DVD Review: Ticked Off Trannies with Knives
Ticked Off Trannies with Knives
Distributed by: Breaking Glass Films
DVD Release Date: November 9, 2010
Written and Directed by Israel Luna
Cast: Krystal Summers, Kelexis Davenport, Willam Belli, Jenna Skyy, Erica Andrews, Tom Zembrod
Review by Marc Patterson
I have a question, and I’m going to do away with any euphemisms and get right down to the pejorative-laden, ball-kicking crux of the matter…
Hey Roger Ebert, you old, dried up, crusty ass, horror hatin’ motherfucker, let me ask you this: if you rape a tranny with a baseball bat, does the tranny get as much compassion from you as you dole out on the ladies? Just curious. You seem to be okay enough with women inflicting violence against men, so I just wonder what your gender biased take is on this one. While you’re at it… don’t bother answering, just keep your peace-loving, hippie bullshit the fuck out of my genre.
If you, my valued readers, don’t know why I, a lowly glorified blogger, am flogging on this esteemed film critic then you’re probably not aware of his ridiculous rant on rape and revenge in his so-called “review” of I Spit On Your Grave. (read that here) Britt Hayes wrote a very well thought out rebuttal in her article Misplaced Vilification and the Necessity of Graphic Exposure. I figure she took the high road. Me? I’ll just take this opportunity to spit bullets. That old codger reminds me of one of my film professors in college who actually stated in class that he wouldn’t watch any film that contained guns or violence. I sat through the rest of that class, but never returned. Not because I love violence, but because how a university could hire such a narrow minded individual to teach students about film was, and is, well beyond me.
Ticked Off Trannies With Knives. Shit… I’d pay money to see old Ebert watch this one. We could wheel him on out to the front row and let him sit and hold hands with John Waters. Except I have an eternal and undying love of John Waters. I wouldn’t wish that on him.
Ticked Off Trannies with Knives. Man… does it even matter what I thought of this film? Here’s one that on title alone forces you to react. It immediately pushes you to form a strong opinion. Apparently it has a segment of the LGBT community up in arms. GLAAD had even campaigned to have it pulled from the Tribeca Film Festival this past summer (It was not pulled). Their basis for protest was primarily rooted in the misrepresentation of the the transgendered, stating that the characters come off more as drag queens than actual transgendered and that “Because of its positioning as a transgender film, viewers unfamiliar with the lives of transgender women will likely leave this film with the impression that transgender women are ridiculous caricatures of “real women.” It demeans actual transgender women who struggle for acceptance and respect in their day-to-day lives and to be valued for their contributions to our society.” Good god. When are people going to learn that the horror genre is much like South Park. If it hasn’t done something to directly offend you then it’s only a matter of time. Get in line.
Yeah… and Israel Luna thought he was going to make a fun, campy, rape/revenge film. Think again.
Let’s talk turkey though. Ticked Off Trannies With Knives is a down and dirty xerox of any of the countless rape/revenge films that have been made prior, but shares a special commonality with the 1978 original I Spit On Your Grave.
It starts with a group of five transgendered exotic dancers who sport names such as Rachel Slurr, Emma Grashun and Bubbles Cliquot, who after a night of dancing decide to head out on the town for some fun. The evening turns disastrous when they decide to party with a couple dudes they met at the club who promise a good time. Turns out it was all a set-up just to get Bubbles to a remote location where a scuzzy guy named “Boner” could exact some revenge of his own. Boner wasn’t too pleased to find out the girl he took home to rape turned out to have a dick of her own. Albeit a little cat and mouse play, the film goes exactly where you think it’s going to go. Trannies get their asses kicked, but then do some ass kicking of their own.
Though it falls short of the mark in playing the essential tricks through to viewer satisfaction, Ticked Off Trannies with Knives proved an entertaining bit of low-brow schlockery, and begs to not be taken as seriously as what GLAAD would have you do. Hell, there’s even a scene where the girls are taken to a remote location in the countryside to study the art of Kung-Fu. “Shit. This ain’t on Google Maps. Hell no!”
Campy the film is, but for all its campiness it surprisingly does little to push boundaries or show any material of a truly brutal nature. You’d think that on title alone you’d be seeing some really vicious revenge sequences a la I Spit On Your Grave, but generally speaking this area was a bit light and anti-climatic. It never gets truly nasty, leaving more to the imagination than the screen, and implying a more severe level of violence than what is actually delivered. Take this with a grain of salt, though. Within the genre, and especially within the rape/revenge sub-genre I’ve seen some truly ugly material. Should I ever decide to play this film to some of my non-horror friends, I’m sure I’d be wincing on their behalf.
This isn’t to say the film isn’t entertaining. Contrary, Ticked Off Trannies hits the nail on the head with what makes a good exploitation film fun and delivers a solid ninety-minutes of balls to the wall wackiness. It’s got great characters and a tight script laced with snappy dialogue. Just when you think the film could perhaps be taken seriously, it injects a moment of tongue in cheek hilarity to keep everything in perspective. Additionally, Luna includes use of gritty fonts and distressed prints, and I love the opening two-minute continuous shot with the camera zoomed in low to the ground on Bubbles’ legs as she makes her way over to the nightclub where she performs. It’s the first indicator that we’re in for a technically competent film.
Earlier I criticized the film for not playing into sub-text, for being a bit soft with its violence, and begging not to be taken seriously, but in closing, one line really sticks out that I feel says quite a bit about this film: “I put duck tape on my genitals every day and guess what? I just rip it off. I deal with the pain. Once. Done. Snap.” I’m as straight a guy as you’ll ever find, but I’ll be damned if there ain’t some Jedi Knight knowledge right there. Perhaps Ticked Off Trannies has more to say than I’m giving it credit for.
Now enjoy watching this shitty trailer that really doesn’t do the film the least bit of justice:
