Dead American Woman screened at the old Portage Theatre in Chicago this evening. The 80 minute feature from writer/director Peter Lambert, opens on a big pile of crap. Literally. Does it get any better? Well, read on and judge for yourself.

The film relates the story of murdered soul Tabitha (Julie Fabulous) out for revenge against the snuff film producers who killed her. Apparently when crap and the spirit of vengeance mingle, they bring dead raped girls back to life.

Fully corporal and fresh from an intricate deal with an angel, Tabitha returns from the grave on a mission to enlist Cynthia (Jill Hames), mother of another murdered young girl, on a quest for retribution. The two track down a band of sexual deviants led by criminally-Christian Virginia (Heather Marie Vernon).

Virginia is a missionary for God, luring women of questionable morals, or “Demons” as she sees them, into the gang’s studio lair with the promise of making profitable “special interest” films. Once on the set, women are bound, raped, tortured, and eventually murdered by Happy, the Clown of Despair (Happy Dave) while camera operator and frustrated rapist Bam (Ken Harrison) films the goings-on.

Here I must note that the acting from the male members of the cast did not meet the demands of the roles, particularly when side by side with the over-the-top and on-spot character acting of Heather Marie Vernon. She and the fun and frolicsome Julie Fabulous saved the film.

Conceptually, Dead American Woman is brilliant. Lambert fuses a multitude of themes together to create a compelling plot. The most intriguing to me, whether intended or not, was the power-stroke statement about the latent evils lurking in pent-up Christianity.

Drawing on the wealth of Chicago’s performance and burlesque artists, Lambert has packed the film with situations that might make “mainstream folk” squirm and wonder “Do people really do that?” For those of us running in the counter-culture circles (nearly everyone in the audience at this screening), the shock factor wasn’t so great, but still entertaining.

Lambert also pulls together two contrasting genres, wacky humor and brutal horror. The potential of that union was right there on screen, just out of eyesight. It was weakened by the subpar acting and both genres suffer for it; the humor comes across as flat and the brutality plays out as just silliness.

Where the brutality and terror were realized nicely is in the grainy, cinema verite snuff films the gang creates. There are hints of real creepy going on here that left me wanting more in other parts of the film devoid of creepy.

One of the most disheartening and frustrating aspects of film is the lack of attention filmmakers pay to the audio after spending so much time, effort, money, and love on the rest of the film. Horrendous visuals can be consumed as a style, but muddy, tinny, or otherwise unintelligible audio can completely ruin a film experience.

Despite a few long scenes and some excruciating acting, Dead American Woman would have been a fairly enjoyable show had it not been for the regrettable audio. When I pick up the DVD version of this film (which I will) and find the poor sound quality was due to the Portage’s ancient speakers, I’ll happily retract this criticism and sing this film’s praises.

Before leaving the theatre, I overheard some say that the various styles found in this film were all over the place and too incongruous. I have to disagree here and defend the director’s choice. There are three distinct film styles used throughout the film, each for its own purpose and I think to good purpose. An every day video style is used for the bulk of the film. A blown-out style is utilized for scenes of extreme madness. And finally, the silent snuff style mentioned above is perfectly employed for the films created by Virginia’s gang.

In the introductory speech to the Chicago audience prior to the screening, Lambert expressed his hope that Dead American Woman would become a cult classic. Will it? It will if you believe in Fate, Virginia.