A Bring Out the GIMP (Girls in Merciless Peril) Movie Review
Red White & Blue
Reviewed by Ralphus
I was thinking the other day about whether there are that many good, I mean really good mainstream movies that include GIMP scenes. For the most part, movies that featured tied-up women are more often horror films or sleazy exploitation fare. Not that there's anything wrong with that; I love those genres, but there's a reason why such movies are seldom remembered at the end of year for Oscar consideration.
The 2010 film Red White & Blue
(I have no idea why it's called that; the implication that it refers to the American flag is probably incorrect) is one such film. It's part horror film, part revenge thriller, but what makes it stand out is that it is, first and foremost, a completely absorbing drama that grabs you from the very beginning and never lets go, even when you're not sure exactly what's going on. I've seen it multiple times and always find different layers to the story that I missed before.
There are 3 main characters here, beginning with Erica, played the beautiful Amanda Fuller. When we first see her, she's slutting her body all around town, seemingly giving it up to any guy who wants it, but she's also emotionally distant to them. "Look, I don't stay over, I don't fall in love and I don't fuck the same guy twice, okay?" she tells one of her conquests. She also harbors a deep, dark secret that makes her the way she is. It would be a sin to give things away here.
Along the way, she strikes up an unlikely friendship with a mysterious former Iraqi vet named Nate, who helps her find a job when she's being thrown out of her apartment. He's a scary character who unashamedly tells her in their first real conversation that he used to torture animals when he was a boy. Um, okay. Big red flag there, Sweetie! He silently watches her at work as she continues her libidinous ways with her co-workers while still on the job.
And there's a third character, Franki (Marc Senter), a young musician in a garage band who has dreams of becoming a rock star and who dutifully cares for his cancer-stricken mother. He has a girlfriend who cheated on him and one night he and his bandmates meet up with Erica for a drunken orgy. This lead us to the harrowing third and final act.
The goal here is not to give away what happens next, but needless to say there's a lot of GIMP-age here, done to multiple women (and some guys, unfortunately). There's a scene where an entire family is terrorized in their home, including a younger girl.
The acting is uniformly excellent by everyone in the cast, and the movie moves at a brisk pace from beginning to end. The movie is the brainchild of English director Simon Rumley, who additionally wrote and produced it. Okay, maybe it never won an Oscar but it did get the Ralphus Award for Best Mainstream Movie of the Year. Obviously, I strongly recommend this one.
