'The Taint' review by Yasmin Vought screens 10 September

The Taint certainly is one of the most horrendously grotesque films of this year. Banned (or soon to be banned) in pretty much every state and territory that it was released in, it promises to shock, disgust, infuriate and disturb you to the core. The Taint is described as a satirical horror-comedy seeking to expose the misogynistic views of contemporary genre films, by being the most misogynistic film of all time.

My viewing notes for this film pretty much read as follows; “Penis…. Is that Corey, the social networking party dude? Human faeces… penis… severed penis… pinball music… penis… ahh that’s what ‘taint’ means… smashed heads… sperm explosion…” In light of this quite simplistic method of film analysis, please forgive me if I do not give you the usual run down on how tight the editing was and the details of fancy cinematography techniques, such as the depth of field in the face-mutilation scene. Because let’s face it, that would just be missing the point entirely. This is a trash film, best viewed trashed (responsibly and on SUFF wine of choice ‘Rosnay’ wine, of course!) or at least with your sense of humour intact and your mind firmly planted in the gutter.

Essentially this film is a horror comedy in the style of ‘Cannibal: The Musical’ and in my opinion, inspired by classics such as Dario Argento horror masterpiece, ‘Suspiria’ and countless John Waters trash flicks. The Taint’s film genre also borders on tacky romance at some points, with a few flashback scenes that are presented in a spoof soap opera style. Think ‘Mills and Boone’ meets ‘Passions’, only with mutilation and sexual violence. Ahh zombie love…

Drew Bolduc, the lead Actor and Director of ‘The Taint’ will be doing a Q&A after the SUFF screening of his film this Friday night at The Factory Theatre, Marrickville. His character, Phil O’Ginny, reminds me of a mutant cross between Matt Stone and Napolean Dynamite. Drew also acted in and directed a short film in 2008 called ‘The Godening’, in which a young man loses his religion and becomes a hedonist and an alcoholic. He then has to battle Satan to save his soul from eternal damnation. I must see this film! Until then, I’ll be heading to the Factory Theatre this Friday night to watch ‘The Taint’ with some like minded creeps and weirdos and to hopefully ask Drew what his fascination is with bodily fluids and smashed heads. Catch this film before it’s banned!

El Monstro Del Mar! review by Yasmin Vought screens 10 September

Described as an Ozploitation genre film, Stuart Simpson’s El Monstro Del Mar is a tale of three foxy rockabilly babes - hired assassins hiding away in a seaside village after a big job. Amazonian goddess Beretta (Nelli Scarlet) appears to be the leader of the pack, and has a dominance and presence on screen that forces you to pay attention - or else she will probably slit your throat and feed you to her two sidekicks! Beretta‘s punk rock attitude (Nelli is the frontwoman of Melbourne band, The Scarlets) is reminiscent of Suburban Mayhem beauty Katrina Skinner (played by Emily Barclay) and is complimented by the more subdued nature of Blondie (Karli Madden)and the sexual allure of the Morticia-meets-Elvira raven haired vixen, Snowball (Kate Watts).

The leading ladies are quite believable in their parts, almost as though they were plucked straight from their crème Cadillac, cruising around the streets of Melbourne, cranking The Cramps on their stereo. After watching El Monstro Del Mar, I want to join their crew and drink whiskey with them and go on a sexy car stealing, killing rampage on the South coast.

However, it’s not all fun and cruising, because just when we think that the girls are indestructible, they get themselves into a bit of trouble in this apparently not so sleepy seaside town by swimming in the forbidden beach. Channelling The Mighty Boosh’s tale of Ol’ Gregg, there is something deadly and frightening that lurks beneath the sea, and it’s not happy about being disturbed. Without spoiling the plot too much, this film quickly becomes a monstrous revenge film that would make Tarantino and the residents of Tromaville equally proud.

The combination of ass-kicking babes reminiscent of Russ-Meyer femme revenge flick, ‘Faster Pussycat, Kill, Kill’ together with an amped up killer alt-country, rockabilly soundtrack to boot, make this film well worth your time and your pretty little pennies. If only to witness the sexy black and white opening title, or the frightening death skull dream sequence toward the middle. The cinematography is also quite exquisite and filmed almost entirely with an over saturated and highly contrasted film stock, giving the film a surreal and fantastical atmosphere. I half expected to see some Western clad Mermaids emerging from the waters, but let’s save that for the sequel (fingers crossed).

El Monstro Del Mar is showing this Saturday at the Factory Theatre in Marrickville at 4pm and will be followed by an exclusive Q&A with Writer and Director, Stuart Simpson and the Monstro crew.

Introducing Sydney Underground Film Festival's resident blogger Yasmin Vought

We're really pleased to welcome our second blogger to the pages of the SUFF blog.

Yasmin Vought is a Sydney based film critic, writer and entertainment journalist. Her work has been published in websites such as Rotten Tomatoes, IGN, Machete Girl and Carnival Askew, to name a few.

Yasmin's passion for underground cinema and her contempt for the everyday mainstream film goes hand in hand with the feel of the Sydney Underground Film Festival. The films that Yasmin is most looking forward to at this years festival are: 'Bill Hicks: The American Story', 'Biker Fox', and 'Trash Humpers'. Stay tuned for her upcoming pre-festival film rants on the SUFF blog later this week.