Tarantino's `Curdled' Goes Straight To Video

Quentin Tarantino is the executive producer of "Curdled," a gory Miramax black comedy that is bypassing most theaters and heading for video this month.

Based on a short film that Tarantino saw at a film festival, it stars Angela Jones as Gabriella, a woman so fixated on violence that she hooks up with a serial killer (William Baldwin) when she takes a job at a service that handles post-crime cleanups. Gabriella also turned up in a cameo role in Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction," as Bruce Willis' talkative cab driver.

Reb Braddock, who directed the short "Curdled," makes his feature-film debut as the expanded version's writer-director. When the movie turned up briefly in a New York theater last fall, The Village Voice's Gary Dauphin called it "a bit of a creepfest" and "awfully great fun" while praising Baldwin for his "hilariously disconnected" performance.

BoxOffice magazine's Dwayne E. Leslie found it "effective in leaving the audience guessing what will happen next and in building tension right through the final shot."

As for The Film Journal International's report: "The murder sequences are so protractedly cruel that they make it increasingly difficult to get back into the jaunty swing of things."

Also bypassing theaters:

"Adrenalin: Fear the Rush." Albert Pyun, who made "Radioactive Dreams," wrote and directed this 21st-century thriller starring Christopher Lambert as a Boston policeman trying to stop a killer who carries a contagious, fatal disease. Naturally he's saddled with a rookie partner: Natasha Henstridge, the vicious alien from "Species."

"Poison Ivy: The New Seduction." The 1992 Drew Barrymore/Tom Skerritt theatrical movie has inspired one of those erotic-thriller video franchises that never ends. Kurt Voss directed this installment, starring Jaime Pressly as Ivy's evil, long-lost sister, who takes over the suburban home of her best friend (Megan Edwards).

"Superfights, the Movie." Directed by Hong Kong's Tony Leung, this martial-arts movie stars Keith Vitali as a corrupt television producer who specializes in no-holds-barred fight shows. Brandon Gaines makes his film debut as his latest recruit.

"Changing Habits." Romantic comedy with Moira Kelly, Dylan Walsh, Teri Garr, Shelley Duvall and Christopher Lloyd.

"Muhammad Ali: The Whole Story." Warner Home Video is releasing this six-hour documentary about the fighter's life. Half of it is taken up with exclusive footage of his fights with Ken Norton, George Foreman, Joe Frazier and others.

"Kounterfeit." Corbin Bernsen and Bruce Payne co-star in this R-rated story of two small-time hoods who try to trade $3 million in counterfeit cash for the real thing. Three men are killed in the botched exchange, including a policeman.

"The Killing Jar." Thriller with Tamlyn Tomita, Brett Cullen, Wes Studi, Brion James and M. Emmet Walsh.

"Black Jack - Clinical Chart 1," "Darkside Blues," "Patlabor: The Mobile Police - The New Files, Vol. 3." A new collection of Japanese animation cassettes from Central Park Media. "Black Jack's" director is Osamu Tezuka, who made the Disney-like "Kimba the White Lion." Information: 212-977-7456.