RAZOR BLADE SMILE

Directed and written by Jake West
Cinematography by James Sloan
Music by Richard Wells
Cast: Eileen Daly, Christopher Adamson, Jonathan Coote, Kevin Howarth & David Warbeck

1997/97mins/Color/5.1 Surround Sound
1.85:1 anamorphic/English/UK/NTSC Region 1

Review from Manga/Anchor Bay DVD

The lovely Lilith Silver (Eileen Daly) becomes a victim in a pistol duel between her lover Jack Ryder and the evil Sir. Sethane Blake (Christopher Adamson). Blake doesn't want her to die so he turns her into a vampire. Cut to the present, Lilith is now a hitwoman. She is hired to off people that are members of the "Illuminati", a secret and deadly organization. Their leader is Blake, himself. Now, she protects herself from the police and the Illuminati, and she must now proceed to kick some major ass.

Jake West's low budget British vampire film is certainly flawed, but it is still an entertaining endeavor. The movie is certainly fun, but the pacing is very uneven. The acting ranges from the pretty horrid to pretty decent. Adamson is awesome as the villain. He is really fun to watch; as he is so over-the-top. Coote is also great as the bumbling detective. He adds a lot of laughs and humor to the film. Meanwhile, the impossibly sexy Ms. Daly is a sexy sight to behold, and even manages to do a decent enough job in the acting department. Besides, there is a wicked cool cameo by Euro horror hero, the late, great David Warbeck! He plays a detective that talks to Coote and calls him "horror man"! Awesome stuff!

The FX also range form good to OK. Still, there are some bloody shootouts, headshots, impaling, slashings, and decapitations to keep things interesting. Also, keeping things interesting is the nice amount of goth babes, with Daly being the hottest. She, thankfully, shows off her God-given boobs, and spends the whole film in tight vinyl and/ or skimpy outfits. Yum! Even yummier is a very rousing moment of lesbian love between her and another goth hottie. This scene is just smoking hot!

RAZOR BLADE SMILES comes to us on DVD from Manga/ Anchor Bay. The movie is presented with a good rocking' Dolby Digital Surround Sound that gives much life to the action scenes and the film's cool score. Presented in it's widescreen version (even though the back of the box states full screen), the picture quality ranges in quality, but that is due to the different film stock they used to shoot the low budget feature. So at its best the colors are vibrant hues of blue and rich blacks. At its worst the picture is grainy. Still, I would imagine the film has never, and will never, look better.

The DVD really delivers in the extra department. First off, there is a docu called "Slices of Life". There are interviews with all the key players in the film. It is really a fun piece. The interviews, in general, are very laid back. Still, Adamson comes off as being quite funny as tells about the hotties he worked with. Daly, by the way, still looks hot as hell! Through out the whole docu there are some really interesting facts revealed and it goes heavily into the past of writer/ director West.

There is also a deleted/ extended scenes feature that shows a couple of different moments cut from the film, include a quickie cameo by West, himself. The lesbian scene (never a bad thing to play your lesbian scene, in its entirety, over again) is shown with alternate music. Plus, there is some unused title materiel. And, then there is also CG Test Shots that basically show unused CGI shot from the trailer.

The running commentary is between West and Daly, and it is a really fun one. They both come off as being very happy about having having worked on and discussing the film. It is all very revealing and honest. They have no problems with point out the bad acting or other faults of the film, either. One highlight has Daly saying she needs "some sex"! Plus, there is some awesome trivia mentioned including that the actor who played the photographer plays the role of the guy with his guts hanging out in the beginning of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN.

Also included is the UK trailer to the film as well as trailers to other Manga stuff that include: MANGA 10th ANNIVERSARY, BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE, GHOST IN THE SHELL: STAND ALONE, NINJA SCROLL- THE 10th ANNIVERSARY, and PERFECT BLUE. And from the Anchor Bay side there are trailers to: LUST FOR A VAMPIRE, NEAR DARK, and VAMP.

The disc, itself, is broken up into 12 chapters. It comes in a keep case, with an inlet card that has a list of all the chapters on one side and, on the other side, a reproduction of, what I imagine to be, a poster of the film.

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Review by Giovanni Deldio. All Right Reserved. 2006. ©