X
  • 1991
  • R
  • Greycat Films
  • 1 h 41 m
  • 1991
  • R
  • Greycat Films
  • 1 h 41 m
The Dark Backward

Summary A man pursues stand-up comedy encouraged by his fellow garbage man. Though his friend, who accompanies him on accordion, continues to tell him how great he is, he actually stinks. When the "comedian" grows a third arm out of his back, the friend uses this twist to get him signed up with a sleazy talent agent, and it begins to look like h...

Directed By: Adam Rifkin

Written By: Adam Rifkin

  • 1991
  • R
  • Greycat Films
  • 1 h 41 m
  • 1991
  • R
  • Greycat Films
  • 1 h 41 m

The Dark Backward

Metascore Mixed or Average Based on 7 Critic Reviews
48
User Score Available after 4 ratings
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Summary A man pursues stand-up comedy encouraged by his fellow garbage man. Though his friend, who accompanies him on accordion, continues to tell him how great he is, he actually stinks. When the "comedian" grows a third arm out of his back, the friend uses this twist to get him signed up with a sleazy talent agent, and it begins to look like h...

Directed By: Adam Rifkin

Written By: Adam Rifkin

Top Cast

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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Mixed or Average Based on 7 Critic Reviews
48
29% Positive
2 Reviews
43% Mixed
3 Reviews
29% Negative
2 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

 View All
Metascore
Mixed or Average Based on 7 Critic Reviews
48
29% Positive
2 Reviews
43% Mixed
3 Reviews
29% Negative
2 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
80
Rifkin has spun a pitch-black fable of show business at its sleaziest and most ephemeral.
By Kevin Thomas FULL REVIEW
67
Rifkin has fashioned a crawly little movie that underscores the Faustian price of fame in a way that few recent films have managed.
By Marc Savlov FULL REVIEW
58
Somewhere here, an ironic show-biz parable is trying to take shape. But director Adam Rifkin generally ignores it, preferring to flaunt the chops he has borrowed from David Lynch and John Waters.
FULL REVIEW
50
Mr. Rifkin's direction does display, in addition to an appreciation of Mr. Lynch and perhaps John Waters, a promising eye for design and a taste for the unusual. With less noxious material and a less patronizing manner, those talents would amount to a lot more.
By Janet Maslin FULL REVIEW
40
The film's sense of humor is relentlessly smutty. Rifkin attempts to wring laughs from gross food, breasts, garbage and sex with fat women. He is largely unsuccessful.
FULL REVIEW
25
This stupefyingly unfunny attempt to create a midnight cult movie stars Judd Nelson as a talentless stand-up comic who becomes a celebrity when he grows a third arm out of the middle of his back. [26 Mar 1992, p.E2]
By John Hartl FULL REVIEW
25
Rifkin has conjured up a new low in cinematic ineptitude.
By Peter Travers FULL REVIEW

User Reviews

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Details

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Production Company Backward Films, Elwes/Wyman Productions, L.A. Dreams Productions
Release Date Mar 9, 1991
Duration 1 h 41 m
Rating R
Genres
Tagline It's the world inside out.
View All Details

Awards

Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA
• 1 Nomination

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