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.
