Erotomaniac (2022)

As you may already know, I have a love for micro-budgeted homemade DIY flicks. I also happen to love animation. Last night, I checked out writer/director/editor/producer/animator Sam Salerno’s Erotomaniac from 2022, which combines both of those aspects. The resulting piece is a quirky internet-era thriller that focuses on the topic of female-on-male sexual assault.

Our lead is Mike (Joseph Lambert), a mortician’s assistant in LA with deadbeat roommates and a psychologically abusive mother. Though he makes awkward advances toward a pretty colleague at the hospital where he works, it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. He’s self-aware enough to see a therapist regularly. Still, he also makes questionable choices like taking a selfie with the corpse of a semi-famous actor for his social media feed. It’s not long before he catches the eye of Carli (Sarah Villalobos), a fellow horror and heavy metal fan.

At first, Mike enjoys all the attention he gets from Carli. She compliments his artwork, engages with his posts, and is generally flirty. However, Carli’s attempts to get too close too soon freak him out. So, he blocks her. This only emboldens Carli though, and when she discovers his personal phone number, Mike begins to realize that the situation is maybe more dangerous than he realized.

The script is pretty solid. The premise is clearly delineated and purposefully deployed within the confines of a genre framework. With many sequences involving social media posts, Salerno makes the wise decision to utilize voiceover to give these moments more dramatic heft. Dialog is naturalistic and completely believable. Character work is distinctive and probably the script’s biggest strength. Mike is fully fleshed out and Carli’s transition from sweet admirer to terrifying stalker is convincing. There is a relatively large cast of supporting characters and they all get nice little beats, here and there.

The voice acting is excellent. Lambert garners our sympathies in the film’s most complex role. He’s a little timid and naïve, but he’s doing his best not to be a doormat. Salerno’s minimalist animation style puts the onus on his actors to deliver some emotional complexity and Lambert nails it. Villalobos is also quite good in a flashier role. I truly appreciated her ability to mask menacing intentions with cutesy line readings, only now and then allowing Carli’s aggression and instability to bubble to the surface. Many of the other roles are filled out with veteran performers from the American low-budget horror scene. Notably, Ari Lehman (aka Jason Voorhees from the original Friday the 13th) and fan-favorite voice actress Cristina “Vee” Valenzuela have nice cameos.

Salerno’s artwork is detailed enough to give the visuals flavor while remaining uncluttered and concise. Considering he drew the entire project himself, it’s impressive that he incorporated so many different locations and characters. The cast is all easily distinguishable, making for an engaging watch. I also enjoyed the stylistic flourishes he injects, like the two disorienting kaleidoscopic sequences. My favorite visual, though, is how he illustrates an online confrontation between Carli and a disguised Mike. The aforementioned minimalist animation approach, which I would describe as being like a slightly more expressive motion comic, accentuates the flattened 2D compositions. It calls attention to itself, but that’s part of what makes it an interesting and unique watch.

The score by Aaron Johnson and Devin Porter is atmospheric and supremely cool. I always appreciate it when a flick contains memorable musical accompaniment. There’s also a pretty raucous metal soundtrack, with one song enhancing a highly effective jump scare. In general, the soundscape contributes greatly to the construction of a creepy mood throughout the brisk 74-minute runtime.

Sam Salerno touches on some heavy, and frankly under-discussed, subject matter in Erotomaniac, but he counterbalances that weightiness with genre thrills and some moments of dark humor. I want to emphasize that viewers shouldn’t expect some slick cartoon-like what you’d see on Cartoon Network. Rather, this is an idiosyncratic labor of love from an artist possibly influenced more by underground horror films and bizarre YouTube videos. Recommended with that caveat to fans of Heavy Metal, Fatal Attraction, and Ingrid Goes West. Erotomaniac is available to stream now on Tubi and Amazon Prime, or you can do what I did and buy the Blu-ray from abaroquehouse.com. It includes Salerno’s original 90-second live-action concept short and the trailer, as well as a cardstock insert of Silus David Massoff’s cover art.

Michael Cavender