Killer Barbys (1996)

User Rating:

2.3/10   

Director:

Jesus Franco

Writers:

Jesus Franco (dialogue)
Jesus Franco (story)
(more)

Genre:

Horror

Plot Keywords:

Van | Dwarf | Concert | Countess | Blood

Cast

Santiago Segura	...	Baltasar
Mariangela Giordano	...	Condesa (Countess)
Aldo Sambrell	...	Arkan (as Aldo Sanbrell)
Charlie S. Chaplin	...	Mario
Silvia Superstar	...	Flavia
Carlos Subterfuge	...	Rafa
Angie Barea	...	Sharon
Billy King	...	Billy
Pepa López	...	Pipa
Alberto Martínez	...	Pipo
Enrique López Lavigne
Javier Bonilla

Directed by
Jesus Franco		(as Jess Franco)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Jesus Franco		dialogue (as David Khunne II)
Jesus Franco		story (as Jess Franco)
Patxi Irigoyen		dialogue

Produced by
Piluca Baquero	....	executive producer
Manuel Camacho	....	executive producer
Emilio Mencheta	....	executive producer
Jacinto Santos	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Daniel White		(as Daniel J. White)

Cinematography by
Javier Pérez Zofio

Film Editing by
Jesus Franco		(as Rosa M. Almirall)

Art Direction by
Pistolo

Costume Design by
Jorge Castelli

Makeup Department
Patricia Sanz Sala	....	makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
José Manuel Benayas	....	assistant director
Tomás Cimadevilla	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Tomás Erice	....	boom operator

Special Effects by
Afredo Contreras	....	special effects
Salva Vicent	....	special effects

Production Companies

• Civic Producciones S.L.
• Emilio-Miguel Mencheta Benet
• Jacinto Santos Parrás

Distributors

• Jacinto Santos Parrás
• Shriek Show (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Shriek Show (2002) (USA) (VHS)

Also Known As:

The Killer Barbies (Spain) (working title)
Vampire Killer Barbys (UK)

Runtime:

USA:87 min

Country:

Spain

Language:

Spanish | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Spain:18 | UK:18 | Italy:VM18 | France:-12 | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Cullera, Valencia, Comunidad Valenciana, Spain

Company:

Civic Producciones S.L.

Trivia:

Originally to be titled "Killer Barbies", which is the actual name of the punk rock band that stars in the movie, but Mattel would not allow the use of their Barbie trademark name, so the word's spelling in the title (as well as all the references to the band's name in the movie) was ultimately changed to "Barbys".

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Die Marquise von Sade (1976)

Soundtrack:

No Future

Soundtrack to a band

Jess Franco's "Killer Barbys" is to the band The Killer Barbies what Aki Kaurismäki's "Leningrad Cowboys go to America" was to the Leningrad Cowboys. Both are movies starring an existing band and both are typical products of the directors. Kaurismäki is known for his deadpan black humor presented in films totally weirding you out and "Leningrad Cowboys go to America" is a weird and funny tale of the Leningrad Cowboys going to America. Franco is known for erotic horror movies and "Killer Barbys" is a mix of horny rockers and cannibalists.

But there's more. Kaurismäki made a sequel, "Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses", an attempt to make the worst movie ever. To a certain degree he succeeds in doing so. Franco's "Killer Barbys" doesn't try to do so, but it's difficult not to see how many horror cliches you can see in this film: at night you hear the sound of wearwolves, it's often twelve o'clock, there's cannibalism, there are some dwarves, most of the rockers constantly want sex, a semi-naked girl is being chased in the woods, there's lot of blood and someone even ends up being crushed. How much gore can you get into one movie?

But movies like "Killer Barbys" and "Leningrad Cowboys" never meant to be original. They are mainly there to let you know the band exists. And if anything they are much more enjoyable than your average rockumentary. And even though Franco made lots of no-budget movies where anyone can see through the special effects, I suspect him here of making the effects as bad as possible (if you can't see that the dead bodies are dummies, you desperately need to get your eyes checked.)

It is true that Franco could have tried harder and that the movie could have been better, but it's common knowledge that Franco's best movies can't be found in the nineties. Most of those movies are even badly acted, so it's very ironic to realise that two rockers act better than Franco's cast of regulars (Lina Romay, Linnea Quigley, ...). "Killer Barbys" is the only decent movie Franco recently made, so if you want to see some of his later work, this is the best choice you can make. As long as you remember it's a Frankenstein experiment of combining gore and rockumentaries.

By the way "Love Killer" is a nice song.