In a cinematic sense, you expect as much as you can get from a music documentary, you want to see every conceivable viewpoint - blood, guts and all, metaphorically. Not often do you get it literally. The case here is that, and more. Much, much more.
GG Allin is a character both feared and revered, loved and loathed, worshipped by some and detested by others. For some he embodied the ultimate rock ‘n’ roll, punk essence, for others he was simply a joke. This film will only illuminate your own point of view further. Interestingly, director Todd Phillips was only a student whilst making this film, funding the project by working in a late night video store specialising in porno tapes. Phillips went on to make documentaries about college fraternities and the jam band Phish before slipping into mainstream drivel and while his films have plummeted the depths of shallowness and trite humour, they stand as being some of the most successful in US box office history. He is the man responsible for: ‘The Hangover’ (and the sequel), ‘Starsky & Hutch’, ‘Due Date’, ‘Road Trip’ and ‘Old School’.
‘Hated’ is a grainy vision into the demented world of punk rocker GG Allin. A man notorious for taking his clothes off, having a small penis, defecating on stage and cutting himself whilst performing. We see all of this on a regular basis and more, watching a grown man spew diarrhoea from his rectum and then roll around in it before eating it is not an entirely pleasant thing to watch. For all the arguments about punk and what it means and what it stands for, there is something desperately sad about GG. He never really stood a chance, he was born and christened Jesus Christ after his father, a devout Christian, had a vision that his son was the new savour. The name GG stemmed from his younger brother’s inability to pronounce Jesus correctly.
Allin confronts “the system” through a raging onslaught of abuse and diatribe at pretty much all he encounters - his stint on Jerry Springer proving an interesting and particularly entertaining section of the film. While it’s easy to be attracted by the complete mess of it all and endeared by the perverse and sadistic “rock ‘n’ roll” lifestyle, it’s often overlooked and forgotten that GG was a vicious, violent man; he even breaks the nose of a girl he attacks at a show in the film - as well as having served jail time for sexual assault charges and been in court on rape and torture charges.
As music documentaries go, they don’t really get more up close and personal than this. We see every aspect of GG and his life, even to the extent of his dead corpse. It’s an utterly engrossing, enthralling and sometimes repulsive look at a man that even John Wayne Gacy called “a great kid”.