic horror movie “Stuck” just tabloid-fueled gore or American metaphor?
Andrew O’Hehir May. 30, 2008 | THINKFilmMena Suvari in “Stuck.” Stuart Gordon’s “Stuck” accesses a long horror-movie tradition of blending bloodshed, dark comedy and vague gestures in the direction of social criticism. Grandiose claims have been made in some quarters for this nasty, economical little film, but it does what it sets out to do pretty well. Is its tale of cruelty, selfishness and idiocy — based on the notorious case of a woman who left a severely injured man trapped in her shattered windshield overnight — a metaphor for the current state of American life, or maybe for the unchanging human condition? Only if you want it to be. Gordon is a genre veteran whose 1985 H.P. Lovecraft adaptation “Re-Animator” remains a cult favorite, but the rest of his career has been hit-and-miss. (Other high points include his 1986 “From Beyond,” and a hilarious 2006 adaptation of David Mamet’s play “Edmond.”) “Stuck” plays to his strengths, meaning that he shoots clean, short scenes that mov
