Actress/director [Parker Love Bowling](https://www.instagram.com/parkerlovebowling/) offers a most fitting and wickedly unholy gift for a 2020 Christmas with the teaser of her directorial debut, premiering today only on _Flaunt_. The short film, _Our Lady Crucifixion_, is shot on 16mm and stars Blondie’s Chris Stein and actress/producer/model Eloisa Santos.
Going with the flow of the experimental eccentricities of underground Hollywood comes as easy to Bowling as the L.A. sunshine.
The Topanga Canyon native came up under the wing of her older sister, [Kansas Bowling](http://kansas-bowling.com/), known for writing and directing the Troma darling and “prehistoric slasher” _B.C. Butcher_ at age 17, which features Kato Kaelin, Rodney Bingenheimer, and a 15 year old Parker Bowling.
Though their most notable credit to date is portraying menacing Manson girls in _Once Upon a Time in Hollywood_, roles they were born to play.
Both Bowling sisters unabashedly approached Quentin Tarantino at a 25th anniversary screening of _Reservoir Dogs_ at the Ace Theater in downtown L.A. When they both asked, “Don’t we look like Manson girls?” it was more of a declaration. He promised to book them both for an audition and the rest is history. It was a lifelong dream of theirs to be part of the Tarantino canon. “So many people in Hollywood make empty promises,” Bowling says. “But I’m so grateful Quentin kept his word.”
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Shot in Rahway, New Jersey, _Our Lady Crucifixion_ follows the murder of a girl in a small town, presented by a newscaster played by Chris Stein. There is a dramatic reenactment of the murder using a blow-up doll while the true victim is killed in real time.
“The plot is rather plotless,” Bowling says, “a non-linear, psychedelic experience where all storylines quite literally bleed into one another.”
The parallel of using a blow-up doll for the victim was inspired by real-world police work. “I learned that some forensic cops in Russia have a \[convicted\] killer act out their crimes on a dummy. I thought this to be so wonderfully bizarre and disturbing, so I wrote it into the script.”
The throwback exploitation aesthetic rolls through Bowling’s DNA like celluloid through a projector, yet she manages to bring a modern edge. For a short film, it’s beautifully layered.
“Nothing inspired this film more than the promotional photos for _One Million Years B.C.,_ where Raquel Welch is being crucified. It all stemmed from that. I wanted to make something bloody and dark, but visually stunning, much like a giallo, but I wanted the plot to be more complex than your run of the mill whodunit.”
For anyone who isn’t Tarantino, shooting on film is a statement these days. Bowling fights for style and aesthetic in a time when streaming is king and everything is seemingly disposable to the insatiable masses. Bowling refuses to bend to the whim of popular taste.
“I love the look of film. I think digital would've definitely shattered the illusion I was trying to create.”
_Our Lady Crucifixion_ is due to be released in early 2021.
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