Once again, J Michael McCarthy has delivered a funny, titillating, strangely poignant cinematic comic book vision of the apocalypse. For JMM, this happened in about 1966, and I tend to agree. Superstarlet A.D. is set in Femmephis, where men have reverted to Neanderthals, and the only clothes that were strong enough to survive the apocalypse are vintage womens' undergarments. There are three beauty cults: redheads, blonds, and brunettes who are constantly in a petty, backstabbing war of gossip, snide insults and occasional murder. Except for the Superstarlets, whose members consist of all hair colors. Their mission is to seek out their ancestral stag reels of their grandmothers in the many decaying movie theaters. Everybody hates them, but they love each other.
Even if you don't usually go in for this kind of high-brow sci-fi kind of stuff, Superstarlet's worth it for it's views on American culture. Most of the dialog is actually voice-overs by the Superstarlets. These consist of esoteric essays which philosophize poetically on things that made America great when it was. These internal monologs are way to funny to ever come across as didactic, though. And the sight of beautiful women in vintage bras, panties, stockings, and high heels, carrying machine guns while they explore broken down movie theaters provides more than enough eye candy.
Troma's DVD packaging itself rates about two and a half stars. The movie is presented full frame instead of the slight letterboxing the 16mm footage deserves. There are, however, a short interview from what looks like a public access show, and a news piece on JMM. There are also a photo gallery and a couple of other cast and crew interviews, and a director commentary, where JMM expounds on his motto of : Never get permission, shoot until they make you stop, and deny everything later. Unless it's an easter egg I didn't find, the original teaser film advertised on the package is nowhere to be found, though.
But if you're into truly independent filmmaking, vintage Americana, or hot looking babes, I strongly advise you to check this flick out!
Even if you don't usually go in for this kind of high-brow sci-fi kind of stuff, Superstarlet's worth it for it's views on American culture. Most of the dialog is actually voice-overs by the Superstarlets. These consist of esoteric essays which philosophize poetically on things that made America great when it was. These internal monologs are way to funny to ever come across as didactic, though. And the sight of beautiful women in vintage bras, panties, stockings, and high heels, carrying machine guns while they explore broken down movie theaters provides more than enough eye candy.
Troma's DVD packaging itself rates about two and a half stars. The movie is presented full frame instead of the slight letterboxing the 16mm footage deserves. There are, however, a short interview from what looks like a public access show, and a news piece on JMM. There are also a photo gallery and a couple of other cast and crew interviews, and a director commentary, where JMM expounds on his motto of : Never get permission, shoot until they make you stop, and deny everything later. Unless it's an easter egg I didn't find, the original teaser film advertised on the package is nowhere to be found, though.
But if you're into truly independent filmmaking, vintage Americana, or hot looking babes, I strongly advise you to check this flick out!