She's not a barbie girl in a vampires world

Title - Killer Barbies (aka Killer Barbys & Vampire Killer Barbys)
Language - English Dub (original Spanish)
Genre - horror, Vampire

Characters:

Mario - Band member

Flavia - Band Member

Rafa - Band Member

Silvia - Band Member lead singer

Billy - Band Member

Baltasar -  mad Monk

Arkan - the carer/lover of Condesa

Condesa - an ancient countess/singer

Pipa - A Dwarf

Pipo - A Dwarf

The Killer Barbies are a Spanish Rock Punk band and this was their first film.  As far as i can tell there is one other.

At first Killer Barbies struck me as quite a generic vampire/slasher film in most.  We have a group of young adults, in this case the members of the Killer Barbies, who are traveling  somewhere.  They go down the wrong road which is a dirt track and then come off the road, damaging their van.  They then meet a strange man who invites them to spend the night in his castle which is, of course inhabited by a vampire.  The group split up, some go to the castle and two stay behind in the van.  It’s so standard that i could even tell you who first people were to get killed and, if you’d seen any other slasher films it wouldn't be a spoiler.  I won’t,  just in case it’s your first horror film.

It’s this style that does lead to some of the strangeness of the film though.  They are obviously trying for the gothic feel of a vampire film but some things are slightly off.  The castle is not what you’d assume.  Instead of a gothic grey stoned building with towers and a portcullis we have a square whitish building which is referred to in the film as looking like a convent or prison.  Keeping with the gothic nature of the film we are told that the castle/convent is haunted by a mad monk whose origin story sounded like something take from ‘a nightmare on elm street’ but the problem was it was hard to tell which character was meant to be the monk, the way he told the tale I first thought it was Arkan but i think it was supposed to be Baltasar.

Some of the aspects of the house also seemed a bit unnecessary, for instance there is a ‘Chess Room’, a room with a black & white tiled floor and a couple of chess pieces and for some reason a crib with a creepy baby doll in it. I know they are probably trying to set a creepy scene but the room just seems out of place in the castle and the film.

The characters are an interesting mix.  First off we have the killer Barbie’s (or Killer Barbys depending on what version of the film you have) they are a group of late teens (silvia gives her age as 19) who would fit in with any slasher.

Then there is Arkan when i first saw him I assumed he was our Van- Helsing type but no he’s the one who feeds the vampire.  Which makes Balthasar seem out of place, he is our Igor/Renfield or slasher and he would be better served without Arkan who seems to be there to for fill a romantic roll that never actually appears.  Then we have Pipa & Pipo to twin (I think) dwarfs who are Balthasar’s assistance and possibly meant as comic relief.

The we have Condesa our vampire.  It’s never said that she is undead and she is never actually referred to as a vampire.  She is more of an Elisabeth Bathory character who needs blood to stay young although for some one who claims to be  over a hundred years old she does seem to lack any sense of self preservation.

If you add all of this to film that doesn't seem to know if it’s night or day,  a smoke machine that doesn’t seem powerful enough to reach all of the sets, a film that had to change the spelling in its title due a certain toy manufacturer complaining and dubbing the just doesn't seem right (in the version i had.  The film should have been Spanish and I could only get a dubbed version) and you would expect a mess but, in true B movie style Killer Barbies works. As you’d expect in slasher/vampire film the gore and dead body effects are good, the story makes enough sense, the sex fits the narrative (& there's quite a bit) and the acting to just the right side of naff and over the top.  This is all helped along by half decent characters, the female leads are not the normal helpless type that are there just to scream and die, although one does end up running through the woods in nothing except silver knee high boots.

If you have a spare couple of hours and want something that’s not too taxing give give Killer Barbies a watch but only if you're not offended by nudity, both male and female.