There’s a sleazy exuberance to Alex Phillips’ Anything That Moves, which made its premiere at the 2025 Fantasia Film Festival. Anything That Moves is Skinemax on acid, a fluid-soaked trip through the all-American underbelly of Chicago with all the sex, violence, and hot dogs one would imagine.
To the casual observer, Liam (Hal Baum) is a normal delivery boy, zooming around Chicagoland on his ten-speed and bringing food to loyal customers. In reality, Liam offers a different kind of service. He’s a sex worker and a gifted one. Every time Liam makes someone orgasm, warm light shines from their face. Flutes play. Something twinkles like wind chimes in the background. He’s got the touch. He’s got the power.
Unfortunately, Liam’s clients begin dying, the victims of an apparent serial killer who likes to scoop the brains out of people’s skulls. Inside their shattered craniums, police find elaborately defaced dollar bills, just like the kind Liam’s girlfriend, Thea (Jiana Nicole), makes at home on her drafting table.
Liam finds himself at the mercy of investigating officers Dodge (Jack Dunphy) and Rick (Frank V. Ross), who will go to ridiculous lengths to solve the case. Between police harassment and the requests of Thea, Liam finds himself at a crossroads. Should he leave the life of sex on wheels and easy money, or should he take Thea’s suggestions and start a new life together somewhere else?
It sounds like the plot from a straightforward erotic thriller, maybe something starring Shannon Tweed, but Anything That Moves is anything but formulaic. Phillips’ depiction of the weird situation Liam finds himself in is both shocking and soothing, psychedelic and pastoral. Anything That Moves has an off-kilter feel, whipping the viewer back and forth like customers on a carnival ride where the operator has fallen asleep. It is a testament to Phillips’ tight hold on the story that Anything That Moves doesn’t break down.
Baum plays Liam as ethereal, almost alien, surprised by and detached from the horrible events swelling around him. As Liam tells Thea, “I’m clean as a dish.” Wearing his chest-exposing skin-tight body suit, Liam looks like a nerdy superhero with one very specific power: sex. His clients love him, and he’s making bank. Liam is an insatiable vessel, the pure embodiment of physical pleasure, and Baum captures those satyric qualities with calm delivery and a bemused smile.
As the belligerent and misogynistic police officer Dodge, Dunphy chaws through the scenery like a termite in an abandoned barn. Dunphy rolls every 1970s big city cop stereotype into one blustering package. From begging his partner to let him fire his obscenely large gun in the middle of the city to screaming into the face of a child at a murder scene, Dunphy is the loose cannon of Anything That Moves. Placing such an anachronistic character into a film centered on the here and now could be an opportunity for lampooning, but Dunphy grounds Dodge’s character in Chicago’s dirty alleys and makes him unforgettable.
Making cameos are adult film stars Ginger Lynn Allen (The Devil’s Rejects) and Nina Hartley, in an unsettling turn as a blind client who relies on sniffing people for her arousal. Their presence in Anything That Moves is oddly comforting. Anything That Moves has strong referential connections with the more avant-garde adult movies of the 1970s and early 1980s, like Mitch Spinelli’s Night Wish or Gerard Damiano’s Memories Within Miss Aggie. Having an extensive knowledge of old-school pornography isn’t necessary to enjoy Anything That Moves, but it sure as hell doesn’t hurt.
After all, Anything That Moves is not a family film. Nudity and sexual activity are the norm in this movie. Those who are easily offended may want to stay away.
Phillips’ advancement as a filmmaker is on full display. Anything That Moves is more coherent and better constructed than Phillips’ previous movie, All Jacked Up and Full of Worms. Even when budgetary constraints make some scenes look a bit thin, like almost any scene that takes place in a bar, Phillips makes up for it with spot-on camerawork and interesting angles. One can’t help but be fascinated by the story, which is geared towards whodunnit fans with prurient interests. Who is the killer? Why is that guy pissing on Liam’s head from a fire escape? Anything That Moves is full of mysteries and they don’t all get solved.
Given the wild elements of the tale, it would be wrong to tie everything up with a pretty red bow. That lack of resolution doesn’t harm the film, but there are things that could be more thoroughly explored. For example, the sex and snacks ring employs more people than just Liam, but you don’t see them much until the last twenty minutes. Who is in charge of this organization? Is there a suburban division? Have they expanded into Indiana? It’s a fascinating concept that could work well as a movie all by itself.
Even with the dropped and ambiguous story threads, Anything That Moves buzzes with a freaky late-night energy that makes the hair stand up wherever you have hair. That trembling electricity rumbles under almost every scene of Anything That Moves like an irregular heartbeat. It’s rare for a film to convey that kind of weird lo-fi power. Anything That Moves is a caffeine buzz orgy.
They say nothing good happens after midnight. Anything That Moves is a great movie about those bad things.
Alex Phillips’ Anything That Moves is part of the 2025 Fantasia Film Festival lineup. The Festival runs from July 16 to August 6 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. You can find ticket and lineup information at the official website here, and stay tuned to Biff Bam Pop for our coverage!
