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Released by: 20th Century Fox
Released on: 3/2/2010
Director: Rick Jacobson
Cast: Julia Voth, Erin Cummings, America Olivo, Michael Hurst
Year: 2009
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The Movie:
Something of great value is buried in a remote location in desert. Three hot chicks, Hel (Erin Cummings), Camaro (America Olivo) and Trixie (Julia Voth), interrogate a crime lord they kidnapped in the hope to find the treasure. Gage the crime lord (Michael Hurst of Hercules the Legendary Journeys fame) gets seriously abused and gives up nothing to help them in their search. Meanwhile a pretty-boy cop, a disgusting thug, and mean little lady with a razor blade yo-yo come into play and throw a wrench into the operation. All the while the back stories of the three vixens are told in flashbacks, telling us all how each came to be involved in the hunt and what kind of relationship exists between them.
The tension mounts between the three ladies and the result is what the filmmakers claim to be the biggest female fight in motion picture history. They may be right, they may be wrong, but it certainly is a fight to admire, with the action choreographed by Kiwi stunt person Zoe Bell. At any rate, the treasure is of course found, but it doesn't much matter due to the twist at the film's finale.
Really, in a nutshell that's the story. It's got a few layers to it but nothing really deep. What this movie really is, is an homage to “bad girl†exploitation movies from the drive-in days and the filmmakers make no bones about it. The opening credits are a montage of clips from movies like Faster Pussycat…Kill! Kill! and features such icons as Pam Grier and Betty Page which pretty much tells you what they are hoping to emulate. The movie really has two styles to it, one being the “happening now†story which takes place in the harsh desert setting, and the “happened previously†flashback stuff which is done in a way similar to Sin City using green screen to make the backgrounds all computerized. Obviously the budget was smaller than the aforementioned film and it shows. Some of the imagery is too cartoon-like and is a distraction. The desert scenes are much more effective in the story telling because of the lack of CGI. The flashbacks tend to do little more than break up the flow of the story.
The ladies in the film are certainly nice to look at, and aside from a couple of spots the acting is good. The real stars are the secondary characters. Michael Hurst as Gage is the real stand out and plays an excellent sleaze ball, complete with a banana hammock. He really owns that character. The disgusting thug Hot Wire (William Gregory Lee) and his sidekick Kinki (Minae Noji) are over-the-top crooks out to take what the girls find in the desert. Both actors are excellent in their roles and really should have had more screen time. And Zoe Bell should get some sort of award for the fight scenes she put together. The big ten-minute plus fist fight toward the end, although a big dragged out, is really something to behold.
Absolutely entertaining but definitely flawed, Bitch Slap is obviously a movie created by people who love these types of movies…guns and tits (well, covered tits…no nudity in the entire film save for a quick peek at the boobs of some extra), guts and explosions, nasty girls and lots of lesbianism (but sex scenes fully clothed?…come on…) . There're lots of little tributes to genre films through out if you're looking (like the idol from Raiders of the Lost Ark for example), wet t-shirt frolicking, and even some hot nun action, so if you can get past the “stylistic†imagery and slo-mo/fast-mo/slow-mo action, there should be something here for most genre fans to have fun with.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Bitch Slap is presented in 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen and it looks fantastic. The image is clear and sharp, free of artifacts. The skin tones look perfect and the blacks deep. The colors are vibrant and really shine in the flashback scenes, and the designers did some interesting color schemes making things stand out (even though they're basically cartoons).
The 5.1 Dolby Digital track fills the room with loud noises, full-sounding music, and makes excellent use of the surround sound. No doubt designed to be somewhat obnoxious, the talking is quiet but then the sound design kicks you in the nuts when it needs to. A great job that fits well with the great picture.
This disc has a feature-length making-of documentary broken into three parts at about a half an hour a piece, with a total running time of around 1 hour, 40 minutes (with a “play all†option). It covers mainly the principle photography of the movie and talks extensively with the people involved. It's very insightful, full of interesting information, and well worth watching. Michael Hurst is peppered throughout doing a running bit where he's narrating as if they were filming a nature documentary, which is funny stuff. There are two commentaries to go along with the feature, one by the filmmakers, one by the cast. The cast one is not horrible; the three leads chat and talk about this scene and that and make fun of things, but there are dead spots with silence. The filmmaker commentary however, is great. As with the making-of feature, this commentary is wall-to-wall info and you can really hear the love these guys have for the movies they are feeding off. They also point out a lot of the hidden stuff that shows just what movie geeks they are which kind of makes you want to go back and look for more. If you're into low-budget movie making and like listening to people talk about it, this is a great commentary.
Overall
Bitch Slap may not reach the cult status of the movies the filmmakers are trying to channel, but it certainly is an entertaining hour and forty-five minutes. Add the hour and a half documentary and the great director/writer/producer commentary and you've got a DVD that's more than your money's worth.
