Saturday, November 25, 2017

Codename: Diablo! (short): Make Up Your Own Double Entendre

If you identify with the long-gone grindhouse tradition, you probably have a soft spot for the films of Russ Meyer. If were a horny teenager during the 1980s and early 1990s VHS era, the name Andy Sidaris might mean something to you. Both exploitation auteurs shared a certain aesthetic that has been exaggerated to the extreme in Aaron Barsky’s spoofy short half-hour film Codename: Diablo! (trailer here), which releases today on VOD.

This is your basic girls-with-guns neo-exploitation film, but even more so. There is surely no mistaking the commonalities linking Kitty Steele, Barbie Blonde, and Monique Powers. They are a trio of lethal O.M.E.G.A. agents tasked with retrieving the stolen Diablo death-ray gun from the latex-wearing, ultra-lubricated agents of S.C.U.B.A., under the command of Contessa Del’Oro. Of course, her highly trained henchmen are no match for the O.M.E.G.A. operatives’ distractions.

If you want realism, then go watch a Sybil Danning movie. Frankly, the basic premise of Codename is so obviously ridiculous, Barsky is forced to animate the centerpiece action sequence. However, it is doubtful anyone is really going to watch this film for the fight choreography.

By far, Lilly 4K makes the most convincing super-agent as Kitty Steele. It is impossible to buy into Martina Big and Mary Madison Love as butt-kicking Le Femme Nikitas, but nobody is going to care. This probably won’t get veteran second-unit guy Barsky a shot at a Marvel franchise, but he keeps it moving along briskly, while maximizing the ogle shots.

It is just impressive that a film this frat house-ish can still be produced in our neo-puritanical day and age. You could say it is a one-joke film, but if that gag works once for you, it never diminishes with repetition. Recommended for cult movie fans who get the underlying nostalgia, Codename Diablo! is expected to launch today on DVD, with a VOD release scheduled for December 11th.