Shameless, Tasteless: Trash Cinema From The Soviet Underground [Import]

This DVD has Troma written all over it... After watching, I'm left wondering if this film maker is actually an old Soviet one or if Troma sent one of their own over to produce the work of a huge fan in the Ukraine to make short Troma films and this is all a marketing gimmick.

Now, by normal film watching standards, one star is a generous score for this dvd. But, for fans of trash cinema it holds its own. The films are sort of average in their "rediculousness," poor camera angles, hard cuts, and poor effects, in terms of you get from Troma (hence my thinking they could have produced it), so if it were an american release I'd probably give it 2 1/2-3 stars on a trash scale....... BUT!!!! The nice changes that raised my score to a 4 are: exceptionally sexy Ukrainian girls in several films, a refreshing soviet approach to the storylines, an increase in the quality of humor as you get deep into the dvd, great outtakes, lesbian filler material with lots of sexily dressed girls in makeout scenes, funny commentary, funny special features, and the highly entertaining, disturbingly hilarious Baba Alla whom really captures your imagination in ways you never thought possible..... You just can't believe she exists!! Haha.

I guess the best way I can describe this to fans of low-budget trash would be:

If Bill Zebub directed and Troma Team produced a reimagining of Pink Flamingos into several short films..... It would be just like this, only without the soviet cultural aspects and great commentaries/outtakes.

I prefer Shameless Tasteless to any Bill Zebub and most Troma stuff, but I prefer Richard Kern's Hardcore Collection or early John Waters' films to this 10 fold..... If you're new to trash cinema and want "quality," I recommend Richard Kern's "Hardcore Collection" as a starting point, not this, but if you're in it for the girls and humor, Shameless Tasteless is the way to go!!

A selection of obscure, short films by Yakov Levi that only Troma could bring to mass availability. Most of them are Ukrainian language with highly readable subtitles. There are nine short films, each accompanied with optional commentary, listed as "Slavic Smut":
* Shameless - An ancient, toothless woman (depicted on the cover and back...safely covered by a removable band of cardboard) named Baba Alla who prostitutes herself on the street.
* Tasteless - One the boys who'd spent time with the old woman in the previous vignette is forced to endure her company when he tries to hire a cut-rate escort.
* Penisella I through IV - Three young women stay at an inn where three young men disappeared the year before, only to discover an old woman
* Four fake "phone sex ads" by Penisella, and her love story with a man who has the opposite problem.
* Ghost of Marquis de Sade - Three desperate women try to summon romance period lovers, only to end up with the ghost of the Marquis de Sade possessing them and having his way with them.
* Vanity Insanity - A vain woman, oblivious to her roommate's crush on her, becomes enchanted by a magic mirror, unable to look away any time that she can see her image within it. This is actually fairly coherent and "serious" on the disc.
* The Killer Bra - Introduced by Lloyd Kaufman, this is a nicely produced parody horror movie. It's very much in the style of Troma. The dialogue is much more polished, the production values worthwhile, and many more of its jokes hit. The acting is silly, of course, but competent.
Overall, this is a funny collection of tasteless movies and amateur attempts at film making. If the title doesn't appeal to you, the short films contained therein will not, either. The production values are surprisingly good, but it's a ways from being professional.

Extras:
* Special Features: These are several less-complicated shorts, largely comprised of lesbian make-out sessions with loose plots and retro dance music, nine comic book slide shows in an underground pulp comic style, and trailers and deleted scenes from the nine "main" shorts.
* Troma Trailers - Five trailers for old Troma classics that have made their way to DVD in recent years. Worth watching if you don't know what's out there lately.
* In addition, there are a couple of spots with "unexpectedly" clickable sections of the screen, like the transsexual's fake equipment on the main menu, and the piece in Baba Alla's mouth in the Special Features section, that lead to very odd additions to the disc.

Despite the sexual nature of many of these films, there's little female nudity to be seen (aside from the venerable Baba Alla) and a few changing scenes in The Killer Bra. The video quality is good for the amateur level of the video.

Overall, an enjoyable slash through some truly Shameless, Tasteless independent film by Yakov Levi. Will you like this? Look at the cover, with an old, chubby, naked Baba Alla. Therein lies your answer.

Unless you collect junk in form of movies save your money.This flick done so pooooorly even I was surprized. You will be familiar with reality you avoid in your own contry.