Categorized | Features
Zoe Bell: Bitch Slap and Angel of Death (2009)
Posted on 24 February 2009
Zoë Bell
When the trailer for the Rodriguez/Tarantino love-letter to all things Grindhouse first hit screens in 2007, a lot of attention was paid to “the girls”. Seeing as how they were hitting all of the great exploitation hallmarks, there were some choice shots of Rose McGowen, Marley Shelton, Vanessa Ferlito, Rosario Dawson, and Sydney Tamiia Poitier. Usually walking, and usually at low-angles for maximum effect. However when guys walked away from the theater, they were only talking about one woman:
Quite frankly, Zoë Bell kicked so much ass in that movie that you could hear multiple utterances of “I think I’m in love” from the fanboys (and men) in the audience-and it’s no wonder. Having had a long career as a top-flight stuntwoman (doubling for Lucy Lawless in Xena and Uma Thurman in both Kill Bill pictures among other credits), when you see shots of Zoë riding on the roof of a car travelling at 70 miles an hour in Death Proof, you know you’re seeing the real deal. And when she lays the beatdown on Kurt Russell at the end (after jousting with his car), we couldn’t help but cheer. But what really won us over was the easy charm of her character in the earlier pieces, before she became the film’s ultimate badass.
So when we hear that she’s got not one, but two projects nearing release, we couldn’t wait to share the news.
Click for better view
First up: Bitch Slap (2009)
This fantastically titled picture calls itself “a thinking mans throwback to the ‘B’ Movie/Exploitation films of the 1950’s-70’s as well as a sly loving parody of the same”. To be fair, it looks aweful, which is exactly why we want to check it out. Well that, and it’s a deeply R-rated reunion of the Hercules and Xena casts, with Kevin Sorbo, Lucy Lawless, Renee O’Conner, and Michael Hurst all making appearances in a blood-soaked orgy of sex and violence. Ok, got a little caught up in the camp there.
The movie’s basic plot involves three sexpots who hatch a plan to extort mony from a gangster. Things go wrong, people die, a lot of heaving chests and sweaty tee-shirts get involved. Ms. Bell is listed as the stunt coordinator and credited as a character named “Rawhide”.
The Trailer:
Next up in our double feature: Angel Of Death
From the mind of award-winning comic book writer Ed Brubaker (Criminal, The Death of Captain America, Batman), this webseries features Zoë as an assasin who starts having visions after having a knife stuck in her head. Yeah, we know: Weird. But Ed never disapoints and the series features a fairly amazing cast. Once again Lucy Lawless is along for the ride, with Doug Jones (Hellboy, Pan’s Labarynth), and genre-vet Ted Raimi (Seaquest, Evil Dead, and the Spider-Man series) joining in the mayhem. It looks to be pretty damn cool.
Trailer:
Click for better view
Bitch Slap’s release date is currently slated for “Spring 2009″, and Angel of Death is March 2nd. Check their sites for more details.
This post was written by:
Micah P. - who has written 84 posts on Cavalcade of Schlock.
In between watching movies and writing about them, Micah also writes essays (for an eventual book) and IT documentation (for his employer). Outside of writing, he's a IT Specialist and an artist.
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