SEXINA review – enter to win a DVD (now available) starring Lauren D’Avella & Adam West

SEXINA review – enter to win a DVD (now available) starring Lauren D’Avella & Adam West

I first remember hearing about SEXINA a few years back when I saw a promotional card at San Diego Comic-Con. Shot on a very modest budget, the film imagines a pop music star (think Britney Spears) who also happens to be a private investigator. This week Wild Eye Releasing has unleashed the film on DVD, and I was more than happy to check it out, and post a contest offering our readers a chance to win a copy.

SEXINA opens with a James Bond-style title sequence, featuring a song by Davy Jones of The Monkees. We’re introduced to Sexina (Lauren D’Avella), a pop star sensation who also leads a secret life as a butt-kicking private eye. In her music career, she’s tormented by the womanizing flavor of the month Lance Canyon (Luis Jose Lopez), who is manufactured by a big record company. The other side of this story follows a high school girl named Vera (Kellie Fernald) who is pining over a classmate dating a stuck up pretty girl. Vera discovers an opportunity to bring Sexina to her school, which might also help her love life. As the tale progresses, we find that Lance’s boss (Adam West, mostly heard and not seen, until later at least) has forced a brilliant scientist to create a cyborg boy band in the hopes of dominating the music industry. Sexina must get to the bottom of the mysterious plot, and hopefully help Vera land the love of her life… all while discovering the void existing in her own.

Erik Sharkey’s film is a fun nod to multiple genres and cinematic cliches, and perhaps a few memorable TV tropes. There’s shades of AUSTIN POWERS here, films like CLUELESS, and (appropriately) the 1966 BATMAN series. It’s not a movie that takes itself seriously or even tries to. There’s familiar bits like a girls going shopping montage set to music, and then off the wall scenes like a guy in a bear costume that we, the audience, are just supposed to accept as a bear. But this is a film that wants you to laugh along with it and just enjoy the ride. Sharkey also found a good leading lady in Lauren D’Avella, who exudes all the sexy qualities the character requires, but is also engaging and charismatic enough to make even the cheesiest moments work.

SEXINA is like a mixture of John Waters, Troma, and The Zucker Brothers. It’s also a funny commentary of the music industry, or just celebrity in general. While watching it in many ways I imagined this could be a rather fun television series. Some of the choices are a little odd, like the uses of the “F” word in a film that easily could have been PG material, or overly bizarre scenes like the aforementioned bear attack. But then Adam West shows up spouting tough guy dialogue and you forget whatever shortcomings may have distracted you. This is one of those films that requires you being in the right frame of mind to enjoy it, but I frequently found myself having fun. Be sure to look for the director’s cameo as a seedy informant.

There’s also some nice bonus content on the DVD. Look for a blooper reel, a behind the scenes collection of clips, a nice feature showing Davy Jones crafting the title song (this section was a particular treat), and an extended clip of Chris Carter strumming some blues on the guitar. Being an Adam West fan, I really enjoyed some of the behind the scenes snippets featuring Adam in the recording booth, and Erik joking back and forth with him.

We’ve partnered up with Wild Eye Releasing to host a contest where you could win a copy of SEXINA on DVD. Just send us an e-mail and tell us what makes Adam West so awesome, why he’s such a cool icon in the pop culture community. Make it good, no one-sentence answers please. We want these prizes to go to deserving winners. Contest is open to U.S. residents only. Make sure to include your shipping address with your e-mail. Contest ends on November 1, 2014. One entry per household – all duplicate entries will be deleted. Get those entries in a good luck!

Wild Eye Releasing has announced today’s DVD and VOD release of Sexina, a comedy about the titular pop star sensation battling evildoers in the music industry, directed by Drew: The Man Behind the Poster’s Erik Sharkey. As she balances filling arenas and fighting crime, Sexina meets her match in her greatest foe, TV’s Adam West (“Batman”, “Family Guy”). Featuring music by Davy Jones of The Monkees, Sexina also stars Annie Golden (“Orange is the New Black”) and Peter Stickles (Shortbus). The San Francisco Bay Guardian called Sexina “an answer to films like Austin Powers and Legally Blonde.”

Sexina is the world’s hottest teen pop star, but she’s also a secret crime-fighting detective battling evils in the music industry. When the leading scientific mind in humanoid robotics (and a former child pop star) is kidnapped, Sexina is hired to get him back. When she learns he has been forced to create cyborg bands for “The Boss” of Glitz Records (Adam West, “Batman”), the fists and power ballads fly! The reigning queen of pop must contend with assassins, ninjas, dangerous thugs, mysterious informants, a wild grizzly bear, and of course, take some time out for a little clothes shopping.

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About the Author

Born and raised in Dallas, Mark has been a movie critic since 1994, with reviews featured in print, radio and National TV. In 2001 he started the Entertainment section of the Herorealm website, where he contributed film reviews and celebrity interviews until 2004. After three years of service there, he started Bigfanboy.com, which has become one of the Dallas film community's leading information websites. Bigfanboy hosts several movie screenings in the Texas area, and works closely with film and TV studios and promotional partners to host exciting events and contests. The site also features a variety of rare celebrity and filmmaker interviews, and Bigfanboy.com regularly covers the film festival circuit as well. In addition to Hollywood reporting, Mark has worked for many years as an advertising and sci-fi/comic book artist. Clients have included Lucasfilm Ltd., Topps Trading Cards, The Dallas Mavericks and The Dallas Stars. From 2002 until 2015 he managed the Dallas Comic Con, Sci-Fi Expo and Fan Days events in the DFW area. He currently catalogs rare comic books and movie memorabilia for Heritage Auctions, and runs the Dallas Comic Show conventions, but remains an avid moviegoer and cinema buff.