The Dark Backward

Marty Malt works as a garbage collector, but he wants to make it as a stand-up comedian, urged on by his coworker and friend Gus. Gus plays accordion behind him and keeps telling Marty how good he is, though his act goes badly. Then a third arm starts growing from Marty's back. Gus turns the oddity into a booking with a shady talent agent, and Marty's career begins to draw attention, while his girlfriend leaves him.

Adam Rifkin directed and wrote the film, which followed his 1990 debut The Invisible Maniac and arrived before The Chase and Detroit Rock City. Judd Nelson plays Marty, with Bill Paxton as Gus, Wayne Newton as Jackie Chrome, Lara Flynn Boyle as Rosarita, James Caan as Dr. Scurvy and Rob Lowe as Dirk Delta among a credited cast of twenty-one. The production had a budget of two million dollars.

On IMDb the film holds a rating of 5.8 from about 4,200 votes, and on TMDB it stands at 5.8 from roughly 44 votes, indicating modest and limited audience engagement. A critics' rating of 5.6 from eleven reviews is close to those audience scores, suggesting the film found little favour with either group. It runs 101 minutes.