Review: The Ghastly Love of Johnny X (2012)

The Ghastly Love of Johnny X is a musical science fiction comedy film by director Paul Bunnell, which tells the very unusual story of a juvenile delinquent who has been exiled to earth from a distant planet.

Overall I found the experience of watching this film to be very unique and frankly quite strange, but mostly in a good way.

The main problem for me was the plot, which I didn’t find particularly interesting. It felt rather flat in comparison to the more lively aspects of the film.

Thankfully however, it’s the visual style and presentation that are the biggest selling points. The concoction of ‘50s B cinema, sci-fi melodrama combined with the theatrics of song and dance is especially entertaining. The film also does a great job in capturing the style and fashion of the time.

I particularly loved the dialogue shared among the many interesting characters. It’s full of that very distinct 50s lingo and slang, in addition to being playful and quite often suggestive.

Performances from the cast are generally good. It’s very obvious in many scenes that they had a lot of fun during the production, which is important

I do recommend The Ghastly Love of Johnny X. Its level of oddity is truly a sight to behold. I give it

★★★½


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