Directed by Brian Yuzna (Bride of Re-Animator, Society), Faust: Love of the Damned (2000) is based on Tim Vigil’s graphic splatterpunk opera of sex, gore, leather, and pentagrams. Even though the original comic predates Todd McFarlane’s character by a few years, it’s pretty much what you’d expect if Spawn ditched the moral angst and just leaned into the ol’ horny ultraviolence.
For the uninitiated: John Jaspers makes a deal with a mysterious figure named M (spoiler: it’s the devil) to get revenge on his girlfriend’s killer. Surprise! The price is his soul – and what follows is a blood-soaked descent into becoming a monstrous vigilante with blades for hands and a thirst for carnage. Meanwhile, a psychologist gets pulled into the mess while investigating the brutal murders tied to Jaspers’ transformation. Also: Jeffrey Combs shows up and the movie is all the better for it.
It’s a mess to be sure – but like all of Yuzna’s films, it’s a glorious, grotesque, goopy, defiant mess that wants to shock your parents.
It looks darn good on the shelf somewhere between The Crow and Black Scorpion. -Pop