I Pass For Human takes a literal approach to demonizing the perils of opiate addiction, summoning for its characters terror and pity in equal measure. While showing its low-budget roots and taking about 20 minutes longer than needed to deliver the hot shot, the movie evokes a solidly realistic and squalid atmosphere, with decent, believable performances and unwelcome chills.

Eleanor Whitledge plays Jane, a woman in love with the wrong type of bad boy, a dude who quickly ruins their relationship by overdosing on heroin. Jane tries to cope by continuing to visit her dead boyfriend's drug counselor, (Cult fave and Factory girl Mary Woronov in a brief but welcome role) but soon even that's not enough, as her other friends' misguided attempts at help inevitably draw her into a web of addiction.

It seems junkies in Jane's circle are prone to visions of their dead brethren, visions that take on greater and more influential intensity as love of the spike grows. When Jane experiences the same visions she races to break free of her downward spiral, but struggling against narco-passivity while fighting the self-interests of her 'friends' proves more difficult than anyone could imagine.

While heroin addiction is not the type of thing you want to have fun with in a movie, Chris D. manages to make I Pass For Human fun and scary, carefully keeping all the weird balls he's juggling (drugs, anger, zombie-vampires) in the air. Jane and cohorts are realistically hooked, and their paths to addiction seem plausible. They all portray convincing heroin highs, and are helped greatly by one of the smack movie essentials - a great soundtrack. This one features tunes by numerous alumni of The Birthday Party, as well as the Director's own band and the redoubtable Jim Thirlwell.

I Pass For Human also operates (as most junk movies do) as a tragedy, which is where it does its best work. Throughout Jane's oftentimes eerie and startling sessions - tormenting phantoms and all - Whitledge makes us care for her, and want her to escape both the dead zombies and the living ones, all of whom ultimately crave to drag her down to their level.

The DVD

Video:
Shot on Digital Video, I Pass For Human straddles the line between the harshness of video and grainy 16 mm film. The optimized for 16 x 9 TVs result is not too shabby, with decent colors and black levels. It's about as good looking as a shot on DV indie production can be, excepting any mastering issues, just don't expect studio-level or George Lucas stylee clarity and you'll be alright.

Sound: Stereo audio is OK - the soundtrack sounds great - and dialog is clear and audible. There is some ambient room noise and outdoor noise from what often sounds like recorded on location dialog, but it doesn't interfere or get in the way of the dialog.

Extras: A nice selection of Extras are packed on this disc for you. First is an audio commentary track from Chris D. and producer Lynne Margulies who together maintain a somewhat low-key patter throughout that constitutes a nice blend of explanatory anecdotes, thoughts on process, inspiration and other bits of goofiness and backstory.

Director D. includes his short subject from 1972, Le Ciel de Sang, an arty, expressionistic black and white tale of vampirism and ocular distress that demonstrates considerable skill behind the camera, even with just the barest of narratives, and stars the director himself. It's a fun little package. The available director's commentary track illuminates his influences, some of his process and provides an amusing anecdote or two.

A three-and-a-half-minute behind the scenes photo gallery features a rock song from the soundtrack, some FX shots and other various and sundry production shots, and shots of the actors and crew. You aren't able to navigate through the shots, however, it's a hands-off slideshow.

A trailer for the feature runs nearly three minutes, and has lots more digital pixelation than I'd care to see.

Three low resolution, not color corrected deleted scenes totaling about three minutes can be viewed with or without commentary. The scenes are relatively unspectacular (except for the horndog's delight, a scene with Jane in the bathtub) and are put down to being cut due to the usual slowing of the narrative. Not essential extras viewing, but an OK quick treat.

Lastly, a fold out insert listing chapter stops a has two-page editorial about the movie by writer Dan Madigan and bios about D. and Margulies.

Final Thoughts:
Chris D. pulls off no mean feat with I Pass For Human, making an occasionally scary horror movie about a very scary type of real addiction. It's a gritty (but not too gritty) descent into an ugly world that trades the real fears only a junkie can know for unreal phantasms that, oddly, everyone can relate to. Solid performances, squalid realism, creepy tension and a well-chosen soundtrack add up to a spooky, grim time that's maybe a bit too long, but when you're on the nod it's easy to lose track of time. It's a solid rent for casual fans and recommended for those who study movies about opiate addiction.

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