Riding shotgun as an alien invader takes control over you body after a bad drug bender is anyone’s worse nightmare.
And a sure-fire selling point for a horror movie.
Indie horror film Fried Barry is the most critically acclaimed South African sci-fi since District 9.
The film, which was released in 2020, premiered on Showmax on Thursday, after taking the world by a storm at cinemas in 73 countries worldwide.
Fried Barry was filmed on the streets of Cape Town and directed by Cape Town's Ryan Kruger.
In the movie, the main character, Barry, is a drug-addled degenerate who is abducted by aliens after a bender. He ends up having to take the back seat in his own body as the alien takes control of him.
The alien host in his body takes him along for a joyride through the Mother City. The onslaught of drugs, sex and violence ensue as the alien tourist enters the human world in Barry’s body.
Fried Barry was the 10th best-reviewed sci-fi movie in 2021 on Rotten Tomatoes, and the film received an 80% (positive) critics rating on the site.
The film has amassed 17 awards, five of which were for best film and three were best actor awards.
Kruger said this was undoubtedly the craziest South African film ever made and that he’s happy with the ‘monster’ he’s created.
“It redefines what audiences can expect from South African cinema,” he said.
Kruger has directed more 100 music videos for artists such as Goodluck, Jack Parow and Prime Circle. He has won SAMA’s, MTV and Ghoema Awards for his past work.
Although Kruger has created short films, Fried Barry is his feature film debut.
Instead of writing a script for the movie, Kruger tried a different approach and started with a scene breakdown over three days.
From there, he workshopped the individual scenes with the cast.
“The scene breakdown takes us through the entire movie, from point A to point B, but we workshopped each scene to figure out how we get there,” he explained.