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Killing Car (1993)

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    Tiki Tsang plays a mysterious assassin that spends her time in an American Car that all of her victims soon recognize before their deaths. Jean Rollin is the director of this wacky but artsy tale of revenge. 

      I have to express right away that I personally had a hell of a time with this film. The film opens up with a mysterious Asian women walking around a scrap yard. The car salesman that lives nearby notices the women looking at a car. He instantly leaves his girlfriend, that he was just groping, in order to sell the car to the strange lady. As soon as he comes within five feet of the Asian she begins a strip tease. The gullible car salesman falls for her luring deception and gets blasted. Instantly his girlfriend picks up a gun (that is conveniently right next to her) and begins chasing the murderer of her boyfriend. The salesman’s girl goes from chasing the killer to being chased by the killer. The movie takes a fun turn as prostitutes get involved. They all head to an amusement park and hookers get clipped one by one. Before the salesman’s girl became a target, she expressed she wanted to write a book about her life. She even stopped while she was being chased to add to her memoirs. The fact that she did this while she was running away from a lady on a killing spree and teaming up with whores, kept a smile on my face. I won’t divulge whether or not the salesman’s wife makes it back to the scrap yard okay. I felt like I was for an exciting chase movie between the two. 

      Basically this film is part mystery, part slasher with a gun and 100% Revenge. The entire movie relies on the pay off and I really felt like it wasn’t going to happen for me. The killing scenes where a little redundant but the vibe was always different because the killer always went to unique locations. For a while I felt like she had something against the art scene. After the scrap yard/ amusement part massacres she took out art dealers, photographers and dancers. 

      The back of the DVD box may lead you to believe that the killer is ghost but the film never gave off that vibe. The killer is very cold and one of her victims mentions that she gives of a dead vibe but the killing was very real. 

      The film is artsy but it definitely has a popcorn movie appeal as a central character just kills a bunch of motherfuckers. The reason is satisfyingly presented at the end of the film in order to surprise the viewer. The killers signature clue is leaving behind a toy replica of her car at the scene of the crime. Cops are involved in the movie and only show up to put up caution most the time. One of the cops is really into solving the crimes and the other is more laid back as he seen it all, and on top of that he is retiring. 

      To close this review, I must say that the film is filled with Rollin’s trademark beautiful women and reminiscent shots of his earlier work. I loved Tiki Tsang’s performance as she was cold, attractive and a killer with reason. The technical aspect goes back and forth from great to lackluster. Some of the squib action was great and then other time blood were just thrown on characters for their close up. This is a very small gripe as this film is much more a revenge thriller that a splatter horror movie. Again the repetitiveness of the kill scenes may feel overdone after a while but the killer did manage to pop out of nowhere a couple of times.

      I actually really hope Rollin fans give this film a chance. I thought it was cool that every character in the film seemed to have a weapon in arms reach. It was refreshing to have an attractive and intelligent killer wipe out a cast of beautiful women, scumbag men and seemingly innocent people. This isn’t an exhilarating action film as it is more a film about a women who carefully sets up her victims. Throughout the film every victim mentions her “American Car” while showing some remorse before their demise. I stuck with the film and I was pleased with the answers offered in the subtle ending. At the beginning she did her killing quickly but as time went on it seemed she wanted her victims to know why they were being eliminated.

      The film is accompanied with a 25 minute Documentary on the celebrated director Jean Rollin. He discusses his love for film, his version of vampires and his hesitant leap into porno films. The documentary seems like something ripped off of television but its informative and it shows lots of clips from his work. I am not quite the Jean Rollin expert but I look forward to catching his work on more upcoming DVD’s. This DVD is presented in full screen and I don’t believe the film is remastered. Still I enjoyed the experience and found this 90 minute film to offer a lot to a lot of different fans. Fans of Femme Fatale films, revenge tales and by the numbers slashers might enjoy this unless they want Americanized action. It should be noted that this film is actress Tiki Tsang’s only performance ever on film. She was subtle and had the cold appeal I love to see in revenge films. It also helps that this film is an absolute original. 

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-Russ Rutter