Killer Barbys (1996)

From http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51G9788WMCL.jpg

Dir. Jesus Franco

Reviewing this, it may actually cause more damage to the film if I suddenly tried to use film studies glossary terms of 'style' to describe my enjoyment of it. This'll be a circumvention on myself since there is always a danger of defending one's enjoyments against imaginary detractors. Shame as it's called too, but there's no reason for it to exist. Can't I just admit I enjoyed the film? Why not for once? Admit to being turned on by the female nudity? I'm a heterosexual male so why not admit it? Admit to liking the goofy special effects and cheapness compared to other Jess Franco films? Yes, and say that it's still a Franco film despite this. There is of course this issue of celebrating something like this subconsciously to rebel against good taste, politically correct films. But taste's subjective, I've loved films both progressive and far more so than more celebrated politically correct films, and even the idea of what is politically correct is questionable when it doesn't always work in what it was intended to do. The only shame that exists for me is that the British DVD I viewed it on was English dub only. While its amusing, it's not seamless to the static noise of the original film, and is completely awful. Enjoyable so, but embarrassing for the film's sake. As for the film itself, I feel no shame enjoying it on this viewing. Honestly, while Killer Barbys is a drop down from Franco's best, is still memorable and considerably better than a lot of films like it from other directors.

(Real life) pop punk band Killer Barbys, name modified here because of Mattel, find their Mystery Van dying on them in the middle of nowhere. Their trademark are Barbie dolls tied up as van decorations, and on microphone stands, in improvised tape bondage gear, and the red haired, scantily clad lead female singer to wave a chainsaw around. She's the heroine, sometimes dressed in a Spiderman crop top. Two male members, the first with a beard and long hair, the other, the closest to another key character, with clean shaven features and has a higher pitched voice in the English dub. Both of them always go on about sex, the dialogue more ridiculous in the dubbing. The final two members, a male member and a female dancer, prefer to stay in the van and actually have sex continually rather than merely talk about it, to the point of seemingly staying the entire night there in coupling. A mysterious older man, who passes by the van, says he can get a toll truck for them by the next morning, and that they can all stay at the castle that he is servant of, that of a Countess who may be over a hundred years old or more. As established before the titular band are introduced, staying in this castle is probably a very bad idea, Lady Bathory reasons why it's so.

A very slim, simple plot - a common trait of a Franco film - the director concerning himself with mood, violence and sex. Mood, as with the best work of the director, is all encompassing. Characters, like the main heroine in this film by the end, find themselves wandering adrift in corridors and open areas, and very long camera takes are done that feel longer then they should be. This is my first from the winter period of the late director, divisive even amongst his fans, where it's said there was a considerable decline. A period, as co-funded European horror cinema was dissipating, where Franco was being helped financially by his own fan base. The lower production quality and, if translated accurately from the original audio track, dialogue do show this is a bit of a drop from Vampyros Lesbos (1971) or Succubus (1968). But despite these problems, it's a film like this that shows me how good Franco was. The band are picked off one-by-one, leading to the lead singer having to get out of the castle as the Countess makes her appearance. Along with the servant, there's another man living in the back, who prepares (clearly rubber mould) corpses for the Countess to drink the blood of and who has two dwarfs, both genders, as "children" who help and get the spoils, human ears to those dolls hanging up in the Mystery Van. The plot has very few twists and turns within it in terms of the events I've described going any further from this. What's more important is the content surrounding this thin plot. Sexual pleasure and blood are the main plot momentums, as is the case with other Franco films.

From http://www.imcdb.org/i292847.jpg

Some of his key trademarks are not at their best. The usually exceptional music score is replaced here by a funny but horrifically dinky keyboard sound - you'd think synthesisers from the seventies and eighties Euro horror films, ignored for nineties sounds, could've been relocated, dusted off and used but apparently not. Location use and creating environments from what he had for his films however is still strong here. Despite the small plot, what's really of enjoyment is a lurid journey from one moment of sex or horror to another, and the distinctness of the castle location helps make the film stand out. Using it as part of his usual dream logic, where characters are adrift in rooms and almost sleepwalking along predestined routes, it exists here too. Mist covered hill, near the river, are still powerful to see even in a weaker film like this. Creepy stuffed animals, with boggle eyes or made to be like people are lingered over as is the decorations of the castle's rooms. The abattoir at the back, despite the rubber bodies, is a sparse and messy space that's riddled with blood everywhere. When it gets to the point of the heroine finding out what's going on, the film fully becomes what I love about Franco as a she wanders the hidden rooms of the castle, a literal chess room with giant chess pieces and matching black and white tiles, to a room of various body parts and curiosities in jars. This doesn't last long, but from it the tone of the film is shown, even with the plot's junky schlock, to be a dreamy one of previous Franco films even if the style is not completely the same as the before ones.

Regardless of the film's failings, it's still in my thoughts as a memorable viewing experience. Once I get past the cheesiness, although I liked the (overused) songs by the band, I still felt an atmosphere that is shared with the best of Jess Franco's work and is rarely done in other horror films. The special effects for the blood and gore were absurd but befitting, the film never taking on a serious tone that would've been deflated by the obvious failings. The sexuality was honestly appealing too; admittedly I didn't find a female character running from a man with a scythe while completely naked titillating, instead seeing it as lurid on purpose, but the rest of the sexual nature of the film, while also schlocky, was enticing. And it's worth baring in mind that, for all the criticisms Franco has had levelled at him for this, the fact that the actress playing the Countess, when she appears to the band, is not just a beautiful woman but a beautiful older woman suggests that, perversely, Franco may have had a more progressive view of sexuality and gender than many other apparently 'progressive' directors. The luridness and the few failings are probably why I had to start this review as I did, although I give up keeping any un-biased mask on and admit to having completely enjoyed Killer Barbys. It could be argued to have a cop-out ending - that its revealed to have been merely fiction with an improvised music video for the band taking place - but personally it was an emphasis that this was Franco trying to make a fun film. And it was fun to view. He still had the talent despite the big drawbacks in production of this compared his sixties and seventies work. I could care less any more about trying to write intelligent, good taste reviews and I thank Killer Barbys, and my enjoyment of it, for reminding me that individual taste has completely influenced everything I've written on this blog. That I've covered many Franco films from before this pretty much says that I've really found enjoyment in his work even here.

From http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v517/richardsplash/blog6/killerbarbys_04_zpsa9a9067a.jpg