Movie Reviews: Deadly Embrace (1989) and Murder Weapon (1989)

Directed by Ellen Cabot (aka David DeCouteau)

Movie Review by Greg Goodsell

Deadly Embrace: Fresh-out-of-rehab and desperate for dough – Jan-Michael Vincent (THE Jan-Michael Vincent, and not his character in Deadly Embrace, “Stewart Moreland”) takes a private eye gig at the behest of friend Evan (Jack Carter) who thinks his wife (Ty Randolph) is having a lusty affair with their gardener (Chris Bauer).  Linnea Quigley walks in and has sex with whoever, and fellow Scream Queen Michelle Bauer gropes herself in some unrelated fantasy sequences as the “Female Spirit of Sex.” People are shot and killed.

Murder Weapon: Daughters of mob bosses Dawn (Quigley) and Amy (Karen Russell) win their release from a sanitarium after performing sexual favors on psychiatrists Dr. Gram (Lenny Rose) and Dr. Randolph (Lyle Waggoner from TV’s “The Carol Burnett Show” as well as the sick-o necrophile romance Love Me Deadly, 1972). They throw a party at Dawn’s late father’s mansion and invite a bunch of boys in short-shorts for a party. There are a bunch of surprisingly graphic murders – especially to viewers accustomed to these type of projects that rarely deliver – and it was Linnea all along! Aaaah! 

Jess Franco's Sleaziest Coming Soon From Full Moon Features!!

From the fevered, wonderfully perverted minds of Spanish filmmaker Jess Franco and Swiss producer Erwin C. Dietrich (JACK THE RIPPER) comes the notorious women-in-prison shocker WOMEN IN CELLBLOCK 9 (aka Frauen für Zellenblock 9 and Tropical Inferno). The controversial film (it was and remains banned in the U.K.) stars Franco regulars Susan Hemingway, Howard Vernon and Karine Gambier and tells the tale of a gaggle of female freedom-fighters who are taken to a secluded women’s jungle prison where they endure all manner of violent and sexual humiliations.

Like all of the productions in the prolific Franco/Dietrich collaborative cannon (most of which are represented in Full Moon's limited edition Jess Franco DVD Collection), WOMEN IN CELLBLOCK 9 is a visually lush, erotic and explicit exploitation masterwork, armed with exotic locations, weird performances and a great, dreamy score by composer Walter Baumgartner.

Movie Review: 99 Women (Blu-ray)

Reviewed By: James D.

As a film fan who seeks out the lost treasures you have always heard about Franco’s 99 Women being so controversial for its time. I think the controversy of this film is that the price is so damn high. Why attack Blue Underground. They are not the regular suspects. That would be Grindhouse, Severin, Arrow and countless others who are gouging the fans for every penny we have. I understand you are having tough times on sales, but to hit your die-hard fans so hard is not the answer. 

99 Women is basically a women in prison exploitation film. Maria Rohm plays the 99th prisoner of an all-female island prison. Franco is shooting high on this film, but it just comes up so short. You have Mercedes McCambridge and Herbert Lom in this film. They both are incredible at their crafts, but they are so wasted here. The film tries to create a plot off of the government inspector coming down on the sadistic governor. Which we get to see the guy who is in charge of the male prison on the other side of the island. 

Secondhand Smut #3

Back in April 2014, I announced the closure of the Secondhand Smut column. But the truth is, you just can’t end bad habits. Believe me, I know because I’ve been chain-smoking for the past 16 years.

Now, I had plans for the third installment to cover my findings from May, June, and July 2014, but I simply couldn’t find anything worthy to include here. This changed on September 2014, when my friend Periklis took me to a flea market I wasn’t aware of. This was the kind of place I needed; one of the first things I noticed was a DVD of Hot Asian Girls next to the bible. I bought neither, but you get the point. The beast was unleashed.

3 pulp books I bought for only 2€

Carnal Marriage

Oh, I just love how this book smells like old pulp shit. This smell reminds me of seedy basements full of porn books that grandfathers used to read while grandmothers were unaware watching television. More than 20 years ago, I broke into such a basement and found a box full of Gérard de Villiers books.

Anyway, the back cover of Carnal Marriage lists some other books by the same publisher (Βιβλιοθήκη για Όλους – Library for All), and those include the works of Nietzsche, Frued, etc. Also, the first page tells us that the publisher faced charges for this book, but those were dropped.

Movie Review: The Baby (1973, Blu-ray)

Directed by Ted Post


Movie Review by Greg Goodsell

Social worker Ann Gentry (Anjanette Comer, The Loved One) is assigned to a most unusual case: The Wadsworth family is composed of ruthless Mother Hen Mrs. Wadsworth (Ruth Roman, Strangers on a Train) and her two voluptuous daughters, Germaine (Marianna Hill, Messiah of Evil) and Alba (Suzanne Zenor) and their son … Baby (David Manzy). Baby just goes by the name of Baby, appears to be at least 21 and acts in the manner of a two-year-old. The Wadsworth family showers lots of love on Baby, and the occasional touch of discipline: cue cattle prod. Proudly displaying Baby in toddler clothes and oversized playpen in their front yard, Mrs. Gentry suspects that something is “not right” with the arrangement. After a lengthy tug-of-war Between Mrs. Gentry and the Wadsworths over the well-being of Baby, things quickly degenerate into a bloodbath … and it’s revealed that there’s a very special reason as to why Mrs. Gentry wants Baby all to herself! 

This scintillating slice of Seventies sickness, seen frequently on daytime TV with a few edits, is enjoying a renaissance in the digital age. It’s recently got the Blu-Ray treatment from Severin Films, and cult film fans are lining up to watch what many describe as a “film you CAN’T unsee.” Seeing as every slasher film is written off as “misogynist,” The Baby offers up a particular worldview where every woman is a predatory monster bent on the subjugation of males. This reviewer has long thought that the Wadsworths would be the deadly trio of femme fatales from Russ Meyer’s Faster, Pussycat! Kill, Kill (1965) if they managed to survive hightail it to the suburbs.

Movie Review: Bloody Moon (Blu-ray)

                                               Review By:
                                               James D.





Jess Franco's Bloody Moon is his stab at the slasher film genre. Our main character, Miguel, we learn early on that he was sent away for murdering a woman who was turning him on. Well, years pass and he seems that he is healed and is set free from the asylum. He comes back to the scene of the crime which now is a resort his family owns and soon after he is back as you can guess, the body count starts to rise. Is Miguel truly healed, or is something worst going on? Bloody Moon is not Franco's best work nor is it anywhere near his worst, this film lies somewhere in the middle. It seems that when Franco goes away from his comfort zone as in films like this, he does try to resort to some of his old tricks which make this film really shine above your standard 80s slasher.

Peter Walker's "House of Mortal Sin" and "Home Before Midnight" Coming Soon to Blu-ray!

Kino Lorber and Redemption are pleased to announce the release of two more cult classics from British exploitation filmmaker Pete Walker:HOME BEFORE MIDNIGHT, a serious look into an illicit affair between a songwriter and an underage fan, and HOUSE OF MORTAL SIN, about a corrupt priest who uses his power for his own sinister gain.

Continuing their tradition of releasing the best in European horror and cult classics in new HD transfers, with informative special features, Kino Lorber and Redemption bring HOME BEFORE MIDNIGHT and HOUSE OF MORTAL SIN to Blu-ray on June 17th, individually priced at $24.95 each. Both Blu-rays come packed with bonus features that will offer something new for long-time fans of these films, including interviews with Pete Walker by horror film expert Elijah Drenner and, on HOUSE OF MORTAL SIN, an audio commentary with director Pete Walker and Jonathan Rigby, author of English Gothic.

These two films from this master of British horror and exploitation join Kino Lorber and Redemption's other releases of Pete Walker films on Blu-ray, including DIE SCREAMING, MARIANNE, HOUSE OF WHIPCORD, SCHIZO, THE COMEBACK, and - most recently -FRIGHTMARE and THE FLESH AND BLOOD SHOW.

Movie Review: The Oral Generation (1970, Vinegar Syndrome)

...this viewer has made no secret of the fact that he absolutely loves the golden age of XXX-rated movies, which was prevalent in and around the '70's and early '80's. There was often a novel story idea, as well as moments of amusement, comedy and bizarre surrealism, interlaced with the voyeuristically lurid and explicitly lingering sex scenes. The actors and actresses in the films, varied in their ability to entice...from bodaciously 'va-va-voom' to alluringly filthy and nasty. And that music...usually ranging from a cool and rhythmic jazz, to...oh, that stereotypically hokey 'waka-waka-ding-dang' riff, which many of the films from that particular era, were known for. Placing that observation on the back burner, for a moment, this viewer later nurtured a curiosity about certain obscure and hard-to-find, sexually explicit films, which were also playing in and around the grindhouse/drive-in circuit, at the time...the trailers of which almost always bore the same enticing line of "...because of possibly impressionable persons in the audience, we can't show you certain scenes of this movie, here in the trailer; however be assured that when this film appears in this theater, it will be presented uncut...a film, specifically geared for today's more progressively promiscuous audience..." (...the late Mike Vraney's 'Something Weird Video's quite entertaining 'Dusk 'til Dawn Drive-In Trash-o-rama' movie trailer collection series, was notorious for splicing in trailers for such films, amidst the genre and exploitation film trailers). Once again, taking it's cue from what 'Something Weird Video' had once done best, Vinegar Syndrome has once again unleashed a selection of films...the headlining "Oral Generation" feature film, and an eclectically assorted & paraded set of short films...which, in this case, herein...delectably, and sometimes mind-scramblingly...assumes the best of both worlds, as mentioned previously...

Movie Review: The Hot Nights of Linda (1975; Eurocine/Severin)

...back in the good ol' grindhouse theater days of the early '70's, to mid '80's, this viewer remembers having mentally...at least, unconsciously...latched onto the production studio name of 'Eurocine', as well as the occasional smattering of films, put forth by this guy, Jesus Franco...or Jess Franco, as he was alternately coined. Of course, once home video became a standard norm, and the local video store...if they were respectably savvy, as far as cult and genre films...began to stock and shelve many of these European imports, the names 'Eurocine' and 'Jess Franco'...once flickered on the viewing screen...were fondly brought back to mind, once again. And having already partaken of some of these cult film classics in the stale, musty darkness of grindhouse venues, this ardent viewer salivatingly knew quite well that with a 'Eurocine' film...the studio which by now, well recognized and revered sleaze master Jess Franco, often favored...now available in the privacy of of one's abode, what was in store for this eagerly anticipating viewer, was nothing short of raw and unbridled sleaze, at it's very finest. Oh, those titles, though..."Female Vampire"..."Kiss Me, Killer"..."Women Behind Bars"..."Devil Hunter"..."Zombie Lake"..."White Cannibal Queen"..."Oasis of the Zombies"...as well as this review's 'flavor-of-the-moment'...a moody and tempered bit of obscure and underappreciated Eurocine/Jess Franco sleaze, which features Jess' often-used sexy darling, actress Lina Romay, has escaped even the most ardent of cult film aficionados, and has finally seen the mirrored sheen of digital home video, thanks to the astute film acquisitioners, over at Severin...1975's "Hot Nights of Linda". Is it as 'hot' as the title...as well as the erotically alluring artist's rendering on the DVD/Blu-Ray cover...implies?? Let's find out, shall we??

THIS VALENTINE'S DAY, WARM YOURSELF UP WITH NIKKATSU!

SEX HUNTER: 1980

AND

NURSE GIRL DORM: STICKY FINGERS

SEX HUNTER: 1980

impulse Pictures continues its assault on your sensations with two new Nikkatsu releases!

Miki, a young and talented ballet dancer, is accepted into an exclusive, and very private, academy run by a mysterious woman.  Miki wants to further her dance education and rekindle her relationship with her boyfriend, but soon discovers all the horrible perversions forced upon the academy students. She is subjected to constant violent sexual acts and torture and realizes there may be no escape!  With similar tones to Italian horror maestro Dario Argento’s masterwork SUSPIRIA, SEX HUNTER: 1980 is one of the more controversial entries in the Nikkatsu Erotic Films Collection.  The depictions of disturbing sexual violence so concerned Nikkatsu studios, they actually warned director Toshiharu Ikeda to tone things down for his next film!

Movie Review: The Suckers / The Love Garden

Vinegar Syndrome put out a slew of cool titles to cater to admirers of the wild, sexy and wacky in cult film obscurities With three excellent Blu-ray releases of The Lost Films of Herschel Gordon Lewis, The Massage Parlor Murders and The Telephone Book the exploitation specialists have also unleashed a line of Drive-In style fare, affordably priced at under 15 bucks showcasing some more rarities.Arthur Byrd's The Suckers and The Love Garden are just one of those releases that are sure to put a smile on fans of sexploitation.

If you like it sleazy, you are going to dig the first film, The Suckers. Based on The Most Dangerous Game, this soft-core action flick pits a group of young models and their middle-aged boyfriends (sporting some amazing comb-overs) pitted against a vicious hunter and his murderous rape-happy goons. The Suckers isn’t too explicit but it sure is damn uncomfortable in spots. One scene in particular during the “big chase”, a woman is kidnapped and raped on a bed. Rape is hard enough to watch, but the way its shot almost makes it seem like it’s supposed to titillate. There are some unintentional laughs added to the craziness making this title enjoyable.  Only in the sleazy 70’s!

Movie Review: Massage Parlor Murders (Blu-ray / DVD Combo)

Being the huge fan of 70’s I am, I’ve tried to make it a point over the past 20 years to see anything and everything “exploitation” that crosses my path. It didn't matter whether it looked or sounded shitty, I had to soak that film into my brain. Something Weird Video along with a couple of other companies have been huge for that but lately their output has been sparse. Leave it to a fresh new company in Vinegar Syndrome to take the ball and run by releasing a movie I had no idea existed in Massage Parlor Murders – on Blu-ray no less.

The title alone is gold but sometimes that and a promising trailer don’t mean a thing. Chester Fox & Alex Stevens’ Massage Parlor Murders weaves the wonderfully sleazy tale of couple of detectives (George Spencer, John Moser) on the beat of a psycho killer preying on -often naked-  massage parlor workers. Usually after some thankfully drawn out scenes of tits and ass and the gals are strangled or getting their heads smashed against mirror. Massage Parlor Murders oozes sleaze…but, it’s also a crime drama. I kid you not.

Movie Review: Climb It, Tarzan! (2011, Independent Entertainment)

Directed by Jared Masters
Starring Jennicka Andersson, Jamie Devitt and Zrinka Dozic
Run Time: 75 minutes
Unrated

The time is the sixties, its the dawn of the sexploitation era and aspiring model Ginger (Jamie Devitt) learns the only available photo assignments are for naughty men’s magazines, and that she must risk eviction or succumb to the sadistic perversions of dominating lesbian photographer Paula (Jennicka Andersson). As naive Ginger discovers first-hand that there is no chance of becoming a wholesome pin-up queen, her secretive sister Janet (Jessica Hichborn) takes a job as a go-go dancer, baring her flesh by night and living out of a Venice Beach sailboat by night.

Billed as a tribute to sexploitation cinema, Climb It, Tarzan! consists of an all-female cast of over fifty young budding starlets, most of which are more then willing to “drop the top” for the camera of the creepy but hot Scandinavian photographer Paula. In all honesty this movie started out quite nicely, with a nude photo-shoot followed by the hapless model getting chloroformed and molested by the photographer. Five minutes in I’m thinking to myself, “Gentlemen, we have a winner!” Unfortunately it was all pretty much a free-fall into the lamest, most yawn-inducing recesses of bad-cinema imaginable from that point forward.

Vinegar Syndrome Films to debut its Drive-In themed Double-Feature DVD Collection on March 12, 2013!

More Nikkatsu Sleaze And Gangster Carnage Coming From Synapse Films and Impulse Pictures!

SYNAPSE AND IMPULSE FILMS PRESENT

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SEASON'S BEATINGS AND CHRISTMAS BLEEDINGS
THREE TITLES TO TRIM YOUR BLOODY TREE

ASYLUM (I WANT TO BE A GANGSTER)
SEX HUNTER: WET TARGET
I LOVE IT FROM BEHIND!

FRENCH GANGSTERS AND ASIAN BAD GIRLS. WOTTA COMBO!

FROM FRENCH DIRECTOR OLIVIER CHATEAU comes ASYLUM, a tough tale of tough men making tough choices. 
When a small-time crook wants to move up the hierarchy to be a big-time gangster, a deadly mistake almost costs him his life, and he gets that opportunity. Chained to a tree and left with no food nor water, he has to train his sharp wits to survive his horrible torture. Synapse Films' disc includes a making-of featurette, "Homer" short film by Chateau, and the original promotional trailer.

 ASYLUM Special Features:

•"Making of" Featurette
• "Homer" short film by Asylum director
• Original Promotional Trailer

Movie Review: Female Teacher: Dirty Afternoon (1981, Impulse Pictures)

Directed by Kichitaro Negishi
Starring Eri Kanuma, Yuki Kazamatsuri and Yuusuke Koike
Run Time: 68 minutes

A teacher, Sakiko Kurata, receives a phone call regarding one of her former students. Young Sueko is accused of being a prostitute and has requested Sakiko’s help. This little minx seduces strangers for sex, but does it for the sheer fun of it, no money required. Sakiko has moved to another town and barely remembers Sueku, but there is something about her that awakens painful memories of her own secretive past. What is that strange paint thinner smell on Sueko? Who is the man in the nylon mask that violently assaulted Sakiko many years ago? In her search for answers, Sakiko discovers that her past may have inadvertently destroyed another families future.

Movie Review: Crack Whore (2012)

Since the late 80's, when I really busted my exploitation cherry, I've been big fan of the rape-revenge sub-genre. Movies like Meir Ziarchi's original I Spit on Your Grave, MS. 45 and of course Craven's original Last House on the Left put an indelible mark into the consciousness of my fragile 12 year-old mind. To me, of all the sub-genres within the cult film world the rape-revenge flick is also the toughest to defend – even if it’s a great piece of filmmaking. Naturally, comedy and rape hasn’t always been a go-to formula. Director Lance Polland and much of the same crew that made the hilarious Bloody Bloody Bible Camp are here to change that with a classy little diddy called Crack Whore.

Movie Review: Strip Nude For Your Killer (Blu-ray, 1975)

Several years before Lucio Fulci splattered movie screens with the completely vile New York Ripper, Andrea Bianchi ( What The Peeper Saw, Burial Ground, Malabimba) had his hand in sadism cookie jar with outrageously sleazy, Strip Nude For Your Killer. As with the aforementioned New York Ripper, Blue Underground has taken the liberty of giving Bianchi giallo the high-definition attention. Did I mention the always stunning Edwige Fenech is in it? Yes, you must read on.

With a title like Strip Nude For Your Killer you better deliver ample doses of gratuitous nudity and graphic violence. Bianchi's film deliver's both! Our feature starts off appropriatly icky with a botched abortion that later takes the life of the young female patient. The openings effectively shot with a blue gel to add somewhat of a nightmare type atmosphere to the proceedings. After this horrible incident, Bianchi takes it right to tits and ass on a boat with a lecherous photographer, Carlo (Nino Castelnuovo - Camille 2000) using his camera rather aggressively to woo a curvaceous model. Aggressive tactics work for Carlo though, as soon we see Casanova hit a homerun with the model in the steam room. Too much sex already? Well, the blood does start to flow soon after, as models begin to perish at the hands of a motorcycle gear wearing slasher an a variety of ghastly ways.

Frankenhooker (Arrow, Blu-ray)

Reviewed by James DePaolo

Plot - From Frank Henenlotter, (Basket Case trilogy, Bad Biology and Brain Damage).When Jeffrey Franken’s fiancée is chopped to pieces by the blades of a lawnmower, he attempts to bring her back to life. He starts using the body parts of hookers, and resurrects her during a storm. And as fate would have it, Elizabeth goes down 42nd street as a prostitute and killing her customers.

Review - Like always if it has the Arrow Films label you know it's more than likely going to be a fine restoration. The transfer is incredible. I remember in 1990 going to a art house theater on campus at college with some friends, to see this film and walking out just all night talking about this film and how fun it was. Sad, this is the last film ex pin up girl Patty Mullen made. What a year for Frank. The re-release of Basket Case and now this. All of you ” new school” horror fans, that want something to have fun with your friends with, look no further. 21 years old, and watching this film you do not feel this film is dated. ( now Basket Case is another story) Henenlotter isn’t the only reason the film is a success. The film’s two main actors are also perfectly cast. This film just has cult classic written all over it.

Movie Review: White Slave (aka Schiave bianche: violenza in Amazzonia, 1985)

Directed by Mario Gariazzo

Reviewed by Greg Goodsell

In a Brazilian courtroom, wealthy teenage heiress Catherine Armstrong (Elvire Audray) tells of her tale of woe. Vacationing with her parents on her 18th birthday, her family is boating on the Amazon River when her mother and father are gorily dispatched by blow darts. Their ship is overrun by a fierce tribe of Amazonian headhunters, more clean-cut than your average varsity basketball team, all wearing nylon/polyester orange loincloths. Chopping off the heads of Catherine’s parents to keep as trophies, they march the birthday girl through the jungle to their tribal compound. Stripping her of her clothes and dignity, the tribesmen attune Catherine to their savage ways. Weeks turn to months, and after a year Catherine has fallen head over heels in love with the man (Will Gonzales) who decapitated her parents! It is only after a year in the tribe that Catherine learns who the true killers of her family were. (The nonsensical story does explain how two characters at the beginning of the story suddenly disappeared without reason, but little else.) Vengeance on her mind, she paddles across a small pond to civilization – and heads roll.