Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

Red Lips Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf July 18, 2022

1995’s “Red Lips” is a 76-minute-long movie, and the opening five minutes of the endeavor are devoted to a sex scene between two women that establishes a dual meaning for the title. Writer/director Donald Farmer is in no hurry to get the film moving along, introducing viewers to softcore material before gradually moving things over to horror, and another change, to melodrama, follows. “Red Lips” is a $5,000 effort that has a lot of things it wants to accomplish, but no significant resources or imagination to do so, with Farmer believing some bloodshed and plenty of sexuality is enough to keep viewers interested in what becomes an aggressively repetitive picture.

Caroline (Ghetty Chasun) is a broke twentysomething woman agreeing to take part in a medical testing trial, injected with a special serum by her doctor. Expecting something harmless, Caroline is quickly transformed into a vampiric creature in constant need of blood to live, prowling the streets for fresh victims to drain. She soon finds kindness from Lisa (Michelle Bauer), who’s recently broken up with her girlfriend (Kitten Natividad), ready to support Caroline and her violent thirst as they look for a place to live, falling in love along the way.

Everything there is to know about “Red Lips” takes place in the opening act, which follows Caroline as she’s subjected to medical horrors, becomes a bloodthirsty creature, and embarks on a plan to feed on less-than-innocent people. Suspense isn’t conjured by Farmer, who’s more interested in long shots of Caroline’s bloody monster mouth and longer shots of characters bathing, getting in as much nudity as possible to hold viewer attention. There’s sex as well, and a relationship forms between Carolina and Lisa, who immediately trusts an unstable stranger, with the pair feeling the tingles of love – a beauty and the beast situation. The pair are forced to deal with Caroline’s situation, and the audience is left with a movie that tends to recycle moments, watching the vampire take out a list of strange predators, staying close to hotels and clubs to go fishing for food.

Red Lips Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (1.31:1 aspect ratio) presentation identifies the shot-on-video limitations of "Red Lips," which doesn't allow for fine detail. Only a broad sense of skin particulars and locations are provided, with blockiness and age dominant. Color is also restrained by age and the format, with some sense of red blood available, along with period fashion. Source contains a few missing seconds due to damage, and wear and tear is common.

Red Lips Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 2.0 DTS-HD mix doesn't have much to work with, managing dialogue exchanges, which are mostly intelligible, save for a few outdoor adventures with serious equipment issues. Music supports with decent instrumentation, offering a metal edge, and scoring is simplistic.

Red Lips Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary features writer/director Donald Farmer.

• "Seeing Red" (16:06, HD) is an interview with writer/director Donald Farmer, who walks through the production of "Red Lips" while sitting in his car, which is parked at a strip mall.

• "Splatter Chatter" (13:23, SD) is a vintage interview with actress Ghetty Chasun, who submits to questions from Dave Castiglione. Also included is an extended video show intro featuring Chasun tearing apart a fresh victim.

• "Distortion is a Woman" (13:17, SD) is a 2022 video essay created by Caroline Kopko.

• Still Gallery (3:30) collects BTS snaps and publicity shots.

• A Trailer has not been included on this release.

Red Lips Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Being a shot-on-video endeavor, "Red Lips" isn't cinematic. It's blunt with sexploitation interests and a tad ridiculous with storytelling ambition, giving little to viewers to help them believe in Caroline and Lisa's grand affair, which is soon tested by violence. Farmer gets points for the bleak ending, but he's not attentive to tonal consistency, and that five grand doesn't exactly pay for varied locations and more incident. "Red Lips" wants to be a few things, but it falls short of its limited creative goals, leaving it for the most forgiving of SOV enthusiasts and fans of B-movie actresses trying to give their all for a low-tech production.