GARGOYLE GIRLS

Produced by by Richard E. Maxwell, Joe LaPenna and John Fabry
Directed and Edited by Joe LaPenna and John Fabry
Written and Photographed by Joe LaPenna

Stanley - Michael D'Asaro
Diana - Sasha Graham
Gwendolyn - Sonja Ray
Jerry - John Maggio

Sasha Graham has been absent from the genre scene for far too long, and it goes without saying that she is sorely missed. Few actresses can hold a candle to her girl-next-door smile, and rarely is her acting caliber ever matched. Whether she's playing an ultra-bitch held against her will or a vampiric succubus passing her teachings on to new recruits, as with THE VISCIOUS SWEET and ADDICTED TO MURDER respectively, she gives each role her plucky all as she creates characters that are as varied as the genres allow, which sadly isn't all that much.

Even if the part demands that Sasha play the "victim", she's never a "victim". There's an inner strength she possesses that allows her characters to convincingly overcome their obstacles. This goes beyond anything that is written on the page and has everything to do with how wholeheartedly an actor can embrace a role and make it their own. As different as each role may be, they are uniquely Sasha.

Inner strength, natural talent, and ... man oh man ... that smile. Sasha Graham is the closest thing the b-movie world could have had to a breakout star.

She alone is the reason I spent months pestering Rounds Entertainment to send me a review screener for Joe LaPenna's GARGOYLE GIRLS, a technically slick late-1998 entry into the shot-on-video market that never received any national distribution.

Fans of Sasha should take note, you will never see a movie where Sasha looks as hideous, or as gorgeous, as she does in GARGOYLE GIRLS.

Sasha plays Diana, a mid-evil demon who can take human form. As the gargoyle demon, Sasha plays the role in full prosthetic make-up complete with fangs and horns. In her human form, Sasha plays the part completely glamoured up with lightened hair and cosmetic make-up. She doesn't play either side differently, she's able to maintain the same note by revealing the humanity inside the monster early on. She plays the character as both Beauty and Beast.

But even with strong talent, and believe me when I say Sasha is perfection in this movie, a film is only as good as the story it tells. GARGOYLE GIRLS is flawed by a missing third act. What small sense of conflict there is to bring about the climax lacks any buildup whatsoever. Characters are introduced and sides taken without so much as the slightest detailing of "who, what, when, where, why, or how."

Diana has been trapped with her sister in a mystical imprisonment for over 700 years. Upon release, she falls for a human and must deal with her sister's lust for revenge. There is no buildup, only fallout. And that's because the script dictates the actions, and the finally is built upon pure formula...down to the deus ex machina happy ending where fate deals second chances at happiness.

GARGOYLE GIRLS is a movie meant to be lightweight entertainment. It's a b-movie that's minus gratuitous exploitation, opting rather to rely on the ability of it's actors to carry it forth. If talent like Sasha's were given more to do by way of beefed up characterization and conflict, then I could endorse the movie as something more than just a curiosity-satisfier for fans of Ms. Graham.

But at any rate, it's good to see Sasha on the tube again. I would site through a weekend-long reading of War and Peace if she were the one who read it.

Rounds Entertainment
Gargoyle Girls

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