Kiss Me Kill Me (aka Baba Yaga)

--Reviewed by Lindy Loo

Note to self: If a dvd from the library looks like someone tried playing it on a record player and then let their dog chew on it after it wouldn't play, chances are (even if the first 10 minutes are skip-free) somewhere down the line it's gonna glitch up, so maybe it isn't worth your while watching. Especially when the glitch is an hour and 15 minutes into the movie and swallows up the whole rest of it so that you never know how it ends. Yeah.

Plotline: A photographer almost gets run over by a strange woman with whom she seems to share almost supernatural-like connections. The woman haunts her daydreams and starts to affect her life in strange and bad ways: through a camera that seems to injure/kill people, and through a doll dressed up like a dominatrix which magically turns into a real woman when no one's looking.

Scariness factor: Perhaps it was hidden somewhere in the missing 15 minutes? I doubt it, but one never knows.

Gross-Out Factor: Low. But there's lots of boobage to make up for that fact.

Complaints: The score--good god, peeps. The same incessant 1970s weird electronic groovy music pulsating discordantly throughout is BOUND to get annoying at some point in time. The movie also seemed to be a bit too stylized and trying too hard. If you see it, you'll know what I mean. The plotline also seemed to be flailing in the wind--who the hell is this mystery woman? Why is she seemingly fixated on the main character? Why does she own a doll dressed in dominatrix clothes? What has she done to the camera? Why is any of this taking place and/or necessary? Why are we supposed to care? Again, perhaps this was all cleared up in the last 15 minutes, but I have my doubts. And what in god's name is up with the weird-ass Nazi dreams?



High Points: The lead actress is kinda foxy in a pouty sorta way. There are these black and white kind of flash-montages for sex scenes and other strange scenarios which were alternately kinda cool and kinda lame depending. I kinda enjoyed watching it as far as I did--it was strange and unlike any other horror flick I've seen (probably the weird Italian 1970's influence of it) and I wanted to find out what was going on. But I never did.

Overall: Obviously, I can't offer up a useful overall rating or judgment since I didn't see the end. If I manage to get my hands on a working-copy, I promise to fill you in.

Grade: TBA