The Showgirl Must Go On

Rena Riffel remakes her directorial debut Trasharella as Trasharella Ultra Vixen and has plans to film a kind-of sequel to the mid-90’s dvd rental cult favorite Showgirls

by Reviewer Rob

As one would expect, Rena Riffel is physically gorgeous in person. Let me start out by saying that. The other thing is she comes off as being so genuinely nice. There’s no pretentious star-tude at all, yet she’s also as serious about her acting craft as anyone in Hollywood can possibly be.

All this reminds me that the acting business must be one tough gig because she’s had such a tough time of it, despite her being so well positioned that she landed a supporting roll in the 1994 movie Showgirls, and an original song composed by her was used in the film while she was on screen dancing. Although derided by critics and initially a failure at the box office Showgirls has over time become a cult hit and one of the highest video rental grossers ever for MGM.

Trasharella (2009) was Riffel’s first foray into movie directing, and she says she made the whole epic on her iBook. In it the talented actress plays the starring role of Helena Beestrom – ”Trasharella,” who is an awfully bad starlet – with such hilarious schlocky over emoting and charming self-deprecation that you can’t help but love it. Trasharella is a campy Hollywood dramady that you should not miss, especially if you’re like me, dear reader, and enjoy movies about movies and the movie business.
But wait, there’s more.

Rena now says there’s a new version of Trasharella, called Trasharella Ultra Vixen, and according to fatally-yours.com it’s a big improvement:

Trasharella Ultra Vixen has a past, almost worthy of a film of its own. See, before it was Trasharella Ultra Vixen, it was just Trasharella. When Riffel made Trasharella in 2009, it was 20 minutes longer and, frankly, a total mess – a rambling, confused jumble of images and symbols, with flashes of clever wit and the occasional moment odd beauty. I could tell Riffel had a specific vision – there was thought behind it and a method to her madness – but damned if I could figure out what it was.”

So maybe this copy of the original Trasharella is a rarity, and this is one for the archives.

Rena Riffel will appear at the 2nd Annual Vampire-Con film festival which runs June 24 to 26 at the famous New Beverly Cinema Theater, LA’s only remaining non-chain moviehouse, now owned by Grindhouse director Quentin Tarantino. Read more about Vampire-Con at vampirecon.com. Rena says “They want everyone to dress up for it in trashy trashinista trashbag fashion,” and she invites everyone to come and “walk the glamazon trashinista parade.”

Buy the new Trasharell Ultra Vixen on Amazon, renariffelfilms.com or at showgirlthemovie.com.


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