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      Sonny Boy

      R Released Oct 26, 1990 1h 38m Adventure List
      Reviews 36% 50+ Ratings Audience Score Small-time crook Slue (Paul L. Smith) sends his lackey, Weasel (Brad Dourif), to steal a car, and they're surprised to find a baby in the backseat. Slue and his transvestite lover, Pearl (David Carradine), decide to keep the child, naming him Sonny Boy. But the sadistic couple torture the boy and cut him off from the outside world, and years later, the teenage Sonny Boy (Michael Griffin) is incapable of functioning in society and is forced to submit to the criminal whims of his "parents." Read More Read Less Watch on Prime Video Stream Now

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      Critics Reviews

      View All (3) Critics Reviews
      Rob Gonsalves Rob's Movie Vault I found this consistently fascinating, though it’s the very definition of “not for everyone.” It has a true cult-movie cast. Rated: A Aug 31, 2022 Full Review Nicholas Bell IONCINEMA.com Its lurid set-up should definitely interest cineastes who can appreciate a bit of tastelessness in their exploitation films, but Robert Martin Carroll's provocative directorial debut devolves into a surreal fairy tale with an undernourished finale. Rated: 2.5/5 Oct 13, 2020 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 2/5 Sep 24, 2005 Full Review Read all reviews

      Audience Reviews

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      Audience Member Crazy good movie !!! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/23/23 Full Review Audience Member I was curious to see this after reading Leonard Maltin's BOMB review who deemed the movie only to have been made to offend audiences. Brad Dourif is a smalltime hood in New Mexico who steals a car and later finds out there was a baby in the car, which he then sells to local crime boss Paul L. Smith (who wants to feed the baby to the pigs) and his girlfriend, David Carradine in drag as Pearl. The film then follows Sonny Boy's abusive upbringing over the years, including cutting out his tongue, which lead to him becoming something of a feral murderous criminal. It's really unclear if the filmmakers were going for black comedy, some kind of surreal horror or merely making as a disturbing, unpleasant slice of life. I really didn't enjoy the film except for (SPOILER!) a climactic shootout between the bizarro family and an angry mob of townsfolk, which reminded me a lot of "The Devil's Rejects." Carradine good in these final moments and elevated the movie to something better than the rest of it's general low quality. Oh, and Sonny Boy does get a new tongue at the end of the film. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Audience Member in one word-bizarre. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member Interesting...But I cant believe they get budgets to make movies like this. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 02/04/23 Full Review Audience Member David Carradine, unlike his cohorts and other members of the Hollywood elite, stood up for what was right and just in his search to find meaning and fulfillment from his masturbatory addictions, all the way up to the end, when he was found dangling in a cramped closet in a Bangkok hotel, hung by his own fishnet panties, encrusted in a sling of sticky and coagulated ooze. A strange way to die, in any case, which could explain why Spider-Man was a culprit until it was revealed, in song, that Carradine chose to leave this world as he wished to live in it: a nutsack as dry and as empty as the Sahara, pumping out more ash and smog than all of Los Angeles. The lyrics to the theme from "Sonny Boy," as later inscribed into Carradine's tombstone go: "I'm looking for a place, where the dogs don't bite, and everything is going to be alright." Beautiful lyrics, especially when reflected through Carradine's somber yet gravel-heavy voice. The song could be about a lot of things, but ultimately -- much like INXS' "New Sensation" -- it's a song about finding a safe haven for masturbatory purposes, all of them, without fear or consequence from society. Consider the fragment: "Where the dogs don't bite" Many of us with pets know that applying peanutbutter or ice cream to the genitals works, but only for a very brief window of time. Once the dog realizes what you are doing, it gradually becomes bored of the practice and ends up biting, not just merely licking, at the genitals and the scrotal region. Then comes Michael Hutchence and INXS. "New Sensation" is a titular song title as it seems to be about a man and his life partner looking for a new sensation in their sexual practices, as evidenced by the lyrics: "Cry Baby Cry When You've Got to Get it Out I'll Be Your Shoulder You Can Tell Me All Don't Keep It In Ya" Some may look at these lyrics and make the false assumption that it is merely a song about applying guidance and emotional support to a loved one in need. But examine it closer. The set of lyrics starts of with the act of crying being the dominant theme. The secondary lyric "When You've Got to Get it Out" and subsequent lyrics "Don't Keep it In Ya" and "I'll Be Your Shoulder" could, or may, be suggesting that the narrator would like to punch his partner in the face and/or stomach until tears begin to well up and he/she reaches orgasm, causing a wave of ejaculate to score his shoulder. But... There is still more to the song than this because the song, as a whole, refers to the requirement of finding a New Sensation out of life. Generally, this feeling becomes domineering once an individual feels that masturbation in it of itself has become boring. Bestiality can only last for so long, so it must naturally be taken to a new level. Hutchence was looking for a "New Sensation" and Carradine, similarly, was "looking for a place" preferably one where his genitals where out of harm's way. Evidently somewhere along the way, both Hutchence and Carradine found what they were looking for through an act called autoerotic asphyxiation, which is performed as a means of enhancing the orgasm resulting in a "new sensation" that would be anywhere between 5% better to several thousand times better depending on the level of arousal by the participant involved. This practice, either intentionally or inadvertently, has enabled both Michael Hutchence and David Carradine to achieve a state of higher consciousness and heightened awareness, all while enjoying the joys of a much more intense orgasm. Some would view these cases as being slightly morbid considering that both men would eventually expire as a result of this practice. But what is usually overlooked in death in Western society is that it is not so much a means to an end, as it is just a segue into a higher realm of being: crossing over to either Nirvana itself or some other form of eternal salvation. In Buddhist history, there are countless stories of families finding their expired loved ones barricaded in a room with their robes removed and a silk wire wrapped tightly and securely around the neck. In their own tradition, when a body is found in this matter it is not only encouraged for the body not to be moved for several days but STRONGLY ADVISED for no manipulation of this scene to occur as the soul leaves the body through the back of the head. Families of the victim are encouraged to keep their daily routine during the arbitrary time period it would take -- in estimation -- for the soul to exit the body (generally between 2-4 days, although the erection usually shrinks to flaccidity after the second day), even if it means eating and sleeping in the same room as the expired one. By the end of this period, when it is safe to move the body, it is customary to check the softness/hardness of the back of the head -- not just in cases of Buddhist Autoerotic Asphyxiation, but in the case of any death. This is to measure the "karma level" that the person had in this life, which will judge where it will go on the next. A thicker, harder skull for example represents very bad karma, as it indicates that the soul is very hesitant to leave the body. A softer cranium indicates that the soul has left the body very rapidly, obviously very well aware of the fruits that the next life has in store. What is unique about Autoertoic Asphyxiation in Buddhist history is that the skull, after the "fermenting" period, is not only completely soft but the back of the head -- sometimes immediately after death --- is blown out completely. The case of Gong Shek, the 11th Century Buddhist Monk, being the most famous case of this when his entire upper body exploded immediately following an incident involving a vine being wrapped around his neck after beating off to/on a Redwood tree. Both Carradine and Hutchence were found with the back of their skulls completely dematerialized. Sketpics claimed that this was merely just decomposition, but even skeptics could not explain why only this part of the body had decomposed -- and done so, so rapidly. Of course correlation does not always lead to explanation, but even so it is enough for one to consider the shamanic and karmanic purposes that can derive from autoerotic asphyxiation. Even if death does occur, it seems to only be a benefactor, ultimately. "Sonny Boy" is a great film to take as an introductory course into this practice, which is why it comes highly recommended to beginners - at the very least giving excellent tips on what attire one should wear while performing the practice (In David Carradine's case: a blue dress, a wig, and some nylon pantyhose seems to work just fine). Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review Audience Member I saw this movie on TCM. It was pretty cool. I read that the director, Robert Martin Carroll was ostracized for the film. I read about it on films in review. com Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

      Cast & Crew

      Movie Info

      Synopsis Small-time crook Slue (Paul L. Smith) sends his lackey, Weasel (Brad Dourif), to steal a car, and they're surprised to find a baby in the backseat. Slue and his transvestite lover, Pearl (David Carradine), decide to keep the child, naming him Sonny Boy. But the sadistic couple torture the boy and cut him off from the outside world, and years later, the teenage Sonny Boy (Michael Griffin) is incapable of functioning in society and is forced to submit to the criminal whims of his "parents."
      Director
      Robert Martin Carroll
      Producer
      Moshe Diamant
      Screenwriter
      Graeme Whifler
      Production Co
      Brouwersgracht Investments, Trans World Entertainment (TWE)
      Rating
      R
      Genre
      Adventure
      Original Language
      English
      Release Date (Theaters)
      Oct 26, 1990, Original
      Release Date (Streaming)
      Nov 1, 2020
      Runtime
      1h 38m
      Sound Mix
      Surround
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