All genres of suspense, terror, and horror will be reviewed by Richard Gary. His address to send preview copies supplied upon request to rbf55@msn.com.
The second of
three giantess reviews, this is the second of a two-film franchise, coming
after Attack of the 50 Foot Centerfold (2022) As I have stated before, I do not believe there is
any doubt that these films are absurdist comedies, thankfully going for the
lowest bar and the biggest busts.
Giantess Battle Attack (aka Revenge of the 50 Foot Cam Girl)
Directed by Jim Wynorski
Full Moon Entertainment; MVD Visual
58 minutes, 2022 www.FullMoonDirect.com www.MVDVisual.com
This sequel to Attack
of the 50 Foot Cam-Girl begins in outer space, on the double planet of
Buxomus, which is the “Planet of Girlgantuas.” Five seconds in, and I am
already saying “really?” with a smile on my face. These films know their
demographics to the T…or Double D.
These Girlgantuans
(Buxomusites?) are warriors who, as we see right off, battle each other in MMA
style. You know they will end up on Earth and meet up with giantess Beverly
Wood (Ivy Smith) at some point, as it is in the title.
Led by the planet’s battle
champion, Spa-zor (Kiersten Hall, who was also combative in 2019’s Kiss Kiss), aka Space Whore, the Girlgantuans head towards the
land of the huge and home of the Wood.
Ivy Smith
Speaking of whom, things
have changed quite a bit, though she is still 50 feet tall. However, Fuschia
has reduced to normal size (seen only in expositional archival footage from the
first release) and boyfriend Bradley (Eli Cirino, seen in a flashback cameo) is
no longer involved when Beverly lost all her money in lawsuits due to the
damage caused by her fight with Fuschia. Now she works demolition breaking
rocks (with her feet), and has a new non-expanded boyfriend, Mike (Brian Gross,
who also starred in director Wynorski’s 2012 Gila!), who owns the construction company.
Also back are the three
scientists, Dr. Lana Rhodes (Lisa London, who gets to show more cleavage this time
around), Dennis (Frankie Cullen), and Gary (Jaret Sacrey, shown in footage from
the earlier film), the latter of whom is also reduced. A friend of Bradley’s, promoter
Dennis (Frankie Cullen) however, has a fighter girlfriend, Anna Conda (multi-tattooed
and septum-ringed Masuimi Max), who he wants to battle Beverly to gain fame and
get rich.
There are some interesting
twists and turns in the story as Spa-zor, Beverly and Anna finally get to meet
up at the finale. I had a laugh when an oil rigs goes off and makes this the
equivalent of another fetish, women fighting in an oil (or mud) pit. This gives
Beverly the chance to say a line that should be repeated often: “Get off my
planet, bitch!
Short and brief, the
extras on this Blu-ray is the original trailer, and a collection of Full moon
coming attractions (half the same as in the earlier film).
At one point in the film,
during a particular jiggle-fest, director Wynorski breaks the third wall ala
Woody Allen in What’s Up Tiger Lilly? (1966), to discuss the humorously gratuitousness
of the “action.” However, it should be noted that most of the female actors
here are actually quite accomplished in their own rights, be it as entrepreneurs,
singers, influencers, and/or beauty queens – one was Miss Minnesota and Miss
Bikini Model 1999/2000 – etc. Respect).
It would not surprise me
if a third film in the series was forthcoming at some point.
Baby Assassins
(aka Beibî
warukyûre)
Directed by Yugo Sakamoto Rights Cube; Far East Films;
Well Go USA Entertainment; Hi-Yah!
95 minutes, 2021 / 2022 www.wellgousa.com/films/baby-assassins
@WellGoUSA
When I first read the
title, I was confused: was this about infants in diapers who kill people, or
adults who kill toddlers? Of course, in both cases, I was wrong (pretty sure I
would be). I should have known better as this film is from Japan.
The “babies” in
question are two teenage high school girls and possibly future cosplay objects,
Chisato (Akari Takahasi). and blonde Mahiro (Saori Izawa). They are the
innocents who are both about to graduate from assassin school, and are highly
trained to kill. Needless to say, there are some strong comic elements to the
story as they butt heads.
The film is on a
couple of different tiers: first, there is the stereotypical two opposites
needing to work together to survive with fun and merriment, and then there are
the (literally) deadly serious assassinations, where the ladies come into their
own. Like many teenagers, even with their killing expertise, it’s the simple
and every day tasks that are filled with angst (such as adding whip cream to a
meal).
Like “The Odd Couple” (whatever
incarnation), their personalities are different, and yet they overlap in Zinn
Diagram means. For example, Mahiro is Gen Whatever, with a slacker attitude of
not-caring or wanting to be bothered, whose wardrobe choice is PJ bottoms and a
tee (at one point it’s a Lou Reed Transformers one); and yet, she has an
inclination towards philosophy. Chisato, on the other hand, is more focused,
but just as lost in menial tasks. Thing with Assassin School is that, as
implied, they teach killing but not social skills needed for employment or
fitting into society. This is a really interesting added on touch.
Reminiscent of the
series “Dead Like Me” (2003-04), between assignments the women are expected to
hold down jobs that will not bring much attention to them. For example, Chisato,
at some point, works in a small waffle eatery as wait- and kitchen staff, but
is totally out of her element.
Now, 20 minutes into
the film, and we are somewhat familiar with their sitch, enter the credits and
a flashback to them first being thrust together. The commentary on government bureaucracy,
such as taxes, housing and basically not taking care of their own (sound familiar?)
permeates the underscore of the film. This is used both as comedy fodder and
with a figuratively pointed stick.
Another jab of the
elbow in the side is the Japanese tendency for older men to be attractive to
younger women, as I mentioned previously. Be it an assassination target or a
store clerk, the two are hit on mostly by adult men. Creepy; always was, always
will be.
Things get a bit darker
in the third act, as our heroines are at odds over attitudes, and to add to the
mix is confrontations with a Yakuza (must be powerful; he has all of his fingers),
his blowhard son Kazuki (think Sonny Corleone), and revenge seeking, psychotic,
over-the-top enthusiastic daughter, Himari, who seems to be about the same age as
our two killin’ protagonists.
In the first two acts,
there are some decent kills scattered throughout, and somewhere along the way I
made a note for myself, “Increased violence in the third act?” Of course there
is, including one superb fight with Izawa, who has some Taekwondo training, and
a Yakuza. Now, the fight scenes are not overly choreographed to ridiculous level,
with people flying through the air, or stylized like the infamous corridor
scene in the original Oldboy (2003). This is sloppy in a good way, more like
fighting than something sterile in a mainstream release.
I also really liked
this dive into modern Japanese culture. In fact, there are two things discussed
that I had to look up: the first was a food called Oden, which is a fish
cake stew (ironically, I was eating fishcakes while I was watching this… ”it’s
a small world, but I wouldn’t want to paint it” – Steven Wright. But I digress…).
The conversation about it takes on almost a Tarantino-eque quality, without the
camera needing to swirl around the couch. The other is the use of the
expression Moe Moe Kyun, which apparently means something like happiness
to a level of blushing.
The director does
really well in translating the personality of our two assassins to be likeable
characters, even when they misbehave. He also has a way of showing the mixture
of action and the lull between without getting boring. It is a mash-up of the
mundane and murderous mayhem. Sometimes the action comes as a surprise, which
was quite pleasant, and other times, it builds up. Also, pleasant.
By the end, it kind of
leaves it off as a possible franchise, as the Japanese are wont to do with
police procedurals and gangster mayhem. If this comes to be true, I will enjoy
seeing what happens next with Mahiro and Chisato.
The film is available on the martial arts streaming service Hi-Yah!, and the digital and Blu-ray versions will
be accessible on August 16, 2022.
There is an old Media Theory
that states that when a technology is added to a culture, it does not just
become part of it, it changes everything. Social media is the recent elephant
in the room. Influencers started, arguably, with the likes of no-talents (my
opinion) like Paris Hilton, and then exploded with the horrendous (again, my
opinion) Kardashian family, who made billions of dollars for essentially doing
nothing but saying they like something, or showing up at a party for a fee.
While Facebook (and before
that Myspace) was the launching pad for many, other platforms such as Instagram
and now TikTok has managed to make stars and produce fortunes for people who, essentially,
really do not matter, but millions of followers hang on their every word or
deed (and, often, dance). That is where this film starts.
Kasia Szarek
In this dramedy, Abbi
Rose (Kasia Szarek) is just such an “influencer.” She is chubby, busty, perky
on the outside, and vain about herself and “her brand”; she has a huge photo of
herself over her couch, for example. And much like Kim, Khloe, and Kourtney, et.
al, after nearly a decade of vlogging, Abbi has 1.3 million subscribers
that tune into her every video and pays attention to whatever products she can
get for free and promote.
The flip side to Abbi
is a conniving, abusive person who is nasty to her unpaid interns who actually
produce all her online product, as she wheedles a tremendous payload from a
major corporation, Nutrocon, through ruthless negotiations. This
is a company that, one of its many octopus operations, experiments on animals
for cosmetics. As Abbi’s favorite clothing is fur, this does not pose a problem
as long as there is enough cash involved. And the poor interns are just going
to see more sandwiches for food rather than pay. This includes new gushing
intern Trendygirl99 (Thea Cantos), who Abbi pretty much snubs at all times, not
even trying to remember her name.
Janiva Zentz
Act two starts with a
bang as the home invasion part of the story begins, with four people (named by
a numeral, seemingly a nod to Tarantino’s 1992 Reservoir Dogs), numbered
two through five; I am going to guess who is One, and though I will not reveal
it, I’ll let you know further on if I was correct. Meanwhile, these masked (at
least at first) renegades are subversives on different levels, such as Two (Janiva
Zentz), who is a hacker screwed out of a patent, Five (Ian Richard Jones), a
chemist who made a meth-substitute to make a living, and Four (Victoria D.
Wells), an aggressive sexual-harassment whistleblower on (literal) steroids. They
each have a bone to pick with corporate America but are also flawed in their
own ways. Luckily, we are given time to get to know their personalities a bit.
This group of kidnappers
seem to mostly not know each other outside of, as one refers to it, this assignment.
This seems like a twisted-PETA kind of action, such as the motif of releasing lab
animals, especially with the philosophy of Three (Shantell Yasmine Abeyderra).
But there is something else on their minds
Victoria D. Wells
Thing is, Abbi is way
more media savvy than the interlopers, making for an interesting back and forth
between them. In their own ways, each group/person has their own power over the
others, and that plays back and forth in effective ways. And, without giving
anything away, things naturally go sideways between the inter-relational dynamic
of the group. Add in some unexpected hitches and visits, and the tension (and humor)
builds into the third act.
Of course, this is
going to be life changing for everyone involved, but will it be for the positive
or negative (or both)? Yeah, again, not going to tell, but it is certainly
satisfying. There is a bit of social justice preaching done, but it is not a slamming
on the head, but rather well worked into the plot. A more subtle message is
definitely women power, as the few males involved in the story are, to put it
nicely, jerks. Even with their flaws, the women are strong and confident in their
roles in the storyline.
Ian Richard Jones
This film looks
beautiful with tons of pastel colors, even with the ever-rising tension level. The photography (by Christiana
Charalambous) and editing are superb, and keeps on beat with the background music
quite well. This is Weinstein’s first feature (after a number of shorts and tv
directorial work), and shows an incredible amount of talent, especially for the
budget. The screen is filled with lots of bright colors and flashes of upbeat instrumental
soundtrack that occasionally hides the sometimes nasty undertones of Abbi and
her kidnappers.
Shantell Yasmine Abeyderra
As for the acting, well,
this is an experienced troupe, and Weinstein leads them to do their best
successfully. Plus, Szarek has years of professional comic acting under her
belt, and she uses that background to her advantage, making Abbi at times both a
repulsive personality, and a sympathetic heroine. This is definitely her film,
though just about everyone else is not far behind.
The pace is pretty
consistent with very little “lull” time, so it is quick paced, (as I said) like
beats to music.
Oh, and despite a
number of red herrings, I was right about the identity of One, the leader of
the house invasion group. So there.
In the decade of her
career so far, Anna Rizzo has managed to show a wide range of characters, from
comedy (Fairfield Follies, 2018), to deep drama (Moments from a
Sidewalk, 2016), to classics (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 2017), to
television and web-series work (“Law and Order: Special Victims Unit,” 2019;
“The Realm,” 2015, respectively), and definitely a few in the horror genre,
including her most recent release, Blood Pi (2020). Being quite
prolific, she also have some other films due out this year in post-production.
Part of the Rhode
Island film collective, a much more active group than you might imagine, she
has also spread her wings to other parts of the country for roles, and is a
musician, too boot (not to be confused with another musician with the same
name, though).
Personally, I’ve been
a fan since Seven Dorms of Death (2015). I sent her a list of questions,
and she was gracious enough to answer back. You can find other, role-specific
interviews with her on YouTube. My questions are more random.
Indie Horror Films: I’m happy to be able to give you
the second degree (a shade lighter than a third degree). Anna
Rizzo: Happy to be second degreed!
IHF: I guess the
place to start is with a simple query: what brought you to acting? Anna:
I did plays ever since I was a little kid, but usually because the plays I had
access to would involve a decent amount of singing, which was the real draw to
me at the time. I was a very shy and introverted kid who was always reading in
the corner rather than talking to people, but I liked to sing.The
high school I went to had a respected and competitive theatre program. The
first semester of my freshman year my parents convinced me to audition for the
school's production of The Importance of Being Earnest (even though
there was no singing), saying “you have to pay your dues and audition multiple
times before they're going to cast you in a musical. You won't get in this
time, but they will start to get to know you that way.” So I went in, figuring nothing
would happen, and ended up cast as Gwendolyn. And I absolutely loved it. I fell
completely in love with acting and never looked back.
IHF: Do you have a
favorite role, so far? Anna:
It's so hard to pick because, honestly, I fall in love with every character I
get to play while I'm preparing the role. Getting to know who they are, what
makes them tick, then finding that within myself – how could you not love each
one after all that?The closest I could come to picking would probably be Tara in On
the Seventh Date (2016), because she came to me at a time when I was living
through something remarkably similar – knowing exactly what my heart wanted but
being too scared to own it. But she had the ability to take bold action and
speak what she wanted. She might be the closest to a favorite because working
on that story and getting to deeply know her taught me a lot. It helped me find
those parts of her that I admired in me.
IHF: Being in the
Rhode Island area, you’ve done a lot of films with director Richard Griffin. Any
stories of the films or working with him? Anna:
So many! The reason I've worked with Richard Griffin so many times is because
he is such an incredible creative, whose enthusiasm and love of filmmaking
spreads to everyone who steps foot on his sets. Every single film he does, he
invites you into this incredible world he is creating, and as an actor that is
such a gift. I've seen him create everything from post-apocalyptic bomb
shelters, to haunted abandoned catholic schools, to magical woods in colonial America
to raucous romantic comedies, and everything in between.I
think one story which beautifully encapsulates Richard Griffin magic in its
element, was the first day of shooting Seven Dorms of Death. We
were filming in a closed-down, beautiful old theater in the middle of January,
shooting 8-10 pages with most of the cast that day. And there was no heat in
the building. In January. But he and the crew bundled themselves up and got to
work. They lit the whole thing, all while letting us actors stay bundled up and
warm as long as possible, and they did amazing work.But
it was still freezing. And all of us actors were shivering through our lines
with our noses looking more and more like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer each
take. And yet, even through those conditions, it was still so much fun.
Everyone's spirits were high because Richard always finds amazing people to be
a part of his team. But at the end of the day, Richard made the tough decision
to scrap location, and therefore the day, because it was too much to battle
against the cold for the rest of the shoot. For those not familiar with
filmmaking, scrapping a day of shooting and changing locations is a big deal
and I don't know too many other filmmakers that could have kept a production on
schedule after that.But not only did he keep it on schedule, he found us a new theater
to shoot in (pretty much overnight) that worked even better, and he shot a
visually beautiful, hilarious movie that was an absolute joy to work on.
Because that is what he does – he comes in with such a clear vision of the film
he wants to make, that no upset knocks him out of the game. Things that would
sink another production, he rises above and uses his creativity and vast
experience to find an even better solution and makes the whole film better for
it. You cannot stop him when he wants to make a film!
IHF: Your range is
quite large, from comedy to deep drama and horror. Do you have a preference? Anna:
My preference is all of the above! I love working on things that make me laugh
and making other people laugh. And then I also love working on things that make
me feel deeply and move other people to feel something. I think we try to crack
each other up in the most tense and difficult circumstances in order to survive
them, and the funniest moments are often infused with life-or-death stakes at
the time they happen.
IHF: In Blood Pi,
you play a psycho so well. Did you have a model to base it on? Anna:
Thank you! And yes, actually. I had an up-close experience with a sociopath,
and the characteristic that really haunted me afterwards was that reptilian
stare. I did a lot of reading around the psychology of antisocial personality
disorder to try to make sense of what I had witnessed. And then years later
when Jordan (Pacheco, the director) first approached me with the Blood Pi
script, I instantly knew exactly who Amber was. And I was so excited to see a
female role like this. I didn't want Amber to be two-dimensional, so entering
into her world was a lot of figuring out what drives her and what her own weird
sense of justice/punishment was, because I think she feels deeply justified in
her actions.
IHF: Congrats on your role on “Law
and Order: Special Victims Unit.” What was that experience like, and how did it
compare to working on indie features? Anna:
Thank you! That was an amazing experience. The “Law and Order” set is massive
in terms of how many people work in each department, and they are truly a well-oiled
machine. They built that entire dance studio I shot my scene in that morning
and then as soon as we were done shooting, in a matter of minutes, had
dismantled the whole thing to begin building another set in that same space.
That level of organized teamwork was incredible. The first day I was on set was
actually their first day of their 21st season and everyone was returning
from the break between seasons. It was so cool to see how bonded everyone was,
sharing stories of what they had each done with their time off, asking about
each other's families, etc. What I love about indie filmmaking is the
camaraderie and bond you form when working together and it was so cool to see
that even on this massive set with so many people; they still had that bond.
IHF: You seemed to
flourish in the role of Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. How was the experience
of playing such an infamous Shakespearean character?
Anna:
It was so much fun! I would have been massively intimidated, but earlier that
year, I played Desdemona in a production of Othello that fellow Richard
Griffin actor, Aaron Andrade, directed and starred in. So having just performed
another Shakespeare play right before Midsummer helped boost my
confidence that I could even do it! Also, Richard did several rehearsals before
we got on set, which was such a gift because we had time to play and experiment
together. By the time we arrived on set, the words and the cadencing were
deeply in my bones, so I could forget about them and just live in the moment as
Titania. But the real cherry on top was that Richard and the crew built the
whole fairy woods on the stage of the Barker Playhouse [in Providence, RI;
it is America’s oldest continually run little theater – Ed.] and each actor
had the most incredible hair, make-up, and wardrobe to totally transform us.
And that process of physically transforming and then stepping into this magical
world they had created was exhilarating.
IHF: I know you were a composer for the film Moments
From a Sidewalk. Are you planning to further your fingers into the area of
film music, or the use of your singing ability in films?
Anna:
I would absolutely love to play more characters who sing and play music! It was
so much fun to incorporate that side of my creativity into Sarah's character in
Moments From a Sidewalk. I loved taking songs that I had written and
were personal and meaningful to me, and then adapt them for Sarah.
IHF: While I enjoy
watching you work on the screen, have you thought about working behind the
camera, perhaps in directing, writing, or producing? Anna:
I am pretty sure I will experiment at some point, but honestly, the level of
skill and talent that goes into directing, writing, and producing is
intimidating and I deeply respect the people who do those jobs. They truly each
do hold a production up.
IHF: Thank you so
much for your time. It was a pleasure getting to ask you these questions, and I
look forward to seeing your upcoming roles. Anna:
Thank you so much! It was a pleasure!
Life is a journey,
even for a horror auteur with a bad case of the puns. This release is a record
of director / writer / musician / actor / etcetera James Balsamo’s passage. Like
most other indie instigator / troublemakers, he started by creating short films
that gained him some skills to create his feature films, many of which are
reviewed on this blog.
And, like many others,
the earlier the films, the more crudely made they are, many apparently in VHS or
early digital format that is blurry and distorted; but that’s okay. Yes, I use the
word auteur often with certain directors, and James Balsamo (JB) fits
the description well. Sure, there are a number of mostly horror and comedy
genres, but there are also police shoot-‘em-ups, commercials (real and fake),
trailers (ditto), and so forth. In fact, there are 32 shorts here, ranging from
about a minute long to about 15 minutes.
Of course, some are more
successful than others, but as I said, you can see the growth from quick set
pieces with distracting jump cuts to scenes that flow much better later on.
This is normal in the process of learning any craft.
Taking them out of
context (i.e., the order they are presented), I will combine comments with
notes I took while watching this 90-minute collection. I’m not going to include
all the shorts in the review for length.
At the beginning, we
are given a number of trailers, such as the “Snake Women of the ssssSS,” a
different and much earlier vision of “I Spill Your Guts” than JB’s 2012 feature
(this one is particularly VHS-type blurry), the animated opening to “Cool as
Hell II: The Quest for God’s Bong” from 2017, “Boonies” (particularly bad jump
cuts here in this very early work), the digitally damaged “I Spill Your Guts 2,”
“Hell for Rent” and the sword and fantasy “Cruller: Donut Defendor” [sic].
It isn’t until just over 17 minutes in that the actual short films start.
Frank Mullen
The first is the
ridiculously titled “Gory Tits,” a somewhat inconsistent nonsense with a witch
with uncomfortable looking contact lenses, a sex ring run by some fake Asians,
and a serial killer (the ever demure Frank Mullen); Genovesa Rossi steals her
scenes, here. I enjoyed the sheer experimentality of “[Classified],” which is in B&W and set in an asylum. JB
sees version of the ape/diver from Robot Monster (1953)-meets-the skull-faced
creature from Killer Waves (2016). It is reminiscent of silent comedies
mixed with the disturbing Un Chien Andalou (1929) and perhaps a bit of Eraserhead
(1977).
The thing about a lot
of these shorts is that with many, there is no beginning or ending, just a
couple of set pieces that may or may not make sense whether in or out of context,
and yet are still enjoyable. For example, there an untitled piece with JB playing
three parts, including a very funny stoner, an Andrew Dice Clay kinda guy called
Wolf, and his wife Debbie (seen from the knees down). Wolf has this interesting
monologue riff set to scat music that sounds like Beat poetry of the early ‘60s.
Of course, Stoner guy sounds like late ‘60s.
There’s also a series
of commercials scattered throughout, such as a short almost Japanese-style mock
ad with Linnea Quigley (if you have to ask who that is, you’re in the wrong
genre), a couple of real come-ons for James Balsamo’s Big Book of Bad Jokes and
James Balsamo’s 100 Bad Joke Book, and a fake set of record collections
for James Balsamo’s Crude Christmas, Vol 1 and 2 with songs like “Oh
Christmas Pee”; JB proudly announces “over 1 copy sold.”
One of the
centerpieces is the serial “Death Cycle,” an ongoing multi-part story which starts
off as kind of a Dirty Harry (JB) vs. a Nazi drug gang, but continuing parts
focus much more on the gang, which is good because that’s where the interesting
characters are. JB would play coppers in latter films of his, so it’s good. Also
sequentialized “Romancing the Stoner,” a number of short clips of JB doing
stand-up comedy in New York clubs.
While “Party Crasher”
is a bit of a WTF about a killer robot badger, there are some pieces
that work really well, such as “It Came from the Microwave” which is a spoof of
the Zuni doll segment of Trilogy of Terror (1975). Two among my faves
were an untitled piece about a woman in emotional pain, and the results from
that (not a comedy), and “PMZ Hollywood,” an animated television segment on a former
child star turned werewolf that’s pretty damn funny.
Over the years, while JB’s
style has grown (even if his humor is still stuck in Middle School), there are
some consistencies that frequently tend to show up, such as, in no particular
order, Nazis, nudity, death metal, pot/stoners, and cameos by actors and musicians.
Now, there’s a couple
of thoughts about this kind of overview of his history, and I’m not sure what
is better: should it all be jumbled up like this, or should we have been
presented with it in chronological order, to keep track of the growth. Y’know
what, it really does not matter. I’m just glad JB released this material. Like
I said, it’s a bit of stuff and nonsense, but it’s definitely enjoyable all the
way through, even with some of the tripping over trying to find his style and
there sometimes not being a beginning, a middle or an end to a particular
short.
With all the growth, JB
still stays JB, and for that I’m grateful.
