Zipperface

Zipperface

United States - 1992

Director – Mansour Pourmand

AIP Distribution, 1992, VHS

Nothing special about this movie, nothing surprising about it, until you find it in your mailbox. I ordered this film on the name alone, partly because of my familiarity with the term “zipperhead”, from the Vietnam War that referred to enemy “personnel”. The video cover on the other hand, was quite a surprise and I was wondering what masochist experiment I had gotten myself into.

After a boring shot for video police shootout, beat cop Lisa Ryder is surprisingly promoted to detective on the coattails of a hardcore law-&-order ticket woman political candidate. Next, three hooker types go into a long-creepy-corridor laced warehouse to meet a kinky John. The two experienced hookers attempt to coerce the terrified newbie into joining their game and the John, clad in spike studded full body leather, wraps his whip around her neck as she flees, breaking it. The two surviving ladies also flee, and one of them ends up at her friend’s house, an older hooker with whom it is insinuated there is a sexual relationship.


Detective Ryder is partnered with a sexist old-dog detective, but instead of proving herself competent in an oppressive environment, flirts drippingly with the creepy denim clad erotic-photographer who is the primary suspect. While correcting her partners sexist vocabulary later, Ryder gets a call from the photographer, Michael who demands that she come over for a shoot that night, then hangs up. She exudes sexual excitement.


Coerced into a bondage session by her sexy guardian, the witness-hooker witnesses the killer hacking off her girlfriends head with a machete before she herself is thrown off the roof to an unimpressive splat.

Ryder shows up at Michael’s house where he plies her with wine and soon cuts her loose of her professional façade, her neckerchief and the top buttons of her shirt. Responding with a huff and another swill of wine, she playfully tosses her hair and bites on a string of pearls and soon is sucking face with him. After a brief murder - investigation/plot interlude, Michael shows up at her house with a bottle of booze and a hardon, and really? Even at this point, I was still surprised at the sheer cautionless unprofessionalism with which officer Ryder flings herself into the creep’s sweaty grope.

After another intimidation copulation session or two there’s got to be some swilly redemptive status quo ending in which everyone is happy in their proper place, and emasculating power grabbing feminists can be held responsible for male sexual frustration and violence. Way to show ‘em.

A German video sleeve from Filmflausen.de