I actually bought--sight unseen--an obscure import DVD of this film, so my expectations might have been higher than those of someone just looking to rent. But in all honesty, I can't even recommend it for a low-priced rental.
I was willing to settle for something only half as disturbing and well-crafted as The Untold Story or Dr. Lamb when I ordered this DVD. I'm addicted to being disturbed; that is to say, I have intense admiration for violence, cruelty, brutality, and gore in films. So if a film contains enough of these elements, I can forgive other shortcomings. Unfortunately, Horrible High Heels isn't very disturbing to the jaded--yes, there's a decent helping of gore, but I've seen worse (or do I mean better?) in any dozen Italian zombie/cannibal films, and in quite a few Asian films as well. This is irrelevant, though, because its other shortcomings are so severe that no amount of barbarism could sway my low opinion of it.
The film's greatest flaw is that it's utterly incoherent. This is actually an odd statement coming from me, because I'm normally a huge fan of incoherence, especially when it's intentional--for example, when it's used to instill a sense of confusion in the viewer that mirrors the mental state of the film's protagonist. But the incoherence in HHH is the result of nothing more than an abundance of filmmaking ineptitude. If this ineptitude were at least comical, I might still have enjoyed the film, but it's simply perpetually frustrating and inappropriate to the narrative. In many sections, it's as if the editor decided that shot sequence was arbitrary, and simply spliced the shots together in random order.
And so on. To make a long story short (too late), don't waste your money. If you've seen Cannibal Ferox, City of the Living Dead, Organ, Men Behind the Sun, and the like, this film will not fulfill your mayhem jones, and it will irritate you besides. If you DON'T like your entertainment brutal, for god's sake why are you reading about this film?
I was willing to settle for something only half as disturbing and well-crafted as The Untold Story or Dr. Lamb when I ordered this DVD. I'm addicted to being disturbed; that is to say, I have intense admiration for violence, cruelty, brutality, and gore in films. So if a film contains enough of these elements, I can forgive other shortcomings. Unfortunately, Horrible High Heels isn't very disturbing to the jaded--yes, there's a decent helping of gore, but I've seen worse (or do I mean better?) in any dozen Italian zombie/cannibal films, and in quite a few Asian films as well. This is irrelevant, though, because its other shortcomings are so severe that no amount of barbarism could sway my low opinion of it.
The film's greatest flaw is that it's utterly incoherent. This is actually an odd statement coming from me, because I'm normally a huge fan of incoherence, especially when it's intentional--for example, when it's used to instill a sense of confusion in the viewer that mirrors the mental state of the film's protagonist. But the incoherence in HHH is the result of nothing more than an abundance of filmmaking ineptitude. If this ineptitude were at least comical, I might still have enjoyed the film, but it's simply perpetually frustrating and inappropriate to the narrative. In many sections, it's as if the editor decided that shot sequence was arbitrary, and simply spliced the shots together in random order.
And so on. To make a long story short (too late), don't waste your money. If you've seen Cannibal Ferox, City of the Living Dead, Organ, Men Behind the Sun, and the like, this film will not fulfill your mayhem jones, and it will irritate you besides. If you DON'T like your entertainment brutal, for god's sake why are you reading about this film?