Toxic Shock
1983, 3 minutes, 16mm color
synopsis:
A visceral personal response to surviving a near-fatal case of Toxic Shock Syndrome. Toxic Shock combines intimate taboos of needles, blood and tampons with tried and true hands-on self-defense, set to a spare, penetrating and unknown score provided by a cassette tape gifted by a forgotten friend. A call to arms; what will you do in defense of your body?
"Penetration up the wazoo, blood, fire, gas, needles, tampons, liquid power and cocktails of the burning sort.
My experimental response to sweating out near death with Toxic Shock Syndrome."
--Vanessa Renwick
credits:
cinematography and edit: Vanessa Renwick
reviews:
"A noisy, prickly, bloody, hairy punk rock fuck you shouted from the edge of a social/medical oblivion."
--Mark Toscano
"an alarming montage that goes from slight discomfort to heavy cramping in just three minutes and includes a bunch of my favorite images all used for maximum performance"
--Malloy, Kathy, Snipehunt, Winter 94