AUSTIN, Texas – Kick-Ass made its blood-spurting, cringe-inducing, gut-busting debut at South by Southwest here Friday night, and a packed house ate up the movie's mix of over-the-top violence and foul-mouthed humor.

"Did we kick your ass?" asked actor Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who plays Red Mist in the film, after the screening at The Paramount Theatre. The crowd roared its approval.

The R-rated movie, based on the gritty and smart comic book series by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr., focuses on dorky teen Dave Lizewski (played by Aaron Johnson), who dons a goofy-looking wetsuit and hits the streets of New York to battle criminals as Kick-Ass. After getting his own ass thoroughly kicked, Lizewski inadvertently becomes a media sensation and gets drawn into a high-stakes battle between two serious costumed crime-fighters and a criminal enterprise.

It's an energetic and extreme take on the superhero genre, lurching back and forth between brutal fight scenes, high-school jokes and revenge fantasies.

Throughout the wild ride, 13-year-old actress Chloe Moretz, aka Hit Girl, steals the show. Whether goofing with her father – the Batman-like Big Daddy, played by a thoroughly entertaining Nicolas Cage – or cutting off a bad guy at the knees, she's delivers the best lines with zip and self-assurance.

There's something truly special (and unsettling, really) about her portrayal of a pint-size killing machine so at ease with blades, guns and other weaponry. Her onscreen chemistry with Cage is engaging, and the inventively choreographed fight scenes in which Hit Girl devastates her opponents are wildly fantastic

While she commanded the screen, Moretz did not show up at the film fest to field questions after the screening. Johnson, Mintz-Plasse, Millar, Romita and director Matthew Vaughn did.

Vaughn, who previously helmed Layer Cake and Stardust, complained about the sound at the Paramount and the aspect ratio of the projection.

Millar, the Scottish writer who created Kick-Ass as well as the Wanted comic book that also became Hollywood fodder, explained the genesis of his amateur superhero story.

"Tragically, it's autobiographical," Millar said, recounting his own mad teenage quest to become a caped crusader. He and a friend hit the gym and trained for a year, he said.

"At the very last minute we came to our fucking senses," Millar said.

Kick-Ass opens April 16.

Clark Duke, who plays Marty in the new movie Kick-Ass, walks the red carpet at SXSW.

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