TIFF 09: Day 5 - Bitch Slap

Bitch Slap. With a name like that, what do you expect? Bitch Slap is an homage to the exploitation films of the 60s and 70s, with the major influence obviously being Russ Meyer’s Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! The opening title sequence (which was amazing) shows this by splicing together a high-octane montage of exploitation films. Just as a quick side note, the audio system at the Ryerson Theatre is absolutely amazing, and I feel helped make both this film and Jennifer’s Body enjoyable. I wonder how it will be as a home projection. The film is simply this: get as many gratuitous shots of these sexy ladies as we can, while shooting and blowing shit up. The film was stunt choreographed and coordinated by Zoe Bell, whom most people will recognize from Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof where she had a major role. All of the fight sequences were amazing, and entertaining. That being said, I’m not too sure on the plot. The film (probably due to budget and time restraints) has two locations: a desert and a green screen. I am going to take a stand and say green screen films are fine when successful (Sin City, Sky Captain & The World of Tomorrow) and absolutely disgusting when unsuccessful (300). Based on the sounds of the joke credits as well as the Q&A with the director afterwards, that the backgrounds were to be intentionally bad. Which is unfortunate, as it took away from the entire film. One of the final flashbacks, which takes place in Las Vegas, features fake explosion after fake explosion after fake explosion, and it becomes both tiring and annoying quickly. I’m a sucker for bad films, so I liked this film. It will be a big hit with people who feel like turning off their brains for a while, but will be chastised by people looking for depth. And really, the film is called Bitch Slap. If you’re looking for depth, you’re watching the wrong movie.

Rating: B-