Tueur de filles

This is a tedious and decidedly low voltage attempt at an action thriller and vehicle for the then quite popular Raquel Welch.

The main drawbacks are the script which features cardboard characters and implausible situations, along with the leaden direction. The undistinguished cast has little to work with, but Ms Welch must be called to account for one of the worst performances of her career. This is saying a lot considering her body (no pun intended) of work. She is alternately vapid and wooden or hysterically shrill.

Ms Welch "portrays" a Las Vegas exotic dancer on the run from the deranged ex-husband (Luke Askew) of her friend and fellow dancer. It seems the Askew character blames Welch for the dissolution of his marriage, so after he blows away his former wife at an outdoor cafe in broad daylight he seeks to do likewise to poor Raquel.

Welch flees to Los Angeles pursued by the killer and immediately takes up with James Stacy. In watching their scenes together one has the impression that the filmmakers were simply going through the motions of providing the obligatory male love interest for Ms Welch. There is zero chemistry between them and the whole Stacy character seems virtually superfluous.

I found the pace of this film quite slow with little tension or suspense. One never really empathizes with or cares much for the central character. The psycho murderer, instead of being menacing and scary, is merely boring and dull.

Ironically, though she plays a go-go dancer, Ms Welch's considerable physical attributes are not put to good use here. She has one dance number (wearing only a moderately revealing outfit) that is tepid at best. The other dance routines by others (some of which are performed topless) come off much better. In fact these rather brief sequences and some fairly colorful and interesting Las Vegas and L.A. locations are all this misfire has going for it.

***SPOILERS*** Requel Welch in one of the most demanding roles of her film career as Michele a Las Vegas Go-Go dancer. Michele is stalked throughout the movie "Flareup" by a crazed killer Alan Morris, Luke Askew, who holds her as well as her friend and fellow Go-Go dancer Iris, Pat Delaney, responsible for the breakup of his marriage to Go-Go dancer Nikki, Sandra Giles.

Trying to get Nikki to reconsider at an outdoor café in Vegas, where she's with both Michele and Iris, she tells the hurt and despondent Alan to get lost where he pulls out a gun and shoots her! Alan then turns his gun on Nikki's fellow Go-Go dancers, Michele and Iris, as they run for their lives and escape.

Later Michele and Iris going to the hospital to find out how Nikki is doing, she died from her wounds, Alan runs down Iris and her police escort with his car as Michele escapes again. Michele is sent to L.A by the manager of the club that she dances in, the Pussycat, to work at the "Losers" nightclub in order to get away from the vengeful Alan.

At "The Losers" Michele meets Joe, James Stacy, the clubs parking attendant who changes her hose, car tire, and then gives her a sip of coke, the soft drink, from a bottle that he's drinking out of. This impressed the beautiful Michele so much that by the time the day was over she was shacked up with Joe in his apartment in L.A! I should be so lucky.

Alan gets the bartender at the "Pussycat" nightclub Silor,Ron Rifkin, to tell him where Michele is and then carjacks Mr.Willows, Tom Feddon, killing him and driving off with his car to L.A to murder Michele. Finding both Michele and Joe at the beach Alan is interrupted in his attempt to kill them by the police and runs down and kills a biker as he makes his escape.

Alan then tracks down Michele at a gas station as she out runs him, on wheels and on foot, to a zoo. It's at the zoo where she's rescued by the police with Alan again getting away and is put into a police guarded hospital room for her own protection.

Michele breaking out of the hospital goes to Joe's place only to be held hostage by Alan who was there waiting for her. After being held alive by Alan in order for Joe to come home; Alan plans to murder him so Michele can see it. Suddenly Michele breaks away from Alan and locks herself up in the kitchen and when Alan breaks in she pours a can of gasoline on him and lights a match setting him on fire thus the title of the movie "Flareup".

Luke Askew who's a pretty good actor seemed so embarrassed in the movie that he played it straight and tried to keep his emotions in regards to the part that he was paying under wraps. Especially in that incredibly unintentional hilarious last sequence with Miss. Welch, when he looked like he was either hypnotized or on drugs.

If you love camp as much as I do, then you will love "Flareup". From the opening credits we know it's a camp fest by the gyrating "go-go" dancer doing the boogaloo around the credits. Opening scene at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas is great, with Raquel and two friends having lunch "al fresco". The hairstyle on the one friend looks as though it needs a building permit. She immediately gets shot by her ex-boyfriend (maybe he thought the hair-do was a little too much as well). He then turns on Raquel (whom he blames for the breakup) and spends the rest of the movie trying to kill her. If you love location shooting then dig all the groovy shots of Las Vegas and Los Angeles before they made both towns into an overbuilt, gaudy mecca that both cities are today. What sends this movie over the top is when Raquel mounts a horse and practically dislocates her head from the throwing back and forth of her mane of hair. AND THIS WAS BEFORE PROZAC! I loved every second of this movie, it has more entertainment value than anything I've seen in the past 10 years.

Cars, Go-Go Girls and 60's Vegas. A fun time capsule. Unfortunately a pretty poor movie that would have sufficed being an episode of Police Woman. Worth seeing once if you're old enough to appreciate the time period.

Good, creepy bad guys that you can find in every 70's police dramas like Barnaby Jones or Mannix. This is one of those movies you want to label 'so bad it's good' but it falls short of that. The film stock quality seems to be very good which makes me wonder why so much money was invested in this unworthy effort.

Raquel is nice to look at. Stacy is a decent actor, and there are a few familiar character actors worth seeing. Otherwise, don't worry if you never see this one.

Las Vegas dancer Raquel Welch is stalked by the crazed ex-husband of her best friend (who blames Rocky for breaking up his marriage). After a violent opening, film turns to more routine melodrama, as Welch runs from place to place, eventually hiding out at the Old Zoo in L.A.'s Griffith Park! Some nifty location work, lots of costume changes for our star, good supporting work from the underrated James Stacy. Yet, the film is too clean, too slick to be convincing--especially as it deals with seedy nightclubs and topless dancers. Much was made in the presskit of Raquel's dance routine, but it's laughable instead of memorable. Welch is rather over-the-top here; she really flourishes under a looser direction, and Disney-vet James Neilsen is just too mechanical for her. **1/2 from ****