Firecracker
2004, NR, 112 min.
Directed by Steve Balderson, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Karen Black, Jak Kendall, Mike Patton, Susan Traylor, Kathleen Wilhoite.

A truly bizarre film, Firecracker combines some magnificent imagery with some other seriously awful examples of composition and execution. Director Steve Balderson of Wamego, Kansas, where this story is set, struck a deal with Landmark Theatres for this traveling exhibition of his film. It stars the inimitable Karen Black in two roles, and ex-Faith No More singer Mike Patton also co-starring in duplicate. The story is a murder mystery set in a pious household and a circus freak show, and was filmed in the actual Wamego house where the murder took place and also uses actual sideshow performers. Think Freaks by a would-be David Lynch.

This article appears in November 4 • 2005.

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Marjorie Baumgarten is a film critic and contributing writer at The Austin Chronicle, where she has worked in many capacities since the paper's founding in 1981. She served as the Chronicle's Film Reviews editor for 25 years.