TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

VividSimon Simply Perfect

Console best movie i've ever seen.

Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.

The_Void Jess Franco made a lot of bad films in his career, and this has to be one of the worst. The film features the questionable talents of Spanish punk band 'Killer Barbies', and attempts to build a plot around them. It's obvious that scriptwriters Jesus Franco and Patxi Irigoyen couldn't really be bothered to think of a decent story, so we've got the all too familiar idea of someone trying to regenerate their youth with the help of blood from the living. Don't get me wrong, this is a good idea and has lead to many great horror films; but here it's not very used, and it all feels very pointless indeed. Naturally, there's a fair amount of blood and gore on display, but it's not enough to make up for the many bad elements of the film. The dubbing is particularly atrocious, and at times there are voices when the characters' mouths aren't even moving! The band themselves don't manage to present themselves as interesting characters, and it's easy to want them to get picked off as quickly as possible. The atmosphere is decent enough, and the central location; an old dark house provides a decent setting, and is the only good thing about this film. The song that the band sings isn't terrible, and to be honest I'd rather Franco have filmed one of their concerts than this film. Overall, Killer Barbys isn't worth seeing and you'd have thought that by 1996; a man that had already made well over a hundred films could have done better. Avoid.

movieman_kev The Killer Barbies van breaks down so they have to stay at a castle owned by a woman who bathes in blood and semen. Less of an actual movie than an overlong music video. This is quite the chore to get through. Horrid acting, boring clichéd lackluster plot, lame special effects, and a general putrid stench all add up to a horrible experience... even for a Jess Franco film (Franco fans, are of a different breed and have a much MUCH higher tolerance for cinematic crap) Followed by a (why god? WHY???!!??) sequel.My Grade: F DVD Extras: Intro & Scene specific commentary by the band; Talent Bios; Band interview; Movie review; 2 Music videos by 'the Killer Barbies'; Lobby card gallery; Jump to a scream option; and Trailers for "Jungle Holocaust", "Eaten Alive", "Beyond the Darkness", & "Burial Ground" Easter Egg: Intro outtakes & CD promo

gridoon What we have here is a story that looks promising on paper (an isolated castle, a 100-year-old woman who wants to regain her youth and beauty but needs to drink fresh blood to do so, five lost punk-rockers who are destined to be her next victims), turned into a stupid horror movie "thanks" to Jess Franco's customary ineptitude. From the overworked fog machines to sheet-covered mannequins portraying naked women (I'm trying to be vague here, to avoid a spoiler), "Killer Barbys" is typical Franco hackwork. The only thing he does well is the creation of a powerful link between sex and violence (the most erotic sequence is followed by a brutal stabbing), but he's probably done that already in most of the 200 or so movies he has directed. The dubbing is terrible; much of the dialogue is very bad; the only member of the cast who seems to know what she's doing is Mariangela Giordano. Her "dacaying" makeup in the early parts is pretty good, and when she gets "young" and naked later on, she looks damn good for her age (59 at the time!), even when she is covered in blood. (**)

KuRt-33 Jess Franco's "Killer Barbys" is to the band The Killer Barbies what Aki Kaurismäki's "Leningrad Cowboys go to America" was to the Leningrad Cowboys. Both are movies starring an existing band and both are typical products of the directors. Kaurismäki is known for his deadpan black humor presented in films totally weirding you out and "Leningrad Cowboys go to America" is a weird and funny tale of the Leningrad Cowboys going to America. Franco is known for erotic horror movies and "Killer Barbys" is a mix of horny rockers and cannibalists.But there's more. Kaurismäki made a sequel, "Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses", an attempt to make the worst movie ever. To a certain degree he succeeds in doing so. Franco's "Killer Barbys" doesn't try to do so, but it's difficult not to see how many horror cliches you can see in this film: at night you hear the sound of wearwolves, it's often twelve o'clock, there's cannibalism, there are some dwarves, most of the rockers constantly want sex, a semi-naked girl is being chased in the woods, there's lot of blood and someone even ends up being crushed. How much gore can you get into one movie?But movies like "Killer Barbys" and "Leningrad Cowboys" never meant to be original. They are mainly there to let you know the band exists. And if anything they are much more enjoyable than your average rockumentary. And even though Franco made lots of no-budget movies where anyone can see through the special effects, I suspect him here of making the effects as bad as possible (if you can't see that the dead bodies are dummies, you desperately need to get your eyes checked.)It is true that Franco could have tried harder and that the movie could have been better, but it's common knowledge that Franco's best movies can't be found in the nineties. Most of those movies are even badly acted, so it's very ironic to realise that two rockers act better than Franco's cast of regulars (Lina Romay, Linnea Quigley, ...). "Killer Barbys" is the only decent movie Franco recently made, so if you want to see some of his later work, this is the best choice you can make. As long as you remember it's a Frankenstein experiment of combining gore and rockumentaries.By the way "Love Killer" is a nice song.