You never quite know what to expect from a Joe Begos joint. After psychedelic druggie vampires, grizzled war veterans and a murderous robo-Santa, the director’s next trip is a whiskey-and-coke-fueled alien invasion film which pits two former best friends against an infestation of vicious Martians. Just to be clear, when we say whiskey and coke, we’re not talking about the cola.
One thing you can expect from a Joe Begos joint – lashings of gore and neon-tinged psychedelic imagery. In that respect, Jimmy and Stiggs goes harder than the director ever has before; an unabating assault of luminescent splatter and all-out ultraviolence. Following a disorienting take on alien abduction tropes, failed filmmaker Jimmy (Begos) is furious, and out for revenge. He hits up his former best friend and work partner Stiggs (Matt Mercer) for back-up, only to fall back into old habits when their animosity resurfaces. But with the aliens returning for round two, the men are thrown into a desperate fight for survival against the Martian plague… if they can stop fighting each other first, that is.
That’s roughly it, as far as plot goes. Jimmy and Stiggs is less Independence Day and more middle-aged men flinging rubber aliens about the place (and at each other) like gore-filled water balloons. There’s an Evil Dead–esque energy to its maddening attack on the senses, and the film’s delivery of carnage makes even Sam Raimi look subtle by the time the final acts of bloodletting are done.
That Jimmy and Stiggs manages to sustain 80 minutes of this is impressive, and many will find their patience tested by the relentlessness of just about everything Begos chooses to commit to. An anarchic, heavy metal gorefest, it’s a version of the splatter flick turned up to eleven. Jimmy and Stiggs isn’t just a lot – it’s the most. But then, what did you expect from a Joe Begos joint?
JIMMY AND STIGGS premiered at UK FrightFest on August 23, 2025.
