User Reviews

The revenge flick is a solid movie staple. KIRI (or better known in the USA as FATAL BEAUTY) borrows elements from Hong Kong action, which borrowed from earlier black exploitation movies in the USA, and adds the classic revenge story plot. Or, to put it all into fewer words, Lampel Cojuangco's FATAL BEAUTY is the Philippine version of Donna Wilkes' ANGEL.

Like DEATH WISH, FATAL BEAUTY contains some extreme grit making it for adult eyes only. The acting is serious. The direction is less distracting than other Philippine movies of the period.

Here, Lampel shoots up the bad guys and cleans up the mean streets after seeing too many loved ones around her lost to the brutal city.

The side-streets of Manila are seen as they exist, except that the night shots in FATAL BEAUTY contain no lurkers, but in real life every nook and cranny of Manila are brimming with awake people at all hours.

Also, the real life air pollution of Manila is minimized in FATEL BEAUTY.

Other than the above, FATAL BEAUTY is a good introduction to Manila grime and is a solid example of shot-on-film 1980's Philippine movie making.

As distributed in the USA, the Tagalog is over-dubbed in English with no subtitles. The screen format is 4:3 with mono sound.

To an American audience, KIRI/FATAL BEAUTY rates a 6.5 score for its true grit and rare glimpse into non-tourist Manila.

I would rather watch rough FATAL BEAUTY than the super slick Hollywood movie MAMMOTH (2009) any night of the week.