Trasharella is an interesting film, and it doesn’t really fall into one particular genre. This film is a huge mixture of things, exploitation, grindhouse, Betty Page, Lynchian, Ed Wood style just to name a few. It is all actually an interesting mix, as Director, Writer and Star Rena Riffel (Showgirls) clearly is a fan of all of these things and she has incorporated them all into one, making Trasharella. This film has a strange structure, and some people might say it is incomprehensible and makes no sense. But it actually does, deep down and this is where the Lynch inspiration can be found. It is filmed with different styles, often aiming for a 50’s and 70’s grindhouse style, a cheap look which works for the film.
Trasharella tells the story of a young starlet wanting to make it in Hollywood, but after hearing stories of the Hollywood vampire and the missing starlets, well things get a little strange. The idea of a Hollywood vampire is actually rather clever, and you can see that Ms Riffel has something to say with that. Hollywood can suck the life out of those trying to make it big, and there you have the metaphor. Also it shows the way women can look all innocent but to get noticed you have to take it off and flaunt it, and well look trashy. You can’t deny the truth in that, you look at all the magazines and tabloids today and what do you see? You see women wearing barely anything, trashy looking, hung over former stars, it is all there and those messages are quite clear in this film.
As I said it has a strange structure and it does jump around the place which reminded me of the films of Ed Wood and I think this was done on purpose too. There are some very odd scenes and some weird elements, like magic lipstick and the special pumps which the original Lolita Sue Lyons gives our starlet. The actual Hollywood vampire played by Count Smokula is both funny and also a little annoying at times, but for this type of film he did work, it just added to the oddness of it. To be perfectly honest the acting isn’t great, but it doesn’t need to be, it fits perfectly with the entire tone and feel of the film. Rena Riffel looks gorgeous, and as Trasharella her other persona she looks pretty awesome, I would definitely dress up as Trasharella for Halloween. The music and songs in this film are actually one of the highlights and are excellent. Rena also sings (and wrote) the songs and I honestly could not pick out a personal favourite, I loved them. She has a great voice, and I have to admit I went back and watched the musical numbers again.
Trasharella is a film that is strange, but I enjoyed it. I do like the films of Ed Wood and I like exploitation and grindhouse type films and this was a mixture of them all. It is easy to see Rena has a passion for those genres and she put a lot of heart into this film. I give her props for making something she wanted to do, even if it is not typical. It is not an easy film to recommend, I think people will just brush this off but certainly if you are a fan of Rena Riffel it is worth watching just for her. Trasharella has cult written all over it, and I do hope it finds a good audience. I know there are those out there who will love this, however there will be those that will hate it, that is just the way the cookie crumbles.
The Super Network 