Director Report Card: Matthew Bright (1999)

2. Freeway II: Confessions of a Trickbaby

“Freeway” was never the kind of movie that was going to make a lot of money at the box office. A film that intentionally outrageous was made for cult movie weirdos, not a mass audience. Matthew Bright's debut feature grossed less than 300,000 dollars against a three million dollar budget. “Freeway” played on HBO before its theatrical release, suggesting nobody expected it to make much in cinemas anyway. Nevertheless, Bright's twisted vision must've been successful in some regard, because a sequel would be released two years later... Sort of. “Freeway II: Confessions of a Trickbaby” has no narrative connection to the original. It would forego theaters altogether and debut directly on VHS. Unusual for an in-name-only follow-up released straight-to-video, the original's writer/director returned. “Freeway II” is as much a creation of Matthew Bright as the original was. 

Bulimic teenage prostitute Crystal is ordered to serve four years in a juvenile detention facility, followed by a twenty-five year prison sentence, for the crime of robbing her johns. Her first night in prison, she meets her deeply disturbed cell mate, Cyclona, who is in for murder. The two soon concoct a plan to escape prison, going on the road together. A drug and murder-filled misadventure follows, Crystal struggling with her own demons and Cyclona with her murderous impulses. They eventually arrive in Mexico, where Cyclona meets up with her childhood guardian Sister Gomez. Yet not everything is as it seems and soon both girls are in grave danger once again. 

Like I said, “Freeway II” isn't a real sequel. According to Writer's Guide delegation, the film can't even be classified as a sequel at all. In more than a few markets, it was released as just “Trickbaby.” Yet the film is a definite thematic follow-up to the original. It's another brutal exploitation film, following female teen delinquents as they escape prison and defend themselves from murderers. The most direct connection between the two films is that both update Grimm fairy tales for the grindhouse movie set. If the original “Freeway” was “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Confessions of a Trickbaby” is “Hansel and Gretel.” A brother and sister on the run through the woods are switched up for teen girls merely posing as brother and sister. Crack rocks replace the trail of seeds through the woods. A house made of candy is replaced with a church full of food. Yet the inspiration is obvious and both stories end with a cannibalistic witch shoved into an oven. 

As a sequel of sorts, you can definitely see that “Confessions of a Trickbaby” was looking to top the original “Freeway” as an exercise in bad taste. The film embraces teenage depravity to a point that would impress Larry Clark. Its 15 year old heroines smoke, drink, and swear constantly. A notable scene has them huffing paint on the road. Cyclona is an nymphomaniac who propositions Crystal minutes after meeting her. Eventually, she gives into the other girl's sexual demands. Cyclona is also an impulsive killer, whose acts of madness include necrophilia as well. The two girls also frankly discuss the sexual abuse they both suffered as children. There's drugs and prostitution and threats of rape. Unlike the original, this one's prison setting does include a shower scene and the naked girl has a hook for a hand too. The first “Freeway” managed to show a certain intelligence under its grindhouse movie excess. “Confessions of a Trickbaby” isn't exactly dumb either but it piles on a lot more shock value.

Look no further than the film's treatment of bulimia. Right as the film's title comes up on-screen, Crystal kneels over a commode and retches. Later, there's a sequence where a whole group of teen girl prisoners get on their knees in the bathroom and empty their stomachs out. Later, they binge eat and then group-purge around a bucket. The climax of the film's vomit obsession occurs when Crystal unleashes a fire hose of puke over a sadistic prison nurse. The film tries to justify its fixation on spewing. Crystal's dysfunctional relationship with food is paired with an unquenchable hunger for something more, for catharsis or companionship. Yet the metaphor never quite comes together, making the bile-rising content feel like another element included in the sequel to shock and appall the viewer more than anything else. (And “Freeway II” is certainly not an in-depth or thoughtful look at the serious topic of bulimia in teenage girls.)

IMDb's trivia page insists notorious exploitation filmmaker Doris Wishman was the first choice to direct “Confessions of a Trickbaby,” before Matthew Bright signed up to return. I can find no further citation for this factoid, so it could be bullshit. But it does raise an interesting thought: Would the notoriously thrifty Wishman been able to make the movie look better or worst? “Freeway II” is notably cheaper looking than the original. The sequel takes place mostly within artificial looking sets. Cinematographer Joel Ransom has mostly worked on television. That's what “Freeway II” looks like most of the time. The sequel was distributed on VHS by Full Moon Entertainment, infamous purveyor of campy nineties horror films. (Matthew Bright wrote a few scripts for the company.) “Trickbaby's” cheap look and lack of production values also reminds me of the fast-and-cheap Full Moon house style.

Yet, for what it's worth, Matthew Bright tries to replicate the look of the original. Many of the film's cramped interior, such as Crystal and Cyclona's run-in with a vicious transient in a rail car, have the same sort to closed-in intensity to them as the original. The same bent surrealism that popped up in the original is also occasionally on display here as well. Cyclona's far-out visions of Sister Gomez or the drugged-out frenzy her sexual/murderous passions drive her to are depicted with the same sort of feverish imagery as the original's visions of grandma's house. “Freeway II” undeniably does not look as good as the first one but at least the creative team tried to make this look like a more expensive movie than it really was.

No matter how ugly the first “Freeway's” subject matter got, it had a pitch black sense-of-humor behind it that made all the sleaziness go down a little easier. “Confessions of a Trickbaby” is not that tonally consistent. There are obvious jokes here, such as the random group of crackheads who appear to smoke the rocks Crystal uses as markers in the woods. Or Cyclona's visions depicting Crystal as an armored warrior woman. Yet the movie's commitment to out-shocking the original ultimately leads the viewer into exhaustion. The last act rolls cannibalism, child sex slavery, a pedophile blood cult, and a torture dungeon into the plot. “Freeway II” tries to wrap up in a cathartic burst of gunfire and gore but the audience is dulled by the depravity and nihilism by that point. The sequel largely lacks the wit, razor sharp editing, and rocket sled pacing that made the original's shock tactics more palatable.

The first “Freeway's” fairy tale metaphor had a deeper purpose too. The “Red Riding Hood” parallels were in service of a wider point about how young women are preyed upon by men and society at large. “Confessions of a Trickbaby” arguably has a similar feminist subtext, though it's harder to see under all the puke and B-movie nastiness. The film also has strong female leads outsmarting and defeating the evil men in their lives. (Which, in an example of the film's shock content that has aged poorly, includes a transgender twist.) Yet the movie, inexplicably, gives a pass to Crystal's lawyer, who is portrayed as a literal pimp who takes advantage of his female clients. And, simply put, the moral of “Hansel and Gretel” isn't as widely applicable to our modern age as “Little Red Riding Hood” is. That story's messages – be weary of strangers with candy – is not updated as smoothly here. 

For all its flaws, “Freeway II” at least found a worthy heir to Reese Witherspoon's Vanessa. Natasha Lyonne plays Crystal. Sporting a gravelly smoker's voice, Lyonne immediately establishes that Crystal is exhausted. She's been fighting her entire life – so depersonalized by everyone around her that she goes by simply “White Girl” for most of the film – and it has left her hardened and broken. When she gets moments of freedom or joy, they are fleeting. Lyonne is a heroine you can really root for, as determined to survive as Witherspoon's Vanessa was but left far more damaged by a lifetime of abuse. The movie could execute it better but you still long to see her earn some catharsis.

If Lyonne's Crystal is desperately holding onto what sanity she has left, Marie Celedonia's Cyclonia left that behind long ago. Celedonia is extremely convincing as a girl totally torn apart by her inner turmoil. In some scenes, she's consumed by lusts she can't control and barely seems able to understands. Other times, she's frighteningly unhinged. Yet she also gives the impression of someone very child-like, especially during a moment where she wets herself on the road. Celedonia expertly combines all these elements in one consistent character, a person who victimizes but has ultimately been a victim far more often herself. 

While clearly a lower budget affair than the original, “Freeway II” still manages to slot some notable names into its supporting cast. Vincent Gallo plays Sister Gomez. Gallo underplays it in the part, cooing every line in a soft, comforting whisper while also putting off a subtle, discomforting energy. This is exactly what's needed for a character that pretends to heal people while doing monstrous acts. David Alan Grier goes in the opposite direction as Mr. Butz, Crystal's lawyer. Grier hams it up and makes a campy spectacle of himself, to mixed results. Michael T. Weiss is also very unnerving as the drifter who attempts to assault Crystal and Cyclona, looking as dirty and unhinged in the part as it clearly required. John Landis also has a cameo appearance as a judge, presumably because he had lots of experience seeing what the inside of a court room looked like. 

Matthew Bright presumably couldn't cash in another favor with his pal Danny Elfman, so the score here is not as memorable. However,  there are a couple of potent needle drops from Veruca Salt, Juliana Hatfield, and The Surf Trio. “Confessions of a Trickbaby” has been dismissed as both an underwhelming attempt to replicate the outrageous impact of the original with less of the comedy and pitch-perfect pacing. It's also been defended by a few folks as a worthy cult movie exercise in its own right. The sequel is definitely not as good as the first one, as its ugliness and trashiness gets exhausting long before it wraps up. It's simply not as inspired or layered as the first “Freeway.” Yet the cast and a few moments of inspired insanity makes it worth looking at. I'd say it's a bit better than its reputation implies. [Grade: C+]