Cult Clash: Faster Pussycat Kill! Kill! (1965)

by Pete Roberts

"The point is of no return, and you've reached it!"

The women in this film are not soft, tender things of beauty. They are wild, untamed, dead-sexy animals!

Three super-buxom go-go girls named Varla (Tura Satana), Rosie (Haji) and Billie (Lori Williams) leap off of the dance floor and go on a roaring rampage in the California desert where they race their sportscars in defiance of the world that supresses them. When a young couple arrive on the scene, the trouble starts. Varla challenges the girl's boyfriend Tommy (Ray Barlow) to a race and he accepts. The girls hop in their hot rods and tear off around the desert. After the young man loses the race, Varla releases her pent-up female hostility and continues to berate him until he attempts to fight back. Varla's karate skills come into play as she chops him in the kidneys and ends up breaking his back.

The women kidnap the young girl, Linda (Sue Bernard,) and take off. They arrive in a small town where they stop at a gas station. As they wait for the goofy attendant to fill their cars up, he blabbers on about an old man who lives outside town and has supposedly hidden a large sum of money. This gives Varla a good idea. The girls get together and decide to pay a visit to this old man and see what they can find. When the girls arrive at the old farmhouse, they try to figure out a way to find the money without calling too much attention to themselves (which isn't easy to do, the way they look!). The old man (Stuart Lancaster) has two sons, a big retarded muscleman named Vegetable (Dennis Brusch), and Kirk (Paul Trinka), an average farmer type. Varla, Rosie and Billie use their sexy charms to acquire information. Even the super-tough Varla softens up and flirts with Kirk, while Billie tries to seduce Vegetable.

The late director Russ Meyer creates an astounding alternative world with this film. The film was shot in stark black and white and looks beautiful. The deep blacks (especially Varlas hair and outfit), whites (Billie's pants) and medium grays of the desert backgrounds pop right off the screen. Russ combines over the top humor with excessive, almost cartoonish violence which both shocks and excites. Faster Pussycat is a true masterpiece of low budget 60s filmmaking. This is my personal favorite Russ Meyer film.