''Hanger'' is a 2009 Canadian

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

directed by

Ryan Nicholson Ryan Nicholson (1971 – October 8, 2019) was a Canadian special effects makeup artist and filmmaker. Biography Nicholson was born in 1971 in Victoria, British Columbia. He was a self-taught artist who ran special-effects shop Flesh & Fantasy f ...

and written by Nicholson with Patrick Coble. The film is banned in Australia and Germany.

Plot

Unable to bring in any more money for Leroy, her abusive pimp, the pregnant Rose tries to run away in the middle of the night, but is caught by Leroy. Using a clothes hanger, Leroy performs an impromptu abortion on Rose, unintentionally killing her in the process. Leroy disposes of Rose's baby in a dumpster, where its cries attract the attention of a homeless man, who raises the disfigured child as "Hanger". On his eighteenth birthday, the vagrant sends Hanger off to live with John, his biological father, who the man had earlier met at a junkyard. John informs Hanger that he has gotten him a job at the junkyard, and that he will be working there and living with Russell, an acquaintance with

Down syndrome Down syndrome or Down's syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. It is usually associated with physical growth delays, mild to moderate intellectual dis ...

. As he drives away with Hanger, John runs over the homeless man (who was defecating in his tent) and joyously tells his long-lost son "Welcome to the rest of your life!" John gives Hanger a picture of Rose, and picks up a prostitute for him to have sex with, but upon seeing Hanger's mutilated face, the woman goes into hysterics, so John crushes her head in his truck door. While Hanger is watching pornography with Russell in their home, a

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visits, and Hanger mauls and partially eats her while being cheered on by Russell. Later, John drops by, and reveals to Hanger that he has a plan to get revenge on Leroy for what he did to Rose. On his way out, John is approached by Foxy White, Leroy's girlfriend, who offers to help John kill Leroy. John turns down Foxy's offer, but says he will make Leroy suffer "a little extra" if Foxy watches over Hanger. While Hanger is at work, John is captured by Leroy and a prostitute named Trashy, who disfigure him with a

blow torch A blowtorch, also referred to as a blowlamp, is an ambient air fuel-burning gas lamp used for applying flame and heat to various applications, usually metalworking. Early blowtorches used liquid fuel, carried in a refillable reservoir attache ...

, and a hanger. Foxy finds John and tries to release him, but Leroy walks in on this, and shoots Foxy in the head. As that occurs, Russell and Hanger are drugged by Phil, a co-worker, who rapes them while wearing a

Santa suit A Santa suit is a suit worn by a person portraying the legendary character Santa Claus. The modern American version of the suit can be attributed to the work of Thomas Nast for ''Harper's Weekly'' magazine, although it is often incorrectly thoug ...

; at one point, Phil inserts his penis into Hanger's leaking

colostomy A colostomy is an opening ( stoma) in the large intestine (colon), or the surgical procedure that creates one. The opening is formed by drawing the healthy end of the colon through an incision in the anterior abdominal wall and suturing it int ...

. Russell and Hanger get their revenge on Phil at the junkyard, knocking him out, and placing him under a pile of garbage. Russell goes home and drinks tea made from used

tampon A tampon is a feminine hygiene, menstrual product designed to absorb blood and vaginal secretions by insertion into the vagina during menstruation. Unlike a Sanitary napkin, pad, it is placed internally, inside of the vaginal canal. Once inser ...

s, but after getting a call from Hanger, Russell goes to the junkyard, and finds Nicole (the owner's daughter) unconscious in her office, Hanger having knocked her out with Phil's drugs. Russell takes Nicole's tampon, and she is later found by Leroy, who rapes her while she is unconscious, and threatens her into luring away Russell so Leroy can be alone with Hanger. Once he is in Nicole's office, Russell is seemingly killed by Leroy, who chokes him with one of Nicole's tampons. Outside, Hanger stomps Phil's head in, and is confronted by Leroy, but John (who was left for dead, but recovered and killed Trashy by shoving a

douche A douche is a device used to introduce a stream of water into the body for medical or hygienic reasons, or the stream of water itself. Douche usually refers to vaginal irrigation, the rinsing of the vagina, but it can also refer to the rinsing ...

up her nose) appears and calls Leroy out. Leroy and John fatally shoot each other, and a distraught Hanger runs off with the hysterical Nicole.

Cast

Release

''Hanger'' was released

Direct-to-Video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...

by Breaking Glass Pictures on Nov 17, 2009.

Reception

Film Bizarro found ''Hanger'' to be "a great entertaining trash-fest that has come the closest to being a true throwback to

grindhouse A grindhouse or action house is an American term for a theatre that mainly shows low-budget horror, splatter and exploitation films for adults. According to historian David Church, this theater type was named after the "grind policy", a film ...

cinema that any movie has so far" despite the ending feeling erratic and anticlimactic. A three and a half was awarded by Severed Cinema, which wrote that "''Hanger'' is as entertaining as it is repulsive" and "the film is a fun campy horror comedy". Independent Flicks commended the camerawork, editing, gore, and Dan Ellis's performance, but gave a four and half out of seven after deeming the film "a bit too bizarre" and "something of a let down" due to the "cartoonish style" that lessened its impact. A three out of five was awarded by Digital Retribution, which stated "''Hanger'' is hard to rate because it sets out to offend and will probably do so for virtually everyone, but that doesn't make it good" and "I found ''Hanger's''

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and surrealism distracting and a bit boring". The film was called "Nicholson's nastiest piece of work yet" by The Worldwide Celluloid Massacre, which deemed it "worthless" and one of the most "vile" films the website has covered.

References

External links