**The following review may contain slight spoilers**

Sonny Boy is a very bizarre movie. When Scream Factory announced the Blu-ray release, I had no idea what it was. Judging from the Blu-ray artwork, I thought it might be a child-monster movie, similar to the likes of Basket Case and It’s Alive. It’s actually not like those movies at all but rather a strange mash up of David Pelzer’s A Child Called It and Jack Hill’s Spider Baby with a dash of Frankenstein.

Paul L. Smith (Pieces) stars as Slue, a small-town crime boss ruling over a southwestern desert town. His number one crony Weasel (Brad Dourif) brings him a stolen care one day along with a black and white TV he stole from a motel room. Slue is furious because who wants a black and white TV? As Slue begins to take his frustrations out on Weasel, the crying sounds of an infant are heard coming from the car. Much to Weasel’s surprise, he stole a car with a baby in it. Slue is even more upset now, but his transvestite girlfriend Pearl (David Carradine) is thrilled!

Pearl scoops up the baby and holds him close to her chest. She’s overwhelmed with joy, having always wanted a baby. Pearl names the small child Sonny Boy. Slue wants to get rid of the baby, but reluctantly agrees to keep him because it pleases Pearl. Despite this agreement, Slue does try and trick Pearl into tossing the baby from high atop a bell tower. Pearl is too smart for that, however.

Pearl and Slue begin to raise Sonny Boy as their own, but not in the way any sane parents would raise a child. They place him in small boxes with little holes were they stuff scraps in for him to eat. Slue beats him over and over. They chain him to the back of a car and drag him through the desert. Sonny Boy is forced to wear rags and never gets to bathe. As a birthday present Slue cuts off his tongue to give him the gift of silence. It’s all pretty terrible, but they constantly say that they love him.

As Sonny Boy gets older and begins to grow into a young man, Slue stars using him to take on his enemies. Sometimes its simple little things like stealing a Jesus statue from a church and sometimes it’s committing a murder. Sonny Boy is expected to do any and all bidding that Slue wants.

Sonny Boy doesn’t know much of the outside world. He’s sort of like an animal in that way. He wants to know more and is very curious. He may not understand it, but he seeks human compassion. At one point in the film he escapes from Slue and Pearl only to find that the townspeople view him as some sort of monster that should be burned at the stake. Slue actually saves him from the angry mob at one point which only further confuses Sonny Boy. Slue is extremely abusive, but he’s never actively tried to kill Sonny Boy (at least not since he was a baby).

One young girl, who appears to be roughly Sonny Boy’s age, does show him the compassion he needs. This is Rose (Alexandra Powers) and she doesn’t judge Sonny Boy at all. In fact she’s drawn to him because she sees something special in him. Something no one else does.

Sonny Boy is an odd movie unlike many other films out there. It does deal with some pretty heavy subjects. The entire movie is about abuse, specifically child abuse, and the idea that just because someone says they love you doesn’t mean they are worthy of your love. As terrible as Slue and Pearl are to Sonny Boy, they do seem to genuinely love him. It’s just their idea of love is a bit crazy. The final scene is a great example of this. The angry mob storm the family’s home, hell-bent on killing Sonny Boy, but Slue and Pearl will not allow that. The family holds up in this giant pyramid-like tent they have and fight off the townspeople the best they can. This scene is very much out of Frankenstein but with a little Bonnie & Clyde mixed in.

The performances across the board are top notch. Carradine’s performance could have easily been over-the-top and silly, but that’s not the case at all. The movie does have a darkly comic tone, so Pearl provides some humor but it’s not in a ha-ha sort of way, if that makes sense. For as far out as this movie is, there’s a sense of realism to it. Michael Boston, who plays the older Sonny Boy that we spend most of our time with, is very impressive as well. This was his first film and he’s nearly in every frame of film all while having just one single word of dialogue I believe. That’s a lot to handle for a first-time actor and he did a stellar job. Sort of surprised he hasn’t gone on to do more since.

The film has an interesting and sometimes beautiful visual style and look. There are a handful of scenes of Sonny Boy wandering through the desert where we see everything from his POV. These shots are gorgeous at times and even though they have lots of movement, they don’t have all that herky-jerky motion that is more popular today with found footage movies. Roberto D’Ettorre Piazzoli served as DP and did a stunning job.

The film’s director Robert Martin Carroll hasn’t done much else. Sonny Boy was released in 1989. As far as I can tell (per IMDB) Carroll did one short before that and then did his follow up feature in 2000 with a movie called Baby Luv. Apparently Baby Luv is the story about a mother who sells her baby to pay rent. There seems to be a theme with Carroll. The Scream Factory Blu-ray of Sonny Boy does include a commentary track with Carroll that I’ve yet to listen to. It’ll be interesting to see if he talks about these parental issues at all.

The Scream Factory Blu-ray is quite good. The picture and audio quality is nice, though the picture does have a few moments where the imperfections are a little more noticeable than in other areas – looks like there may have been some scratches or marks on the transfer. These little imperfections are nothing major though and aren’t a distraction. In addition to the Carroll commentary there is a second audio commentary with the film’s writer Graeme Whifler. Currently I have listened to neither commentary.

Sonny Boy is a very interesting movie and one I would absolutely recommend. It’s not traditional horror by any means, but it does deal with some horrific elements and themes. And it’s far from perfect. Early on in the movie they make it clear that Slue has a sort of power over the town. Even the police force works for Slue, but it’s never really clear how he gained that power and it certainly doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Small issues aside, it is without question an unforgettable film.

Oh, and maybe best of all it contains this theme song that was written and performed by Carradine!

Sonny Boy is available now on Blu-ray from Scream Factory.