"The gruesome tapestry of psychological manifestations of a nineteen year old bulimic runaway stripper - turned prostitute named Angela Aberdeen; as she descends into a hellish pit of Satanic nightmares and hallucinations."

No, it's not the latest episode of AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL. It's just another day at the office.

The above description of Slaughtered Vomit Dolls was NOT written by yours truly (well, the TOP MODEL joke was). It is in fact the description of the film that graces its cleverly designed (yet minimalist) web site. True to its name, this film contains no shortage of actual vomiting mixed in with a healthy dose of slaughter. To its credit, the title does not lie.

I guess the above description is accurate. While I did manage to pull out some bits and pieces of the aforementioned plot points from this 70-minute film (such as the prostitution, stripping, vomiting etc.) I certainly wouldn't (on my own) have had the ability to compile as cohesive a synopsis as the above or even begin to assume that the young girl was 'bulimic.' Slaughtered Vomit Dolls does not follow a traditional narrative, and if there is a story to be told here, it's very difficult to decipher. Which, in the end, would be the biggest problem I had with the film.

I'd even hesitate to call this film experimental because everything on display here (including its at times 'film-school-esque' execution) seems all to deliberate. How can we shock? How can we be disgusting? How can we seem weird? How can we gain attention? When your viewer feels as if you were asking these questions during the 'creative' process, much of its potential integrity and/or effectiveness is lost. But I may be getting ahead of myself here.

What exactly is Slaughtered Vomit Dolls?

It's very difficult to describe, that's what it is. Many random scenes (or at least scenes that come across as random to me) of women stripping, vomiting, taking abuse, vomiting, renouncing their faith and/or religion, vomiting or offering their sexual wares without inhibition. Oh, and did I mention the vomiting? Subtitles under scenes read "Pig Executed" or "Princess Executed" with a date, time and location stamp, like 'Hotel Room" or city and state. Scenes of extreme violence like eyeballs being gouged out mixed in with scenes of self inflicted vomiting. All of which is intercut with a home movie of a little girl, presumably one of the girls in the film (or representing all of the girls in the film for that matter) during a once happier time in her life and their ultimate loss of innocence. At least that's what I got out of it. It doesn't really matter in the long run, because any messages that are delivered are too heavy handed to have much of an effect.

Then it gets even more bizarre. A young girl whose arm is severed is given a guitar and mic under a spotlight! Then there's a guy with a belt buckle that reads "Henry" so for arguments sake, that's what we'll call him. Henry uses a severed arm to get his gag on and eventually streams vomit himself! So it ain't just the dolls vomiting here! He vomits in a mug, drinks it, vomits in the mug, drinks it...and so forth. Then, another young man has the top of his head torn off; his brains are eaten by yet another hipster, who then proceeds to vomit himself, right into the camera! Throats are slit, drills and saws are used in unnatural ways...oh the gruesome mayhem! And this is only the beginning. So what does this film have going for it? Exceptionally effective gore effects and plenty of 'em. Oh yeah, and naked girls vomiting blood! Fun, no? Eh, not really.

The soundtrack is distorted (all on purpose, of course) and often dialogue is difficult to understand. Although one can pull out specific bits of dialogue like "I'd kill and die for you" or the aforementioned biblical/prayer references renouncing faith and accepting the devil. As I've said before, I'm not quite sure what it all means.

Who are these people, why is this happening? In my mind, effectiveness is lost by the fact that any 'real' information concerning this film is shrouded in secrecy. Are these women actresses or are they real, drug-addicted strippers and prostitutes? If they're in fact suburbanite kids putting on a show, then they each deserve an Oscar hand delivered by Tom Hanks himself!

Written and directed by Lucifer Valentine 666 (?) and starring Ameara Lavey, Slaughtered Vomit Dolls is indeed, quite grotesque. But then again, name me an instance in which watching people vomit gratuitously isn't grotesque? Due out on DVD February 2006. Vomit bag...not included.

www.slaughteredvomitdolls.com