"Exploitation Double Feature" DVD

Marginal set of trashy cinema

Pairing a couple of unrelated early 70s trash films, this double-sided single disc is marginal, at best. The first feature is my favorite -- the 1976 Joe D'Amato-directed "Black Cobra Woman (aka Eva nero)". Starring Jack Palance and the beautiful Laura Gemser, it's the tale of a wealthy playboy (Palance) who encounters a stunning exotic snake dancer (Gemser), who he eventually woos, leading him into her dangerous web of murder. Did I mention that Palance's character himself collects exotic snakes? With plenty of nudity and scenes of 70s-era Hong Kong, this is a curious little film that's got enough breasts and tantalizing sexuality to keep me interested.

The second flick is a 1977 Italian film, directed by Massimo Dallamano, called "Super Bitch (aka Mafia Junction)", and it doesn't fare so well. A dirty cop infiltrates a crime syndicate, and plenty of violence, murder, and big 70s-style car chases ensue. Nudity is at a minimum, but the soundtrack by the great Riz Ortolani is superb. 

So, win some and lose some, this double-feature set is, nonetheless, a cool (and inexpensive) find for exploitation fans.

Apprehensive Films

"Satan's Sex Party 1970s Collection" DVD

Old-time proto-porn with dark inclinations...

This "Grindhouse Triple Feature" combines three 1970 adult films onto one disc, but those expecting some hardcore action will likely be disappointed. Filmed quickly in the pre-hardcore porn era, these are all sexploitation, pure and simple, but lacking much besides (what seems like) simulated sex and nudity. For fans of the "au naturel" look (if you get my drift, man), unkept body hair, and crazy swingers' outfits and hairstyles, this is a set for you.

The first film, "Madame Satan", is a shallow "supernatural"-themed quickie. Plot be damned, though. It all begins with a promise of a seance. Then we quickly dispense with that, and head straight into sunny jazz music and bedtime scenes. A hammy, lamb-chopped brute engages in a number of orgy-like frolics, and the men never actually achieve erections. Huh? 

Second film up is "Sex And The Single Vampire", which features John Holmes himself as a solitary (and awkward) vampire whose home is invaded by a group of horny swingers. Holmes himself doesn't really get involved, but he likes to observe, anyway, as all of his once-vacent bedrooms are made much, much warmer.

Finally, the last film here is the short (36-minutes) "Devil's Handmaiden", which is a weird and almost psychedelic vignette featuring a creepy facepainted loon who stalks free-love kids, while arranging sexual liaisons for them, in exchange for their souls. Yes, it's odd and certainly beyond freaky.

A couple of these films suffer a bit from some scratchy prints, but that's not unusual for these long-lost gems of early adult cinema. And though these may not be essential, fans of obscure adult filmmaking will find these fascinating, if not titillating.

Independent Entertainment

"Escape From Women's Prison" DVD (director: Giovanni Brusadori)

This 1978 Italian sleaze-sexploitation film isn't the best print, looking like a well-generated VHS copy, so set your expectations low. Never a great film by any means, Brusadori still manages to capture an element of pure trashiness with "Escape", so it scores some points for being, well, nothing more and nothing less. The Engish overdubs make it even more weird and somehow out-of-time.

Here's a story of a quartet of women who (surprise) escape from prison only to hijack a bus-load of young female tennis players and their coach and driver. Naturally, these tough girls abuse their hostages in every way, from rape to murder. One of the prisoners is a lesbian, so we get scenes of her forcibly seducing a naive young tennis player, while another sex-obsessed convict preys upon a non-consenting male bus driver. It's tits and ass galore, as these wild and unruly women flaunt their guns and boobs. 

The acting is pretty awful, as is the script, which is naturally little more than an excuse to parade out nude scenes and violence. All that said, I fairly well enjoyed this one. Just keep expectations low, and this little trashy film is a good, mindless way to spend an hour plus. 

(CFS Releasing)

"Won Ton Baby" DVD (director: James Morgart)

With nods to horror classics "Basket Case" and "Child's Play", this indie grindhouse shocker stars the delectable Debbie Rochon as "Madame Won Ton", a former madame and Chinese restauranteur who, in the 70s, bedded a drugged-up Elvis. Her resulting pregnancy produced a parasitic twin embedded in her freaky blonde daughter (played by co-creator Suzi Lorraine). Confused yet? When "Baby Won Ton" finally emerges (thanks to a grisly surgery), he's a murderous mini-Elvis with an Asian accent and a prehensile umbilical cord.

Credit must go to the puppeteers and effects team, as the "Baby" is weird but well-done, and the gore effects are heavy and designed for maximum gross-out effect. Take the scene where "Baby" masturbates (with his umbilical cord) to a diarrhea chugging video. Great atmospheres here, too, harkening back to the prime 70s-era of seedy urban grindhouse cinema. A fun and memorably humorous horror shocker here. (R Squared Films)

"Thankskilling" DVD (director: Jordan Downey)

With tongues firmly set in cheek, director Downey and friends present this splatstick horror comedy that could become a cult favorite with some time. The campy, cheesy, almost Muppet-like cover art begins by promising "boobs in the first second", and it doesn't falter on this boast. Trash points already! Truth be told, this is a fun and gory parody that goes far and isn't afraid to look stupid for a laugh. And that it was filmed over only 11 days and on a paltry $3500 budget is amazing.

The "villain" here is a smack-talking, smarmy turkey, reincarnated after a Native American curse and aimed at wreaking havoc on the Pilgrims. The turkey, who's full of lame one-liners, gets himself into some precarious spots in his attempts to murder and maim hapless teens. One unforgettable scene involves "Turkey" "stuffing" a slutty coed -- shocking and hilarious. You've never seen a sex scene like this before, trust me.

Sure, the acting is stiff and the writing fairly flat, but the premise of a killer turkey in the spirit of Troma or early Peter Jackson is pure drive-in sleaze greatness. For fans of stuff like the "Evil Dead" series, "Reanimator", or any Troma flick, this is a must-see. (MVD Visual)

Thankskilling site

"Sex Psychedelia Collection" 2xDVD

This 2-disc, 4-movie set compiles some of the freakiest, most far-out post-60s/early 70's-era porn I've ever seen. Let's begin the rundown, shall we?

"Ramage (Mobility Cathexis)" is an odd and disjointed art film that somehow attempts to be hardcore, as well. Or is it a porno that aspires to be an art film? I dunno, but it fails, regardless. Dreamlike and surreal imagery and narcotic narration are interspersed with seemingly nonsensical sex acts. The straightjacket scene is fascinating and odd. Dig the Carl Stalling meets Beefheart meets Les Baxter soundtrack.

"The Last Bath" is a tale of a young photographer who hitch-hikes a ride with a pair of lesbians, who treat him very well. But all may not be as it seems. Could this be a suicidal fantasy, or real life?

"The Bat" takes the cheesecake prize. A caped vampire figure (a large and hairy man who calls himself "The Bat") stalks the San Francisco streets for strange. He seduces them into compromising situations, and they unwittingly become his hoes. All the while, a girl in a bee costume is trying to undo his evil ways. She gets caught at a wrong address with a pair of horribly stereotyped Native Americans, who engage "Queen Bee" in their own threesome. Sound campy and cheesy? It is. Amusing, if embarrassing, really.

Finally, "It Came From Love" isn't far behind in the cheesecake contest. A poorly-lacquered frog/fish-head alien travels to Earth to capture breeding human couples to repopulate it's own failing planet. Absolutely campy Z-grade cheese here, though some of the copulation scenes (thankfully NOT employing masks) are well-done and enjoyable.

Truly, this is a set for collectors of low-budget grindhouse/porn film oddities. Entertaining, overall, but not easily recommendable. (After Hours Cinema)

"Grindhouse Hotties - Rene Bond - Sleazy 70's Triple Feature" DVD

This resurrection of 3 old hardcore (porno) titles featuring doe-eyed brunette Rene Bond are pretty scratchy and poor transfers, and subsequently are barely worth attempting to watch.

"Sounds Of Sex" is first, and this boasts of some supremely crap audio. Seriously, why wasn't this remastered? Parts are inaudible, it's so bad. Bond acts only as hostess here, while demonstrating her fellatio technique. There's nothing here that's worth enduring the awful sound.

"City Woman" and "Show And Tell Hotel" follow, and both are fairly forgettable and pedestrian sets of vignettes. Sure, there's some pretty hardcore action here, but honestly, these were a chore to sit through. No, thanks. (After Hours Cinema)

"1970s New York Grindhouse Super Stars Triple Feature" DVD

This set of mid-70s porn is re-visited under the 'grindhouse' heading, and these scratchy, rough prints illustrate a unique era between the free-love sixties and the plastic 80s. Hardcore (porn) wasn't a big business yet, but certain names became legendary in the seventies, despite some rather dodgy and amateurish films. This trilogy of hour-length skin flicks has its ups and downs (and from-behinds, but that's a tale for another lay, I mean day...). Hah.

"Tycoon's Daughter" is the best of the bunch, being a weird and almost scary tale of some sleazes who abduct a rich girl, hoping to extort wild cash from her well-to-do family. Along the way, they meet up with a sexually-liberal farm family, and there's all kinds of wacky mix-ups. It seems that not only the abductee is horny, but so are her captors and their host family! This is a fun story and with plenty of sordid trysts in the woods and barn. It's actually as funny as it is frightening, believe it or not!

"School Of Sexual Arts" fails, being a choppy and story-less mess. To top it all off, there are some embarrassingly bad moments of overdubbing during some of the sex scenes. Moans and groans that obviously emanate from neither partners' mouths. Hmm. Lots of threesomes, hairy people, and some pretty hideous characters make this one forgettable, and almost unwatchable. Yuck.

"Kathy's Graduation" succeeds only because of one factor: Annie Sprinkle, who later went on to performance art fame, got her Ph.D in Human Sexuality, and who even worked with the Hafler Trio (listen to the magnificent "Masturbatorium" CD). Here, we get some extravagant action involving fruit (courtesy of Ms. Sprinkle), as well as a heavy-duty DP. Hardcore, indeed!

So, in summation, a nice time capsule of an era, but that doesn't mean it's all very worthy beyond a single viewing. (After Hours Cinema)

"Bloodsucking Nazi Zombies" DVD (director: A.M. Frank aka Jesus Franco)

Alternately known as "Oasis Of The Living Dead", this 1981 grindhouse/late-night drive-in style stinker is offered here as a shoddy VHS transfer, complete with visual distortion and noticeable audio hiss. But technicalities aside, this is a fun, but highly-flawed film.

Opening with a pair of nubile American hotties oddly traversing the African desert (resplendent in tiny shorts and tight tops), the "nazi zombies" attack. Cue the intro credits.

Anyhow, as the tale goes, a shipment of Nazi riches went missing in the African desert back during an Allied ambush. Fast forward to present day, and the son of the last living Allied soldier returns to claim the missing millions. Needless to say, there are obstacles. Director Franco (for some reason using the pseudonym A.M. Frank) has been responsible for some hideous abominations in film, but this isn't among his worst. Sure, the acting is barely adequate. The voice dubbing is, well, tolerable. The script is kinda shitty, and there are some really blatant missteps in continuity and (especially) logic.

Furthermore, I expected more breasts, gruesome zombies, and bloody gore, and this one rolls along rather slowly, but the late-70's weird atmosphere (and exotic Northern African setting), and weirder shoestring budget music (by Daniel White) make this one watchable, somehow. I'm not saying this is a good film. Far from it. But it is a curiosity, and a decent piece for serious zombie film fans. (Cheezy Flicks)

Ruggero Deodato - "Cannibal Holocaust" DVD

This 1980 production is a legendary piece of grindhouse/exploitation and mondo cinema, and has noticeably inspired later-day film juggernauts like 'The Blair Witch Project', and certainly Eli Roth's explorations of taboos and sado-masochistic brutalism. Banned in many countries for years, this film is still a vile, repulsive, and shocking display of transgression and man's own inhumanity, greed, and brazen disrespect towards other cultures.

Featuring some pretty wooden acting, and amateurish 'home-video' filmwork, 'Cannibal Holocaust' is the tale of a group of young filmmakers who travel to the deepest, most unexplored rainforests of Brazil to document the primitive native tribes who are known to be cannibals. Well, their trip, seen through their own eyes (a film company is reviewing the reels for possible release) goes from bad to worse. The natives aren't so welcoming, and we are gradually led into understanding why.

'Cannibal Holocaust' is offensive in so many ways, and is certainly only for jaded gorehounds, and those with a strong stomach. Some would say (and they may not be wrong) that this film is little more than an excuse to parade out excessive amounts of violence and torture (the animal killings are real), plus a great deal of brutal sexual violence. This film blurs the lines between shocking reality and cinematic staging. It's not a 'Faces Of Death'-style documentary, but if you hate death scenes, this one's just not for you, period.

On a positive note, the bit of social commentary is good, as we see the true 'evil' isn't the natives at all, but the rude and disrespectful Americans, who actually, truth be told, deserve what they get. The indigenous tribes are depicted as primitives, but they never kill without reason. They are surviving the only way they know how.

A powerful film, but not an easy film. At all.

trailer (graphic)