REVIEW: BLOOD ON THE GLASS SLIPPER

Heather Dixon and Joe Trione graduate from kung fu comedy to expletive exploitation in their sophomore short film BLOOD ON THE GLASS SLIPPER, proving that true grindhouse-style moviemaking is best left in the hands of people with no money and nothing to lose, and that it takes more than putting fake dirt and scratches on your video to do it right. Beginning with the sound of screeching tires over a black title screen, SLIPPER is an excellent 16-minute homage to the rough-and-ready 70s classics LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT and I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE complete with bickering criminals and machete-wielding chicks out for bloody revenge. Trione once again gives a completely over the top performance as the head of the gang of kidnappers, verbally and physically assaulting anyone and anything that happens to be in the same frame as his character. You can tell he's seen the right movies and understands the audience for exploitation film very well. Heather Dixon and her busty counterpart Jessica Cox counteract Trione's energized antics with believable reactions and stone cold female badass when it's time to turn the tables. Combined with absolutely outstanding photography, editing and music placement, it all adds up to 16 minutes of honest to goodness intensity that's great not because the filmmakers purposely tried to make a "bad" movie but rather they succeeded in making a fucking brilliant one.

Watch this film in its entirety on YouTube here and don't be surprised if the next movie from Dixon and Trione finally gets them the credit they truly deserve.

REVIEW: THRILLER - A CRUEL PICTURE

Before more well-known cult revenge films I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE and MS. 45 there was 1974's Swedish exploitation classic THRILLER (also known as THEY CALL HER ONE EYE and HOOKER'S REVENGE). Although it's not near as interesting to watch as later entries of its ilk, it does have some really great moments of slow-motion kills and surprising gore. The plot is simple: a girl named Madeleine (Christina Lindberg) misses the bus to school and accepts a ride from a stranger. A stranger who uses heroin to turn her into a hooker. Soon as she manages to escape, she finds both her parents have died, and thus begins training for her rampage of vengeance. You can imagine how the rest of this plays out.

What really made THRILLER stand out for me were two key elements: the inclusion of harcore penetration shots in the sex scenes (very obviously added later, the walls in the room change color from shot to shot) and the close-up of a pimp's scalpel going into a hooker's eyeball. It looks real because it IS real! Lindberg revealed in a recent interview that an actual corpse of a suicide victim was used for the shot. Man they have some really f'd up laws in Sweden. Or someone was a huge movie buff. Anyway, the limited edition DVD from Synapse Films shown above clocks in at 107 minutes and has all the sex and violence. The "Vengeance Edition" shown below runs 104 minutes and only has the bloody stuff. The limited edition had a great collection of trailers for the movie, not sure if they're on the other disc or not.

For anyone wondering what a "grindhouse" movie is, this is the genuine article.