I have realized one thing from watching Phil Stevens dark opus Flowers. When you sit down to watch a Phil Stevens movie, you are in for some masterful and surreal fucked-up horror/art blackness. Lung II, for me, seemed almost like a self-portrait of a tortured artist. A rendition of Stevens thoughts, actions, direction all put down in one film. Lung II is much different from his famous underground artistry Flowers. Lung II has Stevens not only directing, writing and producing but also taking the lead acting role. You can tell from the material that the man is a mad genius, frothing at the mouth with jowls dripping artistic poison. Every frame of Lung II is skull-fucking an artistic concept of a tortured reality.

To label Lung II as a horror movie would be an atrocity to the atrocities featured in the film. Blood, gore, flesh, organs are mishmashed on a palate and painted by Stevens in a gestation period to finally be spewed forth upon the canvas to reveal a final insanity. Organs and meat of victims are cut in close-up detail. A baseball bat paints a beautiful picture on bed sheets and wipes itself in blood caked hair. The artist decorates his canvas with blood soaked images from the blood he's spilled.

Lung II is a nightmare in dark reality and a journey through a forest of baby carriages that screams of infant victims whose remains are still toted around for gruesome display and discovery. Once again featuring practically zero dialogue, Stevens has managed to create a visual feast of twisted sights and sounds. A world of horror which jumps from different outdoor and indoor locations. The settings are dark tunnels and under bridges, macabre wooded areas and seedy hotel rooms, which are the basis for the torturous endeavour.

One of my favorite scenes in the movie is an absolutely unreal sick and mind-blowing concept that has this mound of deformed flesh in a refrigerator, which seems to be hermaphroditic, sporting both male and female genitals. Stevens’ character starts to jack off the dick and finger the pussy, causing the thing to explode, gushing out blood from the member, all over the inside of the refrigerator. I will not soon forget this scene, its unique and oh so twisted!

The obvious mentions will be nods to David Cronenberg, David Lynch blah blah blah, and yes both are surreal art geniuses. Cronenberg has brought some of the most fucked-up flesh-bound images to the light of film and was way ahead of his time and a cult icon etcetera. I believe Phil Stevens is doing the same, but in a different fashion. Stevens is doing his own thing his own way. There are no big production companies, just strictly fan-based support and backers, carving himself a great little niche with his paintings and drawings. He is a self-made man with help from his friends.

I have read Stevens recently acquired enough material from Lung II for Lung I. Confused? Well, as far as I know there was never a Lung I but thank Satan’s toasty asshole there will be now. Stevens will have another upcoming project called Paradis, so watch out for more dark journeys in and around the abyss.

CLICK TO ENLARGE IMAGE