When I reviewed this film seven years ago I said that I couldn't recommend it because it's so unlike any of Jean Rollin's other films. Yesterday I read that it's considered to be a cult film, so I decided to give it another chance. I've never understood who gets to pick what's a cult film and what isn't, but obviously someone likes this film.
The film follows an unnamed woman who kills people and leaves a miniature car on their bodies. Her victims are seemingly unrelated: a junkyard owner, art thieves, a photographer and a nightclub owner. The police who investigate think they're random killings and label her as a psychopath. We, the viewers, see that the victims are carefully selected. The woman even invites the photographer to Paris from America, just so she can kill her. For the viewers the mystery is to figure out what the connection between the victims is.
What complicates the case for the police is the large number of victims who die as collateral damage. In the first scene the only person she intends to kill is the junkyard owner, but she doesn't hesitate to kill four prostitutes who were standing nearby and could possibly have identified her.
It's true, the film is unlike Jean Rollin's other films, in different ways. The typical beautiful scenery is missing. We don't have castles and beautiful meadows, we have junkyards, industrial dockyards and rundown areas in the Paris suburbs. Many scenes take place at night, which is unusual for Jean Rollin. There are no vampires or any other supernatural creatures in this film. It's almost a detective story, except that the viewers are told from the beginning who the killer is.
That doesn't make it a bad film. It just means it's not a Rollinesque film. My relatively poor rating in my last review was the result of me comparing it with Jean Rollin's other films. I penalised it for being too dissimilar to his earlier films. I was wrong. I should have praised him for having the courage to try something new.
My readers are probably wondering who the hauntingly beautiful woman is who plays the savage serial killer. I'm wondering the same thing. Her name is Tiki Tsang. She was born in Australia in 1968 and emigrated to France when she was 18 to become a model. "Killing Car" was her first ever film. She was given the leading role, which looked like the beginning of a big career. No, it wasn't to be. She never acted again. It was her first and last film. I'm sure there's an untold story somewhere.
I have loved this movie ever since I saw it back on the UK's Horror Channel back in October 2006. For many years I have wanted to know more about Tiki Tsang and her performance was so amazing for someone who had never acted before. Finally, I got to meet her in 2012 after she had just moved back to Queensland, where she is originally from. It was an online friendship, of course, but I got to know her quite well and she looked exactly the same as she did in the movie. Even her hair was the same. She was very nice and gave me some information on the movie like that was shot at the beginning of 1989 and it was very cold, she even referred to Jean Rollin as "twisted" and that the kiss towards the end when she shoots him and fake blood went in her mouth was very uncomfortable. She didn't even get to know any of the cast as the filming was very short. We became pretty good friends and I got to know more about her personal life, and even met her mother, who was from Nimbin, a small town in Australia, and also her aunt and uncle. Tiki even started calling me her "little brother". Unfortunately, she isn't online much these days, but she is doing very well and has a full-time job.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the information, Chris. I love to get comments like this.
DeleteI can see what she means about Jean Rollin being twisted, although I'm biased as a big fan of his. I prefer to call him obsessed. He loved naked women, he loved naked vampires, and he even had an obsession with schoolgirls. His obsessiveness helped make him such a great director.