Special Request: Mississippi Damned

Mississippi Damned

Release: Festivals
Rated UR
2 hours

Full Price

Mississippi Damned follows the lives of three children in rural Mississippi surviving on the hope to live out adulthood anywhere but. Starting in 1986, the oldest, Leigh (Chasity Kershal Hammite), counts her pennies and the days until she can escape the oppression and disapproval of her family.

To escape Leigh would leave her younger sister Kari (Kylee Russell) behind with their critical mother, Dolores (Michael Hyatt, The Good Girl), and gambling-addicted father, Junior (Adam Clark, Public Enemies). Luckily, their aunt Anna (Simbi Khali, We Were Soldiers) has helped to nurture the musician in Kari. Fast forward to 1998 when Kari (Tessa Thompson, For Colored Girls) has the opportunity to leave for college.

The girls' cousin, Sammy (Malcolm David Kelley, Antwone Fisher), hopes his skills on the court will be his ticket to a better life, but his alcoholic mother, Charlie (Jossie Thacker, TV: Living Single) drinks away the money needed to send him to the recruit. Though he escapes, the adult Sammy (Malcolm Goodwin, American Gangster) finds himself returning to the homestead just as Kari struggles to make her dreams come true.

I don't usually provide such a lengthy synopsis in a review, but should you choose to watch Mississippi Damned (which I highly recommend you do), you will discover an intricately woven story. Writer-director Tina Mabry draws from her own experiences growing up in Tupelo, Mississippi to craft her feature-length debut. Damned is anything but light fare. Mabry tackles themes of sexual abuse, alcoholism and murder, showing how these sins of the parents are visited upon the children.

The greatest strength of Mississippi Damned is the exceptional cast. For many, Tessa Thompson and D.B Woodside (Romeo Must Die) may be most recognizable; she for her stints on the shows Heroes and Veronica Mars, he for his work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 24, and most recently, Hellcats. While they give strong performances, their costars are just as deserving of praise. All the major players skillfully convey the stark reality of their characters' lives.

The cinematography crafts an oppressive and claustrophobic mood. There are, however, a few scenes when I would have preferred more lighting. The dimness deprived audiences of the full weight of the actors' performances.   

Mississippi Damned doesn't conform to the cycle of lows and highs one would find in Hollywood films. Though atypical, it's emotionally stirring and riveting. Don't take my word for it; trust the judgment of the numerous festivals which have awarded Mississippi Damned several best narrative and best feature film awards.

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If you're interested in seeing an overlooked gem, the DVD is available exclusively on the film's website; www.mississippidamned.com/store

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Special Request: Attack Girls' Swim Team vs the Undead

The following review is by special request from Jason of Invasion of the B Movies and Andy the Time Lord of The Ramblings of a Minnesota Geek. Thank them for the insanity which follows.


Attack Girls' Swim Team Versus the Undead


Release: 12.09.08
Rated UR
1 hour, 28 minutes


A Netflix Night


It takes a special kind of cinephile to even consider a movie titled, Attack Girls' Swim Team vs the Undead. By the way, it's also known as Joshikyôei hanrangun in its native Japan and Undead Pool by IMDb and the international community. My interest was spawned by a trailer preceding the film, Siren. Never heard of it? Both are Japanese horror films starring adult video (AV) stars. Interested now?

Attack Girls features AV star Sasa Nada as Aki, an orphan raised by a madman and trained as an assassin. Aki wanted more from life; specifically, she dreamed of being a normal high school girl. One night she escapes the complex and slips into a nearby high school. She makes fast friends with a student who encourages her to join the swim team. It just so happens, one of their members has fallen ill and they'd have to forfeit the meet without another swimmer.

Aki agrees and everything seems to be going great. Aki even discovers that her new friend shares a similar birthmark on her chest, leading them to realize they were twin sisters separated at birth! Nothing good comes without a price, however, as the sick swimmer was not an isolated incident. Most of the students and teachers have fallen ill. The strange disease causes those aflicted to turn into shambling, flesh-eating zombies. For reasons unknown, the rest of the swim team seem unaffected by the virus. Under Aki's leadership the girls go on the offensive, trying to stay alive long enough to find a cure.

Is that plot dense and crazy enough for you? If so, don't worry about the hateful swim coach who is brutally murdered only to return unscathed as the nicest teacher on campus. Or let's not ponder why one teacher, when zombified, only speaks English (and yet still gets subtitled)! Attack Girls is a pool of insane ideas that forms a gooey, gushy, sexy, steamy, awkward mess instead of congealing into a poorly executed film. Problems range from minor ones like Aki's vanishing 'birthmark' to a crazy corkscrew mindfuck of a third act where absolutely anything, and I mean anything, goes.

Dirty Undies
Attack Girls is also a misnomer for our band of high school heroines. They should be called Attacked Girls because they are just a group of swimmers who join forces under the leadership of Aki, the only girl with any true fighting skills. Aki does get in a few solid blows, but director Kôji Kawano seems more inclined to have Aki recollect the flute-induced sexual rutting her old mentor gave her at the complex.

The steamy bits aren't all bizarre rape sequences. Any shamelessly exploitative movie rife with teenage girls wouldn't be worth its salt if it didn't include some girl-on-girl action.

The gore and zombie effects aren't much to write home about either. There's a good deal of heavy makeup and colored corn syrup splashed about, but it's all so hokey it could never be considered cringe-worthy.

The Money Shot
I've only scratched the surface of all the problems Attacks Girls suffers from. That said, it's the kind of twaddle that you can't appreciate without having seen it. I recall feeling it was confusing, never-ending crap as the credits rolled, but since then I've found myself smirking at the outrageous silliness of it all. Sometimes terrible movies reach a noteworthy plateau of their own. Would Attack Girls' Swim Team vs the Undead qualify as one of those? You decide.