Tucson Film Industry Examiner

"Exploitation films thrill last night at the Arizona Underground Film Festival"

by Eric Shlapack

The first film of the night, La Funcionaria Asesina a.k.a. The Slayer Bureaucrat by photographer turned filmmaker Sergio Kardenas was a sort of homage to yet reimagining of the grindhouse cult films of the 70s. Think maybe like John Waters, a little less gross, and little more thoughtful even. The film had the crowd in uproarious laughter from the beginning, as the humor was both campy and dark. The film was packed with accomplished actors such as Angie Bowie, Mark Bego, Gina Vetro, Rob Patterson, and many others. The over the top and often ridiculous nature of the situation just added to the comedic effect of the film, which is another often found characteristic of exploitation films. Another outstanding element of the film was the way Kardenas was able to combine images from digital video with some scratched film stocks to create a look like this was a cult film from the 70s that had been played some much that there were scratches, bumpy reels, and rough cuts between scenes. The screening ended to roaring applause and then the great crowd in attendance was treated to a very warm and informative Q & A session with Kardenas and the ten or so cast and crew members in attendance.