TIFF09 Reviews: Bitch Slap, Whip It and Survival of the Dead

CityNews.ca’s Brian McKechnie takes a look at some of the films playing at TIFF09. 

Bitch Slap *CityNews.ca Pick*

Bitch Slap is a movie about big breasted women kicking butt, blowing stuff up and looking sexy the entire time. Like the films it references (mostly the classic 1965 Russ Meyer cult hit Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!) you’ll be asking yourself – is it exploitation or female empowerment? Either way, if you’re into it you’ll love it and if you’re not you’ll despise it. I predict this will have a long run of midnight screenings and end up taking on a life of its own. Look for cameos from Kevin Sorbo and Lucy Lawless who both worked with director Rick Jacobson on the television shows Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Schedule at TIFF.

Whip It

This is Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut and I must say it’s nothing special. Small-town teenager Bliss (Ellen Page) decides to join a roller derby team in Austin, Texas. Silliness ensues. Page’s co-stars, including Juliette Lewis, Kristen Wiig, Marcia Gay Harden and Jimmy Fallon, do a fine job with what they have to work with. But when the movie is not at the roller derby it’s flat and boring. Like so many other movies at TIFF this year I’d wait for the DVD to come out to see this one. Schedule at TIFF.

Survival of the Dead

It is with great sadness I write the following words: Survival of the Dead is one of the worst films I have ever seen. This breaks my heart as I admire director George A. Romero. Night of the Living Dead changed my life when I first saw it and the original Dawn of the Dead is one of my favourite horror films of all-time. Even the last two Dead movies, Land of the Dead and Diary of the Dead were more watchable than this abomination. Not scary or funny – just utter crap. Here’s hoping it’s erased from history forever. Schedule at TIFF.

brian.mckechnie@citynews.rogers.com

Top image: Scene from Whip It. Courtesy TIFF.