BIKINI BLOODBATH

BIKINI BLOODBATH

Cute teenager Jenny (Leah Ford) wakes up (topless, naturally) and wanders into the kitchen to discover a post-it note on the fridge from her parents. They've gone to Aunt May's for the weekend, meaning she has the house to herself.

So Jenny rushes to High School and, following a very bouncy game of volleyball with her sexy girl friends, takes a communal shower and invites them all to her house for a weekend party. Everyone's invited to the girls-only sleepover, for a night of scary movies and playing "truth or dare". Everyone, that is, save for the geeky Suzy (Sherri Lynn). This makes Jenny feel rotten, but peer pressure forces her to go along with the bullying.

As the girls leave school that night, their conversation is dominated by excited plans for the weekend's impending party. The school jocks - led by beefy but dim Todd (Jack Flaherty) - get wind of the party, but are told in no uncertain terms that no boys are allowed.

But will the heavy-breathing psycho watching the girls walk home respect that? It seems doubtful, when the murderous figure catches up with the first girl en route to her house and plants a meat cleaver in her stomach.

Later that day, gorgeous Ginger Olja Hrustic) almost becomes the second girl to buy the farm. Thankfully for her, the catering killer - Chef Death (Robert Cosgrove Jr) - becomes distracted by the urge to slay a cheeseburger-obsessed hobo.

In the meantime, Ginger and the remaining girls busy themselves by preparing obliviously for the weekend's jollies. Even their lesbian sports teacher Ms Johnson (Debbie Rochon) gets in on the action by leaving a message on Jenny's home telephone practically begging for an invite to the shindig. Poor Suzy though is left out, having to suffer the indignity of serving her bully schoolmates with booze in the supermarket where she works part-time.

Come party night, the girls have a rollicking good time drinking, dancing and playing twister. Meanwhile, Todd and his chums hold a less successful house party of their own, which finds them playing … Monopoly. Suzy meanwhile sits at home completing a jigsaw by herself.

Eventually everyone gathers together at Jenny's house for much noise and giggles (but not before Jenny and her pals have stripped to their bikinis and graced the hot tub), and the fun reaches fever pitch with radio-friendly rock music, hard-on gags and blowjobs among the dumb big-boobied banter. But then, Chef Death makes his presence known and the killings resume …

Loaded with pretty girls in skimpy outfits and compromising poses, BIKINI BLOODBATH lives up to it's title admirably by being silly, sexy and gory in equal measures. Performances are largely dreadful, but delivered with such zeal that it's hard not to believe that any cheesiness is 100% intentional. And the agreeable ineptitude of the cast suits the go-for-broke humour of Jonathan Gorman and Thomas Edward Seymour's script perfectly.

Visually, the film is a treat of not only hot young bodies and half-decent gore FX, but sunkissed exteriors and well-framed shots that make full use of the alluring school environment. It's a very colourful proposition too, ensuring the viewer's eyes are constantly stimulated.

The pumping rock score helps propel the breakneck pace of the zesty script, aided by the frequency of the dumb - but mostly effective - gags on offer.

If you've already seen BIKINI CAR WASH BLOODBATH, then this is very similar territory indeed. Virtually identical, in fact. But don't let that put you off. While this predecessor is perhaps less accomplished and lacking in the sequel's technical polish, it is arguably more fun - and certainly offers more in terms of pert female flesh.

Presented uncut here in a non-anamorphic 1.66:1 transfer, the film looks solid in a brightly coloured and shimmer-free proposition.

The English 2.0 audio is strong and stable throughout.

Static menus include a scene-selection page allowing access to the film via 12 chapters. Given that the film's only 72 minutes long, that's more than respectable.

Extras include a (hopefully) deliberately cheesy music video from White Liger, whose song features quite heavily in the film and is a curiously agreeable mix of Motley Crue and The Hives. The video is garish, energetic and painful. But it's over in three-and-a-half minutes.

Three minutes of bloopers offer an affable array of corpsing and general timing errors.

Bonus features are rounded off by a spunky 1-minute trailer and a photo gallery of 38 stills, running for 4 minutes and providing an assortment of behind-the-scenes footage and promotional images.

Despite the juvenile humour, BIKINI BLOODBATH is a professionally executed horror comedy that will no doubt draw comparisons to the likes of SCARY MOVIE but is actually more interesting than that tired franchise. The 12-minute closing credits sequence is an endurance test (especially as it recycles footage already seen in the DVD extras), but the film itself is a fun proposition.

When a film opens with "Directed by: Who The Fuck Cares?", you should have a fair idea of what you're getting into …

Review by Stu Willis


 
Released by Video Music, Inc.
Region 1 - NTSC
Not Rated
Extras :
see main review
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