Zipperface

Director - Mansour Pourmand (Bitter and Sweet, Aladdin's Untold Story)

Starring - Dona Adams, Jonathan Mandell (California Hot Wax, Body Parts), and David Clover (The Kentucky Fried Movie, Star Trek: Voyager)

Release Date - 1992

Genre - Horror

Tagline - "The last face you'll ever see!"

Format - DVD (Personal Collection)

Rating (out of 5):

     I use social media as a way to find new releases to add to my collection.  A lot of these smaller boutique companies are unable to advertise their releases so I often browse hashtags on social media.  Some months back I snagged a DVD of Slashdance from a small label.  A few months passed and I saw that the label I had ordered that DVD from was now working with Culture Shock Releasing to release the 1992 S & M slasher Zipperface on DVD.  I was unfamiliar with this one but the artwork totally sold me on the release.  I ordered one as soon as pre-orders were up and when it arrived I wasted no time watching it.  

     The film follows a female detective and her new partner who are working on a case involving murdered prostitutes.  After interviewing a potential suspect she falls in love with him and tries to keep her love a secret but once it's revealed he was connected to one of the deceased prior to her death he becomes top suspect.  However, the real killer is closer than it appears and he has his sights in on her and her love interest.  

      I know a lot of you horror hipsters are going to come out of the woodwork to shit talk this one after seeing your reviews on imdb.  I liked it.  I know it's bad with some serious major issues but I had fun with it.  It's far from perfect but I would be lying if I didn't admit that I have a fondness for shitty movies.  Zipperface feels like a made for television murder mystery that has an anti-bondage message.  Regardless, it could be a rough watch for some or a shitty fun flick for others.  The acting in this one had me fucking laughing.  The performances are what you would expect from an early 90s soap opera or softcore porn.  The cast is underwhelming a lot of the time unless it's a scene involving a death then you can expect way more blood-curdling screams than really needed to get the point across.  The cast tries but their performances are far from perfect but it does result in some unintentional funny moments.  The story for this one is a story we've all seen before especially before the 90s.  We have an urban setting where prostitutes are being murdered while the police is under pressure to find the killer.  Nothing is different here except the killer has an eye for photography and is obsessed with bondage.  Not real S&M but what people thing S&M is when they only have plain vanilla sex.  I was surprised by how much the murder mystery aspect actually pulled me in.  The film does throw a few twists at you to make you think you know who the real killer is but they are so in your face they are comical.  Finally, the film has a few on screen deaths.  The team behind this one really wanted to impress the genre fans but these kills were pretty comical as well.  I found myself laughing more at the first death in the film than anything else I mentioned.  It was so out of place and off the wall.  I fucking loved it.  Overall, Zipperface is bad but I had fun with it.  I can't recommend it to everyone but if you like the shittier side of cinema then you may enjoy this oddball film.  The DVD release from Culture Shock is the way to go if you are curious about it.