A tormented young woman haunted by a recurring dream is catapulted into a peculiar and deviant world where she is confronted by the duality of her existence.

Hide your wife, hide your kids, hide your wholesome sentiments, because Wowzers is hitting the West Coast scene this June to shock you out of your mundane life and suck you into a rabbit hole of distaste. An artsy, darkly comedic psychological piece of a most sexual nature, Wowzers follows its protagonist, Jaqueline, through the proverbial looking glass, where she meets eccentric characters housed within a… sex club? Porn studio? Alternate universe? Wherever she is, it is for sure a WTF film begging on its knees to be watched.

Haunted by a recurring dream — or rather, nightmare — Jaqueline (Sam Fox) lives in a quiet hell of normalcy and hetero-monogamy. Passive aggressive to her significant other, Jaqueline one day breaks up their seemingly happy life by begging him to hit her, hard, in an unprovoked fit of rage. When her mate does not comply, Jaqueline knocks him unconscious and makes her escape from their domestic life. Wandering about the empty streets and crashing shoreline after stealing away into the night, Jaqueline comes upon a building with neon signage of “Wowzers”, beckoning her to enter its portal doors. Inside, Jaqueline meets Kayla (Sarah Jo Marson), a sex worker under the employ of the deeply disturbed and violent boss, Mr. Dimms (Sam Ball), who suffers from anorgasmia — the inability to come (yea, wowzers indeed!). When Mr. Dimms invites Jaqueline to stay to help with her unhappiness and recurring dreams, Jaqueline takes up residence within his unhallowed halls, deadset on finding herself.

At only about 35 minutes long, Wowzers is not quite a short, but not quite a feature-length either. It may do well as a feature length, though with more time it might actually start to make sense, and that would take away its charm. The film, written by Sam Fox and co-written/directed by Ace Thor, has an excellent cold opening — a succession of clips wiz by like a flurried stream of consciousness, producing a Rorschach test effect on the senses reminiscent of Persona‘s highly analyzed opening, setting me up for the thrilling psychological content of the movie. The mind-trip feeling was further created from a visual sequence I’d liken to 2001: A Space Odyssey‘s infamous “stargate sequence”, used to transition Jaqueline from her cookie cutter world to the dark world of the building labeled “Wowzers”.

The music score and visual effects, also done by Ace Thor, are mostly what makes the movie’s success. I love a horror that uses a lot of string, usually as a weapon but this time instrumentally, as Wowzers uses the low sounds of cellos bellowing and the high pitchiness of violins screeching to create a sinister, unsettled environment. For its short length, the film relies on its clever, quick, and stylish editing to brilliantly show and not tell the disconnected demeanor and melancholy of its female protagonist and surrounding characters. Sam Ball as Mr. Dimms channels Bruce Campbell to me, and is the best part of the film in his disturbed and comedic portrayal of his character.

If you like the artsy stuff then you will have stumbled upon a gem with Ace Thor and Sam Fox’s visually stunning mind trip of a movie, Wowzers. The film’s west coast premiere is coming soon, scheduled to screen during the film festival, Dances With Films (June 13th – June 23rd). For a chance to see Wowzers, and at the world famous TLC Chinese Theater in Hollywood no less, click here to purchase tickets to this kinky, distorted thriller.