Le Porno Killers / The Porno Killers

If nothing else The Porno Killers has one of the all-time great titles, the kind that is guaranteed to attract the attention of the potential viewer. Unfortunately that's about all it has going for it, despite a plethora of nudity, violent action and – in the version under review at least, which also admittedly suffered from being somewhat bleached out – hardcore inserts featuring anonymous bodies rather than those of the lead performers.

Reminiscent at times of Meyer's Faster Pussycat Kill Kill, Franco's Red Lips films, Thelma and Louise and Baise Moi, the most interesting aspect of the film is probably its take on female sexuality, with the two protagonists assuming an active rather than a passive role and generally providing the superior to the men.

What are we to make of these characters? Are they progressive, reactionary or both? Fantasy figures on the part of the director and his audience, expressions of his and the implied viewer's fears, or both?

Given that provenance of the film, it seems safe to assume that shock value was the first thing on director and writer Roberto Mauri's mind, and that any subtext we may read in is purely accidental.

Does Mark Shanon make an uncredited appearance; there's a guy with his moustache and a indistinct tattoo, but I wasn't 100 per cent certain it was him.