"Trasharella" Review - Written by Anthony T

Trasharella
Year: 2009
Director: Rene Riffel
Studio: Rene Riffel Films
Stars: Rene Riffel, Count Smokula, Mary Carey
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 101 Mins









There are a lot of films that I review on the site, where it feels like your seeing the same film, as you seen two weeks ago. But there are films that you have to admire the filmmakers for doing something different. This is the case with this film “Trasharella”, as this is different from the average fare.

The film is about an actress (Rene Riffel), who moves to L.A. to become a movie star and becomes the attention of a vampire (Count Smokula), who can change into a cat. Soon the vampire kidnaps, one of Hollywood’s leading starlet. The actress being a fan of that starlet’s work begins to develop an alter ego that is devoted to fighting this vampire. As she tries to find him, the vampire has other plans for her.

“Trasharella” is very retroish film that kicks ass. Actor/Writer/Director Rene Riffel does a very good job making this film very different. She did a very good job blending various effects with the images. Riffel uses stuff to pay homage to various eras of film, as the film has elements of silent film, 60’s, b-movies, musical numbers, and Russ Meyer’s film. Those elements were blended very well, as it gave that feeling that you are watching a late night film that has no boundaries. She makes everything come off as campy. By doing that, it makes the film fun to watch, when you are looking for some mindless retro fun. Riffel also does a good job direct herself, as she also plays the title character. She makes her character so very lively that you can help but enjoy the presence of the character. That what I think made it a very time.

Reiffel’s screenplay does a good job, in not making the screenplay something that just doesn’t focuses on camp value alone. She does a good job blending in a lot of elements, like the narration and the musically numbers that makes the story different and stand out. Another thing that Riffel does with her screenplay was to give her character some depth. She does that, by focusing on her character’s regular life, and her alter ego’s state of mind. By doing that, Riffel makes her character very entertaining, so that it doesn’t become just a dull female character that is there for sex appeal. She also does a good job with timing and making sure that the musically number made sense with what was going on in the film. It really helps add to the campy-ness that the story needed to make this a fun film and not just another B movie, where you just sit there and wait for the film to end.

“Trasharella” is an entertaining late night film that kicks ass

Review Rating: 3 Stars