Jonny_Numb The reflexive urge to label any film that flaunts its own sense of willful ambiguity as "in the vein of Lynch" is an overused cliché in the realm of armchair film criticism. And it's all too easy to overstate the paranoid influence of Polanski on films that take a maddeningly subjective approach to their characters. And it's easier yet to label a movie released in 1990, yet utilizing gorgeous black-and-white cinematography, as a satirical-noir counterpart to Billy Wilder's "Sunset Boulevard" and the black-humored psychological horror of "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" But "Singapore Sling," true to its alcohol-blended title, cribs all of these seemingly disparate influences into a bizarre original that, while not yielding the most emotionally resonant result, offers a hypnotic descent into a gradually escalating nightmare. Greek writer-director Nikos Nikolaidis offers a simple setup, revealed through the title character's voice-over narration: for three years, he has been searching for a woman named Laura, and an injury (for which no explanation is given) finds him on the doorstep of a deranged "Mother" (Michele Valley) and "Daughter" (Meredyth Herold), who proceed to torture and degrade our protagonist in all manner of revolting ways. "Singapore Sling" is well aware of its capacity to disgust and provoke, but what keeps the proceedings fascinating (and watchable) are performances (particularly Valley's and Herold's) that take on an inspired madness that convinces the viewer that their actions are consistent with their unglued personalities (and not mere showy torture fodder in the "Hostel" mold). Complementing Nikolaidis's madhouse aesthetic is the black-and-white cinematography, where one beautifully-conceived shot follows the next, and gives the proceedings a paradoxically classy look, despite the sharp contrast with the subject matter. While not without pretension, "Singapore Sling" straddles the line between "arthouse" and "grindhouse" with gleefully mad abandon, its unapologetic weirdness a breath of fresh air.

JebbyDiah *********Spoiler******************* The Secret of Singapore Sling is revealed! I saw this fine masterpiece of modern post-morbidness and cracked open the perverse brain candy shell to uncover the hidden meaning.The big clue is when the mother and daughter discuss the rules of servants. If you look up the 3 laws of Robotics established by Isaac Asimov you will discover the similarities between "robots" and "servants."1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.2. A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.The women talk about "servants" following laws like these. They are really talking about how THEY too are "servants" (aka robots) trapped by these rules.Now take note of the women's spastic movements and bizarre speech patterns. And the Singapore Sling character.. he spends a lot of time motionless and never speaks.They are all robots.They are robots struggling to re-enact the Laura storyline (from the classic movie released in 1944) so that they can learn about humanity.As robots they do not understand things like nuances in speaking.. natural human movements, and human sexuality.A further clue is when they are eating. Robots cannot eat! Thus they force food in, and then regurgitate that food back up. Without discomfort except for the regurgitation process itself. And they do not realize how this is not standard eating behavior.And finally, Singapore Sling "himself" is seen rusting... asking about water supposedly. No he was telling them that he had become wet from the outside and his lips were rust covered. Look closely, those are not swollen lips that need water. Those are rusted lips that needed to be polished and cleaned.The woman does not pee on Singapore Sling, she tries to kill him with water released from a valve because she does not know what else to do.If you watch Singapore Sling with this secret uncovered, it becomes a movie that makes sense, and you can delight in seeing a story about robots trying desperately to re-enact a movie they knew about, to try to learn to become human. The water outside and in the pool is the constant threat that keeps them trapped inside.The tragedy is that a robot cannot become human and thus at the end Singapore Sling decides to bury himself and deactivate instead of living the lie.Watch it again with your Isaac Asimov books hand, and enjoy it for what it is... a fascinating study of humanity as seen from an alien perspective.

ElijahCSkuggs Going into Singapore Sling I knew almost nothing about it. I knew that it was supposed to be somewhat "extreme" and that's about it. But what was delivered was nothing I could ever have expected. Holy moly was this a strange movie. Let me rephrase that. Holy f@ckin sh!t was this a strange movie! Yeah that's much better.Singapore Sling is about a mother and daughter duo who have gone completely nuts after father died. Not saying they weren't nuts before, but I'm guessing father wouldn't have approved of everything they're now doing....even though father was a murderer. Haaha, OK, the story revolves around this duo and a man they named Singapore Sling. Singapore is a investigator on the trail of a woman named Laura who is missing and presumed dead. He follows a trail of clues and ends up finding these two whackos. The duo then hold the injured Singapore hostage in their home, while pretty much just trying to make him go nuts. But it's really just they're way of playing and having fun. Having fun for them consists of torture, sex, role-playing, masturbation with fruit, messy eating and the list goes on and on. The movie goes like this for quite a while, just the viewer getting to know these ladies.Singapore Sling is one of the strangest flicks I have ever seen, and also one of the most well made. Shot in a film noir type way, reminiscent of old style classics and combined with stylish, beautiful shots and fantastic music, the movie looks and sounds incredible. But the high praise should go to the actors involved. They were fantastic. Especially the daughter, talking about a role she was born to play....hot chick too. Singapore Sling's only problem is that it is a little long. It's a movie you definitely should watch more than once to fully digest what they're throwing at you. The acting alone is worth another watch. And it's not really a movie to fast-forward either. It's a movie to soak in. Singapore Sling should be a must see for any serious film lover out there. It's too unique not to be. 9 outta 10

EVOL666 SINGAPORE SLING is one of the strangest films out there. Now, I've watched a good bit of twisted fetish material in my day - but those are typically laid out porn-style, with no plot, and just scene-after-scene of twisted sh!t. This film is different, as it has a full-blown plot, incredible cinematography, excellent acting...and all the twisted nastiness that a true "shock-film" lover could want.Initially, the audience is introduced to a mother/daughter team of complete whackadoos who "kidnap" a private-dick that they begin to refer to as "Singapore Sling". Singapore enters the picture when he goes poking around the womens' house looking for a woman named Laura who he encountered a while back and has become obsessed with. Captured by the nut-jobs, Singapore is subject to all sorts of fun abuse at the hands of the two freak-o's, and the story begins to get "stranger" as we start to find out a little more about the actual background of the women...or do we??? SINGAPORE SLING is a VERY strange and original film. Shot in striking black-and-white in a very 1940's detective-story/film-noir style, but rife with "extreme" exploitation material - I honestly can say I've seen nothing like it before. The performances by the mother/daughter team are completely believable - same for Singapore (though he's mainly silent throughout the film). The depravity on-hand includes lesbionic incest, bondage, vomit-play, fruit-masturbation, cannibalism, golden-shower action, knife-rape-vag-stabbing - you name it, this one has it. This is one of those rare films that shows that "extreme" subject matter and depictions can still be stylish and innovative, and "viable" in film. Most will be repulsed by this if they aren't a fan of this sort of thing. The rest will appreciate it for being one of the weirdest and most stunning exploit films ever made. My only gripes are that it runs a little long and drags in some spots - and that with all the depravity on display - the sex/fetish scenes could have been more "graphic". Other than that - a fine exploit film indeed...9/10