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.
GANJA & HESS (1973) aka BLACK
VAMPIRE D. BILL GUNN KINO - Blu Ray
This misunderstood art film is really
very stylish and interesting. Thought to be a simple blaxploitation
film for years, this is much more of a weird treatise on religion,
myth, medicine and immortality. Directed by homosexual director BILL
GUNN, this is also the last film to feature the late DUANE JONES of
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD fame.
Duane Jones plays Dr. Hess Greene a man
who holds man degrees in various person bound arts. Even before the
first image we are explained that Dr. Hess was stabbed by a special
dagger three times one for The Father, one for The Son and one for
The Holy Ghost. Dr. Hess has become a blood drinker, a vampire. His
closest friend is fellow researcher, the suicidal George (played by
director Gunn). George is tormented by the intricacies of life and
death and teeters constantly on the edge. He is not aware of his
friends new needs.
The first section of the film is titled
THE VICTIM and deals with these two men's complex lives and
relationship. It sets up Dr. Hess as a victim of his circumstances.
After this each section of the film is numbered and titled
accordingly.
GANJA and HESS is really a movie about
moments. As a whole I can see why the film was edited down from 113
minutes to a probably incomprehensible 78 min. There are lots of
stretches that feel like they are going nowhere. Lots of
conversations and things like language (bad language specifically) or
how to hide dope rectally. There is also a LOT of nudity and
sensuality that probably didn't go over well in the art crowd or even
the exploitation crowd. Scenes like director Gunn taking a bath (and
brushing his teeth in the water) that goes on a long time with his
schlong in plain site.
But ultimately the film is about Hess,
and Jones intense portrayal of the character. He is not a monster,
but a man afflicted and Jones pulls out the stops to bring you into
his plight. The film could almost be seen as a venereal disease or
AIDS allegory (except AIDS hadn't reared its ugly head yet, and
wouldn't for a decade or so). It is also about letting your freak flag fly. To not accept guilt for living a particular lifestyle or for having different needs. Dialogue throughout the film pertains to this. Such as
"Everybody is some kind of freak. Everyone I know is into something." - Ganja
"
The only perversions that can be comfortably condemned are the
perversions of others. I will persist and survive without God's or
society's sanctions. I will not be tortured and I will not be guilty." - Dr. Hess
Those are words to live by if I ever saw them. One should never allow themselves to feel guilty for their desires and needs.
More art film than horror film, there
is still plenty of “frission” to be had from this quirky,
extremely personal vision of modern horror.
I watched this on
Blu Ray and it looks very interesting. Mastered from surviving 35mm
prints as the vault negatives were the cut version it retains the
super grainy feel and look of the era it was shot in. Clearly made
for very little money all the flaws show up with added clarity in
this version. But it does not distract from the overall power and
ingenuity the film displays.
SEX DEMONS AND DEATH AKA DIABOLICAMENTE... LETIZIA (1975)
D. Salvatore Bugnatelli
One 7 Movies – DVD
16X9 Anamorphic
This isn't exactly a lost classic or anything, but as far as some fun little bit of Eurosleaze goes, this is certainly fun enough to keep you entertained. It isn't up to par with the kings of the genre, or even the third or fourth tier rip off artists such as Bruno Mattei,.. Think the New York porno one day wonders if they were trying to do something a little classier with some Euro flavor and a supernatural bent and you might come up with this goofy mess.
Our couple cannot have a baby, suffering from guilt of abandoning their fist child to be raised by other more wealthy family members when they were younger. Now that they are much more well off and suffering a lot of mental anguish they set out to meet their child child again, named Letizia in a remote villa. Letizia has grown into a beautiful young sexual woman who seems to be possessed of some hairy, Ed Wood styled demon and begins to set the family and servants against each other in a repressed sexual frenzy.
Where everyone almost fucks everyone else, until the mid point where her very presence causes a hippie caravan of young people to throw her onto a hood of a car and what seems to gang rape her (it is off screen, so we have to assume that is what happens). Once home all bets are off and every one is crawling into bed with everyone else for carnal adventure that lead to some killings and voodoo in the last reel.
Think of this as Pasolini's THEOREMA on a six dollar and fifty cent budget and a screenwriter who doesn't have a clue what it all really means anyway. As long as the actresses are dropping their clothes and crawling around on the floor in desperation it all is working just fine.
The print is in horrible shape, apparently cobbled together from surviving print elements. But a movie this skeezy feels like it should be viewed on the backroom wall of some abandoned VFW anyway, so that is ok. The only extra is a pretty impressive and psychedelic trailer.
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.
HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN (2011) D. Jason Eisner Magnet Releasing 1.85 VOD and Theatrical
As most of you know HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN began life as part of the SXSW festival contest when GRINDHOUSE came out to have fans create fake trailers in the 70’s gritty exploitation style. HOBO was without a doubt the ONE entry that nailed the vibe best in every way right down to the fonts used for the on screen credits. If no one told you, one could easily had been fooled to believe it was a lost 70’s film. The fake trailer rightfully won the contest and even played with GRINDHOUSE in Canada.
So naturally it was only right that an actual movie be made from the concept and the Internet community rallied behind the idea. It has taken almost five years to get completed but we finally have a feature film version of HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN with a name star in the title role. But the final product lacks that retro punch the original trailer had. In fact it feels more like a modern video game released by Troma, than some lost Grindhouse gem.
Rutger Hauer plays the lead character simply named Hobo, who strolls into a small town just in time to see some poor smchuck trotted into the middle of the street, tortured and beheaded by a crime family. The town is held under the thumb of Drake (Brian Downey) a cartoon Mafioso and his two even more cartoonish sons Slick (Gregory Smith) and Ivan (Nick Bateman). The Hobo wonders through the town and witnesses other atrocities too like a Pedophile Santa kidnapping kids, a black pimp whoring young teens girls etc. He follows Slick to the hide out and bemusedly watches a whole bunch of people tortured and murdered until we meet Abby the typical Hooker with the Heart of Gold who for some reason prompts the Hobo to finally step in and stop Slick from hurting her. There is some more tit for tat, but his deed ultimately lands him all carved up and with Abby taking care of him for a while.
The movie takes a good forty or so minutes before it gets to the events of the original trailer when he gets the shotgun and starts going ballistic in a scene that is admittedly pretty satisfying. But then the events of the trailer are merged down into basically a montage of him finding and wasting the scum of the town and then it is back to the annoying bad guys and their screen time.
That is the biggest problem with the movie. Whenever the movie is with the Hobo it works just fine. Hauer is committed to the performance and has good chemistry with his female lead. But anytime the movie goes back to the villains, which is often, it just becomes ridiculous. A purposely over the top, offensive, cartoon that is trying too hard to get in your face. Instead it just becomes annoying and ultimately kind of empty. I felt like I was watching a live action episode of SOUTH PARK with Terrence and Phillip as bad guys.
There are a couple of places where the film attempts some social commentary such as a nod to the BUMFIGHTS thing and a well done speech about how the streets are “their” (meaning the homeless) homes and how the people of the town need to have some respect for them. I certainly respected that those moments are there. I just wished the material around them had been as well handled as these few scenes.
By the end of the movie it struck as to why I was not responding to the movie the way so many of my friends and peers have. So many people I know have declared this a modern classic, the “grindhouse” movie done right etc. But near the climax of the movie a pair of armored goons called “The Plague” are sent after the Hobo. In the process they decimate and entire Hospital full of people in a scene that should have had me breathless. Instead it had me bored to tears. This scene and the scene earlier when the Hobo watches Slick in his hideout torture and kill several people for fun clicked with me as to why this movie doesn’t work. It is nothing but a big, bloody, video game. There may not be a HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN video game, but there might as well be because that is exactly how it feels. A lot of these faux Grindhouse movies that have come in the wake of the Rodriguiz/Tarrantino collaboration feel the exact same way. Maximum offensiveness, maximum body count, minimum character or attention to script. Tell them it is a tribute to the 70’s & 80’s movies but instead it plays like you are just a player in a video game.
The last fifteen minutes of this movie feel just like that. Oddly enough 90% of the people I know who watched it, did so on a Playstation 3 if that tells you anything.
So to me almost half the movie works. The scenes with the Hobo interacting with the Hooker as good stuff. The scene with him telling the babies in the Hospital how much their lives are going to suck is pure gold. The scene when he finally gets the gun and goes on his rampage is what the rest of the movie should be like. But nearly all the other stuff felt like some other movie that I really couldn’t wait to be over so I could get back to the OTHER movie I was enjoying.
I get the feeling I am going to get a TON of hate mail over this one...
SCORE (1974) D. Radley Metzger Cult Epics Blu-Ray 16x9 Enhanced
I have a confession to make. I have never seen a Radley Metzger movie. I own a couple, but I have never actually sat down and watched them. Then this Blu-Ray of SCORE appeared mysteriously in my mail box one day. Many people consider this among his finest films (along with THE IMAGE, which I also own and need to sit down with). Having only recently gone Blu, I figured this was as good a time as any to acquaint myself with his work. Boy am I glad I did! if SCORE is anything to go by I have been missing some seriously great erotic cinema.
The set up is simple, and has been done dozens of times in both mainstream and smut films. A swinging couple, played by Claire Wilbur (TEENAGE HITCHHIKERS) and Gerald Grant (NAKED CAME THE STRANGER) have a standing bet that she cannot seduce the straight laced, even backward Lynn Lowry (I DRINK YOUR BLOOD, SHIVERS). Meanwhile it seems that Lynn’s husband Calvin Culver aka Casey Donovan is definitely siding on the side of sleeping with the boys. Throw into the mix a horny, willing to do anything phone repair man played by Carl Parker (THE IMAGE) and things are bound to heat up soon.
What makes the movie so wonderful is that for most of the running time is is a huge cock tease. An incredibly directed, smartly written cock tease. The camera finds the most interesting places to shoot from, or through or into, while the characters dialogue is witty, fast and filled with repartee that is layered with sexual innuendo. The first (and only) sex scene in the first half of the movie is soft-core and barely lasts a few scant minutes. What makes it hot is how Lynn Lowry’s character is tricked into being a voyeur at first, then a willing participant by taking Polaroids of the action. She flees wracked with guilt, but is lured back into the nest by the couple for dinner only hours later. Along with her husband where the almighty marijuana is rolled out and inhibitions are loosened. Soon everyone is dressing up in there alter-ego outfits - Cowboys, Nuns, Sailors, Prostitutes, and the shackles of their sexual desires are slowly let go of.
The last half hour of the movie is basically two long, very graphic intertwined sex scenes. Apparently uncut for the very first time on this Blu-Ray. Watching it there is no question what is new here as the many erect cocks in loving close ups, photographed with artfulness rarely seen in this kind of movie are surprising to say the least. But the fact that the scene is a very graphic gay seduction leading to a full blown hardcore sex scene probably couldn’t happen in an erotic film today. Technically both sex scenes are gay scenes as the two women pair off and seduce each other and the two men do the same and each scene is inter-cut. Oddly enough it is clear the men are “in the business” as it were as their scenes are FAR more explicit than the women’s. But the handling of both scenes is so professional, with such enthusiasm from all performers, and with such incredible directorial flare that none of it can be denied as incredible erotic film-making. Gay, straight, or just don’t care, back in the 70’s I can’t imagine anyone leaving their seats.And it still holds up marvelously today.
The Disc delivers a host of extras that make it well worth picking up for fans as well. Besides this being for the first time an uncut version there is a commentary with Metzger himself which from what I understand is a bit of an unusual thing. There is also a longish, and very interesting behind the scenes /on the set documentary that features rare footage of the cast in action and a 20 minute current interview with cult actress Lowry. This being Blu-Ray people are very concerned with picture quality. I thought it looked extremely nice, the natural film grain was present throughout and had not been digitally enhanced out of the picture like some modern Blu-Rays have a tendency to do. It also has not been cleaned up to the point of blowing out colors or highlights. All color is crisp, clear and well rendered with sharp, fine detail. The 2.0 Mono soundtrack was clear and clean as well so that very Rolling Stones sounding theme song played through loud and strong whenever it reared its head.
I am not entirely sure if this is CULT EPICS first foray into Blu-Ray. if it is they have done an outstanding job entering the market. it not, then it is just as outstanding disc and well worth putting into your collection for fans of cult movies and erotic cinema.
Day 18 of the September Exploitation challenge rocks us down under:
STUNT ROCK (1977)
D. Brian Trenchard Smith
CODE RED
2.35
This is a man’s film. A movie that real men can appreciate because it is about STUNTSandROCK MUSIC. The ladies might like it because of the rock music (the wommins love the rock music) but admit it, us guys love to see dudes putting their lives at risk. Australian director Brian Trenchard Smithhas the brilliant idea to have the countries greatest stuntman Grant Pageaccompany him on this cinematic journy into mayhem.
The movie has no plot, just watch asGrant Page risks his life showing us how he makes his day to day living jumping off cliffs, smashing through car windows, shooting over canyons, getting set on fire etc. But wait! Grant’s nephew is in the American rock bandSORCERY! What we now callDragon Metal, Sorcery was a Zepplinesque L.A. rock outfit that went for the full on LORD OF THE RINGS stage show in which Merlin battles Satan with all kinds of pyrotechnics and an on stage onslaught of rock and roll savagery. So the film cuts back and forth between Grant doing his stunts, and Sorcery rocking the shit out of the world to great effect.
"Action at 100 Decibels per hour!"
There is a VERY slight story about a reporter doing a story on Grant while he is on the job doing stunts for a local TV show. A minor subplot has that show’s lead actress becoming friends with them, going to the Sorcery rock shows and parties and eventually getting to do a couple of dangerous stunts herself. But the meat of the movie is Page and Sorcery doing their colorful thing.
"Who let the old guy on stage? No wait it is Merlin from the band SORCERY!"
One really horrifying stunt has Page diving down a rope at free fall, which in and off itself is a pretty harrowing stunt, but he takes it to the edge by doing it with a full burn. He calmly explains to us how the forty second delay he has worked out will keep the fire from burning throgh the ropes he is using keeping him from plummeting to the rock cliff below. But as you watch it in 400 frame per second slow motion it looks like he is going to burn alive and free fall to his death at any moment. Naturally he pulls it off without a hitch. But it is a sight to behold.
"All in a day's work for Grant Page. Or was it the Taco Bell he ate?"
Trenchard-Smith chooses to capture all of this is true seventies style with tons of split screens and super slow motion. The stunts seem like the are still in time they are so slow, so you get to see every piece of glass or lick of the flame, and the split screens feel like you are getting every angle, though sometimes it is just the same camera angle just flipped over. But it all makes for some visually dynamic stuff.
"Even the dog is a manly rocker in STUNT ROCK!"
In a lot of ways this is MTV several years before the was MTV. Or think of it as LED ZEPPLIN’S THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME without the fantasy sequences and replaced with lots of bone crunching stunt work.
"The babes of STUNT ROCK try out the Blue Man Group thing."
CODE RED’s DVD is extremely bad ass. A two disc set packed to the gills with interviews, commentarys, an older documentary Brian Trenchard Smith did called THE STUNT MEN, and tons of other CODE RED trailers. The 2.35 scope frame is the way the movie was always meant to be seen and after years of the badly cropped VHS this is a wonder to behold.
A note about CODE RED. Bill who runs that joint has announced publicly that in 2011 he plans to shut the doors. Thanks to a lot of internet bitching, and fan backlash, combined with really poor sales on amazing discs like this one, he is throwing in the towel. It is a complete fucking shame that a company that put their heart and soul into releasing great little gems is having to shut their doors and even worse because THE FANS didn’t support them. But when sales for a title are barely cracking 300 something is majorly wrong. This disc is amazing, I’m glad I own it any self respecting cult movie fan should.
Day Fourteen of the September Exploitation Challenge:
TOP OF THE HEAP (1972) D. Christopher St. John Unicorn Video O.O. P. Full Frame
This rather obscure blaxploitation has a few fans because of the delirious fantasy sequences peppered throughout such as our hero running through the jungle naked, smashing watermelons, or helping to fake the moon landing, or recreating the JFK assassination (which I am sure was NOT too cool in 1972!). All scenes that are just weird enough to be humorous and kitchy. But what most reviews don't reveal is just how damn depressing this movie is. What material I have found on it centers on the bizarre stuff, the overblown goofy things. But they seem to have missed the last half hour of the movie where it becomes a rather grinding tale of one man’s life spinning out of control because of his own self loathing and inability to come to terms with his own racial identity. While I wouldn’t call it a “good movie” it certainly is not a brainless one, and by the end really delivers a melancholy one-two punch to the heart.
Christopher St. John (who most remember from being in SHAFT) wrote, produced, directed and starred in this nightmarish tale of an inner-city beat cop who is on the edge of a nervous break down. We meet him literally as he is having an argument with his wife who wants him to have a heart to heart with his fourteen year old daughter because she has been caught getting busy with a neighborhood boy. He doesn’t want to have the talk, and really isn’t all that concerned about her burgeoning sexuality either “She’s just trying to figure out what’s happening between her legs!” he tells his wife. At work he has been passed over for a promotion by a white cop and the reason is obvious. Though his pissy, angry attitude probably played into it as well. He is fond of telling his partner (and lots of other people as the movie carries on) that he is the law he can “do any Goddamn thing I want to”.
When he busts two black guys with some dope they hit him where it hurts. His racial pride. They want him to let them go, but he doesn’t so they begin to call him a nigger and an uncle tom. Claiming he is ineffectual as a Black Man because he is a cop. He sees that he gets very little respect from his own race on the streets. They look down on him for being “the man”, yet anytime he gets into a tense situation on the streets he gets racially abused by anyone who ISN’T black until they realize he is a cop. Then they backtrack out of whatever they were saying.
He spends his days fantasizing about being an Astronaut and other big goals. He has a very active inner life. We also find out from other characters that his mother has died, something he never wants to talk about. yet it seems to be weighing heavily on him. At one point he tells his wife about going to the funeral “I don’t want to go and hear all that singing and praying to tell God thank you for all this fucking pain.”
His only true friend is his former Captain who is now in a old folks home. He visits him and sneaks him in a bottle of hooch they proceed to get hammered on. The old man tells him of the horrors of getting old about “you get smaller and smaller until you are too goddamn small for your own body anymore. You get older and get to sick to even live like a human being anymore.” The old man gives him a loaded pistol as a present that he has kept hidden away from the orderlies. Which is good because he has discovered earlier when arresting a knife wielding madman that somehow his own gun had no bullets in it.
He tries to reach out to the women in his life for connection, but there isn’t any. His wife is tired of his anger and distance. His mistress is young and wants to live a fulfilling life which he cannot give, and his daughter his clearly using sec and drugs to escape. He blames being a cop for his lack of respect. He blames being black for his lack of respect. Both play their parts, but it is his insolent and unresolved anger that is the biggest motivating problem. His fantasies clearly show he would rather be someone else, doing something else. That he would rather be changing the world, not cleaning up after it. The last half hour is a series of poor decision making for him that clearly are leading him down a path of his own choosing with a brick wall as a dead end.
The film’s biggest drawback is Christopher St. John himself. the lead character is such an angry, loveless prick that it is hard to like him, or muster up much care for a character that is so bitter and touchy. His plight is worthy, and intriguing. But he garners so little sympathy that the film has a hard time making you feel for him. The fantasy sequences are a little too much too. A few work fine, but for the most part the feel like the left overs from a different movie. Though the JFK finale is strikingly appropriate.
Overall TOP OF THE HEAP is such a bizarre relic of the era that I couldn’t help but appreciate it. But it also was a pretty big downer. Obviously it was supposed to be and did it’s job.
Day nine of the September Exploitation Challenge takes me way down the wrong path!!!
WRONG WAY (1972) D. Ray Williams Not on DVD 16mm Full Frame
This no budget, 70’s LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT rip off is some sort of wonder to behold. Disgusting beyond belief, if only for the truly nasty people on display and the complete lack of moral compass on the part of the filmmakers. The movie seems to exist in a climate where the filmmakers saw Wes Craven’s film and thought to themselves “Hell we can do that, but who the hell needs all that moralizing crap! Let’s just add more sex and crotch shots!” Then they realized they only had fifty bucks to make the whole movie with.
The movie begins with a group of the perhaps scuzziest criminals in Grindhouse history laying around in the woods waiting on a drug buy. They complain incessantly about how it has been days since they have had any pills or grass. One thug who we learn is named “Crabs” (because he is scratching his nuts all the time and apparently has the nasty crotch critters) is particularly upset. He complains to another cohort that he got those crabs from letting his buddy “suck him off!’
"Only reason I got crabs is cause I let you SUCK ME OFF!"
Meanwhile two pretty girls get caught going the WRONG WAY (!!!) and their car breaks down and two of the thugs trick them into getting into their jeep and heading back to the camp where these dirt balls are waiting. The bikers making the drug delivery. One of them sucks down raw eggs so his “love torpedoes can have full blast”. The main thug is thrilled to finally gets to roll a joint and has a hilarious hallucination once he smokes up consisting of a naked woman in a military beret and dreams of a winning hand of cards! All the dudes are happy to get their hands on the nubile young girls for a day of sexing on the dirt roads.
"On no! The car is broke down! We better get into some more comfortable walking clothes!"
But when the bikers discover the girls are there against their free will, they actually take a stand - “We thought those where your old ladies. We are in for any kidnapping and rape charges. You gotta let them go.” But out comes a shotgun and the bikers get on their motorcycles and ride off like little kids who just got scolded for playing on some-one's lawn.
"This is the kind of Hallucinations you see when you smoke really primo pot, according to this film."
Then proceeds the twelve minute long rape scene. A scene that would be offensive if it was actually done well. Instead it is handled so poorly you can’t help but notice nasty details like the fact the guy playing Crabs hasn’t wiped his ass since he was seven years old and his entire butt is now stained bright green. Seriously, we are talking Green Giant ass here. Or that the hippie red head seams more interested in running around and touching the asses of his buddies than doing anything to the girls. even worse is the tenth rate Bob Dylan tune that plays not once but twice over the scene trying hopelessly to ape the David Hess folk rock from LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT. What IS effective however is the poor girls reactions to being ground on by these nasty, grungy post hippy thugs who really do look like they just got out of prison. The takes go on forever and these actresses have to endure the constant grinding of each of this dirtbags from every angle and position. The whole thing is very disgusting and dirty. When they are done with the gang rape they just leave the girls on the road and take off, never to be seen again!
"It is really horrible enough to get gang raped by these greaseball thugs. But to have one have them has a green stained ass just makes it the worst experience ever."
Meanwhile one of the girl’s father has called the police and a search party has started. Even a helicopter is looking for them. I suspect that is the case because A) someone the filmmakers knew had a chopper or B) they had stock footage of a chopper they could use (I suspect B is the case). But the cops are making very little ground.
The girls go looking for help, stopping at a stream to was their ravaged vagina's. Naturally this calls for loving close ups. They hear people and investigate hoping to find help but instead find ANOTHER group of hippy criminals! This is where the movie takes a sharp turn away from being a LAST HOUSE rip off and into it’s own weird little territory. Seems these Hippies are some sort of Manson-esque cult and they have just killed a man. The girls has stumbled on his burial (including a two year old helping dig the grave, a nice touch!) and now this cult is pissed at them too. The cult leader decides they must join the cult and become their sex slaves and have their “will and egos broken”!
"Hey you, over there! Why is your ass all green?"
Then the movie gets REALLY weird! Suddenly we meet two older men and a really cute dark haired girl they take into a shack out in the border town this is all happening in. they explain to her they are going to take her to Mexico and sell her for Heroin. Who the fuck are these people? They try to rape her, but since she is now a junkie she relents and loves it?!?!?! The chopper sees this and suddenly the plot is now about these guys!
"Who the fuck are THESE GUYS?"
*SPOILERS* The cops get a call on the radio in which we are told the police found the two girls. We get two or three brief shots of a shoot out in which one of the cult members is shot in the balls and we see them trying to rape the girls yet again. All in all the shots last about twenty seconds. The rest is recounted in voice over. The girls were found and are back home! Now the movie shifts gears to this secondary plot about the kidnappers and heroin dealers!
It is almost like some weird shit happened and that portion of the cast said FUCK YOU and refused to finish the movie. Considering the on screen treatment of the girls in the early rape scenes, and that it looked like they were going to have to do a bunch more, I am willing to bet that is EXACTLY what happened. That they just had enough and so the movie had to be rewritten hastily with what was there. It all ends with a cops confronting the heroin dealers/ kidnappers confrontation.
"You've defiled us, made us see the green ass guy and join a cult. We've had enough. We QUIT this Goddamn movie!"
This is one of the sleaziest and weirdest Grindhouse exploitation movies I have seen in many a moon. Directed in long takes like storefront porn, shot almost entirely outside in the woods, and cast with people who do not look like actors but seem to really be the parts they are on screen. This is nasty ass, low brown cinema at its most ghetto. I cannot imagine the audience this was meant for or where it even played. But I would have loved to have been there to see them. But something tells me they would have been so stones they would have barely noticed the movie at all.
Slaves of the SS (1975) **
This double disc release from POP cinema’s After Hours imprint is most notable for starring “Victor Alexnader” aka Jerry Delony who most cult film fans will recognize as the Sheik in the classick Ilsa Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks (who is NOT Spalding Gray who many, I included, have always claimed played the Sheik). Here he plays one Dr. Cockluv a doctor of the 3rd Reich who is doing sexual experiments on various nubile American and Jewish babes. The movie opens with him screwing some lab equipment in a very sparse lab decorated with flashing lights and cardboard computers. His assistant Franz interrupts him. Franz is played by a woman in glasses and an ill fitting fake mustache. He gives a speech about how he bent over Hitler himself thus the name Cockluv will be remembered! Soon they have captured three female American tourists(!) who will be worked over in the SS lab. But first we are treated to some Nazi sex in what looks like some unrelated super 8 loop that was cut into the film to spice it up since the movie had been on for almost twenty minutes without any hardcore action. Finally Cockluv has a blond American chick strapped down to his operating table and is going to test her threshold with a fuck machine made of some lawnmower motor and a dildo. This thing looks fucking dangerous as it moves slowly towards the camera pounding away, which is why it never actually penetrates the actress, who was probably pretty grateful for that small favor. Instead the Nazi guard goes for it and the sex is pretty hairy butt standard 70’s grinder stuff. The chick is from Texas so she makes funny comments and German music plays over their scene. The guard has the dirtiest feet in cinema history. When they are finished Dr. Cockluv tells Franz to keep an eye on the Texas chick because “Her sexual vibrations could destroy all of the 3rd Reich!” The next Sex scene is with a brown haired gar who has nice boobs and is pretty into it. The Doctor keeps watching through a kaleidoscope so most of the scene is shot through one! Later this same gal will have a lesbian scene with another gall and their double ended dildo action will look more like they are charming a snake than having any kind of sex. The camera keeps zooming in and losing focus too. As the movie reaches the hour mark it hits a climax. You can tell because newsreel footage of the Allies invading Germany has been cut in randomly. This newsreel footage is in way better shape print wise than the rest of the feature too. Then thanks to an added digital explosion the castle of Dr. Cockluv is blown up and the reign of terror is over. The end! A lot of work was clearly done to restore this movie as the 8mm loops were added, as well as the newsreel footage and slight digital work. It is a silly outing never to be taken seriously. You get the feeling the original filmmakers would have been just as at home making a softcore comedy than a hardcore flick. This new edition has been matted to 1.85 for widescreen TV’s and it is overmatted badly. Tops of heads are lopped off all the time along with occasional all important sex shots. There is even a joke where Franz puts the Doctor’s hand on her/his breast that is rendered incoherent because the breast in question is below the bottom matte. The DVD comes with a second feature called Woman of Vengeance which is reviewed below.
Woman of Vengeance (1977) **1/2- This west coast triple-Xer is the second feature in the Sex Slaves of the SS package from After Hours Cinema. While the print is worn to the point of almost being black and white, and is scratched to hell and back it only lends atmosphere to this sleazy little gem. Rick Lutz stars as a bike shop owner whose life sucks shit. His wife is a demonic shrew who just lays there waiting for it to end when they have sex, and criticizes him endlessly the rest of the time. What he doesn’t know is that his buddy/co-worker is banging her behind his back (and has her put on a ratty blond wig so he doesn’t feel so bad about it!). The wife and best pal plan to have old Rick rubbed out by a professional hitman so they can get a wad of insurance money and run off together. Things brighten up a bit when Ricky boy meets a bombshell in the bike shop, played by real life squeeze Rene Bond. Naturally they hit it off and he makes plans to hang out with her and her friends for a couple of days. Finally after almost a half hour into the movie there is some hardcore sex scenes as Bond’s friends start having the beast with two backs. But due to the condition of this ragged print it is unappetizing to say the least. Since all the color is drained from the print except red (which is what happens to prints that have not been stored correctly) When the gal is giving the dude head it looks like she is chewing off his cock! Yikes! Don’t even ask what it looks like when they start fucking. Rene and Rick start getting busy too as they realize they really, really dig each other, and this scene is rather smartly cross cut with a scene of the wife boning the friend. So its the cheating couples getting it on, cross cut together. Somebody making this movie was actually thinking. In fact that is what sets this movie apart. This is surprisingly well made, even though it clearly is shot for pennies, there is some style going on. Such as when the scenes are faded out using what looks to be actual grease pencil lines, but it adds a sort of hardboiled grit to the proceeding. A later scene has the hitman get off the phone with the wife, confirming where Lutz will be for the kill. She has been a particular bitch on the phone. The hitman is looking at Rick’s picture for confirmation of his target and says to himself “Man, why couldn’t it have been you who made the call first?” I won’t spoil the last third as it becomes more apt that the movie should have been called Man of Vengeance. As already stated the print is a wreck and it seems that some of the sound elements are missing too. Some sound effects seem to be absent here and there and at the 18 minute mark the hiss on the soundtrack becomes so loud you almost have to shut it off. Like Sex slaves of the SS this thing has been matted for widescreen TV’s and should not have been. This looks to have been shot on 16mm originally and this matting wrecks the frame continually shaving off chins, tops of heads, necks, and plenty of the sex (which in some cases is a blessing). This matting is a practice I really wish Pop Cinema/After Hours would stop doing. Its better to have the whole picture and have blank space on the sides of your TV, than lose important picture information so someone can fill up there expensive TV frame. Otherwise this is a solid little B movie hiding as the second feature of this set. But then what do I know, this whole generation watches whole movies on You Tube.
I can't find a clip for this set, so here is a clip of 42nd St. Pete explaining all about Grindhouses on 42nd street 9pick up Pete's AWESOME 8mm Stag collections from After Hours Cinemas)
