Directed By: Mike Marshall
Starring: Rambo, Radeo, Nya, Sash, Fractal
Thirty-five Suicide Girls took over the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas to teach you thirteen essential life lessons. Apparently all you need is tattooed naked chicks and an indie rock soundtrack. I’m not complaining.
The Movie
If you’re not familiar with the Suicide Girls then you must not have an internet connection, television or access to any kind of print media. For the last ten years or so the Suicide Girls have steadily penetrated popular culture with their “unique” beauty tropes and “challenge everything” attitude. From the beginning this idea of being different is held up as a badge of honor. The funny thing about this worldwide sorority is that even though they preach against what the media presents as beauty all the girls involved fit a certain look: lots of tattoos, piercings and strange hair colors. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a product of Generation X and I have done all these things, I just find the idea of conforming nonconformity a bit ironic. Don’t you think?
Anyway, the thirteen how tos range from the practical (tie a tie, cure a hangover), to the spiritual (do the sun salvation, cast a love spell), to the downright useful (ditch a wedding, get girls to go skinny dipping). As I stated earlier all the how to segments pretty much come down to girls taking off their clothes and posing for the camera. In between there are interviews with some of the girls. These are a lot of fun, the girls get to show off their personalities and most of them talk about their tattoos. No matter your taste in women it’s hard not to like most of these girls.
My only complaint is the presentation in a few of the lesson guides. The director chose to list the working steps on the screen without voiceovers and it’s easy to get distracted by the nakedness and lose track of what to do. I don’t know maybe I’m just easily distracted by boobies. Something I did really appreciated about this dvd is the music guide after the credits. Rather than just listing the artist’s name and song title each artist is giving a few seconds of audio along with a website. I’m definitely going to give a few of them a further listen.
8/10
The Video
This dvd is presented in 16×9, 1.78 Full Frame. Since it was shot in digital the skin tones of the girls shine through in all their flawed glory. This is a nice departure from all the heavy make-up and airbrushing that takes place in the general media. All the girls’ tattoos radiate in vibrant and bold colors.
6/10
The Audio
The audio is presented in Dolby 2.0 stereo. It is nothing spectacular at all in this day and age of high end audio but it gets the job done. The dvd does not have any balance or bleed through issues. So I guess Dolby 2.0 woks. Or as Krusty the Clown would say, “It’s not just good, it’s good enough!”
5/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features
I really like the packaging here. It’s not anything overly flashy but it really sets the tone of the dvd. The case is a digipak with printed stills from the movie and Suicide Girl artwork on the front and inside covers. The back cover has a list of all thirteen lessons with artwork as well as a list of the musical artists. A digipak is wrapped in a mini sheath with the Suicide Girl logo on one side and their view on beauty printed on the back. You can tell a lot of effort went into the packaging.
That being said, a lot more effort could have been put into special features. All we get here is a few previews for upcoming releases. Granted the entire dvd is a commentary so any more of that would be overkill. But they could have included some outtakes and bloopers. I believe both would have worked well in for this presentation.
5/10
Overall I really had an enjoyable time watching this dvd. I went into this movie with very low expectations but by the end I was drawn in. Several of the girls are very charming and a lot of fun to watch. It’s nice to see girls with tattoos not being portrayed as badass bitches and shown to be as normal as anyone else, definitely worth a look. And check out the Suicide Girls website for information on the girls as well as upcoming dvds and events.
Overall (Not an Average) 8/10
The Review
The Season 8/10
The Video 6/10
The Audio 5/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 5/10
Overall (Not an Average) 8/10