Customer Reviews

Razor Blade Smile

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Forget the detractors on this B-flick. This is a Well made fun movie. Also lead Actress Eileen Daly is absolutely delicious as Lilith Silver. She can drain me anytime. The campy fun during this film can be found throughout. Lilith just loves the blood, and from what I read Eileen drank it like water during the shoot. A word of advice for parents, this is a very violent and sexual film, especially the unrated version. For those of you who are looking for another Blade, or Interview with the Vampire, don't bother, cause this is a B-movie in the true sense of the word. No big budget, in fact the 20,000 pound budget, Appx 35,000 US was far less than the touted Blair Witch Project. Best tip: Get a bunch of friends together in a living room, aquire a lot of salty popcorn, turn down the lights and watch. To think that the budget of this was less than the one day catering bill for Titanic!

About a week ago I was sitting in the Washington, DC bar Asylum in the checkered Adams Morgan neighborhood. Sitting there with a glass of water, watching my friends get drunk, I noticed an unusual movie playing on one of the televisions. The sound wasn't on, but the imagery presented, backed with the bar's heavy metal and gothic music pounding in the background captivated me.

The movie was Razor Blade Smile (1998), independent fare from England. OK, it looked bad, but I had to see this thing in full. The DVD arrived today.

Having just watched the closing credits (and a little surprise when they're done) I realize this is a mish mosh of atrocious acting, bad editing, horrible effects and abundant slickness that comes together and works much better than it should.

The tale is of a 150 year old vampire "Lilith Silver" who is bored to tears and fills her time by knocking off people for money. Yes, she is a hit-vamp. Her current boy-toy employer has her knocking off people who wear rings with eyeballs in them. When she finally gets curious and asks a contact of hers about them, she learns they belong to a group called The Illuminati, a mysterious cabal that has inundated itself into the world's power structures.

It turns out that Sethane Blake, the ancient vamp who turned our murderous vixen into a blood sucking (and other sucking) fiend heads this group and has also contracted out Lilith's boss to rub out the lower members of his frat house. If this sounds at all interesting, see it. It's quite entertaining if you don't take it too seriously.

The stars are basically no one. Eileen Daly (Lillith) did a few minor roles and is known as the "Redemption Girl". Christopher Adamson (Sethane) is trying to be the next Christopher Lee. He doesn't have suave good looks, incredibly sexy voice, and his skin is bad. David Warbeck (The Horror Movie Man) appears to have had something of a career, but died before the film was released. He doesn't have to worry about appearing in a sequel.

There are lots of effects. None of them are memorable. Someone on some said it looked as if director Jake West got his hands on some video editing software and went nuts. There's black and white, kooky color with lots of blue and red contrasting, grainy picutre, bad focus, slow motion, fast motion, jerky fast motion, lots of fire, blood, a few stakes, computers, guns, rubber, mylar, sunglasses, a lesbian scene in catsuits (OK, that's not an effect, but it was pretty damn hot and coming from me, that's saying something), a few decapitations and a guy blowing his brains out.

And in the end, all is not what it seems. In fact nothing is as it seems. It's like a bad car wreck. You just can't look away. Oh, and don't leave before the credits end.

This british vampire flick just reeks of live action manga!.The sexy heroine in her latex outfits and arsenal of firearms,that she keeps in a coffin. It twists the vampire myth to new areas.The context and twist at the end reveal an oustandingly original take on the genre. The budget limitations are plain to see ,but dont detract from a great film. Truely the best British Vampire flck in ages. You cannot help falling for thr charms of Eileen Daly in the lead role as Lilith Silver, she was born to vamp ! Fans of the genre and manga wont be dissapointed,BLOODY BRILLIANT FUN !!

I am a huge horror movie fan but have never been remotely interested in Vampire flicks until now. I bought this film originally in VHS format and loved it !!!! When I saw it had been at last released on DVD Special Edition I got it straight away!!! Even without special features this film is superb and well worth owning, but the addition of the short film made by Jake West as a part of his graduation makes it an absolute MUST HAVE !!!!! Club Death is a clever, cool and smart little movie that easily puts some of the Rubbish churned out by the eternal Hollywood machine to shame !!!! The documentary on the making of both these films is terrific and fun to watch !!!! It is of constant amusement to me just how many people there are around who constantly vent their spleen when they write a review on the internet who have absolutely NO IDEA what they are talking about!!! Jake West deserves an award of some description just for having the sheer guts and full on determination to pull off such a brilliant project!!! Let alone the fact that he actually managed to get HIS OWN movie into central London cinemas!!! I seriously doubt whether this is a FEAT we will be seeing too much of in the future history of movie going as The Hollywood Machine has everything sewn up NICELY!!!! I LUV THIS MOVIE !!!! Dare I suggest the word Sequel ?!!! Lilith Silver SHOULD RETURN!!

I'll admit I'm not your typical vampire flick chick. I enjoy most of what I see on video because I might be a little too easy to please. But this movie had a twist that was most satisfying. I too get tired of the typical moaning and groaning vampires or those who dwell on nothing but the action side of vamp flicks. This movie displayed the action well enough, along with your regular love of beautifully sculpted dregs of the dead. But Lilith goes through it all with a sense of humor that belies the opressive atmosphere. It loves to poke fun at the usual stereotypical vamp flick. Something I feel sets it above the rest. I also like the low-budget side. It's almost as though it's thumbing it's nose at Hollywood. It's worth it in the end!

Razor Blade Smile is defiantley one of the best vampire flicks I have ever seen. Finally a movie where the vampire is not moaning and groaning about being a vampire. Lilith enjoys her existance and the black leather really, really, really helps. It's also nice to see a cool vampire movie coming out of England. I think we've all had our fill of both French and Transylvanian vampires.

The opening title sequence is the best part of the film. There was a really interesting concept here, but alas, the director went for 'hot' film and stylish camera shots and neglected performance and plot - I don't think he could decide whether he was shooting a vampire flick or a softcore flick with vampires in it. There were also some continuity errors, such as one sequence where the vampire goes through the front door of a house, but the next shot shows her climbing in a window. However, it is visually interesting and there's a fair amount of pretty, naked people to ogle, so it's not a total loss.

Not the worst, but definitely far from the best.

What more can I say?
A bad film that doesn't take itself too seriously. If you're a fan of the Hammer Horrors, or B-Movies, this is just a modern spin on those genres. More graphic brutality, more nudity, less distinguised actors making fools of themselves....
The plot is secondary to the joy to be had from watching a film that's so bad it's good.
Expect great things, leave disappointed;
expect nothing, and you're sure to find something you like.

those who think this movie [is bad] don't get it. it is so "bad" b/c it is a loving and brilliant homage to b movies from the 60's & 70's. i think jake west was inspired by russ myers, the james bond films (which are really just bad b movies anyway), and hammer films. razor blade smile should be a total goth cult favorite because of the costumes, vampires, etc. if you want to see a very cool b movie where the heroine is a sexy, totally campy vampiress/hitwoman then see this and have fun.

Lilith Silver is an 18th century British "Lady" who is turned into a vampire, and survives in the 21st century as a Hit Lady for hire. Her latest job has her stumbling upon a secret society that is out to rule the world, and destroy her for doing in it's members.

Lilith is a cooler than cool femme fatale who hangs out in a 'Goth' bar, shooting the breeze with a bunch of yuppie fake vampires (who haven't a clue Who/What she REALLY is). Her current bed mate is a regular human who also contracts her assasination assignments. And she has a coffin full of Ninja swords and exotic hand guns (and a closet of clothes that makes Victoria's Secret look like K-Mart). This is not your father's vampire.

Eileen Daly snugly fits this role like her leather jump suit fits her. Despite her aristocatic good looks, she perfectly conveys the non-chalant evil of her character when Lilith seduces a bar pick-up for a nightcap, then disposes of her with that "Oh well" look. And as her smoldering sexuality stammers two cops attempts to grill her, she "fang flashes" one to remind us of how deadly she really is.

And that is one of the problem with this flick. The director waste too much time oggling Ms. Daly in skin tight jumpsuits, bustiers, and lingerie, and not enough on making her "jump out at you" scary(Now the guy who plays the evil CEO vampire is SCARY). Mind you, I could spend all day watching her run-way model the fore-mentioned, but I digress . Eye rolling, fang showing hisses are not scary when not directed at a victim. And taking a year-and-a-day to sneak through a window or past guards is great for showing off sexy figure in a skin tight leather jump suit, but really empasizes the "B" grade quality of production. Ms. Daly comes off more like a Modesty Blaise with a dental problem and weird feeding habits. Mercifully, there are few laughable cheap special effects (unless you count the gallons of obvious fake blood), but a lot of jump cuts to replace good choreographed action sequences.

Overall, this film delivers what it intends; a smart, beautiful anti-heroine who can shoot it out with the best of 'em, and make a man actually consider receiving the ultimate hickey, and a twist ending that reminds you that she is a deadly vampire, dammit!. Or as Ms. Daly's sexy whiskey and honey drenched voice (which narrates through the film, Thank God), reminds you; "YOU DON'T KNOW **** ALL ABOUT VAMPIRES!