Customer Reviews

Faster Pussycat Kill Kill [VHS]

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This movie is definitely a must see. That being said the transfer of this DVD is no better than my VHS copy. Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! is a very noteworthy cult film and deserves something akin to the Criterion treatment. I saw a restored print on the big screen a few years ago and it was positvely gorgeous, high-contrast, luminous and sharp. The sound quality here is acceptable given the source, but picture quality of this DVD is muddy and faded looking, plus a seemingly improper/misaligned aspect ratio to boot. A 5 star film on a 2 star disc.

While there are some who argue that it is a pro-feminist flick with lots of social significance, truth is FASTER PUSSYCAT KILL KILL is a very deliberately made bit of ultra-drive-in trash, a movie that glories in all things low-brow, low-rent, and low-necklined. And it has a cast that makes up for their collective lack of talent with attitude to spare.

The story is as hooty as the cast. Tura Satana, she of the lethal cleavage, leads minions Haji and Lori Williams away from the grind of their jobs at the go-go joint and out into the desert. They race their cars. They wrestle in the water and then in the sand. They dance the watusi. They bump off this guy who shows up wearing plaid shorts. (You might read this as a mercy killing.) Then they set their sights on an old lech and his dum-dum sons, hoping to make away with their money. Faster Pussycat indeed!

The script is deliberately absurd, with an emphasis on memorable one liners that try to out-cliche all known cliches. But the real attraction here are the "pussycats." It isn't often that you see a 2D movie with 3D effects, but that's exactly what happens when Tura, Haji, Lori, and their six talents hit the screen. These are three big-busted, nip-waisted women with evil attitude, and they sneer, snarl, snap, and slither around the screen with all the aplomb of trailer park drag queens gone bad. It's more "tacky cool" than a 1965 plastic jewelry box explosion.

Now, how much you like this sort of thing really depends on how warped your sense of humor is. Cheap though it is, the thing is remarkably well done, and taken in the right way the combination of trailer-park chic, retro-hysteria, and ultra-attitude is a lot of fun... and when the pussycats hit the screen you may think you're about to get a black eye, and I don't mean from their fists! Breakout the popcorn and some protective glasses: Tura and the Pussycats are coming at ya!

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

I saw this movie a few years back at a local art house theatre. It was a midnight movie and I took my friend Lyle. I laughed so much and so loudly that people were constantly turning around and looking at me during the movie. I really need to watch some of Mr. Meyer's other films to see if they are as good as this one. It's true the movie is filled with big-chested women, in bizarre situations, who are really tough and have no problem fighting a man who is bigger then they are. The acting is bad, the dialogue is bad, but it is a "good" bad, you know, so much so that it is GREAT! Pure fun and I plan to get a copy of this one for myself.

... this is the film you've been longing for.
I'm convinced there would never be a SIN CITY or PULP FICTION had there not been FASTER PUSSYCAT, KILL! KILL! The opening credits alone are among the most brilliant moments in cinema, and by the time you reach the end you may reach sensory overload.
Russ Meyers earned his place in cinematic history with this film, one that made flesh and blood the kind of women only seen in comic books. Its a movie made with love by talented hands, subject matter be damned, and is a unique vision to this day. Its too easy to write this movie off as a cult-ish "bad movie" until you've actually watched it.
Is is amoral? Not really, in fact there's a string of retribution that's almost karmic. Is it pornography? At the time, maybe, but that's questionable - there's really no nudity (that opening go-go dance is as risque as it gets!), only tight outfits and suggestion. Today it's less explicit than the average FOX reality show.
So... why watch it? Aside from being the most unabashedly fun pulpy film ever made, ts a textbook of lowbudget filmmaking, as daring as BLOOD SIMPLE or RESERVOIR DOGS. This femme fatale world of men portrayed as weak willed and predatory creatures at the mercy of women's sexual powers lingers, and would-be filmmakers should be intoxicated with the possibilities...
And therin lies PUSSYCAT's blessing and curse... for every Tarantino or Rodriguez it inspires to embrace their cinematic fetishes, its legacy is more bad direct to video movies glutting Blockbuster than good. These genuinely trashy (i.e.-poorly made, lazy sexploitation) films taint it in the public eyes, and I think the only remedy is for more people to see and love it.

"THAT WAS INTENSE!"
~Emilio Estevez, REPO MAN

I absolutely love this film.
It's starts with some classic nonsensical voiceover about the violence lurking in women and the unmistakable "smell of female" before cutting to our three stars dancing at the go-go club for some disturbingly enthusiastic male patrons. "go baby go go go!"
We're quickly brought to the dessert where our story unfolds. Apparently these three unbelievably buxom ladies are a "team" of sorts who don't mind a little violence and mayhem which is quickly proved when their leader kills a man with her bare hands and then kidnaps his whiny girlfriend. They hatch a plan to rob an old local miser of his life savings. The miser is shockingly misogynistic and has two sons, one of whom is a muscle bound vegetable. The details and background of these two is slowly revealed through some incredible patches of dialogue which border on campy but maintain a sort of dark edge. And while there is no nudity or sex depicted anywhere in the film, it is somehow a constant presence: Billie's hillarious attempts at seducing the "vegetable", Varla's gravity defying neckline, the leering old man-it's all sex without being overly graphic unlike later Russ Meyer films. The dialogue is insanely quotable as it just gets weirder and weirder:the dinner scene is just amazing. "I never try anything I just do it. Wanna try me?" You Tarzan Me Jane, now grab a vine and let's swing" "when I've had enough of this (whiskey) it's been known to be passin'-out-time!" "we don't like anything soft. Everything we touch is hard" All the "guilty" characters (which is almost everyone) get their comeuppance in the end in a variety of gruesome deaths. There really aren't words to do this film justice. It is a full-on over the top, sexually charged, near camp, film noir masterpiece. Watch it again and again and again.

Ok, this movie isn't thick on plot. The acting isn't really award winning. Then why is this one of my favorite movies of all time? Simply because this is as COOL a movie as you will ever see. So many movies have actors/actresses pretending to be cool. Some movies seem to try so hard to be hip. This movie doesn't try, it just does it! The women in this movie don't have to pretend. They are the real deal. The 3 women in FPKK are the coolest, sexiest femme fatales you will ever see on film. Tura Satana is the hippest chick ever to grace the silver screen. She is scary as hell, yet what a sexy babe. I can't recall a female lead who was scaring me, wooing me, turning me on, and repulsing me all at the same time.

Each shot in the movie is like a work of art. Shot in black and white, this movie has a timeless look. The soundtrack is great. It is a very, very stylish movie. It is a joy to watch. The action is fast and furious. There is never a dull moment. You must see this movie!

Atypical Russ Meyer movie that features none of his exploitive trademarks but actually concentrates on characterizations of his three stars---the incomparable Tura Satana, sultry Haji, and way-out California girl Lori Williams. Great b&w photography as the girls(go-go dancers in a sleazy club) head out in wild sports cars into the desert in search of thrills. Well, they get 'em when Satana kills a guy and they abduct his screaming idiot girlfriend. They hide out at a desert ranch headed by a VERY weird father/son clan. Satana believes there's a lot of moola on the property somewhere and she aims to find it one way or another. Acting is above-average for a Meyer piece and the film is consistently watchable throughout. No nudity(except for some tasteful bare-back shots as they bathe after the desert incident) and the women are not stupid but tired of being used. This is a first-rate bona-fide cult classic right here and deserves a pristine transfer to DVD. A MUST SEE.

I only give this film 5 stars because I can't enter 5,000,000. THIS IS THE GREATEST FILM EVER MADE. There is nothing more to say!!!!!!

A stunning acheivement in low-key (by today's standards) cinematic sleaze! This movie is often accused of being a live action comic book. As a comic book artist, I heartilly agree! Memorizing every frame should be a prerequisite to making comics.

From the deadpan irony of John Moran's script, through Meyer's direction and cinematography to the terrifyingly sexy performances by the Pussycats-- especially Tura and Haji. This movie has a weird chemestry all its own.

One of my many favorite lines has cute little Sue Bernard asking the titular psychotic go-go girl trio, "Any of you girls care for a soft drink?" to which uber-latina Haji responds, "No no. We don't like'a nothin' soft-- everything we like is'a HARD!!"

One of the all-time classic cult movies of the 1960's - worth it just to hear Satana shouting orders at her well-endowed cohorts and wisecracking at all the guys. I love the beginning so much I recorded the narration on audio tape. I wholeheartedly agree with film critic Danny Peary, it's the perfect drive in movie, chock full of action sequences (plus the sound is so atrocious you wouldn't miss anything seeing it at a drive-in). Probably the most FUN of Meyer's films, because it really doesn't take itself that seriously. I love watching people rock back and forth in the cars during the closeups, to give the illusion that they are the ones actually driving (they look like they were filmed on one of those little kiddie-car rides you see outside of department stores). And it's SO ODD to see a film, made by MEN, in which a woman beats several men senseless (killing one and almost killing another). You have to wonder why tough Satana wasn't in more films (she would've been perfect with Pam Grier . . together they're the two coolest women in movies).