THE PLOT THUS FAR
Thirty miles from the Arctic Circle, in the northern Icelandic town of Husavik, stands the Icelandic Phallological Museum – the world’s only Penis museum. Over 40 years, the founder and curator has collected every specimen from every mammal except for one elusive penis needed to complete his collection: The Human Specimen. The film follows the curator’s incredible, sublimely comic, often shocking quest to complete his eccentric collection, and the two intrepid men who have raised their hands to be the first human donor.
WHAT WE THOUGHT
“The Final Member” is a look at how hard it is to run a museum. All the Icelandic Phallological Museum wants is a human penis. The problem is that they have to interview and understand why two men have volunteered to make the donation. To call it odd is an understatement, but such is life.
What the hell is going on in Iceland? That’s the first thought that crossed my mind after finishing the documentary. How does a curator decide to wake up every morning over four decades and set out to collect dicks. I get some of the odder stuff that people build museums for, but it just appears to be a warehouse of pickled cocks lining shelf after shelf in the frozen air of Iceland. Collecting is such a weird part of the human experience and the documentary tries to explain it away. But, you can look at the curator and know that there’s something else going on behind those eyes. Same for the guys that have no problem getting their dicks chopped off.
The Blu-Ray comes with a booklet, deleted scenes and Digital HD copy as the special features. The 1080p transfer plays a little washed out, but that’s typical for a documentary. The DTS-HD 5.1 kicked up where it needed. It felt soft, but the amp kept reading it as DTS-HD, so I’ll stick with the tech on that one. In the end, I’d recommend a purchase.
RELEASE DATE: 06/17/2014