Confessions of a Trick Baby

Confessions of a Trick Baby

Director Matthew Bright built himself up a reasonable reputation amongst the fan circuit from his understandably successful movie 'Freeway'. 'Confessions of a Trick Baby' is his much anticipated follow up, but would it earn the right to held up high like his earlier work, let's see...

'Confessions of a Trick Baby' is indeed right up there with the best of them in the sleazy and highly bizarre stakes. As the film opens we meet our unfortunate lead 'White Girl', a bulimic petty mugger who lands herself in detention for up to 25 years. There she meets a whole host of criminally insane (and curiously cute as hell) jailbirds, amongst them is her psychotic cell mate Cyclona, a serial killer who likes to spend all her free time masturbating frantically. The two girls soon realise that a long stretch behind bars is not for them so they break out of jail and make their way to Mexico, where Cyclona dreams of redemption from her childhood guru-like Nun mentor. But things inevitably don't go so smoothly for the girls (well there would be no need for the film otherwise eh?) and bloody carnage, drug abuse and demented terror await them on their travels.

'Trick Baby' is a strange film indeed. In the main it plays like a psychotic live action cartoon, oft-kilter exploitation antics and modern day B-movie action the likes I haven't seen in some time (well not since Bright's superior Freeway or Robert Rodriguez's foray into this genre with his underrated TV movie flicks). Bright's direction is decent enough throughout capturing nicely the aforementioned retro-exploitation feel and keeping the pace moving along nicely. What does make the film shine is the excellent performances the two female leads, delivering a highly convincing portrayal of their roles (and Natasha Lyonne looks seriously gorgeous with bleached blonde hair too!) Another actor who delivers the goods is Vincent Gallo who is ideally cast as the sinister Nun that Cyclona so much adores.

The only disappointing factor of the movie I felt though was the ending. I understand Bright is cleverly trying to modernise the old fairytales of yore using definite reference points to classic yarns but the adherence to these stories for the finale does detract from the demented and dark flow of the bulk of the movies running time. You'll know exactly what I mean when you see it (I never was one for doing 'spoilers'!) But ropey ending aside, the bulk of the film delivers the goods nicely (and graphically) for B-movie fans!

The disc from Tartan is (as ever) a very straight but solid affair. The film is presented in a letterboxed 1.85:1 ratio with 2.0 stereo sound, I did at times find the music soundtrack interfered with the spoken dialogue but not so much that it will ruin your viewing entertainment. As for extras, there's the films Theatrical Trailer, a radio spot, some bio pages and in depth Film Notes from Tartan regular Chris Campion. Nothing to sing about but decent enough for what it is.

If you're a fan of those old women in prison flicks and (like me) enjoy your exploitation a bit more quirky and off the edge, then 'Trick Baby' should keep you more than entertained.

Review by Alan Simpson


 
Released by Tartan
Rated 18 - Region 0 PAL
Running time - approx 94 mins
Ratio - letterboxed 1.85:1
Audio - 2.0
Extras :
Trailer, Radio spot, World Cinema trailer reel, Bio pages and Film Notes by Chris Campion
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