Invasion of the Alien Bikini
Directed by: Young-doo Oh
Cast: Eun-Jung Ha, Young Geun Hong
Running Time: 1 hr 14 mins
Rating: Not Rated
Showtimes at PIFF: Saturday 2/25 11:30pm at Cinema 21 Complete PIFF Schedule
PLOT: An amateur crime fighter rescues a woman from a beating before finding out she isn't who she appears to be.
WHO'S IT FOR? A strong stomach and high tolerance for disturbing behavior are necessary to watch this movie.
OVERALL
I've gotten pretty lucky with the films I've reviewed for the festival this year, I've liked everything to greater or lesser degrees. So I guess I was bound to find a stinker somewhere. This film is billed as being a fun B-movie send up, however I think it's more informed by disturbing manga than the sort of B movies I'm familiar with. The opening scene is decent, a vigilante who sees himself as a superhero saves a woman being beaten by three men. He saves her, brings her to his place, offers her weird beverages. Then things get even more weird than the beverages. Not just, oh, this is wacky movie weird. The movie gets really dark, really quick though it's still shot like a comedy. The woman tries to rape her savior, and when it doesn't work she starts torturing him. But the bizarre dialogue and odd camera angles seem to be playing this for comedic effect. I was pretty disgusted and if I hadn't been reviewing it, I would have turned it off. That's something I rarely do.
The film is made for a small budget (reportedly under $5,000) with some skill. It's shot well, and the costumes and acting are good. But the combination of subject matter and the way it was dealt with was just too vile.
FINAL SCORE: 2/10