ANTICHRIST (2010) Movie Review

ANTICHRIST (2010)

Review Joe Johnson

ANTICHRIST, directed by Lars Von Treir, never made it to the big screen, at least at my local multiplex, and with good reason! It is difficult film to watch and therefore does little to appeal to a mass audience. Having seen the trailer for this in 2009 I was immediately excited at the prospect of seeing what looked like a pretty grim horror, somewhat of an understatement I later found out. I waited patiently for the picture to debut but it never materialized. This only added to my anticipation when I found it nestling lonely on a shelf in my local Blockbuster months later as I assumed it had been deemed too scary for cinema audiences!

Scary is not really the right word to describe ANTICHRIST. Party poppers are scary when they make you jump, ANTICHRIST is downright disturbing. It follows just two unnamed characters, a husband and wife simply referred to in the film as ‘he’ and ‘she’, played by William Defoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg respectively. At the start of the film their son falls from his bedroom window to his death, neglected by his mother and father who are getting it on in a variety of locations around the house at the time.

The couple are understandably traumatized and, in seek of some respite, they take a vacation in a deserted cabin in the middle of a forest (personally I’d have choose a sunny beach with a cocktail bar but each to their own). While exploring the forest he and she both experience odd visions and rather than becoming closer and helping each other, they actually become alienated, when they’re not romping that is! The film is, visually, a work of art and some of the images associated with death and decay are truly disturbing. A talking fox does lighten the mood, even if its monologue to Defoe is somewhat ominous.

As the film proceeds the pair become increasingly mentally unstable and ‘she’ performs unspeakable acts of genital mutilation on both herself and her once loving husband while he sleeps. These scenes are incredibly graphic and all the more harrowing, as they lack the melodramatic pomp of Hollywood hits like HOSTEL, instead presenting them in stark, full frontal reality. All the while the scenes are played out against a juxtaposing cacophony of an opera soundtrack. Even if you are a die-hard horror fan this is a difficult watch, and I find hard to fathom gaining enjoyment from watching ANTICHRIST. As an artistic, sensory experience however it is unparalleled.

LINDA LOVELACE FOR PRESIDENT (1975) Movie Review

LINDA LOVELACE FOR PRESIDENT (1975)

When factions from just about every political movement in the country become completely disgruntled with the two currently political candidates, they hold a convention of their own to nominate a suitable third party candidate. But with groups ranging from the Lets Get Back to Viet Nam Committee, the American Nazi Party, and the Group Marriage Group, it seems that no one will ever be chosen. However, on a lark (and as you’ve probably already guessed from the title) they finally go with porn star Linda Lovelace of DEEP THROAT fame.

With the blessing and guidance of her Uncle Sam, Linda and her merry crew of cross-sectioned supporters and organizers including a priest, a feminist, a flaming homosexual and a pedophile head from coast to coast in a pair of buses with a path that is quite fitting of Linda’s infamy. When Linda actually starts ranking in the polls, due in part to her very healthy one-on-one grassroots promoting, representatives from both the Democrats and Republicans team up to stop her. Their plan - hire the world’s best assassin Alfredo Fettuccini to kill her before the elections!

With Linda Lovelace standing completely nude in a very Patton-esque pose in front of an American flag, the opening text proudly proclaims “This picture is intended to offend everybody… regardless of race, creed or color.” And it does. From the psychotic and disturbed mind of “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” writer Jack Margolis comes this sketch-comedy styled political farce that plays in the same vein as THE KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE and swings for the fences to ensure that no one is left out. But in between the immature double entendres and homophobic, racist, sexist, anti-Semitic, incestuous and pedophilia-laced jokes is a jab at politics and how elections are won that seems eerily foretelling of today’s politics.

Director Claudio Guzman just barely keeps everything in some form of logical and coherent forward momentum, but leaves plenty of room for complete onscreen anarchy and commotion. Linda and company move from one five-to-ten minute bit to the next, with Linda of course losing all over clothes in each one for some full-frontal nudity and simulated softcore sex (the film was originally rated “X”), while many of her cohorts get into their own rambunctious antics including ex-Monkee Micky Dolenz as a nearsighted and neurotic bus driver. While the cast includes many comedic talents from the late sixties and early seventies, most of the acting comes off as second rate.

With over thirty years passed since its original release in 1975, the bawdy movie offers a peek back into a raunchy and unapologetic time before political correctness threatened to make offensive humor a relic of the past or at least neuter it to the being pointless at its best or hipster-ironic at its worst. While it may have ruffled a few feathers back in the day for the most part everyone who saw it seemed to get the joke - in a world where everything is offensive, is anything actually offensive?

LINDA LOVELACE FOR PRESIDENT would mark the last screen appearance for Linda Lovelace, whose real name is Linda Boreman, save for archive footage that was recycled through the eighties. Lovelace, who died in 2002, would later go on to write two books alleging she was forced to participate in pornography. While Linda’s life may not have had the happiest ending, there is no doubt that she still retains a legion of fans, who will be thrilled to know that this hard-to-find title has finally been released on DVD.

PAPAYA: LOVE GODDESS OF THE CANNIBALS Movie Review

PAPAYA:
LOVE GODDESS OF THE CANNIBALS (1978)

In the Caribbean, Vincent, the designer for a nuclear power plant that is being built on a small island, along with a reporter named Sara who is on vacation, cross paths, and their past desires for each other are rekindled. This passion is doubled when a local native named Papaya takes them on a journey of uninhibited sexuality as she tries to persuade Vincent not to build the power plant, and becomes filled with lust for Sara. Vincent and Sara also become witnesses to a secret yearly voodoo ceremony in Papaya’s village. While Sara becomes a strong believer in Papaya’s cause, Vincent holds steady on his determination to build the plant, and the villagers have to make a decision as to what will become of the unwelcome presence of the white man.

Read my full review at The DVD Lounge!

INTIMATE CONFESSIONS OF A CHINESE COURTESAN Movie Review

INTIMATE CONFESSIONS
OF A CHINESE COURTESAN (1972)

In the snowy mountains of China lies a brothel run by the iron-fisted Lady Chun, where girls who have been kidnapped are brought and sold into a life of sex and servitude. Among the latest batch of girls is the fiery and wild Ainu, who refuses to accept her ill fate and tries desperately to escape time and time again. Chun, whose reputation as a lesbian and a hater of men is legendary, becomes instantly infatuated with Ainu and uses all her resources to break her, including auctioning off Ainu’s virginity to a group of wealthy and salacious men.

With Ainu’s spirit finally broken and her newfound life accepted, Chun begins to bathe Ainu with lavish gifts and training in both pleasure and martial arts in hopes of winning her heart. While at first Ainu seems all to willing to accept her gifts and training, it is all in an effort to position herself so that she may unleash her brutal acts of revenge. Her first targets include the very men who bid upon her, but her ultimate plan includes bringing down Lady Chun using what Chun desires most - Ainu’s love. Her plan culminates with a desperate attack on the brothel using her newly mastered martial arts skill, and only when the snow-covered ground is stained red with blood will she feel satisfied!

Read my full review on Geeks Of Doom!

RICA Movie Review

RICA (1972)

Born a half-breed, the result of her mother being raped by an American G.I. in post-WWII, Rica’s life has been filled with nothing but taunts and misery. Her anger leads her straight into gang life, where she quickly becomes the leader of her own gang. But when she is arrested during a fight, and thrown into reform school, the rest of her gang is kidnapped by the local yakuza who plan to sell them to Americans now stationed in Vietnam. When Rica learns of the outrage, she busts out of the reform school to try and buy back her friends’ freedom. Rica is given just half a day to raise three million yen, and although she miraculously finds the money, she just misses the deadline set by the yakuza boss. It seems that all hope is lost for her friends, who are now boxed up in crates on a cargo ship. But Rica is determined to get her friends back, even if that means aligning herself with a rival gang leader, and dancing in the yakaza’s night club!

With Toei’s near stranglehold on the "pinky violence" genre in the late sixties and early seventies with their popular DELINQUENT GIRL BOSS, TERRIFYING GIRLS’ HIGH SCHOOL, and CRIMINAL WOMAN among many others keeping theatergoers enthralled with their mix of sex and crime, rival studio Toho wanted to get in on the action, and thus the RICA series was born. Their choice for starring lead was first time actress Rika Aoki, who herself was a mixed-race woman (the alternate title for the film is aptly named RIKA THE MIXED-BLOOD GIRL) and towered over all those around her to begin with, and that was before putting her in a pair of go-go boots. Rika Aoki may not have the beauty of her actress rivals over at Toei, but her ability bare all (and sing the movie’s theme song!) was no less impaired. But Rika Aoki truly comes alive during her many fight sequences, with a fire burning behind her eyes and a force behind her kicks.

Director Ko Nakahira brings a dizzying and breakneck speed pace to the film, and offering up an truly insane amount of content to digest in the span of the film’s ninety-five minute running time. At times the jumps from one scene to another are ludicrous, and it takes nearly half the scene to catch up to what is happening, before being thrown into the next scene and starting all over. Ko Nakahira must have clearly seen a slew of current pinky violence movies before jumping behind this project, as he tries to get a little bit of everything into the picture. Ko Nakahira had over twenty films under his belt, mostly dealing with crime and exploitation, when he made RICA, and clearly wanted to deliver to a rabid audience and take advantage of the lax movie regulations.

On the violence side, Rica stands against a girl gang in the reform school, hold her own against a yakuza gang, brawls on board a ship with the rest of her gang, and thats just for starters. While the choreography and believability of the sequences leaves much to be desired, there is a certain charm and energy that can not be resisted. Ko Nakahira delivers up everything but the kitchen sink in scene after scene of colorfully clothed combatants with a riveting jazz soundtrack ripping along underneath. And of course there is the copious amounts of blood spraying whenever someone is shot, stabbed, or has their hand garishly removed with a dull knife!

On the pinky side, things get quite rough for Rica and her female compatriots. Rika Aoki unapologetically sheds her clothes in multiple sequences, and many of the sex scenes are nothing more than rape. Both Rica’s conception and loss of virginity are played out as the ugly and violent acts they are (and the only saving grace of the scenes) and much of the nudity is via forced strip. There is no sense of arousal for these scenes, which at least shows that Ko Nakahira has moral courage to treat the material properly, and those that are responsible for the attacks all get their comeuppance.

While Ko Nakahira delivers up standard exploitation fare through the film, what sets RICA apart from the crowd is its nasty anti-American sentiment, with a particular sting at the military occupation in Japan and the then-current Vietnam War. G.I.s are set-up as nothing more than power-hungry rapists who take women when they want them, or buy them like property. In one particular sequence, a young soldier is even killed by M.P.s when he tries to escape from being shipped out to Vietnam. This is of course after he gets a chance to spout off about how he is just being shipped off to die.

RICA feels like a condense version of two or three films, that have been stripped down to the best (and in some cases worst) sequences, with the shoestring budget hidden beneath its breakneck speed. As an entry into the pinky violence genre, it falls pretty much flat in the middle. It is certainly not the first film you’d want to seek out, but if you’re looking for something that takes a little effort to find, and have already torn through everything that Panik House has released in the US over the past few years, this is the series to go to next. Fortunately for you, RICA is currently available on DVD (and ready to pick up on Amazon), courtesy of Exploitation Digital. Check it out, and bask in the sleaze that is 70’s Japanese cinema.

THE KILLER SNAKES (1974) Movie & DVD Review

THE KILLER SNAKES (1974)

Poor Zhihong has spent his entire life being beat up and humiliated, and now lives in squalor in one of Hong Kong's rundown neighborhoods. His only true friend is Xiujuan, a young woman who runs a street vendor stall. Zhihong is too shy to ask her out, and unbeknownst to him, she is equally too shy to ask him out. One night, a wounded snake from a delicacy restaurant next door, slithers into Zhihong's apartment. Zhihong nurses the snake back to health, and realizes that he has an almost telepathic connection to the snake. He soon rescues more snakes from certain death in the restaurant, and builds up an army of reptilian friends to confide in.
One day, while delivering food for his new job, a street gang attacks Zhihong and steals his monthly wages. His boss doesn't believe Zhihong's story and fires him. And on top of that, Zhihong is stood up by Xiujuan, whom he had asked out just hours before. He finally decides to get back at all those who have humiliated and beaten him, and sets out with his snakes in tow to kill them all! Soon, gang members and prostitutes are falling dead left and right, but how long will it take for the authorities to track the slayings back to Zhihong?

Read my full review at Geeks Of Doom

THE TEACHER Movie Review

THE TEACHER (1974)

School is out for summer, and Sean is planning on to spend the months before college getting his van working, and lounging by his pool. His former teacher and neighbor Diane, though, has different plans for Sean and sets out to finally seduce him. And with Diane's smoking hot body and expertise in getting what she wants, she has no difficulty luring Sean into her bed. For the two of them, the summer should be nothing more than quickie romps and afternoons in Diane's boat, but trouble is lurking in the shadows in the form of a demented former Vietnam soldier, Ralph, who is completely obsessed with Diane and on top of that blames Sean for his brother's death. The summer sun is heating things up, but only two of these three will make it to see September!

This is essentially a seventies porno film without the money shots. The underlying sleazy feel and heat is radiated in every scene, and almost every single scene has the potential to branch off into some wild and dirty sex. The entire female cast spends most of the movie in a bikini, or at least some very revealing and suggestive attire, and the dialogue is riddled with innuendo and desires.


Diane, played by Angel Tompkins, takes her top off in almost every scene she is, and it is her steamy moves and gorgeous body that is the main reason to even watch this film, along with the added bonus of the classic fantasy of the teacher/student affair. She may not be believable as anyone you'd see at a chalkboard, but as the older woman hunting down some teenage man meat, she's got that down to a science. Jay North, who played Dennis The Menace as a kid in the fifties, takes on Sean in one of his final roles.

The tension is brought to their affair by Ralph, whose constantly follows Diane around, and hopes that one day she will return the love he has for her. His subplot is a bit at odds with the romantic affair and Sean's changing into a "man", and often detracts from the sex scenes as he pops up in windows at just the right time. If writer and director Howard Avedis was trying to bring anything to the screen past some taboo-breaking lusting and raincoat entertainment for the 42nd Street crowd, one could almost see Ralph as the flip side to Sean's attractiveness and vulnerability, or a comment on the mental damage done to the soldiers. As it stands, Ralph merely brings just the extra oomph of sleaze.

There's not much going for THE TEACHER, save as a reminder of just how far erotic and seductive entertainment has come over the years. For those that prefer sexual imagination and DEBBIE DOES DALLAS to Jenna Jameson's latest release, this is just the time travel ticket to a more innocent time. This movie is part of double-feature in the new "Welcome To The Grindhouse" line, and available on Amazon right now!

THE GLAMOROUS LIFE OF SACHIKO HANAI Review

THE GLAMOROUS LIFE OF
SACHIKO HANAI (2003)

After being shot in the head, prostitute Sachiko awakens to find herself consumed to learn and digest the works of the great philosophers and thinkers from Socrates to Nietzsche. And on top of that, whenever she begins to explore these thoughts in her head, she becomes compelled to have sex with the closest person, or merely satisfy herself if no one is in arm reach. At first this works out just fine, as she moves in with professor and his wife under the false pretense that she is there to tutor their son. But when she discovers that she is also in possession of a cloned finger of George W. Bush, whose fingerprint can be used to launch a nuclear assault, and that spies from North Korea are after it, her simple life as a sex worker is about to reach metaphysical proportions!

Lulled in by a psychedelic poster with an irrestistable pose and costume worn by main actress Emi Kuroda (which she doesn’t even wear!), I was quite disappointed to find that this movie was nothing more than a bland Japanese softcore "pink movie" with infinite disgust for Bush and the power that he wields.

Star Emi Kuroda, who makes her debut here as Sachiko, has almost nothing to offer whether she is standing on her two feet or lying on her back. Sure, she’ll fix the desire of anyone with "yellow fever", but aside from that the scenes are fairly bland and uninspiring. I was surprised at just how much sex and how many sex scenes take up the eighty-five minute running time, and that most of the storyline is merely a way for the characters to get to the sex (and yes, every main character with lines gets to have sex with Sachiko at least once) . And while the sex itself safely stays in the land of softcore, the multiple money shots are quite graphic and surprisingly out of place.

What is most excellent though, is the vile hatred and the absolute disrespect director Mitsuru Meike and writer Takao Nakano have for George W. Bush. Created in 2003 at the beginning of the Iraq War, the pair mercilessly rip into the overlord role Bush has taken over the world, and the limitless military power he has at his fingertips. It is this fingertip (which is bright "Republican" red with an American flag painted on the fingernail) that starts all of the problems of the movie. In a reminiscent nod to Ash’s severed hand, the finger has a mind of its own and gets into as much trouble as a finger can (which in the company of a prostitute is quite a bit!). Bush, who naturally speaks Japanese in the film and is portrayed by an actor wearing a life-size photo of Bush’s face, is also quite naughty when in control of the finger. And his famous "Mission Accomplished" speech which is re-written here to something more accurate to his thoughts, is almost worth sitting through forty minutes of dull sex to get to.

Sadly, I can’t really recommend this to anyone, and more frustrating, I can’t figure out what audiance this movie is going after. There is a lot more "pink" cinema out there with more vibrant scenes than featured here, and the insane storyline here, which should be its driving force to bring in fans of the bizarre, is absolutely wasted. Ten minutes of inspired Bush-bashing simply is not enough to get this movie out the endless glut of generic softcore flicks.

Explore the "Welcome To The Grindhouse" DVD line

WELCOME TO THE GRINDHOUSE

It has become no secret that the Weinstein brothers have decided to release DEATH PROOF and PLANET TERROR in separate DVD packages, and at this point there has been no word that how the select few who made it to U.S. theatres to see the two as the double-bill GRINDHOUSE will ever get to see it exactly like that again.

With the term "grindhouse" now back in chic as a catch all term to mean basically anything made on a low budget before 1982, DVD companies have been scouring public domain titles and blurry third generation bootleg VHS tapes to compile into multi-disc collections under umbrellas like "Grindhouse Trash" and "Grindhouse Horror"

One of these companies BCI / Eclipse. BCI, however, is going straight for the jugular of Harvey's fat neck. Their double-feature series is called "Welcome To The Grindhouse", an obvious zing to the horribly misconstrued trailer advertisement for GRINDHOUSE, as well as a blood red font to mimic GRINDHOUSE's poster tag, and a DVD cover with a remarkably similar "theatre front" design that some may have seen on display in your movie theatres right around April 6th.

Things get worse, as in better, from here for those chubby money grubbing ex-Miramaxers. Starting up one of BCI's DVDs, you'll get a scratchy-print camera pan-across the title "Welcome To The Grindhouse" (once again recalling distant memories of April 6th). The DVD menus allow for watching either movie seperately, or a third luring choice - The Grindhouse Experience.

Choosing this third option, and my humble opinion the *only* option, will bring a smile and a tear to pretty much everyone out there. It starts off with the beautiful and beat-to-hell "Prevues" card, followed by several trailers for other titles soon to be released by BCI. Next of course is the "Feature Presentation" and the first film. A second batch of trailers follows, and then second feature presentation. All without having to touch your DVD remote once. Oh, it is glorious! You may want to pour soda and few kernels of popcorn on your floor to complete the experience.

BCI also does right with not only their film selections, but how they package them. Each disc has a double-bill theme from black magic horror to sexploitation, kung fu to grizzly slasher. Most of these films, coming from the Crown International library, are also seeing either a DVD debut or are seeing print once again for the first time since early in the digital format's life. BCI also has made the choice to do zero clean-up on the prints, preserving the really-real print scratches and blemishes, frame jumps, and splotchy audio. It lowers the disc production costs and in the process somehow makes these movies more authentic or important than they really are. Most of the titles at this point, save for the Sonny Chiba titles and maybe DON'T ANSWER THE PHONE, you'll probably never have heard of before.

All said and done, this is basically BCI giving the middle finger to two schlubs who had allowed two life-long fans of cinema to re-create and bring back the "movie experience" but through pure stupidity and bad advertising forgot to bring the audience. BCI now invites you with welcome arms to put on your raincoat, buy a bag of stale popcorn and some warm soda, and sit back to enjoy the feature presentations.

SEX AND FURY (1973) Movie Review

Last week, I brought you an intro to Pinky Violence genre with the easy-to-swallow DELINQUENT GIRL BOSS: WORTHLESS TO CONFESS. Now it is time for the real deal with...

SEX AND FURY (1973)

It is the turn of the twentieth century. Legendary gambler and master thief Ocho (Reiko Ike) has been wandering and hunting for the unknown killers of her detective father for twenty years now. When a request by a dying card dealer brings her back to Tokyo, she finds herself partnering with Shinosuke, a leftist anarchist who has been fighting against a powerful right wing group with yakuza origins. As Ocho watched her father die as a child, he gave her a clue to the identities of the killer - a deer, a boar, and a butterfly. When Shinosuke reveals that one of the political leaders, a lecherous man with a fetish for virgins, has a deer tattooed on his back, Ocho is certain that this is one of the men she is searching for. But these yakuza politicians have several cards up their sleeve. One of which are several British agents, including the beautiful Christina (Christina Lindberg of THRILLER: A CRUEL PICTURE) who secretly has ties to Shinosuke, and a much more personal connection to Ocho than she could realize!

By 1973, many of Japan's major studios were desperately trying to fight against the rising popularity of television by featuring that which could not be found on the small screen. SEX AND FURY (the English title essentially tells you exactly what you are getting) is filled to the brim with arterial-gushing bloodshed that matches and possibly exceeds the then current LONE WOLF AND CUB series and boundary breaking softcore sex scenes of both the consensual and non-consensual variety. Coupled together with a splash of lowbrow humor to easy some of the more tense scenes, and this becomes a prime example and highly enjoyable entry into Japanese exploitation outings.

Director Norifumi Suzuki, who was an old hat in this exploitation genre-bender that had been dubbed Pinky Violence and was the force behind several of the better entries, brings an artistic and experimental eye to a picture that was meant to do nothing more than shock and titillate. Under Suzuki's trained eye, the opening action sequence is a brilliant primer of things to come, and one of the more inspired sequences in early 70's Japanese cinema. In it, Ocho is caught unawares while bathing by almost a dozen yakuza gamblers set on killing her. Instead, she jumps out of the tub, grabs her sword, and completely nude dispatches the entire group. The fight sequence, shown mostly in slow motion and edited just enough to prove that Reiko Ike really is nude and really is doing the fighting, eventually stumbles out into a snowy evening. By the end of the fight, Ocho is covered in blood, the snow is stained red, and several severed limbs litter the ground.

Suzuki would continue with these highly stylized fight sequences and set ups throughout the picture, bringing inventive camera work, brightly colored set pieces and costumes, and some odd musical choices to several of the movie's more lurid and shocking sequences, giving them a quality that is just outside reality. Suzuki saves the best for the final sequence of the film, as Ocho fights against the remaining yakuza henchmen, aided by a very out of leftfield rock-jazz fusion guitar solo. Here, Ocho is hoisted up to the same pedestal of invulnerability as Lady Snowblood and the Lone Wolf, as she suffers multiple wounds without slowing down. One of the final shots, and certainly the most beautiful, has Ocho hallucinating that the falling snowflakes are playing cards. It is an artistic high to a rollercoaster of a ride.

In the front car of that ride is Rieko Ike, who made her fame for Toei in many of their girl gang pictures, and Christina Lindberg, seen here pre-THRILLER and brought in for her name recognition as a Swedish sexploitation star. Ike gives her role the icy strength the character needs, and relishes in the performance. Her ability to be both beautiful and deadly, and carry both the sex and violence scenes successfully, made her a perfect choice for Ocho. For fans of exploitation though, Lindberg needs no introduction and her "performance" here will make this movie a necessity. Lindberg is on hand here to give the sex scenes the prowess they need, and is the featured performer in most of them. For the bondage inclined, Lindberg dresses in buckskin and whips a chained and bruised Ike in the later part of the film. When she is not in bed, Lindberg's stilted English dialogue and costumes straight out of romance manga offer up yet another delirious step outside of reality.

As with many of the pinky violence films, this one offers just about everything a film can give, and while some of the more harsh scenes will turn away the timid, experienced patrons will eat up the wild array on display. This is one of those highly visual pictures that description just does not do justice, and must be seen to truly appreciate. Ocho is a fantastic character, given a depth that is not handed out often, and a performer that is a joy to watch in every sense of the word. She would return later that year in the sequel FEMALE YAKUZA TALE.

Pick up SEX AND FURY on Amazon today. You won't regret it!

GOING TO PIECES (2006) Movie Review

GOING TO PIECES (2006)

Produced for the Starz cable channel, and based in part on the book, Going Tp Pieces: The Rise and Fall Of The Slasher Genre, 1978-1986 by Adam Rockoff, this is part Slasher 101 for those who have not waded very deep into these waters, and part Greatest Kills compilation for those who have been swimming here for a while.

The documentary kicks off with a look at the seminal proto-slasher, PSYCHO, and all the lavish praise it fully deserves. From there, it jumps forward to a dissection of HALLOWEEN and the template for modern horror that the film inadvertently created - teens in peril, a masked killer, POV shots, low-budget, creepy music. It flows smoothly into the release of FRIDAY THE 13th, and the stakes that film played on the 80's, from graphic gore (Tom Savini and his effects get some great screen time) to the "holiday" setting.

When FRIDAY THE 13th started to rake in the cash, it was a mere matter of months before a slew of knock-offs, cash-in's and sequels began to take hold in the early 80's. Films noted here include PROM NIGHT, SLEEPAWAY CAMP, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME and MY BLOODY VALENTINE among countless others.

It is here that the documentary begins to take a look at the effect the slasher/horror genre had on society at the time, the misconceptions of what the genre meant and brought to the screen, and how the genre became another cog in the money-making machine that was go-go greedy 80's. Archival footage of Siskel & Ebert are shown as the two discuss the demerits of the genre, particularly in the way they believed the genre viewed women. They completely fail to notice how it is only women who seem capable of dispatching the antagonist, or that men seem to meet their maker much more often than women.

Much like music had to bow to the power of "Explicit Lyrics" by the power of uninformed moms, so too did the slasher film factory. When SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT began its marketing campaign, the killer, who is dressed as Santa Claus, is prominently promoted. Mothers took the streets picketing theatres and making calls demanding that the film be pulled, because of the harm it could do to the Santa Claus mythos. The marketing was quickly pulled, and the film was basically buried. It was a move that already marked the beginning of the end for the splatter and chaos that was flying across the screen.

By 1984, audiences were looking for something different. Enter Wes Craven, and his almost universally rejected and almost un-produced NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. Before this, films were set in familiar places to the viewer, be it camps, dorms or suburbia, but now it was your dreams that were not safe. The film was an smash, and kept the genre going for a few more great years.

All things must come to a close though, and as the 80 crept into its last years, so too did the slasher genre. The 80's was a decade of greed, and these low-budget features were the perfect product to churn out again and again. Sequels became retreads of previous material, the great icons were become tired and watered down, and merchandise was flooding the market. By 1991, when SILENCE OF THE LAMBS became a huge success and swept the Oscars, no one dared to label it a horror film, due to the stigma attached to the term. Instead, it was a psychological thriller. Nevermind the fact that the boiled down premise is a serial killer is murdering and skinning women, and eventually comes in contact with the film's heroine who stops him.

GOING TO PIECES finishes off with a look at SCREAM and its undeniable influence and revitalization on the horror genre. Again, imitators and cash-in films such as I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER and URBAN LEGEND are looked at, as well as stars that are attached to the film. Before, horror was where new talent broke in to the industry and quickly shaked free of the genre, TV stars were now advancing into horror. The documentary finishes off with a glimpse into today's horror fans, the films that are flooding the market, and speculation as to where the genre is going next.

GOING TO PIECES is a slick, face-paced documentary that tries to cram too much into its 90 minute running time. Most diehard fans that may come across this will probably say in their head after each segment "What about...?" and they are right to do so. Had this been a multi-part mini-series that could take the time to really concentrate and flesh out each segment, it would have been more successful in its approach. The talent attached to this though, is what will really draw in the horror crowd here. John Carpenter, Wes Craven, Sean S. Cunningham, Tom Savini, Betsy Palmer, Felissa Rose (the "girl" from SLEEPAWAY CAMP), Rob Zombie and many others all make poignant commentary on the genre.

As mentioned before, GOING TO PIECES does not skimp on the clips. Half of this documentary is basically a highlights reel of incredible set-ups and kill scenes from all your favorite franchises and a few not-so-well known flicks. Starz is to be commended for not pulling any punches here, and showing some really graphic carnage. The only downside to this is that none of the clips are marked as to what movie they are from, so for instance if you happen to be intrigued by the girl being chainsawed in half and have not already seen PIECES, you would have no idea where it is from.

The final product here is a worthy rental for the entertaining interviews and to maybe catch a few film names that you may have either missed or dismissed, and may need to finally see for archival purposes. If you are a little unfamiliar with the genre, this is a good cheat-sheet to take notes from, so the next time your friends are talking about the double impaling in FRIDAY THE 13th Part 2, you can chime in about how it was stolen from BAY OF BLOOD. However, like many of the films it documents here, GOING TO PIECES is good for about one watch to fill some time on a Saturday night.

FASTER, PUSSYCAT! KILL! KILL! (1965) Movie Review

FASTER, PUSSYCAT! KILL! KILL! (1965)

A trio of ultra-busty vixens have taken a trip into the desert, each behind the wheel of a screaming-fast hot rod for a little adventure and excitement. There, they come across an amateur driver doing time trials. Lead pussycat Varla challenges him to a race. When the racer accuses Varla of cheating, she simply beats him to death. The three women then drug the racer's girlfriend, and head off to an isolated farm to lie low, and hopefully discover the whereabouts a hidden cache of money belonging to the old man who lives there. Though old, this wretched cod shows that he is the embodiment of misogyny. But his two sons, one a hulking and silent muscle-bound brute and the other a sly-talking weakling, will become the targets of the sexually-charged and strong-willed women. These men have never met the likes of Varla, Haji and Billie, and it is quite unlikely they'll ever meet anyone like them again!

Director Russ Meyer, whose obsession with huge-breasted women helped to carve a niche for himself in cinema that will last an eternity, is a reigning king of trash movies and this has become his cherry example of all that is excellent in a Meyer picture. Beyond his cartoonish approach to violence and his obvious respect for the power that women's will and sexuality have over men is his brilliant use of photography. Meyer was a WWII combat cameraman and professional photographer before turning to movies, and his sheer mastery of black and white images is phenomenal. Even forty years later, FASTER PUSSYCAT! KILL! KILL! still contains some of the best uses of the film stock since its release, and a well preserved print or restored home release will prove to be a testament to his focus, clarity, and ability to suggest fluid motion with very little actual movement. It is not with a hint of glee that camerawork worthy of study and praise is found in a film that champions bad taste and carnal excitement.

And who is to be thanks for this carnal excitement? It is the three antagonist heroes Varla, Haji, and Billie. Meyer brought in Tura Satana (whose poster image has become synonymous with the movie itself) to lead his gang as Varla. She is by far the most vicious of the three, whose violent instincts are the only thing more tough than her sexual innuendos. Single-named Haji stars as Rosie, a curious blend of Italian and Mexican eroticism, and supplies a hidden lesbian undertone for the film with her loyalty to Varla. Haji would go on to become a regular in Meye's future pictures. Lori Williams comes in as Billie, a happy-go-lucky buxom blonde that comes as close to a real life "Barbie" as the screen has ever seen. Together these three women become a trifecta of danger that no man can hope to withstand.

Meyer's sets up against them a polar opposite trifecta of male incompetence in the family that the three women hole up with. There is The Old Man, a wheelchair bound (read as the "power" of the penis has been taken away) woman-hater who must use snarling words and violence to try and recoup is power. The Vegetable, a blonde-haired muscular brute with absolutely no brains to speak of, who only has his good looks and impossible strength to defend himself from the wills of his newly arrived female oppressors. And finally there is Kirk, who believes he can reason with the women, unaware they are playing him like a harp. Each of these three men become a living part of the male id, and each are created as being much less than women. And that is the draw to Meyer. Despite the on-the-surface sensationalizing of the female form, Meyer is a feminist, and even more so believes that they are the superior of the sexes. Meyer has been quoted as saying "the girls kick the hell out of the guys."

Much to the surprise of those who see FASTER PUSSYCAT! KILL! KILL! for the first time, the film contains no nudity. The closest Meyer gets is a shot of Williams' back when she is showering. Though this was done to avoid being hit by the censors at the time, it also alludes to the fact that sometimes less is more. This also applies to the actual on screen violence that is shown, and goes back to Meyer's ability as a cameraman and director. He is able to suggest much more than is actually seen, and allows the human mind to fill in the blanks.

Upon its initial release, the film did only moderate business and faded out just as quickly. Meyer became widely known with the release of VIXEN in 1968, teamed up with Roger Ebert in seventies on three screenplays (Ebert's only official screenwriting credits) that Meyer would also direct. FASTER PUSSYCAT! KILL! KILL! (The title being a reference to speed, sex, and violence) would go on to become a cult film in revival theatres and art houses, and gained further reach when John Waters wrote that it was "...the best movie ever made. It is possibly better than any film that will be made in the future". Whether that is true or not remains to be seen, but so far he is pretty damn close.