C’mon, let’s go, baby, go to get our chops slapped by the hard-punching cult superstar documentary Tura!, written and directed by Cody Jarrett. It is the long-awaited authorized portrait of Tura Satana, star of Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, Astro-Zombies, and Doll Squad. A former burlesque dancer who had a black belt in Karate, Satana broke cinematic barriers by her portrayal of a sexy woman breaking he-men’s spines onscreen.
Narrated by Margaret Cho, the film opens in the darkest way imaginable on a night in Chicago at the end of the 40s. Nine-year-old Tura was walking home when she was grabbed off the street by five men and driven off in a car. She had been targeted because she was half-Asian at a time when American hatred for the Japanese was at its highest, making her disposable.
“…former burlesque dancer who had a black belt in Karate, Satana broke cinematic barriers…”
The five men gang-raped the nine-year-old girl repeatedly and left her for dead. The men were acquitted at the trial as the jury believed their story that the nine-year-old was making advances on them, and Tura was sent to a reformatory. Satana spoke openly about the attack throughout her life, as she saw that as the moment a jet-black fury transformed her into a lethal force of vengeance. Training herself in martial arts while using her beauty to make a living on the edge of polite society, Satana rose to fame amongst the famous and achieved her own unique place in cult cinema history. She also hunted down each man who had raped her as a child and permanently disfigured them all after days of torture.
The most interesting thing that has ever happened during my day job was speaking twice to Tura Satana on the phone. We spoke about cars and I kept it professional, but made sure to sign off that she knew what a huge fan I and my family have been of her pictures. I am very big on Doll Squad, an exploitation masterpiece that still astounds. The fact that this movie was completely ripped off by the TV show Charlie’s Angels is further reinforced by finding out Satana invited her friend Aaron Spelling to an advance screening. Jarrett appropriately spends the most time on Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, as that was the iconic Satana performance that defined her image for all time.
"… a shrine to sexy power that will break you in half."
Great review for a fabulous doc but It’s Tura Satana not Carlos Santana 💋
It’s TURA SATANA!! Not Carlos Santana!
Thank you, Babsi. It gave me a headache reading her name misspelled so many times. No offense to Carlos Santana. Mom always would tell people “It’s Satan with an extra A!”