Susan Blond Movies

Off-the-wall humor, casual or premeditated violence, and larger-than-life characters are featured in this Paul Morrisey film about drugs and two street gangs in "Alphabet City," the lower east side of New York (Avenues A, B, and C). When the flamboyant and often abrasive Rita (Marilia Pera) and her dim-witted but streetwise son Thiago (Richard Ulacia) arrive in New York from Brazil, she maternally "adopts" the teens who live in a run-down apartment as her own and then organizes them into a gang whose first job is to intercept a shipment of drugs intended for a rival Puerto Rican group. This act sets off a gang war when the Puerto Ricans retaliate by killing one of Rita's teens. As the fighting escalates, it becomes more difficult to decipher the real attitude of director Paul Morrissey: are these serious takes from real life or are they exaggerated to achieve a decidedly black humor? ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

The final film released under the Andy Warhol moniker (which Warhol executive produced) is a much more polished affair than Flesh, Trash or Heat, but preserves the oddball wit and eccentric flair that made those films so memorable. Directed by Warhol film editor Jed Johnson, Andy Warhol's Bad focuses on Hazel Aiken, a New York housewife who has to support a houseful of relatives on her own. She pays the bills by operating an electrolysis service out of her home and also by running a murder-for-hire service staffed exclusively by women that specializes in unsavory jobs like killing children and house pets. As a result of her latter job, she has to deal with unwanted attention from Detective Hughes, a corrupt cop who wants her to surrender one of her employees so he can make an arrest. Hazel's complex life grows even more difficult with the arrival of her nephew J.T. (Perry King), a sleazy layabout who wants to join her hit squad. As the bodies pile up around her, Hazel discovers that her cold-blooded take on capitalism and family values comes with a price she didn't imagine. Andy Warhol's Bad differs from previous Warhol productions because of its higher production values and Hollywood-friendly casting, but retains its sense of underground credibility thanks to a wild story line that trashes every taboo in arm's reach to create a memorably bizarre satire. Some sources erroneously list the year of release in 1971; it was in fact produced in 1976 and issued to theaters by Roger Corman's New World Pictures in 1977. The MPAA classified that version of the film with an X. It was later reedited to receive an R, which is the version available on video. ~ Donald Guarisco, Rovi