The world of exploitation film ripped open and laid raw for you to experience. From 70's grindhouse to current underground, it is all here. So ripe you can practically smell it.
KILLDOZER (1974) D. JERRY LONDON Warner Archives Full Frame This made for TV shocker is fondly remembered by those who lived through the 70's. Mostly for the outrageous title than any sort of groundbreaking content. There were comic books and even a punk band that swiped the name. This is one of those weird little movies that entered the popular zeitgeist. Hell there is probably a Family Guy episode that references it.
But does that mean the movie is any good? Not really. It is perfectly functional and well made enough, considering the era it was made. yet this is pretty much by the numbers stuff. A meteor falls from space in all its paper mache glory and lands on the construction site of Warburton industries who are digging in Uganda to build some sort of something or other. The mutant space rock possesses the nearest bulldozer causing it to come to life and destroy things and kill people.
THE VICTIM (2011) D. MICHAEL BIEHN ANCHOR BAY ENT. 1.85 Actor Michael Biehn apparently had a blast working on Robert Rodiguiz's Grindhouse parody PLANET TERROR. So much that he was inspired to make his own Grindhouse movie with his girlfriend Jennifer Blanc. So together they wrote and produced THE VICTIM with Biehn taking the directorial reigns for the first time. The result is a movie that is endearing in the earnestness that it exudes. But suffers from a lot of the first time director blues.
The story is pure pulp novel fodder. A couple of strippers (Jennifer Blanc and genre workhorse Danielle Harris) go out for an afternoon of naughtiness with a couple of cops (Ryan Honey and Denny Kirkwood) but when Harris dies during some rough sex play, it puts her friend on the run. She runs right to the cabin of Hermit Michael Biehn who doesn't take nicely to being disturbed and a fairly violent bit of cat and mouse ensues. On the plus side the acting is fine all the way around. The entire cast clearly is in on the sense of play and gives it all they got. When the movie gets down to tacks, it gets really violent with a head crushing that could stand up next to DRIVE or IRREVERSIBLE. The script, by no means great, at least takes a fair amount of time setting up the female characters and their friendship. Through several flashbacks we get to know them, which adds a lot to the base of the movie. The twist in the final reel, though not shocking, is a nice turn of events.
On the down side the movie has some really clunky direction like having characters talk directly into the camera when they are talking to each other. Or some severe padding. We used to tease a friend of mine who made backyard movies that his driving scenes existed just to fill enough time for him to play a song he liked. Well here that is actually true as there is a driving across the mountains scene that goes on for several minutes so we can fill time and hear the entire music cue. There is also an embarrassing opening credit scene that apes SE7EN so much that it becomes really funny. Right down to the NINE INCH NAILS rip off music. Throw in some really eye-straining day for night photography as it all adds up to hurting the final film.
THE VICTIM does do one thing I have never seen before. The ends credits, the film actually shows you the entire crew as their name appears. You see this with actors all the time, but never production staff. The movie goes through person by person and tells you what they did and shows you who they are. It certainly made me hang out through the whole credits. THE VICTIM is not a ground-breaker, but it is diverting enough for an hour and a half and I hope Michael Biehn makes some more films.
CLASS OF 1999 (1989) D. MARK LESTER Artisan Full Frame (Park of the Lions Gate Horror 8 movie Multi-pack)
Quite of a few years after the success of CLASS OF 1984 director Mark Lester went back to high school to make this much more science-fiction tinged psuedo sequel. Taking a lot of ques from the then recent hits ROBOCOP and THE TERMINATOR, lester ramps up the action and special effects to create a goofy, but very satisfying afternoon time waster.
The film opens in the title year (that seemed far off in 1989); youth gangs have run rampant in society. With violence so bad that whole pieces of the cities have been related to "no-reply zones" by the cops, leaving the gangs to rule as they see fit. But one high school is trying to not take it lying down and team up with government corporation to use "experimental" teachers (John Vernon, Patrick Kilpatric, and Pam Grier). Actually combat mode androids that are more bloodthirsty than the kids they are fighting. Our hero Cody, played by Bradley Gregg is a kid just getter of of jail and trying to go back to school. But his friends in the gang all consider him a sell out, the rival gang want to kill him, his little brother is joining the gang and best friend is a junked up dope addict looking for a bad way out. He has also fallen for the pretty daughter (Traci Lind who later dropped the "D" from her name to be just Traci Lin) of the principal (Maclom Macdowell). But all of that will become back burner material when he runs afoul of the Teaching Droids who have started their own very violent programming. The movie is primarily an action flick with several well mounted shootouts, fist fights, car crash and the F/X heavy finale where the androids dispose of their limbs to have heavy artillery hiding within. The finale has these heavily armed robots fighting the teenage gangs on motorcycles in the hall of the school. Their is some impressive explosions, motorcycle stunts and some really splashy gore including one teen who is literally torn in half.
When I saw this in the theater in the fall of 1989 I had a lot of fun with it, enjoying the stunts and grue. Watching it now, over twenty years later it is amusing how dated the film feels due to the costumes, language and special effects. It was still kind of low rent back then, but pretty impressive for the really tight budget. Now it is hard to look past Bradley Greg's Half jacket that no self respecting gay club kid would wear. Or Stacey Keach (who plays the man behind the cyborgs) and his white rat-tail buzz cut. The movie becomes a bit more campy than I am sure was intended. Though a lot of it is INTENTIONALLY campy.
THE AGGRESSION SCALE (2012) D. STEVEN C. MILLER ANCHOR BAY ENT. 2.35 - 1
This tightly wound little thriller literally hits the ground running when hit-man Lloyd (Dana Ashbrook from TWIN PEAKS) enters a suburban home and calmly blows the person out the front door with as shotgun in front of their kids. After a couple more equally bloody and unsettling murders we come to find out he is working for local mob boss Mr. Bellevance (Ray Wise). Seems someone has absconded with $500,000 of his money and he is none to happy about it. If Lloyd doesn't get the money in 48 hours, he gets put under the ground.
Then we meet slowly fracturing, newly thrown together family. Bill(Boyd Kestner)and Maggie (Lisa Rotondi)have just gotten married and are moving their two teen aged children up to a new house to start over. The kids are not happy about it. The daughter Lauren (Fabianne Therese) is a typical spoiled bitch who is complaining about everything. But their son Owen(Ryan Hartwig)is a different sort of child, clearly autistic and introverted, he never utters a word throughout the film. But we get wind early on that something is brewing inside of him when he kills a spider with a makeshift blowgun...
Before longLloyd and his brutal gang of thugs (Including Derek Meyersfrom theFRIDAY THE 13th remake and THE HILLS HAVE EYES remake) are there killing their way through the supporting cast, but what they didn't count on was the Owen is actually the concern of the title.
What transpires id that this young boy with extreme autism, is actually as dangerous, if not more so, than these thugs and killers. That he has been training himself for survival strategies and this whole situation becomes an extremely bloody game for him.
It would be easy to dismissTHE AGGRESSION SCALE as HOME ALONE for adults. That is the easiest short hand for it. But that also cheapens what is one of the freshest, most exciting thrillers I have watched since HANNA (2011). Constantly exciting, lean and to the point, viciously brutal and uncompromising, it is edge of your seat stuff. Sure there are missteps along the way. Owen's actions are sometimes way too exacting, with him having the forethought to do things that ONLY make sense if he were to know the script itself. The daughter, Lauren, gets really annoying with her teenage angst early on, but thankfully the films spends very little time with that before getting to the action.
THOU SHALT NOT KILL... EXCEPT (1986) D. JOSH BECKER SYNAPSE FILMS
1.66
THOU SHALT NOT KILL ... EXCEPT was one of the last gasps of the 80s exploitation indie movement. Directed by Josh Becker on 16mm with a budget you couldn't feed a family on, the film is really a triumph of where there is a will there's a way, up by your jockstrap style filmmaking. Typified by the fellas that came out of Detroit at that time. Josh Becker made this film, Sam Raimi, well we know what movies he has made, and their buddy Scott Spiegel made INTRUDER a few years later. This group all had the true indie spirit that shone through on all their projects.A lot of love and a LOT of time went inter their work. THOU SHALT NO KILL...EXCEPT is a shinning example of that spirit.
The movie opens with four buddies fighting their way through some stock footage in Vietnam (and some trees that are clearly up state Michigan). Soon the battle hardened friends are back home trying to adjust. Seeing family again, meeting girls, just trying to start over.
But a nasty cult of murderous fanatics have started cutting their way through the neighborhood and it is up to the boys to stop them. The cult gets all the good scenes with Sam Riami as the MANSON styled leader and brother Ted Raimi as the efeminate gang member Chains who likes to torture people. Whether tormenting babies or feeling up babes with hands full of blood theses guys know how to party.
It all culminates in an ultra-violent low budget Peckinpah styled showdown that spreads the red stuff all over the screen. Are you looking for a gory action revenge movie to get you to your feet? This one delivers the goods. And then some.
The long making of segment is shockingly thorough covering from the script stage all the way through the vhs release (they got $50,000 for the vhs rights!!! My god that is a dead era now!) I most enjoyed seeing the theaters playing the film first run. The marquee's with this title running along side the big films of the day was a kick to see. As it was only a few more years and these sorts of movies didn't get into theaters at all.
Also as an extra the Super 8mm version of the film, this time called STRYKER'S WAR and starring a very young Bruce Campbell. It is just as accomplished as feature version. A lot of the same scenes exist in the even lower budgeted version of the movie. Though at times it is even better as it is played completely straight, with no camping it up. At almost an hour long, it is just shy of being a feature. Too bad there was no way to distribute super 8mm films at the time as this one actually stands on its own as a gritty little movie.
It is a funny thing that for my money the Blu Rays that have been the most impressive in my collection have turned out to be the completely no budget films. Movies shot on shoestrings, usually on 16mm for peanuts. When remastered with love and care they have turned into gorgeous Blu discs worth their weight in gold. Add THOU SHALT NOT KILL... EXCEPT to the list. Looking at this disc after the previous incarnations is almost mind blowing. It STILL looks like a 16mm film, with the grain and grit intact, but it is so clear and clean that it looks like it was SHOT yesterday. You can almost reach into your TV and put your fingers into the pools of coagulating blood. An astounding job in every way putting this movie back out in this format.
THE EXTERMINATOR (1980) D. James Glickenhaus 1.78 Anamorphic Widescreen Blu Ray /DVD Combo Pack Synapse Films
This seminal exploitation action classic is finally available again on the digital format after being out of print for a number of years. It was available in the very early days of the DVD format in an acceptable but not particularly impressive ltbx dvd release that was in turn just a port over of the Anchor Bay Ltbx VHS release from the late 90's. This new release see's the film for the first time totally remastered in full HD and totally uncut for the first time ever with some scant extended violence. No full scenes mind you, but when you see that fist infamous decapitation you will totally notice how it is much more juicy and unpleasant that you have ever seen it before.
For the uninitiated THE EXTERMINATOR is another in the very popular late 70's canon of revenge fantasies featuring the everyman who is pushed to the limit by some ferocious street crime and sets out to clean it up on his own. Here a lot of the structure is handled differently making the film interesting. Robert Ginty plays Vietnam Vet John Eastland whose best friend (played by B-Movie Kung fu actor Steve James) is beaten and mugged by low level street thugs. This vicious beating lands the poor guy in the hospital paralyzed. So John sets out on the streets to find the thugs to do them in. But even after quickly finding them he realizes this is not quite enough. Mounting hospital bills and just a general feeling of drowning in the filth of the street sends him on a mission to continue to take out the trash. Working his way through the various scum and street life of New York.
Many things set THE EXTERMINATOR apart from other grindhouse examples of the genre right from the get go; namely solid performances from Robert Ginty and Steve James (who is unfortunately not on screen very much). James is set up early in the film to be the actual hero of the piece as he saves his best friend not once, but twice. Once in the incredible, violent and harrowing Vietnam opening sequence, then later in the scene that introduces the thugs that will do him in. The film pulls a fast one by having him crippled and Ginty become the the avenging spirit of the film. It is a smart bit of scriptwriting to play it out this way and both actors do a good job of creating a real sense of believability in their friendship. Early on when Ginty finds a pair of thugs responsible for his friend's condition one of the thugs tries to reason out his behavior by claiming "it doesn't matter, he was only a nigger!" sending Ginty in a searing rage. He exclaims back to the thug "That...Nigger is my best friend you motherfucker". But he doesn't yell the line. He delivers it in a deliberate clinched teeth bit of rage that is entirely 100% believable. A moment of devastating emotion that grounds everything he does for the rest of the film.
What people remember THE EXTERMINATOR for is the outrageous violence and bone crunch stunts. For a low budget movie this was pretty over the top stuff that pushed a lot of limits. From the opening scene in Vietnam the included possible the most realistic decapitation ever put on film as well as the most insane helicopter stunts performed INCLUDING those in such films as APOCALYPSE NOW. Turns out the stunt drivers responsible are the same guys who did the helicopter stunts on TWILIGHT ZONE THE MOVIE. Another moment everyone remembers is the infamous meat-grinder death or the torture with soldering iron. All of which are here in full blown remastered delight. But one thing I always found unique about the movie is how there is a moment about half way through where the movie stops and we get to watch as the main character creates specialized poison bullets using mercury. The scene serves no other purpose except as a "how to" on exactly how such a thing can be done!
I'm also a big fan of the music in the film, especially the final song in the film by Chip Taylor called Theme for an American Hero. A song that captures the perfect loneliness of the main character and of a generation of broken men coming home from the Vietnam war.
The film has a sub plot featuring Christopher George as a cop who is on the trail of The Exterminator and while his performance is good and he fills it with quirks, I have always found this part of the film to be dead weight. Granted this is where we get a lot of the major Vietnam subtext as he discusses it with his bubbleheaded girlfriend played by Samantha Egger. But for me the main film is with Ginty and his revenge. When the film drifts from him I find myself drifting too.
Dictatorially it is a strange movie too. Glickenhaus makes some really odd choices that can either be really disconcerting or considered brave depending on how you want to look at them. He cuts a lot of what other director's would feel is necessary. Things basic screenwriting would dictate important like finding, stalking and catching the bad guys. Early on in the film Ginty catches the first of the thugs. Only we NEVER see any of that. The film fades out and fades back and he has the guy tied up and he is now questioning him with a flamethrower. We never see how he found the guy, caught the guy or even how he got the flamethrower. He tells the guy "if you're lying I'll be back" a line that even becomes the tag line of the trailers. Yet he never comes back to finish the guy off and ends up finding the gut much later in the movie when he is robbing an old lady. Once again no explanation of how the guy got loose or why he never went back for him. Some of that is simply lazy screenwriting , but some of it is clearly Glickenhaus dispensing with "fat" and cutting to the chase.
At the end of the day people remember the movie because it is a successful exercise in cinematic brutality and revenge wish fulfillment. Lots of us wish we could be THE EXTERMINATOR. Director Glickenhaus understood that, and was smart enough to craft real characters and put good actors in there to play them. That is the reason the movie has stood the test of time. This new DVD/Blu Ray combo delivers it the respect it deserves. A pristine presentation, a fantastic commentary (with fun nuggets like the explosion in the film was the biggest ever shot in New York) the first time ever on home video the Dolby Stereo tracks are available, and of course the trailers and TV spots.Synapse Films should be commended for going the extra mile (like the ALWAYS do) for making sure this was done right. Jump on this set if you are any kind of self respecting exploitation film fan.
LIVE LIKE A COP DIE LIKE A MAN (1976)
D. RUGGERO DEODATO
RARO VIDEOLTBX ANAMORPHIC DVD
Ruggero's Deodato's sophomore film after the softcore sex film WAVE OF LUST was this hard as nails, almost fascist, Italian Police action film that holds the place card for being one of, if not THE most violent of that sub-genre. The Italian "Polizia" film was a popular sub-genre of the thriller that ran through the 70's with certain directors excelling at them. Writer Fernando Di Leo often wrote many of the era's crime pictures, and his name is on the screenplay for this one as well. Themes of corruption, street violence, and the Police having to be as bad as the criminals run through these films. LIVE LIKE A COP DIE LIKE A MAN takes these themes to such a hyper violent, almost absurd level that it almost has to be parody. But anyone familiar with the violent excesses of Ruggero Deodato's other films will quickly realize it probably isn't. He is just a director that likes to go over the top. He may very well have his political themes and concerns, but at the end of the day, he feels everything has to be turned up to eleven.
Ray Lovelock and Marc Porel star as Ray and Tony two off the cuff Italian cops who make up the "special forces" for the Rome police. Seems being the "special forces" in Rome equates to having a license to kill, beat up and maim whomever you may need to for any case at any time. The movie opens with a seriously impressive motorcycle chase when two scum bags snatch a lady's purse and drag her a half block, smashing her into a fire hydrant in the process. Our heroes see it happen and go after the thugs. It is important to mention the two of them seem to just cruise around together on a motorcycle with no where really to go irregardless if they are on duty or off. They may not be portrayed as gay, but bunked up on the motorcycle together holding each other tight, they certainly look that way more than once. The chase ends shockingly with the thugs wrecking into an open truck, one of them impaled on the handlebars and the other once bleeding internally. To which Ray viciously snaps his neck. When our dudes are walking away from the scene one asks the other "Did yours die on his own? I had to help mine along!"
From here they set out to find a local gangster and to do so they decide to flush him out by setting fire to all the fancy cars in the lot of one of his clubs. So they burn all the Rolls Royce and other big shot cars, as well as the night watchmen working there! Later in the movie Ray is shocked to find out the cars were not insured and feels a pang of remorse for burning the automobiles!!! They slap around the Mafia guys big tit sister and take turns fucking her since she is a nymphomaniac (In real life this actress was the sister of Ruggero's wife, so there is a little bit of weirdness there. Ruggero'swife plays the sexy Secretary the guys keep trying to seduce with no success because she is too smart and liberated to fall for their horseshit!).
The duo also break up a hostage situation,and stop a robbery, both by sneaking in and literally cold blooded shooting everyone involved, one by loading up silencers and sneaking onto the scene and wiping everyone out. Their boss constantly treats them like they are overzealous kids, not the murderous psychopaths they clearly are.
The movie walks a fine line between being a straight out action film, a piece of right wing propaganda, and some sort of weird violent parody/ fantasy. It works best when looked at in the last category as a berserk parody of Italian action and cop films where things are never what they should be. Instead they are way more violent and insane. The only movie in this realm that compares is LUCIO FULCI's equally over the top CONTRABAND (1981).But that film plays it straight as a gangster picture. This thing is like a hyper violent cartoon satirizing the cop genre.
Interestingly enough this is one of the best looking productions I have seen from Deodato. Slickly directed with great actions scenes and just great, knock about moments. While his horror films are well regarded sometimes his stuff can feel cheap (THE BARBARIANS, DIAL HELP, THE WASHING MACHINE) but this consistently feels like a top notch production and is well worth checking out.
The new RARO DVD has trailers and a 42 minute documentary about the making of the film with interviews with most of the surviving key players in which they all reminisce about the making of the film, the apparently made up on set controversy between the lead actors, and yes, how it was supposed to be a serious action film.
Day 17 of the September exploitation challenge made me a warrior...
YOUNG WARRIORS (1982) aka THE GRADUATES OF MALIBU HIGH D. Lawrence D. Foldes Cannon Full Frame
For some reason I don’t quite understand this movie gets shit on. A lot. The first review on the IMDB gives it one star and goes on to say the only way you can classify it as a crime film is that it is a crime that it was even made. I’ve heard plenty of people put it on their worst ever lists. But I have to wonder if people even watched it past the forty five minute mark. Because I found it to be one of the best, most refreshing action movies from that era. It is like the anti-DEATH WISH. A vigilante movie that dares to ask the questions that most of the other films of that type would never ask. Putting a very human face on the misery and pain that killing people actually requires. But maybe that is just it. Most viewers of exploitation movies, really are not looking for anything deeper than those visceral kicks the base elements deliver. Which is fine and good. But it doesn't make a movie that DOES give you more a bad film. YOUNG WARRIORS starts off really odd as it is an ANIMAL HOUSE styled college frat comedy for the first twenty minutes or so. We hang out with a group of young men who are basically enjoying life. Rushing their fraternity, hanging out with girls, getting laid, being silly and living it up. The movie may spend a little too much time with this, but it is all pretty harmless stuff. We mostly get to know Kevin Carrigan (James Van Patton) who is sort of the leader of his group of friends. A frustrated animation artist and jocular good fella. He butts heads with his policeman father played by veteran Ernest Borgnine over the bet way to handle crime and whether he should follow in his dad’s footsteps. He is very protective of his little sister who is in her last year of High school.
On her prom night on the way home a mysterious black van runs his sister and her date off the road. They drag her from the wreck and brutally gang rape her. The car explodes killing her date, and she dies from her wounds in the hospital later. Their Father manages to put together from the meager clues that it was a black van but not much else. But something in Kevin changes. He stops being the young guy into having fun he was, and needs to find revenge. Or at least do SOMETHING to change what happened. After an aborted attempt to go to a bar they have pieced together the killers might hang out at, Kevin and his friends decide to become a kind of citizens activist group. They begin to hunt the night looking from both his sisters killers and criminals in general in an attempt to take positive action.
Almost immediate things go wrong. One of their friends is murdered. Things become more and more complicated, as they amass more weapons and more chances to find their way into the criminal world.
What sets this movie apart is that it takes a great amount of time to study the aftermath of the violence. Kevin’s state of mind is really the whole focus of the movie was we watch him melt down from regular guy to, mental mess, to killing machine at the finale. We watch him become confused, alienated, cold, and mentally destroyed. We also observe how vigilante justice really has a lot of dirty loose ends, such when the gang kill a couple of kidnappers they have seen snatch a women, only to have her be just as horrified at the level of mayhem they have just caused. To an armed robbery they stop that is nothing like what they thought it was. All of it leading to the fact these kids have become cold hearted murders not unlike the men they have been hunting.
For a small little drive in movie it is really heavy stuff. The climax is really powerful and well handled, closing it all off really well. If the movie has any real problems it is in the casting. The young cast is not seasoned enough to pull off the emotional weight the piece requires. VanPatton is okay and tried really hard, but is never quite as strong as the part needs. His buddy played by Mike Norris (son of Chuck) is equally lost at sea. The females fair a bit better with the ignored girlfriend played by Anne Lockheart actually fairly well done. Borgnine seems kind of miscast and probably was their for name recognition only. Though Richard Rountree is good as the partner.
This movie got caught in a shit storm of legal battles when it was finished as Cannon films basically tried to totally rip off the filmmakers and in an unprecedented move the filmmakers sued. This held up the movie’s release for three years, eventually they won but the victory was small at that.
Why this movie has not gotten the attention it deserve I do not know. It is not on DVD, and is rarely screened. With the recent releases of Folds other movies MALIBU HIGH and DON’T GO IN THE PARK you would think somehow this one would get its due. It really deserves it.
Day sixteen of the September Exploitation Challenge saw my buddy Nick and I really taking the plunge with an Erik Estrada Double Feature! Hell Yeah!
CAGED FURY (1989) D. Bill Milling ???? 1.66
Now there are two movies with this title. One is from the early 80’s and was a shot in Manilla women in prison flick. This was made later and is also a WIP movie but is filled with B-movie actors, then current scream queens and low level porn stars and a skimming the surface level of scumminess that is satisfying, but never truly ugly. Call it WIP light for the fans just discovering the sub-genre.
Roxxanne Michaels stars as Katie Collins a young and fairly stupid woman who wants to go to Los Angels to be an actress. Naturally against the wishes of her tight assed Father played by Michael Parks. But her world wise sister Tracy (Elenda Sahagen) convinces Pops to let her go.
Now in the opening scene we have already seen a really nasty all girl prison in which the women are all forced to live in their skimpy (and sexy) lingerie. We have seen one try to escape and she is hunted down and done in by big bad Paul Smith. So we just know that it is only a matter of time before these two worlds are going to collide.
"Seriously, when you are done taking out my trash I want you to help me get INTO prison!"
Katie meets up with a streetwise hoebag named Rhonda who in turn introduces her to her boyfriend who is an amateur photographer. He claims he has gotten the girls “auditions” with a big time movie producer. But as it turns out that big time producer is a low life nudie movie scum bag that makes those in the old H.G. Lewis movies look sedate. The girls try to do auditions where they are put through some mild seduction scenes, but balk at getting nekkid. They are roughed up a bit and the cops get called. But it is the girls who are hauled away, taken to court and then to prison for propositioning the old dudes! Doh! They are off to the prison in the beginning!
Oh yeah I forgot to mention that Katie also met a former cop played by, wait for it, Erik motherfuckin Estrada! And his muscle bound Hulk like side kick. These guys kick and entire bar’s ass when they try to dip some skin into Katie’s love pond. And when I say kick the bar’s ass, I mean every person, stick of furniture, wall, brick and bottle of booze in the place. Nothing is left standing when muscles boy is done. And naturally old Erik is the one who gets the bonus love for the hard work.
"Someone told me I could find eager babes with low self esteem in here for my new movies..."
So naturally these two guys aren’t happy that their new squeeze has disappeared. But at the prison they are clever. Yes sir. They force Katie to call home and tell pops that she is away in Mexico filming a blockbuster for the next two months. But no one believes that shit. Soon Traci has gotten herself thrown in the pokey too trying to find her sister. Before long they have been given prison requisition white negligees and are taking looooong hot showers with the other inmates. Naturally the warden is a hot horny lesbian (played by super hot Ty Randolph and the character’s name is Sybil Thorne if that tells you a thing or two about where the filmmakers are coming from) who prefers nice baths with the new inmates. Then there is the guard named Spyder played by porn actor Scott Cummins who loves nothing more than to torment the girls and take them to the “quiet room”.
It all leads to Muscle guy literally tearing his way into the place while the girls are being auctioned off to the highest bidder and doing his thing. His thing being literally beating the holy shit out of every atom of physical matter on screen. This includes Ron Jeremy in a cameo appearance. If you blink you might miss then super hot porno babe Janine Lindamoulder as a dancing bar babe too.
This is pretty much typical late 80’s prime sleaze. It doesn’t make a lick of sense, and never tires too. It is filled to the overflowing point with nekkid babes, implanted boobs, incredible aerobacized butts and poofy 80’s teased hair. Almost every scene has a blue filter on all the lights. When ever things threaten to get really nasty in a sexually violent way, something happens to stop it, so none of the women are ever really abused. So while it is typical misogynist WIP stuff, it is never as nasty as say, some of the Italian import ones. Plus it has Erik Estrada in pink shirts trying to be a tough guy. That takes it up a notch right there.
NIGHT OF THE WILDING (1990) D. Joseph Merhi Universal Home Video/ PM Entertainment Full Screen
This was the second feature in our Erik Estrada Double feature on Saturday night. (Oh yeah we WENT THERE!) As produced and directed by Joseph Merhi and Richard Peppin I expected this to be a much more action packed and sleazy ride into street wise dementia. Turns out it was that duo's attempt at doing a “straight” courtroom thriller. But it still has a very sleazy, nasty, opening act, and a ridiculous finale.
Based on the “Wilding” scare of 1989/90 where teens went crazy in New York and Sacramento going on violence and rape sprees just for the kicks and fun of it. This was one of the topical scare movies so popular on home video in that era. Erik Estrada plays a sleazebag lawyer who typically gets the worst of the worst criminals off on technicalities. When the movie opens he has just gotten a mob hit man off on a murder charge the whole world knows he actually committed. That same night three rich kids try to kill a security guard at a local small town grocery store and follow the cashier home. She is having a small birthday party, so they easy convince her sister to let them in claiming to be friends from work. Once inside the beat up the sister’s boyfriend with ball bats, gang-rape the sister And eventually rape (off screen) the girl. The girl never hears any of the mayhem because she is in the shower. the whole scene is played for the ultimate in skeeziness as it should be nasty and shocking, but keeps cutting back to the teen girl in the shower soaping up her breasts, over and over, clearly trying to wedge in as much skin as possible. Knowing full well there will be no other opportunities for nudity in the rest of the flick.
The boys are arrested inside the house and the rest of the movie is a court battle between Estrada and his former wife turned Sates attorney who is fighting against him. It is fairly standard stuff, except we get to see some dirty tricks Lawyers do like making the accused get community volunteer jobs to look like better people. Eventually the little dregs snap and decide they gotta start killing witnesses, and eventually each other, leading to a foot chase, out of no where, spectacular car crash, and twist ending.
"The hot Kathryn Lautner plays Estrada's long suffering ex wife."
Over all it is okay. The acting is never that bad, except for Joey Travolta who is over acting his way out of his sibling’s shadow. But once the nasty first act is over it settles into TV movie of the week stuff without much need to go beyond it. The Merhi/ Peppin combo usually went for loud, brash and hyper violent exploitation movies straight to the tape market, but this appears to have been their attempt to go legit. They were better off when they were being outlaws.
This is not a trailer for the movie NIGHT OF THE WILDING but another flick that came out around the same time with a similar plot that was also exploiting the whole WILDING craze. I'd LOVE to get my hands on this one!!!
Day fifteen of the September Exploitation challenge takes us into the distant FUTURE!
THE NEW BARBARIANS (1982) aka WARRIORS OF THE WASTELAND D. Enzo Castellari Media Blasters 2.35
In the future Nuclear war will ravage and scorch the Earth leaving nothing in the wake but roving packs of marauders who want nothing more than to continue killing each other. Oddly enough these gangs will have mastered the ability to make vacuformed plastic into everything they need from space age costumes to gigantic bubbles for their neato vehicles. They will also have worked out how to turn everyday guns into laser shooting death rays and explosive devices that blow people’s chest cavities out upon impact. In this chaos is a group who have christined themselves The Templar's, but really have no inkling of anything to do with that historic Christian sect of Knights. This group of villains are run by one George Eastman who calls himself “One” and really all they want to do is kill everyone.
"Come to me and touch my stylish hair..."
But one man stands in their way. One man who drives a souped up muscle car (with a giant plastic dome on top) outfitted with missiles and machine guns. This man’s name is Scorpion (Giancarlo Prete), and he looks like he just stepped out of a East side beauty shop from getting his hair done. Seems he and One have some bad blood when he beat One at a duel some odd years ago and this has effected One’s ego and leadership abilities ever since. Scorpion stops these bad boys from roughing up a poofy haired babe in leather leggings named Alma (Anna Kanakis). He shows her his sensitive side by not raping her and she falls for the big lug. So they do it in a blow up tent on the side of the road. Even in the wasteland her make up stays perfect.
"Well, as long as you are not going to rape me, I guess you are an alright guy..."
Eventually One’s men decide they are tired of Scorpion banging the only chick left in the world, thus taking One’s attention away from them. So they set out to kick Scorpion's ass and take over the group. Enter Fred Williamson as Nadir. Don’t ask me why the only black dude in the Future, (hell the whole world in this film) is named Nadir, seems a bit racist, but hey its the Hammer and he can take care of himself. He basically puts futuristic foot to ass on these guys by saving Scorpion's butt. He has a bow and arrow with super explosive tips that when they hit the target blow their heads clean off. Naturally Scorpion tells him he could have handled it all on his own. I guess AFTER he got his ass kicked. They find a camp of, get this, Christians, who help them out and I was afraid this whole thing was going to turn into some sort of bible thumbing bullshit parable. Instead The Hammer beds down a hot ass sister, and then he and Scorpion leave so the bad guys can just come in and start wiping people out!
"Anna, I am really not so sure about this Hammer guy. He keeps upstaging my manliness at every turn..."
Naturally, cause Scorpion is a poofy haired wimp, and his buddy isn’t there to protect him, he gets captured. His punishment by the almighty One is to become a Templar before he is killed. But I guess old One is harboring some latent feelings for our hero because his initiation to the tribe involves something that took me entirely by surprise. It is a rare movie where the bad guy butt-fucks the hero when he has captured him. Some action films just hint at the whole homosexual subtext, but here they just went, “oh the hell with it. Just have big mean ol’ George Eastman ramrod that pretty boy and get it over with!”. And who saves our hero? That’s right. Nadir, or The Hammer or however you want to call Fred Williamson.
"Yes, it is Bob from HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY. Be afraid..."
Did I mention that little obnoxious brat from HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY is in this too. He plays basically the Murdock character from A-TEAM but as a little kid and has a slingshot that can kill people. Actually he is not nearly as obnoxious here as he usually is in Fulci’s movies, which leads me to believe Fulci either hated him, or kids in general. It all climaxes in a big crazy shootout, car crash, blow em up real good fight in an old oil refinery that is highlighted by our hero ripping off his clothes to reveal his nifty new suit of bullet proof armor. Made out of clear vacuform plastic that make shim look like one of the Village people on plastic and leather night at The Hellfire Club. Violence and hilarity ensue.
"Yeah, it is EXACTLY what you think it is."
As goofy and funny as this often is, most of the action scenes are well done. Castellari really knew his shit when it came to handling action. It is just the wrongheaded production design that makes this movie such a hoot. Well that and some weirdo turns of the story, with a lead that would be more at home in gay porn. But these 80’s post apocalyptic ROAD WARRIOR rip offs are all a shit ton of fun and this is no exception.
