BUNDY: A LEGACY OF EVIL -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted in 2009

Back in 1990, Corin Nemec starred in a "Ferris Bueller"-inspired TV series called "Parker Lewis Can't Lose." Later, he went against type to play the repellent Harold Lauder in the ABC miniseries "The Stand", based on Stephen King's book. Now, with BUNDY: A LEGACY OF EVIL (2008), Nemec seems intent on exorcising all traces of his nice-guy image by portraying one of the most cold-blooded serial killers of all time, Ted Bundy.

It's hard to say how successful he is at this because at times I couldn't tell if I was supposed to think his Ted Bundy was scary or funny. This is especially true of the scene in which Ted, after murdering a young woman in some isolated location, gets down on all fours and starts howling like a coyote. Sometimes he seems to be still playing perennial loser Harold Lauder, striking out romantically while trying to pass himself off as a normal, dynamic guy. Nemec's theatrical portrayal is occasionally interesting, but rarely convincing.

Some effort is made by writer-director Michael Feifer to show some of the possible reasons for Bundy's warped personality. He had a troubled childhood during which he thought his grandparents were his parents and his mother was his sister (his father's identity being the subject of some dubious speculation). He grew up reading violent horror comics. And he was devastated when his college sweetheart dumped him after she realized that the socially-stunted young man would never grow up. Immediately after this, however, we're shown a montage of brutal abduction-murders with the now totally bonkers Ted having suddenly morphed into a savage, bloodthirsty animal. None of it really comes together to show the evolution of Bundy from troubled youth to psycho.

I read Wikipedia's page on Ted Bundy and found that much of the film's story is fairly accurate, although we still don't get an idea of the sheer number of victims he managed to do away with. The murder sequences themselves are disturbing mainly because the actresses are so convincing--their screams and pleas for mercy are heartrending. Nemec does his best to convey the unhinged monstrousness required, yet his emoting seems overly calculated. He's at his best in the quieter scenes, such as the ones between Bundy and the warden (Kane Hodder) who's about to lead him to the electric chair in the film's bookending segments, or the gripping courtroom sequence in which Bundy serves as his own defense lawyer and makes a mockery of the proceedings.

Michael Feifer, who directed Hodder that same year in B.T.K. and has made a number of other fact-based serial killer films, gives this one the look of an above-average made-for-TV movie. Interestingly, he shoots the early 70s stuff in a way that makes it seem to actually have come from that era, right down to the film stock and cheesy soundtrack songs. This segment of the movie looks as though it could've come right out of a Joe Sarno flick. Artistically, that's the most noteworthy thing about BUNDY: A LEGACY OF EVIL--otherwise, it's capably done but relatively unremarkable.

Other details of Bundy's story are sketched in, including an impromptu jailbreak, a brush with political activism, a stint manning a suicide hotline (where the real Bundy would meet future true-crime author Ann Rule), and a reunion with his college flame Stephanie (the very cute Jen Nikolaisen) which, though fictionalized, results in one of the film's most effective moments. Bundy's infamous rampage through a girls' dormitory is documented in predictably bloody fashion. The final act, of course, consists of Bundy's execution in the electric chair. Feifer, I suspect, was trying for some of the impact of the last minutes of IN COLD BLOOD here. The results are much less effective, yet the sequence does come off pretty well.

How much of Bundy's behavior was simply a deliberate choice to do evil as opposed to the actions of someone incapable of controlling his warped impulses? In the film, a Ted Bundy still hoping for a reprieve puts much of the blame on pornography and other outside influences. Hodder's warden doesn't buy it: "You're not mental. You're not deranged. You're the most normal, intelligent man I've ever had on death row." I think Corin Nemec's performance would have been more effective if he'd played Bundy more like that instead of always trying to make it obvious to us that the guy's a total loon, because we already know that.

BUNDY: A LEGACY OF EVIL -- DVD Review by Porfle

VIDEO NASTIES: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE PART 2 -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 1/30/15

One of the oddest episodes in the history of splatter flicks was that whole business about "video nasties" that happened in England back in the 80s and 90s. Back then, Margaret Thatcher and several other government types were popping their corks over any small-screen (i.e. "video") entertainment that involved any kind of graphic gore, and were using all their legal powers to squelch, suppress, censor, and generally pull the plug on the whole bloody shebang.

We know now, of course, that--to paraphrase Allan Carr--you just can't stop the splatter. In "Video Nasties--The Definitive Guide" we learned about Thatcher's infamous banned list, which spelled out which films were not only officially frowned upon but would be forcibly removed from video stores and destroyed, and their offending owners prosecuted.

With its follow-up, the documentary VIDEO NASTIES: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE PART 2, subtitled "Draconian Days" (Severin Films 3-disc DVD set), we learn that the story continued for many years afterward as censorship and legal action against the offending horror videos grew stricter and more draconian than ever before, while sensationalistic news stories fanned the flames of public condemnation.

The story focuses mainly on the BBFC--British Board of Film Classification--under the strict rule of board director James Ferman. This group of video watchdogs tirelessly scrutinized the seemingly neverending flow of movies containing the sort of violence, gore, and "sick" themes which, they feared, might be accessible by children even if the videos themselves were purchased or rented by "responsible" adults.

Ferman wielded his censor's scissors recklessly and to such extremes that other members of the BBFC, some of whom are interviewed here, began to question him. But for years, a generous number of horror films were either mercilessly edited or banned outright, which, ironically, made them even more sought-after by avid gorehounds who created a vast bootlegging and trading underground.

While the documentary contains numerous film clips, it's composed mainly of talking head segments featuring various politicians, filmmakers, authors, and other interested parties, each offering accounts of their own personal views and experiences during this era of extreme censorship and artistic persecution.

At one point even David Cronenberg shows up to posit that the censors were just as delusional as the psychos supposedly getting all their ideas and inspiration from horror films. This doesn't seem at all unlikely when the documentary details the time in which the infamous murder of toddler James Bulger by two young boys was blamed in large part on the film CHILD'S PLAY 3.

As with the previous installment, director Jake West does a meticulous job of putting it all together to create an engrossing and informative narrative. Those who enjoy documentaries should have little problem getting into this. Those who don't, however, will probably be bored stiff.

For them, discs two and three are just the thing, for they contain trailers for all the blood 'n' guts classics once deemed too sick, horrific, depraved, and just plain evil for sensitive British subjects to handle. The discs offer 82 trailers in all, namely those titles chosen under Section 3 of the Obscene Publications Act which could be seized and destroyed, either from places of business or from citizens' private homes as well.

A great feature of these discs is the choice to watch the trailers one after another, uninterrupted, or to view detailed, informative introductory reviews of each title by a very knowledgeable bunch of filmmakers, authors, and critics.

Some of the 82 titles include BLOOD LUST, BRUTES AND SAVAGES, CANNIBALS, DEAD KIDS, DEEP RED, DEATH WEEKEND, DEMENTED, EATEN ALIVE, HEADLESS EYES, HELL PRISON, LOVE BUTCHER, MARK OF THE DEVIL, MASSACRE MANSION, SAVAGE TERROR, SCREAM FOR VENGEANCE, SUICIDE CULT, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, XTRO, and ZOMBIE HOLOCAUST.

In addition to these, bonus features also include two galleries--the first, covers from dozens of gore fanzines from the era, and the second, covers from all the videos which were either successfully prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act or deemed liable for seizure but not prosecution. Discs are in anamorphic widescreen with Dolby Digital mono sound. No subtitles.

As before, this DVD set's design presentation itself, with its simulated videotape imperfections and "adjust tracking" prompts, is fun for the nostalgic VHS fan. But that's just icing on the cake for VIDEO NASTIES: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE PART 2, which is rewarding not only for its intensive history of the subject but also for a wealth of trailers that should have gorehounds barking at the bloody moon.



Read our review of Part One

VIDEO NASTIES: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE PART 2 -- DVD Review by Porfle

OZPLOITATION TRAILER EXPLOSION -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 3/15/14

 

As all movie fans know, there's nothing more kickass than a collection of movie trailers!  Unless, of course, it's a collection of trailers for rom-coms or Merchant Ivory films.  Those don't get described as "kickass" very often.  But you know what does?  Ozploitation flicks!!!  So you know what would be a really kickass trailer collection?  OZPLOITATION TRAILER EXPLOSION!!!

This 2014 DVD from Intervision doesnt literally explode, of course, but there may be times when you'll think it is, or that your brain itself is exploding from the overload of pure, unadulterated exploitational trash-cinema goodness that you're subjecting it to. 

It's a delirium-inducing cornucopia of drive-in fodder that offers ample evidence that the Australian film industry was a beehive of activity back in the glorious 70s and 80s, with directors such as the great Simon Wincer ("Lonesome Dove", "Quigley Down Under"), actor and Rick Wakeman album narrator David Hemmings, the prolific Colin Eggleston, and even Peter Weir and Bruce Beresford manning the director's chair.  (If the production could afford a director's chair, that is.)

The three things that best transcend a low budget are sex, horror, and action, so these trailers fit snugly within those categories.  "Sexploitation and 'Ocker' Comedies" ("ocker" meaning "consisting of broad and uncultured Aussie stereotypes") gets the ball rolling with a string of low-class and often painfully corny flicks that are as twangy and hick-ified as "Hee Haw."

Barry Crocker and Barry Humphries give us the rowdy musical "The Adventures of Barry McKenzie" (with a young Peter Cook) and its sequel, "Barry McKenzie Holds His Own", guest-starring none other than Donald Pleasence as Count Plasma the vampire.  Graeme Blundell, who went on to play Padme's father in deleted scenes from "Attack of the Clones", stars in a couple of "Alvin Purple" romps about the sexploits of a nerdy-looking chick magnet who is given this valuable business advice: "There are openings everywhere for the right man!"

"Plugg" offers the gorgeous Cheryl Rixon along with some really bad cop hijinks, while Susannah York and Trevor Howard find themselves ensconced in a dreary-looking period costume farce called "Eliza Fraser."  The trailers for "Fantasm" and "Fantasm Comes Again" feature a too-close-for-comfort view of John Holmes' trouser snake while giving us teasing glimpses of favorite 70s porn stars Candy Samples (as "Mary Gavin"), Uschi Digard, Roxanne Brewer,  Rene Bond, and Rainbow Smith. 

In addition to the slapdash and gleefully vulgar comedies are nudge-nudge wink-wink mockumentaries such as "The Love Epidemic", which exhorts viewers to have sex while warning them of V.D., and "The ABC of Love and Sex Australia Style", which we examined in detail here.  All serve as naughty looks at what was considered shocking in "Strine" society in those days and, like the comedies, are brimming with a multitude of boobies and great gobs of softcore sex. 

The ubiquitious Jack Thompson ("Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence") plays the no-nonsense, ultra-manly "Petersen", who takes no guff and tells people to "get stuffed."  Arthur Dignam of "Dead Kids" (aka "Strange Behavior") co-stars, but it's the welcome sight of a topless young Wendy Hughes who makes this trailer interesting.  Thompson turns up again (and again) in "Libido", which offers the usual sexual situations with a lurid and melodramatic leer. 

Much of this material seems to be the same kind of stuff that turned up as late-night filler on the Playboy Channel in the 80s.  Like most of OZPLOITATION TRAILER EXPLOSION, I'm not sure I'd care to actually sit through some of these films yet their trailers provide non-stop entertainment in handy capsule form.

Moving on to "Horror and Thriller",  we get another staple of Aussie cinema that was either well-done or utterly gosh-awful in seemingly equal measures.  Roo-doo potboilers such as "Outback" and "Night of Fear" appear to represent the latter, while something called "Inn of the Damned" ("in the tradition of Hitchcock!") manages to boast none other than Dame Judith Anderson in what is known as "slumming" with a capital "S." 

Returning to sex-comedy territory is "The Night The Prowler", about a woman named Felicity who turns the tables on her nocturnal rapist and becomes a sex-starved prowler herself. "End Play" mixes two brothers, a secluded country house, and a pretty young hitchhiker to give us something that is, the announcer warns, "terribly, terribly wrong."

Reprenting the best of low-budget Australian horror cinema are the trailers for some familiar faves.  "Patrick" tells of a comatose man who may be causing chaos on a subconscious telekinetic level.  "Thirst" is a story of modern-day vampires, while "Dead Kids" is the richly compelling horror thriller by filmmaker Michael Laughlin which stars Michael Murphy, Louise Fletcher,  Fiona Lewis, Dan Shor,  Marc McClure, and Arthur Dignam. 

Peter Weir's "The Last Wave" stars Richard Chamberlain in a nightmare of supernatural evil.  Sigrid Thornton looks great topless in "Snapshot" while being menaced by Vincent Gill and propositioned by "Thirst" star Chantal Contouri.  "Nightmares" is as lurid a horror-slasher flick as they come.  A personal favorite of mine, "Roadgames" (1981), stars Stacy Keach and Jamie Lee Curtis as a truck driver and a hitchhiker on the trail of a highway serial killer. 

Of the three categories featured here, perhaps "Cars and Action" is the one the Australians do best.  Ever since "Mad Max" roared through American drive-ins and cable TVs there's been a string of imitations and outright clones of it and its superior follow-up, "The Road Warrior", which really set the standard for white-line mayhem. 

The same cast members keeping turning up too--not the least of which is probably the busiest man in Oz cinema, Bruce "Gyro Captain" Spence, who seems to be in damn near everything in this collection.  "Mad Max"'s ever-popular "Goose",  Steve Bisley,  heads sci-fi action-thriller "The Chain Reaction", which has its own incredible car chases, crashes, and stunts. 

More automotive vehicles are destroyed and stunt drivers endangered in the hair-raising "Stunt Rock", "Stone" (the guy flying off a cliff on a motorcycle is a stunner), "Fair Game" (another beleaguered woman turns the tables on her antagonists), and the mind-boggling "Midnight Spares" with, you guessed it, Bruce Spence. 

Judging by their trailers, these films are jam-packed with the kind of stuff that makes Quentin Tarantino's "Death Proof" look like a fender-bender.  I can only guess at how wide-open the stuntman trade must've been in Australia during that era.  Some of them seem to be risking life and limb with utter abandon. 

Elsewhere, Alan Arkin does a funny turn as a washed-up superhero in "The Return of Captain Invincible."  "Terminator" rip-off "The Time Guardian" stars Dean Stockwell and Carrie Fisher.  Jimmy Wang Yu goes up against erstwhile 007 George Lazenby in "The Man From Hong Kong." 

There are would-be spaghetti westerns such as "Raw Deal" and Dennis Hopper (in a series of horrible fake beards) as "Mad Dog Morgan."  Aerial thriller "Race for the Yankee Zephyr", with Ken Wahl, George Peppard, Lesley Ann Warren, and Donald Pleasence, is directed by David Hemmings ("Thirst") and features some of the most exhilarating helicopter photography I've ever seen. 

"Attack Force Z" is a mercenary shoot-em-up with Mel Gibson, Sam Neill, Olivia Hussey, and John Phillip Law.  Getting short shrift here is Nicole Kidman's teenage debut,  "BMX Bandits", whose brief trailer seems more like a TV spot.  Peter Weir's "The Cars that Ate Paris" (1974) is just as nutty and stunt-packed as it sounds, and yes, Bruce Spence is in it.

Among the other luminaries popping up here and there in this collection are Broderick Crawford, Judy Davis, Robert Powell, Jenny Agutter, Tom Skerritt,  and James Mason, along with frequent Ocker faves such as Frank Thring and Briony Behets. 

The DVD from Intervision Picture Corp. is in anamorphic widescreen with Dolby Digital mono sound.  No subtitles or extras.  The picture quality is about what you'd expect from a bunch of forty-year-old trailers (give or take a decade).  Running time is 165 minutes.  Many more trailers besides those mentioned here are included (65 in all).

If you're not in the mood for a sit-down meal but fancy a snack tray of sex, horror, and violence goodies, then Mama always said you should try OZPLOITATION TRAILER EXPLOSION.  Because even though you never know what you're gonna get, you can be sure it'll be chock full of fine Strine cui-sine.

OZPLOITATION TRAILER EXPLOSION -- DVD Review by Porfle

GRINDHOUSE TRAILER CLASSICS -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

 Originally posted on 9/5/2014

 

The most recent movie trailer compilations I've seen have been theme-oriented--namely, the self-explanatory OZPLOITATION TRAILER EXPLOSION and VIDEO NASTIES: A DEFINITIVE GUIDE--which is as good a way to watch a bunch of trailers as any.

But as demonstrated by Intervision's new DVD release, GRINDHOUSE TRAILER CLASSICS, you don't really need any kind of an excuse at all to watch a bunch of trailers, just as long as they're shamelessly exploiting the most down-and-dirty sex, violence, horror, and gore flicks that ever snaked their way through a hot projector.

If you can make it past the startling cover pic of a severed female zombie head with blank, demonic eyes chowing down on a dismembered hand--or are, in fact, lured in by it--you know this is your kind of entertainment. What you're in for during the next 129 minutes is fifty-five stomach-churning, mind-warping trailers for the kind of titanic trash that kept grindhouses and drive-ins in business back in the 60s and 70s.

Here, you get all the good scenes smashed together (it seems like every trailer was a "red band" trailer in those days) and liberally garnished with some of the most purple prose ever to gush from the mouth of an overheated voiceover guy. In fact, you're in for a letdown if you actually see some of these flicks after checking out the trailers.

After the classic "Prevues of Coming Attractions" bumper to get our nostalgic juices flowing comes the first selection, the infamous double bill of I DRINK YOUR BLOOD/ I EAT YOUR SKIN. Another double feature, BLOOD SPATTERED BRIDE and I DISMEMBER MAMA, is heralded by faux news footage of police dragging a man out of the theater after the films have driven him berserk.

Next comes Tarantino favorite SWITCHBLADE SISTERS followed by Barbara Steele in the women-in-prison classic CAGED HEAT. (Paul Frees fans will recognize his dulcet tones in the voiceovers.) The lurid EYEBALL ("You may not live to see the end of it!") is followed by the even more twisted Ed Gein-inspired DERANGED with Roberts Blossom.

More kill-crazy caged women and soapy shower scenes follow in THE BIG DOLL HOUSE with beauties Pam Grier and Roberta Collins and the less-than-beauteous Sid Haig. Then comes statuesque blonde Dixie Peabody on "a roaring rampage of revenge" in the biker classic BURY ME AN ANGEL, which my older sister took me to see at the drive-in when I was a kid. (Thanks, sis!)

LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, which I really don't like, gives way to another Tarantino fave, THE STREET FIGHTER with Sonny Chiba, and the grandmammy of all Nazisploitation flicks, ILSA: SHE WOLF OF THE S.S. starring the gorgeous Dyanne Thorne (who will later turn up in ILSA: HAREM KEEPER OF THE OIL SHIEKS with Ushi Digard and Joyce Mandell).

Also on the maniacal menu: Bernie Casey as DR. BLACK AND MR. HYDE, DON'T OPEN THE WINDOW, rappin' Rudy Ray Moore as THE HUMAN TORNADO ("I got a dong as big as King Kong!"), the skin and sadism of CAGED VIRGINS, "angels of vengeance on a massacre marathon" EBONY, IVORY, AND JADE, and the mind-boggling boobs of Chesty Morgan in the Doris Wishman sleaze-tacular DEADLY WEAPONS.

And that's not even the first hour. More titles include TORSO, THEY CALL HER ONE-EYE, DEATH SHIP with George Kennedy, Richard Crenna, and Kate Reid, MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE, HOUSE OF WHIPCORD, THE THING WITH TWO HEADS with Rosey Grier and Ray Milland ("A white bigot's head on a black soul brother's body!"), and David Cronenberg's early horror shocker THEY CAME FROM WITHIN (aka "Shivers").

There's a lot more, but you get the idea. The DVD from Intervision is in anamorphc widescreen with Dolby Digital sound and English subtitles. A gallery of grindhouse poster art is accompanied by the gorgeous Emily Booth hosting a featurette entitled "Bump 'N' Grind."

But it's those gloriously sleazy, lurid, and credulity-straining GRINDHOUSE TRAILER CLASSICS that make this a must-see for anyone who enjoys a good wallow in cinema's most celebrated sewage.

GRINDHOUSE TRAILER CLASSICS -- DVD Review by Porfle

THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS (1955) -- Movie Review by Porfle

 

 (Originally posted on 11/22/2009. My reviews were pretty spoiler-y back then--in fact, I pretty much recapped the entire movie. So fair warning.)

 

I saw the 2001 Vin Diesel remake of this when it first hit home video, and now I can't remember a friggin' thing about it. Except it had some hinky CGI car-driving shots in it. They gotta use CGI just to show people driving cars now? They can't get actual stunt drivers to do actual cool car stunts? Anyway, I do remember one single zoopy-doopy CGI shot of Vin Diesel driving a car. Real memorable flick there.

Of course, it wasn't really a remake--it just used the same cool title. The original THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS (1955) was the historic first film released by American International Pictures, the undisputed kings of the low-budget exploitation flick during the 50s and 60s, and one of the first films produced (and co-written) by the legendary Roger Corman. 

 

It was co-directed by Edwards Sampson (MONSTER FROM THE OCEAN FLOOR) and the film's star, John Ireland (RED RIVER), and probably didn't cost very much to make, since most of the running time consists of people driving around, walking around, having picnics, and reacting to some ragged stock footage of auto races.

Ireland plays Frank Webster, an independent trucker falsely accused of running another trucker off the road and killing him, when this was actually the other trucker's intention--(hmm, "other trucker" sounds kinda dirty somehow)--since lone wolf Frank was cutting in on a big trucking company's business. Well, Frank breaks out of jail and takes it on the lam with half the cops in the state hot on his trail. 

 

 

 

When he meets free-spirited racing enthusiast Connie Adair (Dorothy Malone) on her way to participate in a big race, he kidnaps her and heads for the border in her souped-up Jaguar with her as his beard. It turns out that the cross-country race will end in Mexico, so he enters it. Along the way, he and Connie fall in love (awwww) when she realizes he's really a nice guy who only acts mean and tough when he's kidnapping people and threatening to kill them.

Bruno VeSota, who played living-doll Yvette Vickers' cuckolded husband in ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES and popped up in about half a million other things later on, turns up in an early diner scene in which innocent fugitive Frank practically puts him into a coma. Another familiar face, Iris Adrian (BLUE HAWAII, THAT DARN CAT!), plays Wilma the gabby waitress. And during Frank and Connie's picnic interlude, who should turn up as the park caretaker but silent-film star Snub Pollard, whose movie career began in 1915. Pretty interesting cast, if you're warped like me.

The first half of the movie consists of Frank and Connie driving around and arguing a lot while evading the police, often while sitting in front of a screen with highway footage projected on it. The best thing about this is getting to look at the gorgeous Dorothy Malone. Holy schnikes! You may remember her as Bob Cummings' girlfriend in the original beach party movie, BEACH PARTY. Or not. 

 

Anyway, she was definitely easy on the eyes, and she gives a lively performance as Connie, constantly griping about being hungry and tired, and throwing the keys out of the moving car and trying to get away every time Frank turns around, and generally getting on his nerves as much as possible. Which he deserves, since he's pretty much of a horse's ass, actually. 

 

 

 

When they get to the place where the big race is being held, Connie runs into an old acquaintance, Faber (Bruce Carlisle, who was only ever in one other movie, FEMALE JUNGLE, thank god), who has the hots for her and starts trying to squeeze ol' Frank out of the driver's seat. Faber is a huge, irritating turdhead who is so creepy that he even makes Frank look like a barrel of laughs in comparison. When the race starts, Faber and Frank go at each other like characters out of the old "Wacky Races" cartoon all the way to Mexico.

And just as you're thinking "Die, Faber, die!" he crashes, setting up the startling ending that is dripping with irony. Well, maybe not dripping. More like a faint irony condensation around the rim. So when this happened I checked the running time to see how much time was left for the wrap-up, and it said forty seconds. Forty seconds? Yikes--when this movie decides to end, it doesn't let the screen door bang its sprockety ass on the way out.

One more thing I feel compelled to mention: right before the race, Frank decides to lock Connie in a secluded shack so she can't call the police and turn him in for his own good (she's convinced he'll get a square deal since he's really innocent, ha ha). So what's the first thing she does? She sets it on fire. I don't know about you, but setting the old wooden shack that I'm locked up in on fire wouldn't be my first idea. It would be around #11 or #12 on the list, tops.

Fortunately, a passing motorist sees the smoke and gets her out, and he's played by none other than an unbilled Jonathan Haze of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. Heck, Roger Corman himself even turns up early on as a state trooper. But, please--if you ever find yourself locked in a wooden shack, don't set it on fire right off the bat just because Dorothy Malone does it in this movie, because chances are that in real life, the guy who played Seymour Krelboin isn't going to toodle by and let you out.

So, while THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS isn't exactly an edge-of-your-seat nailbiter, it's fun to watch if you're into low-budget exploitation flicks from the 50s, and especially if you're a Roger Corman fan. And it actually has real people driving real cars. You even get to see Dorothy Malone tearing ass down the highway in one scene, which is cool in some weird sexual way that I can't even begin to explain. Plus, it was made twelve years before Vin Diesel was even born, so there's absolutely no danger of him being in it.

 

THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS (1955) -- Movie Review by Porfle

MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 11/10/18
 

 

The middle entry in the American-Filipino "Blood Island Trilogy" that started with "Brides of Blood" (and its sort-of prequel "Terror Is a Man"), MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND (Severin Films, 1969) moves the dial much closer to eleven with more blood (much of it green), more gore and severed limbs, more grotesque monsters, and, last but not least, more sex and nudity.  In other words, more exploitation for our twisted viewing pleasure.

This time the boat to the island carries Dr. Bill Foster (John Ashley of "Brides of Blood" again), investigating reports of a green-blooded maniac on the island; Sheila Willard (Angelique Pettyjohn), a woman searching for her long-missing father; and a young man named Carlos (Ronaldo Valdez) returning to his old village in hopes of persuading his widowed mother to return to civilization with him.

What all of these people have in common is Dr. Lorca (Ronald Remy, THE LONGEST HUNDRED MILES, FLIGHT OF THE SPARROW), a research scientist who may or may not be an insane crackpot performing horrifying experiments on anyone he or his henchman Razak can get their hands on. The local natives provide a steady supply of subjects, several of whom now roam the jungle as hideous chlorophyll plant-monsters attacking people and disemboweling them.

These scenes are way more graphic than in previous entries in the series, as we're treated to bloody severed limbs and heads flying about while copious amounts of actual animal entrails ooze from a procession of hapless victims.  The gore effects are crude but plentiful, while the grotesque monster makeup, especially on the main chlorophyll creature, makes them look as though they're wearing spinach and asparagus pizzas on their faces.

The steamy melodrama within Dr. Lorca's mansion takes up much screen time, providing not only heaps of interpersonal conflict (along with some amusingly biting dialogue) but also a much larger sex and nudity quotient than before.

This is especially true for Carlos when he's reunited with a young village girl from his past who seduces him while still carrying a torch for his dead father, and for Dr. Foster and Sheila who are destined to go at it eventually.  Various village girls scamper around nude in the jungle as well before coming face-to-face with Chlorophyll Man.

As in the previous film, John Ashley ends up on the run with his girlfriend from a group of hostile villagers who think he's brought misfortune to their island.  Meanwhile, we get to see a tomb opened up, a graphic monster attack inside Dr. Lorca's own home, some eyebrow-raising plot twists, and, finally, an explosive finish that takes place within a subterranean laboratory of horror.

Production values are considerably less polished this time although the beautiful natural settings are a huge asset.  There's an odd stylistic affectation that grows tiresome real quick--whenever a monster is present, the camera lens zooms in and out in jittery fashion.  Before long I was wishing I could get my hands on the cameraman's zoom lens and smash it to pieces.

There's also a disturbing element of needless, sadistic animal cruelty in one scene that puts a damper on the entire film.  It's a really nasty scene, and I couldn't view anything else that followed without repeatedly going back to it in my mind.  This is the sort of thing that would also ruin my enjoyment of other jungle exploitation films to come.

The great John Ashley once again lends his considerable presence to the proceedings, this time accompanied by the equally noteworthy Angelique Pettyjohn.  "Star Trek" fans will remember her as the warrior woman with the Jiffy-Pop bra and silver hair in "The Gamesters of Triskelion" as well as numerous cult pics like "The Last Empire" and "Repo Man."

The Blu-ray from Severin Films is scanned in 4k from a recently discovered camera negative and presented totally uncut for the first time ever, including the legendary “Oath of Green Blood” prologue.  Extras include:

Audio Commentary with Horror Film Historians Nathaniel Thompson and Howard S. Berger
Audio Commentary with Hemisphere Marketing Consultant Samuel M. Sherman
Tombs of the Living Dead: Interview with Pete Tombs, Co-Author of “Immoral Tales”
A Taste of Blood: Interview with Critic Mark Holcomb
The Mad Doctor of Blood Island: Archival Interview with Co-Director Eddie Romero
Trailer
Poster & Still Gallery
Bonus Disc: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack CD (in box set only)
Reversible TOMB OF THE LIVING DEAD Cover  

As a continuation of the "Blood Island" series, MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND ups the exploitation ante on all counts and comes through for anyone who likes their monster/horror action cheap, lurid, and drenched with sex and gore.  The animal cruelty element is indefensible--for some, it will even be a deal-breaker--but otherwise this is down and dirty monster fun. 


Buy "The Blood Island Collection" at Severin Films

Buy "Mad Doctor of Blood Island" at Severins Films

MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE -- Movie Review by Porfle

Some movies are so bad, they're good--we all know that. But then there are the ones that are bad in such interesting ways that they're endlessly fascinating. Which is why THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE (1962) is one of the most-watched movies in my DVD collection.

 

It begins with a surgeon losing his patient in the operating room. The assisting surgeon, his son Dr. Bill Cortner (Herb Evers), insists on trying some of his wild new methods on the corpse. Cortner, Sr. pantomines cutting into the patient's chest to perform a heart massage by poking the scalpel about six inches over it and making a cutting motion while we see Bill fiddling with a dummy head that has an exposed brain but apparently no skull. After the patient is revived, Pop grumpily admits his son's success, but warns him against persuing weird and untested methods, especially when his experiments include stealing amputated limbs from the hospital. 

 

Bill poo-poos the old man's admonitions and whisks off with his amorous fiancee, nurse Jan Compton (Virginia Leith), to the country house where he performs his mysterious limb-grafting experiments. Having received a frantic phone call from his assistant, Kurt (Leslie Daniels), who says there's trouble a-brewing at the secluded house (something about a thing in a closet), leadfooted Bill gets in too much of a hurry and crashes the car, killing Jan. 

 

But Bill isn't about to let a little thing like death stop him, so he grabs Jan's decapitated head out of the burning wreckage, wraps it in his jacket, and hoofs it cross-country toward the house like O.J. Simpson running for a touchdown in the Super Bowl. You almost expect him to spike Jan's head and do a victory dance when he gets there, but instead he places it in a pan in his basement laboratory, hooks it up to a bunch of low-budget scientific equipment, and brings it back to life. 

 

Now Bill is all set to attempt his most daring transplant of all--to graft Jan's head onto another body. But to do that, he must prowl the local streets, nudie bars, and "body beautiful" contests in search of the perfect body--that is, one that turns him on--and lure its unfortunate owner into his dastardly clutches. 

 

It's all so delightfully, unabashedly cheap and lurid that I just can't help loving every minute of it. The car crash is so economically done that we don't even see it--the camera lurches toward a guardrail and Herb Evers rolls down a hill. That's it! Then we see a car door in the foreground with a man's muscular, hairy arm sticking into the frame, and that's supposed to be Jan! Unbelievable. 

 

 

 

Herb Evers was no great actor, but his "Bill Cortner" is a marvelous cad. This heartless bastard makes no bones about his intentions, skulking into a cheap dive called the "Moulin Rouge" to scope out the dancers and cruising the streets eyeballing babes as he searches for the body that he most wants to grope whilst making out with the new, improved Jan-thing. (All of this is accompanied by one of the sleaziest tunes ever written, aptly entitled "The Web.") The women he encounters are a bit on the homely side, but hilarious. They can't act, yet somehow they're so into their characters that their performances are strangely compelling. 

 

Bonnie Sharie, who plays a blonde stripper at the Moulin Rouge, acts as though she were born for the part of a hardboiled doll on the make for a sugar daddy. Paula Maurice, as another stripper who barges into the dressing room while Bonnie's cozying up with Bill and starts firing off withering wisecracks at her, is a riot--she's actually very good, in fact. And when Bill decides three's a crowd and makes his exit, there's even a totally extraneous catfight for our amusement.

 

The best of these potential victims, though, is Adele Lamont as "Doris Powell", who hates men ("I hate ALL men for what ONE of them did to me ONCE!" she snarls) yet makes her living as a "photograph model" posing for drooling guys with cameras. (One of them is infamous Jerry Lewis impersonator Sammy Petrillo of BELA LUGOSI MEETS A BROOKLYN GORILLA! What the hell's he doing in this?) Bill slithers into one of Doris' posing sessions and uses his charm to convince her that he's a nice, trustworthy guy who can restore her scarred face to its former beauty. 

 

Their dialogue in this scene is priceless. Adele Lamont, who's actually quite a looker, spouts her lines as though she's trying to hammer nails with them. "See it ALL...MISTER?" she growls at Bill. "The SHOW'S OVER...next time bring a CAMERA and buy a TICKET! I'm not running a CHARITY!" When Bill tries to placate her, she retorts "Listen--GALAHAD! I trusted a man once...ALL THE WAY!" She's a terrible actress, but she's so intense that it doesn't matter. Ultimately, the smooth-talking Bill conquers the monumental task of gaining Doris' trust, which makes his leering, smirking betrayal of it later on even more disturbing. 

 

Meanwhile, back at the country house, Bill's skittish assistant Kurt is on pins and needles. Not only does he have to contend with baby-sitting Jan's increasingly yakky head, but he's also freaking out about the dreaded thing in the closet. Yes, Bill's earlier experiments in limb-grafting have resulted in a horrifically-mutated monster that must be confined in a closet and fed through a tiny window in the door, and lately it's been getting restless. 

 

The thing in the closet is often referred to throughout the movie with such dread that it builds up a considerable amount of suspense--especially when Jan begins to form a telepathic connection with it and plans to use it to get revenge against Bill for what he's scheming to do.

 

Leslie Daniels plays Kurt with a wildly-theatrical style that might actually go over nicely if you were sitting in the back row of a theater, but up close he's like a character from a Jay Ward cartoon. Like so many of the other actors in this movie, he gives the part his all and performs as though the script were written by Shakespeare instead of guys named Rex Carlton and Joseph Green. He has some really entertaining dialogue scenes with Jan, and they're directed in a way that convinces us he's talking to a disembodied head. 

 

His demise, after an unfortunate encounter with the thing in the closet, has to be seen to be believed. It's the quintessential death-scene cliche, as performed by every little kid who ever pretended to get stabbed with a sword while rehearsing for the school play, and it goes on for several minutes while Kurt staggers violently from one set to another and back, smearing blood all over the walls as he lurches about in his final throes. I've never seen anything like it.

 

 

 

Top acting honors, however, must go to Virginia Leith as Jan. If the critics thought Richard Dreyfuss' performance as a quadraplegic in WHOSE LIFE IS IT ANYWAY? was impressive because he only acted from the neck up, then surely Virginia must get equal credit for acting only from the chin up. She does a marvelous job with her expressions, eye movements, and voice to convey her initial despair at being a disembodied head that should be "in its grave" (her plaintive cry, "Let me die...let me die" is haunting). 

 

Later, her concern over Bill's hunt for a potential victim, which she senses telepathically due to the weird life-giving fluid coursing through her brain, and finally her burning hatred and lust for revenge are very convincingly done. She has the upper hand in her talks with Kurt, gradually goading and prodding him toward his doom. And since the monster in the closet--who also wants revenge in a big way--is now under her mental control, things are really coming to a head. So to speak.

 

When Bill lures Doris to the house and prepares to carry out the operation, director Joseph Green stages a grand finale in which the dreaded monster finally breaks out of the closet. And even after all the build-up, we're not disappointed. The seven-and-a-half foot tall Eddie Carmel, known as "The Jewish Giant", makes quite an impression even under a bad makeup job as he goes on his final, fiery rampage. 

 

The scene is surprisingly gory, too, for a pre-BLOOD FEAST film--with this and the earlier blood-splattered death scene of Kurt, I'm still amazed that I got to see it uncut on TV when I was a kid. It scared the hell out of me then, its squalid and lurid atmosphere merely adding to the overall effect, and to this day, THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE remains one of my favorite low-budget horror movies ever.

 

THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE -- Movie Review by Porfle

ECCO/ THE FORBIDDEN -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 1/31/19

ECCO (1963)


It may not have the word "Mondo" in the title, but ECCO, aka "Il mondo di notte numero 3" (Severin Films, 1963), is an offshoot of the infamous, wildly successful shock-u-mentary "Mondo Cane" just as sure as its goal is to shock, titillate, and even disgust everyone who shells out the price of a ticket to see it.

"Ecco" is an Italian word meaning "look here", and as soon as American producer Bob Cresse (MONDO FREUDO, MONDO BIZARRO) took a look at this Italian production, he knew he had to purchase the rights and release an Americanized version of it himself.  Which, one assumes, cleaned up at the box office.

He hired venerable actor George Sanders to intone the pithy narration, keeping the excellent musical soundtrack which includes both rock'n'roll and crooner-type ballads in addition to some stirring orchestral music like something out of a spaghetti western.

But the real attraction is the non-stop travelogue of exotic, outlandish, and often highly strange sights and sounds from around the world, some filmed as they occurred and others staged for the camera but, unlike many "Mondo" films, based (mostly) on actual events.

Some of this stuff is relatively mundane enough to show up in a TV travelogue, such as a look at Rio de Janiero's famed Mardi Gras celebration and a brief example of rough-and-tumble women's roller derby.

One mountain village in Europe is visited by a family of daredevil circus performers, and elsewhere we see some amazing Grecian monasteries built high atop mountain peaks (as seen in the James Bond film "For Your Eyes Only").  Portuguese fishermen go whaling in nothing but simple rowboats, a dangerous task which, if they survive, will benefit their entire village in many ways.

But before long, the more extreme exploitation aim of this eye-popping cinematic grab bag makes itself known in a variety of ways, beginning with some young German men who get together for a night of drinking and then bloody jousting with swords.

A satanic ritual ends with a naked woman drenched in chicken blood, while Swedish delinquents roam the streets getting into trouble, attacking citizens, and then having wild sex in front of a group of straight-laced oldies.  A visit to what is purported to be the final performance in the famous Grand Guignol theater finds the actors involved in a typically gruesome scene.

In one of the film's most amazing sequences, hundreds of young, half-naked Japanese men form a roiling, squirming, tightly-packed mass of humanity during a weird annual "game" in which at least a dozen of them are expected to be crushed or trampled to death just for funsies.

Sex really comes to the fore (finally!) in the film's latter half--matronly Vegas women drool over oiled, posing muscle men, a popular European stripper has a whole hall of lecherous guys in a state of giddy arousal, and a forbidden all-lesbian club engages in same-sex nudie frolics for the camera's benefit.

But just as I was beginning to write off ECCO as a fairly standard "Mondo" flick, then came a guy named Ivan--one of those "mind over body" zealots--who started driving long, sharp needles through his skinny body in a segment that may be staged but definitely isn't faked.

"Cringe" doesn't go far enough to describe watching this guy slowly penetrate his neck with a needle while describing how he's studiously avoiding the carotid artery, the jugular vein, and, of course, the esophagus.  Eventually we witness the needle's point emerge from the other side, whereupon he invites a member of the audience to pull it out. Yikes.

I figured they couldn't top this, but the next segment goes right into a reindeer roundup in Lapland where an amazing wave of thousands of reindeer swarm tsunami-like into an enclosed area where they scuttle around in a huge circle while the natives lasso them.

Some are slaughtered, while others are castrated to become steers.  How is this done? Why, the ladies do the honors with their teeth, of course.  And thus, my mind is blown.

Other things happen which I can't recall at the moment, all very beautifully narrated by silken-toned George Sanders (who even throws in a little Shakespeare), but this should suffice to give an overview of ECCO'S mindbending menu.  I expected the usual weird sex practices and bizarre rituals, but some of this stuff really had me in full "SMH" mode and then left me benumbed, bewildered, and thoroughly be-cringed.


THE FORBIDDEN (1966)


Having roughly the form of a "Mondo" but with much less of a travelogue element and much more unmitigated sleaze, Bob Cresse & Lee Frost's THE FORBIDDEN (1966) is composed almost exclusively of softcore sex stuff--mostly strippers pretending to be performing in Paris or London but mainly in dark little soundstages with drapes over the walls to simulate nightclubs. It's probably the same set every time, just redressed a bit.

The film does veer occasionally into actual documentary territory as when we're shown genuine footage of a riot that occurred in Los Angeles when hundreds of teenagers refused to obey a ten o'clock curfew and clashed with the police, causing much chaos and property damage.

There's also a couple of detours into lurid fiction via re-enactments of "true" cases, one involving a woman's lethal jealousy toward her ex-husband and his lovers (this one ends DEATH PROOF-style) and another telling of a lonely woman's very unconventional method of getting the man she loves to come and visit her in Paris from his home in Mexico.

Mostly, however, we're treated to the kind of nudie-cutie segments that one often saw in 8mm film loops in the 60s, given hokey wraparound stories.  One stripper is supposedly performing in East Berlin and pretending to be Hitler's girlfriend.  Another, the gorgeous "Baby Bubbles" from Frost & Cresse's MONDO BIZARRO, plays a woman who teaches timid housewives how to strip for their husbands. 

We get a good idea of what we're in for with the opening segment showing two women in varying states of undress while a creepy peeper peers at them through their window.  He breaks in and attacks, during which we find that this is supposedly a commerical commissioned by the female owner of a karate school for women wanting to learn self-defense.

A secret initiation of two girls into a lesbian club is an excuse for us to--you guessed it--watch some naked lesbians for awhile.  There's also a scene with a prostitute who drugs and rapes her female clients before robbing them. And with that, your evening's entertainment is pretty well rounded except for just one more stripper (and some fervid, near-incomprehensible narration) to send THE FORBIDDEN off in sleazy style. 


Buy it from Severin Films

Special Features:
The Bandit: Producer David Goldstein Remembers Bob Cresse
I Want More: Short Film
Ecco Trailer
English Subtitles

The Stripper is scanned in 4K from the original internegative
The Forbidden is newly-transferred from the only known 35m print in existence

ECCO/ THE FORBIDDEN -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

THE SADIST OF NOTRE DAME -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 3/21/18

 

By now, I've seen a fair amount of Spanish cult director Jess Franco's films, and, despite his popularity among countless ardent fans, I've always found his works to be a great big grab bag of good and bad all swirling around together like socks in a dryer--mostly mismatched and full of holes, but occasionally wearable.

With 1979's THE SADIST OF NOTRE DAME, we see the result of Franco taking his earlier sex-and-horror film EXORCISM (already the result of much tinkering and consisting of various different cuts including a XXX-rated one), re-arranging and repurposing the existing footage, and adding several minutes of new footage to create what he himself considered the definitive version.

Franco stars as Mathis Vogel, who once studied for the priesthood at Notre Dame but ultimately failed the final audition, so to speak, due to the fact that he was a raving loon. 

Now, after years in institutional exile, he returns crazier than ever as your stereotypical "religious fanatic" intent on punishing "sinful women" and becomes a dreaded Jack the Ripper-style serial killer.

Vogel's twisted mind is a maelstrom of conflicting impulses as he stalks and murders women he considers whores (promising that this will purify their souls) while being irresistibly aroused by them.

Franco succeeds in portraying him as a sick, pathetic troll of a man tormented by his own desires while even his former friend in the priesthood denies him the absolution for his crimes that he desperately craves.

He meets and is obsessed by pretty Anne (Franco's lifelong lover and muse Lina Romay) who works for a lurid sex magazine where he submits autobiographical sex stories, and, through her, stumbles upon a group of upper-class swingers who meet regularly in a castle for perverted S&M sex shows followed by intense orgies. 

The rest of the film follows Vogel's stalking and killing of members of the group, usually after he has voyeuristically observed them having sex involving dominant-submissive roleplay.  Romay's fans will enjoy seeing her romping about in various stages, although I found most of the other anonymous, undulating nudes somewhat less appealing.

Much of the violence is surprisingly non-graphic while still managing to be deeply disturbing, especially when juxtaposed with ample amounts of nudity and fevered Freudian sexuality. 

Occasionally, however, there are flashes of more graphic violence that increase the shock value, and, taken as a whole, this must've presented late 70s audiences with quite a heady concoction.

Meanwhile, there's a subplot (mostly from the original version, I think) involving some bickering police detectives on Vogel's trail.  This is meant mainly to show us that the net is indeed tightening around our perverted protagonist as he goes about his murderous ways, although some of the conflict between the veteran French detective and a young hot-shot cop on loan from Switzerland is interesting.

Besides Lina Romay (PAULA-PAULA, THE SINISTER EYES OF DR. ORLOFF), the cast also includes Olivier Mathot (TWO FEMALE SPIES WITH FLOWERED PANTIES), Pierre Taylou (HOT NIGHTS OF LINDA), and Antonio DeCabo (VIRGIN AMONG THE LIVING DEAD).

Technically, THE SADIST OF NOTRE DAME is the wildly-prolific Franco's standard rushed production--he often burned through several projects at once--filled with quick set-ups, lots of zooming and meandering camerawork, and the occasional evidence of a talented film visualist at work. 

Often Franco simply allows his cinematic mind to wander, resulting in long stretches that may delight his fans while lulling others to sleep.  The story itself is pretty threadbare and dependant upon its outlandish, grotesque imagery and themes for whatever impact it may have on individual viewers.

The new Blu-ray and DVD release by Severin Films is taken from the only known existing copy of the film, a 35mm print scanned in 4K after reportedly being discovered "in the crawlspace of a Montparnasse nunnery."  The various resulting imperfections only add to its visual appeal for me since I find perfect, flawless clarity in a film to be off-putting.  When it comes to old-style exploitation such as this, I like a print that looks like it has been around the block a few times.

I found THE SADIST OF NOTRE DAME sporadically interesting but never particularly appealing for either its horrific or erotic qualities. Francophiles, I assume, will find it fascinating.  And still others will doubtless agree with the Spanish film board's assessment of it--proudly touted in the film's publicity--as "an absolute abomination."

Special Features:
The Gory Days Of Le Brady – Documentary Short On The Legendary Parisian Horror Cinema
Stephen Thrower On Sadist Of Notre Dame – Interview With The Author Of ‘Murderous Passions – The Delirious Cinema Of Jesus Franco’
Selected Scenes Commentary With ‘I’m In A Jess Franco State Of Mind’ Webmaster Robert Monell
Treblemakers: Interview With Alain Petit, Author Of ‘Jess Franco Ou Les Prosperites Des Bis’
Spanish language or English dubbed with subtitles

THE SADIST OF NOTRE DAME -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

WILD BEASTS -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 Originally posted on 2/3/17

 

Okay, first of all, WILD BEASTS (1984), now on Blu-ray from Severin Films, is one very warped, one very grotesque flick. 

And second of all, if you're a soft-hearted PETA type--or just anyone who can't stand seeing animals being hurt in any way--then you will not like this movie.  In fact, you should avoid it at all costs. I'll explain why in a bit, although you might as well stop reading now because you won't want to see it. Ever. (But don't stop reading. I just said that for effect.)

The premise is simplicity itself--someone puts PCP into the water supply, and when some zoo animals get a snootful of it they escape into the heart of the city and go on a rip-roaring rampage of revenge.  Against what, you ask?  Why, against humans for "raping nature" as the trailer informs us.

 

Head zoo-guy Dr. Rupert "Rip" Berner (real-life animal tamer John Aldrich) and his scientist girlfriend Laura Schwarz (Lorraine De Selle) are knee-deep in it all from the git-go, with Rip (in her Italian accent Laura calls him "Reep") working with veteran police inspector Nat Braun (Ugo Bologna) to track down the marauding animals while Laura rushes across town to protect her young daughter Suzy (Louisa Lloyd), who's in a dance class that will soon be invaded by a hungry polar bear.

Well, the manure hits the ventilator early on in this anything-goes Italian free-for-all when the wild animals hit the streets and start chowing down on city dwellers like they were meaty treats.  The result is an abundance of graphic gore effects as we see screaming victims being devoured before our eyes.

While this, fortunately, is merely simulated, not so fortunate are several live rats that are roasted alive with flamethrowers (after molesting a kitty cat) and some livestock that get attacked by very toothsome lions.  We've all seen movies that made us ask, "Wow, how'd they do that?"  In this case, they just freakin' DID it. 

 

Of course, most fainthearted viewers will have already checked out during the main titles at the sight of a zookeeper chopping up actual horse heads for lion food, which we see the ravenous cats gleefully devouring.  I found this scene particularly disturbing since I happened to be eating hot dogs at the time.

More gleeful devouring takes place throughout the film, but what really shifts much of WILD BEASTS into mindboggle-mode are scenes such as elephants invading an airport and causing a plane to crash during landing.  The SPFX include some surprisingly elaborate model work which is not all that convincing but is great fun to watch. 

Elsewhere, we're treated to the sight of a cheetah chasing a Volkswagen convertible at full speed down a city street, a tiger loose in a subway car, and, wilder still, a herd of cattle stampeding through the heart of a modern city. 

This is stuff you just don't see every day, and, as I mentioned, it's all the more amazing because it's real.  Nowadays they'd just CGI it all up and expect us to "ooh" and "ahh" over a cartoon.

 

Such spectacle makes up for the fact that this is a low-budget production done on the fly with barely any retakes by MONDO CANE director Franco E. Prosperi, who knew how to stretch a lira thanks to his extensive documentary experience. 

The hasty schedule means not much attention is given to cinematic style, but the hit-and-run atmosphere is exciting and the editing is great. Daniele Patucchi's score is a combination of Goblin-style suspense music and really cool jazz.

The Blu-ray from Severin Films is in widescreen HD with English and Italian 2.0 soundtracks (English subtitles are available).  Once again Severin comes through with a solid bonus menu including terrific recent interviews with director Prosperi, star Tony Di Leo (aka "John Aldrich"), editor Mario Morra, and circus veteran/animal wrangler Carlo Tiberi.  There's also a scenic tour of Prosperi's museum-like home and a trailer. 

I didn't like WILD BEASTS much at first--in fact, its more crude and distasteful elements and contemptible animal abuse continued to turn me off throughout-- but I eventually warmed up to and started enjoying this absolutely off-the-wall exploitation flick.  The ending is especially good, because instead of petering out or leaving us unsatisfied, the film saves its wickedest plot twist, and its wildest beasts, for the very end. 


Release date: Feb. 7, 2017

WILD BEASTS -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

ESCAPE FROM WOMEN'S PRISON -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 4/28/19

 

It looks like ESCAPE FROM WOMEN'S PRISON (Severin Films, 1978) is going to be one of those women's prison movies (natch) that ends with a big escape. Not so, Blu-ray breath.  This Italian sexploitation thriller is about what happens after some desperate women escape from women's prison, take over a bus full of female tennis players going to a big tournament, and hole up in the secluded, hotel-like villa of a judge until the heat's off. 

The leader of the bad girls, Monica (Lilli Carati, THE ALCOVE), is a political terrorist who's always at odds with Diana (Marina D'Aunia), a real tough cookie who thinks she should be in charge. 

The rest of the gang consists of big Betty (Artemia Terenziani) and flaky Erica (Ada Pometti), as well as Monica's brother who was shot helping them escape. 

The good girls include Anna (Zora Kerova), who will be forced to take charge of her peers and eventually confront the escapees, and Terry (Ines Pellegrini, WAR OF THE ROBOTS, EYEBALL), the spineless one who'll do anything to cooperate with their captors. 

Marco (Franco Ferrer) the bus driver, a handsome hunk, gets the romantic treatment from man-hungry Erica and even their wimpy tennis coach is in for some carnal attention from Betty. 

As for the judge (Filippo De Gara, LION OF THE DESERT), he's none too popular with the prison women and is the target for much of their scorn and abuse, until finally he's driven over the edge.

It's your basic "The Desperate Hours"-type situation with the hostages scheming to either escape or overpower their captors before they outlive their usefulness and the fugitives grating on each other and vying for power.  Monica and Diana in particular keep things on a hair trigger as the powderkeg gets ever closer to exploding. 

Meanwhile, the film lives up to its sexploitation status with a number of couplings that include at least three kinds of rape (female on male, male on female, and female on female), with Erica in particular making sure she gets the most out of her tied-up beau Marco.  Good girl Claudine (Dirce Funari) is targeted by Diana in yet another softcore sex sequence.

I love the ways in which these hardbitten dames push their weight around and cuss up a storm at each other with language that could make flowers wilt.  Even in the slower passages their hostile, unpredictable natures keep things hopping.

Actor and screenwriter Giovanni Brusadori chalks up his sole directorial effort here and does so in capable form.  The film benefits from some exceedingly good found locations, from that spacious villa to a nearby Italian town that's very picturesque. The script is co-written by actor George Eastman of such Joe D'Amato films as ABSURD, EMMANUELLE AND FRANCOISE, and ANTROPOPHAGUS.

The Blu-ray from Severin Films is 1080p full HD resolution with English-dubbed mono soundtrack and English captions. The element used for the scan is "a dupe negative and the best known element of the U.S. release version."  The bonus menu includes the original Italian cut "Le Evase" with Italian soundtrack and English captions, as well as "Freedom, Sex & Violence: Interview with Director Giovanni Brusadori" and the trailer.

Picture quality is, I assume, as good as possible though hardly perfect--but, as my regular readers know, I like a print that looks like it's been around the block a few times, especially when it's a lurid exploitation flick like this. 

Things heat up to a savory boil when the cops finally surround the place and the tense stand-off devolves into an exchange of gunfire as the bad girls work out their differences with both the law and each other in deadly terms.  I like the way all the various subplots resolve themselves here in violent, satisfying ways, right up to the final rat-a-tat freeze-frame before the credits roll. 


Buy it at Severin Films

Special Features:
    Le Evase: Italian cut
    Freedom, Sex & Violence: Interview with Director Giovanni Brusadori
    Trailer

Street date: April 30, 2019

ESCAPE FROM WOMEN'S PRISON -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle