Favourite Five Series: Something Weird Video Triple Features

This is it, my final Stepping Into Something Weird and The Films of Michael Findlay post! This has genuinely been the most fun I have ever had doing a feature for Goregirl’s Dungeon! Seventy-five Something Weird titles watched and nineteen Something Weird DVDs added to my personal collection; a collection I intend to grow. I look forward to continuing my journey through the rest of Something Weird Video’s catalog in the months and years to come. I hope I was able to turn you on to some of these gorgeous grindhouse gems and early exploitation extravaganzas!

Thank you to my good friend and Co-host David Arrate over at My Kind of Story and My Kind of Story Images for his contributions and assistance during Stepping into Something Weird and The Films of Michael Findlay.

Let us just get right down to business here shall we? Here is My Favourite Five Something Weird Video Triple Features! All five of the triple features on this list should be in every single exploitation fans collection!

The Touch of her Flesh/The Curse of her Flesh/The Kiss of her Flesh

Michael Findlay’s Flesh trilogy received my highest combined rating of all the triple features on this list. The Curse of Her Flesh received a perfect rating and made my favourite five something weird films (part two), The Kiss of Her Flesh was not far behind with a 4.5/5 and The Touch of Her Flesh a 3.5/5 for a combined 13. The trilogy follows weapons expert Richard Jennings who flips a switch after catching his voluptuous wife in bed with another man and goes on a three film killing spree where numerous broads (and a few men too) are killed in a number of creative ways that include various weapons, poison and a booby-trapped dildo! The Touch of Her Flesh seems so conservative in comparison to The Curse of Her Flesh and The Kiss of Her Flesh but all three are an absolute shitload of fun! I can say the same thing about this entire trilogy that I said about The Curse of Her Flesh; outrageous, nasty, hilarious, naughty, sleazy, entertaining brilliance! Having seen six Findlay efforts offered through Something Weird Video I can say with confidence that Findlay is one of the most outrageous and entertaining directors in their library! I said it before and I am going to said again right freaking now; every film on this list is a must have for exploitation fans but none of them more so than Michael Findlay’s Flesh trilogy!

For more images from The Touch of Her Flesh click here.

For more images from The Curse of Her Flesh click here.

For more images from The Kiss of Her Flesh click here.

Taken from the Something Weird Video Website:

Get ready to be Shocked and Appalled with an All Out Assault on Humanity! Here’s the infamous “Flesh Trilogy,” three of the most outrageously insane Sexploitation Sickies of the 60s from husband and wife filmmakers Michael and Roberta Findlay which mix sex and violence into a malignant cocktail still potent today.

The madness starts with The Touch of Her Flesh where Richard Jennings discovers his wife Claudia in bed with another man, goes berserk, and is promptly hit by a car. In a classic case of overreaction, the now-crippled Jennings not only vows revenge on his wife but on all women everywhere, slaughtering strippers, hookers and go-go girls in a series of psycho killings which climax with a lovely little buzzsaw beheading.

Next Jennings extends The Curse of Her Flesh to the man he caught with Claudia as well as “everyone connected with him,” leading to murders by machete, a poisoned cat’s paw, and even a lethal G-string!

Finally in The Kiss of Her Flesh, Jennings fights the ultimate Battle of the Sexes with a tire iron, blowtorch, and, believe it or not, a lobster claw. Yipes! Hilariously depraved, deranged, disturbing, and definitely not part of our PC-world, here are three gruesome gems sure to make your jaw hit the floor!

Special Features
• Original Findlay Trailers for The Curse of Her Flesh, Satan’s Bed, The Touch of Her Flesh and The Ultimate Degenerate
• Gallery of Sick Sixties Sex Stills with Audio Oddities

Submission/Vibrations/Fluctuations

This triple feature was a no-brainer for the list. It contains two films that I gave a perfect rating to and made my favourite five Something Weird Video lists part one and part two! Submission is a little tale about an infantile woman named Vickie and her violent criminal boyfriend Barry who keeps her submissive with toys, candy and sex while bumping off and robbing rich broads. The unique and spellbinding Submission also received the full review treatment. Vibrations is about the complicated relationship between two sisters with an incestuous past; a sexy, well-acted masterpiece! The weak link in this trilogy being Fluctuations. Fluctuations had me hypnotized for the first 15 minutes, than it started to get tedious, and tedium turned to irritation and irritation turned to anger and then I wanted to take the disk out and stomp on it 40 or 50 times and then set it on fire. And then I remembered that Submission and Vibrations were on the same disc so I didn’t. It has a sound loop of two people having sex and the woman sounds like she has asthma and every 8 or 9 minutes or so a male voice says “I’m cumming”. It is the sort of thing you would put on to torture someone. In fact, the only reason I would ever put Fluctuations on ever again is if I was torturing a man in my apartment. And I’ll tell ya one thing, I’d be taping headphones to the bastards ears so I didn’t have to listen to it. On the plus side some of the imagery is interesting briefly and Findlay favourite Kim Lewid is in it. Submission and Vibrations are so freaking brilliant I could not possibly leave this trio off the list; despite the inclusion of Fluctuations. You can look at Fluctuations as a historical curio, or endurance test; whatever. You are buying this set for Vibrations and Submission. Do it now! SUBMIT! SUBMIT! SUBMIT!

For more images from Submission click here.

For more images from Vibrations click here.

For more images from Fluctuations click here.

Taken from the Something Weird Video Website:

It’s a triple bill of sexploitation skin and sin mixing Joe Sarno sophistication with sleaze and schlock, exactly as they played Times Square back in 1970!

Good VIBRATIONS go in ultra-kink when sex-happy Julia moves in with her uptight young sister and becomes irresistibly drawn to a next-door storage room where mistress Georgia holds nightly orgies with an oddball sex cult. Armed with a giant joy buzzer, Georgia likes to turn herself on, turn her fiends on and, ultimately, turn Julia and her sister on: “I specialize in pleasure. Pleasure so intense, it’s akin to torment, exquisite torment…” An offbeat, psychologically twisted skinflick from the always excellent Joe Sarno!

Plus: The kink-a-thon continues with FLUCTUATIONS, a Bizarre don’t-even try-to-make-sense-of-it bombardment of sexual imagery that plays like stream of-consciousness from a degenerate: threesomes, foursomes, lesbians, bondage, hair-whipping(!) and, believe it or not, even kung-fu. Avant garde masterpiece or pure gutter trash? Perhaps both…

AND: A psycho sex-fiend keeps his infantile girlfriend Vicky (Jennifer Welles) in SUBMISSION with candy bars, toys and, yes, hot wax. But when they plan on killing a wealthy lesbian, Vicky discovers she likes a woman’s touch and plans a nasty surprise for her boneheaded boyfriend.

Special Features
• Digitally Remastered!
• Bonus Deleted Scenes: 7 minutes of never-before-seen footage deleted form the final cut of SUBMISSION
• Gallery of Sick Sixties Sex Stills with Audio Oddities!
• Total running time: Over 3 1/2 hours of Grindhouse guignol!

Olga’s House of Shame/White Slaves of Chinatown/Olga’s Dance Hall Girls

Olga’s House of Shame is one of those films I always instantly associate with Something Weird Video. For years I have meant to watch it and for some unexplainable reason just never did. It was the first set during this feature that I added to my personal collection and it was worth every last penny too! I enjoyed the hell out of all three of these films. I actually re-watched the entire trio a week back. On my initial watch I was all about Olga’s Dance Hall Girls. It does after all have a Satan worship subplot and two of my favourite goddesses of exploitation; Uta Erickson and Linda Boyce! What it is missing; and this is important, is Audrey Campbell who plays Olga in all three of Joseph P. Mawra’s films. Dance Hall Girl’s director is unknown and for some strange reason this unknown director decided not to use Ms. Campbell. I didn’t mind Lucy Eldredge as Olga but she is certainly no Audrey Campbell! I still enjoyed the film but on a re-watch I felt even more warmly towards White Slaves of Chinatown and Olga’s House of Shame. Audrey Campbell is a solid actress as she proves in both Sin in the Suburbs and One Naked Night (not an SWV film) and she brings something special to this series that should not have been replaced by anybody. The three films are done in a sort of documentary style with narration and in some cases a wee bit of improvised dialog. The series is exploitative to be sure, but didn’t entirely live up to its bad-ass reputation; the idea and themes are nastier than the actual execution. That said the imagery is incredibly memorable. Some of my most popular tumblr posts have been for these films. I must give a thousand thanks to my tumblrgasmic friend over at the aptly named Olga’s House of Shame who generously reblogged many of my Olga sets. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU OLGA’S HOUSE OF SHAME! The bad-ass Olga tortures, blackmails, hooks on drugs and prostitutes countless young damsels over the course of the films. So many of my favourite exploitation godesses turn up like the aforementioned Erickson and Boyce and my girl Gigi Darlene is here getting her blonde ass in trouble again! Audrey Campbell’s co-star Judy Young who plays her daughter Kathy in Sin in the Suburbs has a feature role in Olga’s House of Shame! Young’s character Elaine is tortured mercilessly before Olga molds her into her Doppelganger! How could you Olga?! She’s your own daughter! Another absolutely positively must own trio that also features my very favourite supplements of any of the triple features listed here!

For more images from Olga’s House of Shame click here.

For more images from White Slaves of Chinatown click here.

For more images from Olga’s Dance Hall Girls click here.

Taken from the Something Weird Video Website:

Meet Olga: a woman who “possessed a mind so warped she made sadism a full-time business,” and the maniacal character in five of the most notorious, hilariously twisted sexploitation films from the sic, sick sixties.

In the first of the series, Olga uses pot parties and comic-book violence to turn Gigi Darlene and other female captives into her WHITE SLAVES OF CHINATOWN before putting them to work as drug-addicted hookers. But Olga has her tender side too and, in the mood for romance selects an occasional slave for a little lesbian loving: “The disease called Olga cannot be fought!”

Then, after relocating to New Jersey, OLGA’S HOUSE OF SHAME is open for business! With the help of Nick, her malignant brother and a sweet-faced Elaine, a victim-turned-protégé, Olga runs a crime syndicate while gleefully engaging in such extracurricular activities as bondage, torture, and the always popular “horse discipline.” The most outrageous of the series, OLGA’S HOUSE OF SHAME also features a surprise announcement for an unmade Olga with a truly mind-boggling title…

Finally, things take a bizarre turn with the most obscure Olga of them all, OLGA’S DANCE HALL GIRLS, in which a new brat-faced Olga recruits suburban housewives as “hostesses” for a dance hall which is really just a front for – are you ready? – a satanic cult!

SPECAIL FEATURES:
Digitally Remastered!
Olga Trailers for the entire Olga series: WHITE SLAVES OF CHINATOWN, Olga’s Girls, OLGA’S HOUSE OF SHAME, Madame Olga’s Massage Parlor, and OLGA’S DANCE HALL GIRLS!
The Olga sequence from Mondo Oscenita featuring rare footage from the “lost” Olga film, Madame Olga’s Massage Parlor!
Special Booklet Interview with Olga star Audrey Campbell!
A pre-Olga Audrey poses for Byron Mabe in the Nudie-Cutie Shortie, Audrey Campbell, Art Lover!
Gallery of Sexploitation Ad Art with Exploitation Audio!
Total Running Time: Over 3 1/2 Hours of Pain & Pleasure!
OUCH! For maximum effect, view while shackled.
Warning: This program contains nudity, violence, and bullwhips.

Aroused/Help Wanted Female/Rent-a-Girl

This one is a real mixed bag of nuts! Extra salty nuts! Aroused made my top ten favourite horror films of 1966;a feature I did November 2012. I felt much warmer towards Aroused on this re-watch and upped its score a full point to a 4.5/5! This is a must see for fans of William Lustig’s Maniac as I pointed out in my short blurb I wrote for the film. Look at the shot I posted below that David included in a tumblr post he did! Almost identical to a shot Lustig included in Maniac. It also features mannequins and a killer who offs prostitutes! Aroused is one of Something Weird’s best horror films and one of their best films period; it is sleazy-creepy perfection! The wacky Help Wanted Female is a charming companion piece to Aroused. Help Wanted Female is funny and quirky with a touch of violence and a few surprises as well as a very appealing group of characters and performances. Friends Jo-Jo and Luana are a couple of hustling babes; Jo-jo a Kung Fu master and Luana a prostitute. Luana doubles her price for regular customer Sebastian Gregory but ends up getting more than she bargained for. I did a full review of Help Wanted Female so you should read it and it has lots of pretty pictures to go along with it. Unfortunately I found Rent-a-Girl to be a bit of a weak link in the set. It certainly isn’t Fluctuations but it has a pretty muddy pace and some unnecessary and exceptionally long and dull scenes. There was a scene of two people painting a woman that was especially dull. I wonder if whoever came up with the expression “It was like watching paint dry” came up with that after watching Rent-a-Girl. It isn’t completely without some charm however. Rent-a-Girl had a great opening scene that got me really excited for the film and it has a game of strip billiards featuring Darlene Bennett, June Roberts and Judy Adler (I “think” that is Judy Adler in that scene). I’d actually probably squeeze this film in for a pass for having just enough memorable moments. The trio is certainly worth owning for Aroused, Help Wanted Female and the bonus features.

For more images from Aroused click here.

For more images from Help Wanted Female click here.

For more images from Rent-a-Girl click here.

Taken from the Something Weird Video Website:

RENT-A-GIRL
Pretty New Yorker Karen Anderson becomes involved with a shady modeling agency. She is easily persuaded to do cheesecake poses and soon asked to reveal all. Little does she know, in her infinite innocence, that her employers actually procure young nymphets as sexual playthings for their wealthy clientele. The girls are whipped, beaten, painted, sprayed and burned. Poor Karen eventually gains first hand knowledge of the gang’s sick practices and flees (with a newly-branded buttock) to the cops.

AROUSED
“There’s a maniac loose out there! He’s gonna kill again! He’s probably ripping some girl apart right now!”

Fact of Life: you can’t go wrong with any film that features the two major cornerstones of big-screen entertainment — hookers and a psycho killer. Which means, of course, that you can’t go wrong with Aroused, a grim and gritty little piece of primo Sixties exploitation — nestled somewhere between a skinflick and a horror film — that still holds up remarkably well today.

A “sex killer” prowls the streets of Manhattan preying on prostitutes. “This guy’s a nut! He’ll grab any woman he thinks is a whore!” And why exactly does he pick on hookers? Because — “Nya, nya,nya, nya.nya…” — his mama was a ho! Now, as another deeply disturbed resident of The Big Apple, the killer — whose identity is slowly revealed during the course of the film — sits on a fire escape silently watching working girl Pat Wilson turn a trick. Finally, when she’s finished, he climbs in the window, attacks Miss Wilson while in the shower, wraps the shower curtain around her head, and strangles her. Then he…well…yeah. He does. He climbs on top of her….

Young Detective Johnny (STEVE HOLLISTER, who also plays the doomed young man in the color inserts added to Love Hunger) is so upset by the crime — “What a way for a human being to die!” — that he tries to catch the killer by joining forces with Ginny Smith (JANINE LENON, whose first name is billed as “Djanine”), the seen-it-all, done-it-all, knife-wielding hooker-without-a-heart-of-gold-slash-lesbian-lover of Pat: “We’re just pieces of meat hanging on a hook waiting for a butcher!” But when one of Ginny’s galpals agrees to act as psycho bait — oops! — it all goes wrong and she gets hacked up before Johnny can get to her.

Ginny, meanwhile, is suspicious of one of the lugs who work at Gus’ Bar, the Official Hooker Hangout, sneaks into his loft, and finds it decorated with mannequin parts! In an ending that bears a striking resemblance to the climax of Bill Lustig’s Maniac, Ginny returns to the creep’s apartment with some of her prostitute pals, surrounds the screaming loon on his bed and, with her trusty knife, turns him into “a boy soprano….”

Set in a New York that’s eternally at night and choking in sleaze. Aroused is a surprisingly fun piece of filth: the murders are nasty, there’s plenty of skin and, believe it or not, we actually care about the characters — especially when Johnny’s dutiful wife finds herself unwittingly sipping coffee with the killer: “You’re a whore like all the others….” Sure, they’re all cardboard cliches spouting crime-magazine dialogue but, hey, that’s what B-movies are all about. You’ll also recognize most of the music as library cues used endlessly by Doris Wishman. lt’s a shame director ANTON HOLDEN didn’t make more like this. Though Something Weird has sold Aroused from day one, it’s now finally been digitally remastered from a crisp 35mm print.

“And the moral is…no moral.”

HELP WANTED FEMALE
Don’t be fooled by the innocuous title. Happily hiding behind it is a delightfully demented, luridly loony, off-kilter sexploitation gem that mixes LSD and murder with two sexy mankillers.

Jo-Jo runs a karate school — “Jo-Jo’s Kung Fu” — and robs middle-aged men in her spare time. Her galpal, Luana, is a high-priced hooker who goes on a 5200 date with SEBASTIAN GREGORY who stars as… well… Sebastian Gregory. She strips and dances as Gregory gobbles down a sugar cube: “LSD? Say, you won’t start going ape on me, will you, Daddy?” Ape, no; babble, yes. “I might start talking too much. I might tell you things I don’t want you to hear….’ And talk he does, telling Luana what happened to his ex-girlfriend Barbara as the film takes a definite turn for the weird….

“Barbara had a wild erotic imagination,” says Gregory by way of explaining why cat-eyed Barbara deliberately burns him with an ember from the fireplace: “My pain aroused her!” She then takes out a knife and asks him to slice her thigh. “To inflict pain with pleasure only led to the inevitable: to kill for pleasure!” Next thing you know, the two pick up a high-school hitchhiker and have her pose for nude photos before Barbara stabs her in the gut and Gregory slits her throat. On a roll, Gregory then strangles Barbara with a plastic bag over her head and cuts up her body. All of which he calmly relates to Luana who doesn’t believe a word he says. Until she sees blood in the bathroom, an aluminum-wrapped “head” in the fridge, and a trunk full of bones. Oops.

Freaking, Luana bonks him on the noggin and runs home to Jo-Jo, but Gregory follows, leading to a karate-chopping battle of the sexes (“I could rip your arm off if I choose but instead I’ll just rip the back muscles a little!”) and a wacky twist ending….

The sexploitation market of the Sixties was aimed primarily at middle-aged men, and Help Wanted Female is both a cautionary tale warning that audience of the perils of predatory females, and a victory by one of their own over such women — sort of a instruction manual and dream-fantasy all in one. As the ultimate surrogate for that audience, Sebastian Gregory is perfect as the man who’s both the mark and the menace. With his gruff looks and the tough-guy attitude of a barroom brawler, Gregory starred in such skinflicks as Hollywood After Dark (’68). Like Mother like Daughter (’68), and The Hangup (70). Like contemporaries John Alderman and William Kerwin, Gregory is very much a “real” actor giving very much a “real” performance, though one that requires him to be more silly than scary. At one point, he’s underneath the sheets with Luana — meaning they both have the bedsheets pulled over their heads — as he frantically jabbers on about World War II in a voice that sounds like a parody of Richard Burton!

With an offbeat sense of humor, a couple of luscious bodies, and a smattering of the macabre. Help Wanted Female is a kookie cult film just waiting to be discovered — with or without acid. From an original 35mm theatrical print.

Special Features
• Digitally Remastered!
• Original Theatrical Trailer for Aroused!
• Bonus Kink-O-Rama Short: Lesson of the Strap!
• Gallery of Sick Sixties Sex Stills with Audio Oddities!
• Total Running Time: Over 3 and 1/2 Hours of Sex and Psychological Sickness!

Warning: This Program Contains Nudity, Sexual Situations and a Unique Way of Bathing Darlene Bennett!

Blood Feast/Two Thousand Maniacs/Color Me Blood Red

Well…duh? You can’t have a Something Weird Video collection without Herschell Gordon Lewis’s Blood Trilogy! Yeesh! Blood Feast, Two Thousand Maniacs and Color Me Blood Red; three Gordon horror classics! The infamous Blood Feast which has made appearances all over the place in the Dungeon including my top ten horror films for 1963 and my favourite five Herschell Gordon Lewis films not to mention getting the full review treatment. Blood Feast is a long time favourite of mine! A caterer is murdering women all over Miami and swiping body parts to prepare for a feast to honor his goddess Ishtar. Blood Feast is good old-fashioned hilarious gory fun! Two Thousand Maniacs is a personal favorite of Lewis himself and another film from the director that made a top ten list, this time for my favourite horror films of 1964! A Southern town, population 2000 lures tourists to their yearly centennial celebrations where they become unwilling participants. Each death is a creative and unique masterpiece and its got Blood Feast’s William Kerwin and Connie Mason! Hee Haw! Rounding out the trio is Color Me Blood Red. Unhinged artist Adam Sorg discovers human blood makes great paint after his girlfriend cuts herself. When his blood-red painting is a hit he starts slicing and dicing to get more supplies. Lewis’s leads are usually a lot of fun and Gordon Oas-Heim’s Sorg is no exception. He is crazier than a rabid weasel! Color Me Blood Red is an enjoyably gory and darkly humorous Gordon offering. This ain’t called The Blood Trilogy for nothing! When the Godfather of Gore puts the word blood in the title you know he is going to deliver! Go buy this now.

For more images from Blood Feast click here.

For more images from Two Thousand Maniacs click here.

For more images from Color Me Blood Red click here.

Taken from the Something Weird Video Website:

THE BLOOD TRILOGY Blu-ray

Three Time the Gore for One Low Price! In High Definition!
See the world’s first three gore films from legendary exploitation film pioneers Herschell Gordon Lewis and David F. Friedman – Blood Feast, Two Thousand Maniacs!, and Color Me Blood Red! Experience every splat, every slice and every drop of fake blood and guts in full 1080p glory!

BLOOD FEAST
Most people think America lost its innocence when JFK was assassinated. Actually, it happened four months earlier when BLOOD FEAST opened at a Peoria, Illinois, drive-in. With its bright colors, bubbly babes, and minimal production values, Blood Feast resembled the average nudie flick. However, the pretty young beauties in Blood Feast didn’t get naked. They got dismembered. Yes, folks, the infamous, notorious, ultra over-the-top Blood Feast is the world’s first “gore” film. Less a horror movie than extreme exploitation, it may even be argued that Blood Feast is the first horror roadshow since 1934’s Maniac.

Shot in five days in Miami for under $25,000, Blood Feast’s simple-minded script and wildly overwrought Amateur Night theatrics also helped transform it into the world’s first gore comedy. Blood Feast is, in fact, simultaneously disgusting and hilarious. It’s as if the local loony bin had made a home movie and got a little carried away with the killings.

TWO THOUSAND MANIACS
The TWO THOUSAND MANIACS of a small town celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Civil War by forcing a handful of Northerners to serve as “guests” for a variety of macabre, blood-crazed fun and games.

The festivities include a screaming man placed in a rolling barrel lined with nails, a hit-the-bull’s-eye carnival game with a pretty gal and a boulder, and a blonde sexpot whose arm is hacked off and barbecued! But before they can slaughter the only smart Yank (Thomas Wood), he and the lovely Terry Adams (Connie Mason, “Playboy’s Favorite Playmate”) try to escape…

A marvelously perverse cult classick, TWO THOUSAND MANIACS! is also the second of the infamous “blood trilogy” (which includes Blood Feast and Color Me Blood Red) from producer David F. Friedman (Trader Hornee) and director Herschell Gordon Lewis (The Wizard of Gore). Yeeeee-Ha! Oh, the South’s gonna rise again!

COLOR ME BLOOD RED
When his girlfriend, Gigi, cuts her finger on a frame, maniacal artist Adam Sorg discovers a new shade of crimson that will make his artwork so special – human blood!

He stabs her in the head and smears her face on a canvas and – voila – a macabre masterpiece is created. His bloody new painting causes a sensation on the local art scene, a crazed Adam continues creating sanguine specialties by extracting art supplies from victims outside his beach house. It all goes bad, however, when he zeros in on April (Candi Conder) whose scarlet pugment he plans to remove with an axe…

A witty mix of dark humor and gory horror, COLOR ME BLOOD RED is also the third installment of the Blood Trilogy (following BLOOD FEAST and TWO THOUSAND MANIACS!) from director H.G. Lewis (THE GORE GORE GIRLS) and producer David F. Friedman (SHE FREAKS). Starring Don Joseph and Candi Conder.

Special Features:
Original Theatrical Trailers!
Audio Commentaries by HG Lewis and D.F. Friedman!
Rare Outtakes!
Campy Classic Carving Magic, with William Kerwin and Harvey Korman!
Rare Gore Short Film from 1964, Follow That Skirt!
Lewis and Friedman Exploitation Art Galleries!

HAVE A GORETASTIC WEEKEND ALL!

Cheers,
GG

Favourite Five Series: Something Weird Video Films Part One

The final week of Stepping Into Something Weird and The Films of Michael Findlay is here. I am feeling very sentimental about this two month-long journey. A feature that was to run only for the month of December but was too much fun to end! I would be perfectly satisfied reviewing nothing but Something Weird Video films forever! As of January 13 I had watched forty-seven Something Weird Video titles. There were still several films left on my must see” list and I tried my best to fit them all in before I had to compile my favourites. Between January 14 and 25 I watched an additional twenty-two films for a grand total of sixty-nine! I realized upon reviewing my list of titles that I had not included the six Doris Wishman films (Bad Girls Go To Hell, Another Day Another Man, The Sex Perils of Paulette, My Brother’s Wife, Too Much Too Often) that David and I had watched together before we embarked on this project! So officially I watched seventy-five Something Weird Video titles for this feature! I feel a particular fondness for the SWV sixties stuff which is so much saucier than their more mainstream peers from the decade. As much as I love and adore them, it won’t be easy-going back to watching Hammer, Corman and Toho. There is so much clothing in other sixties films! All joking aside I have a massive respect for the actors, actresses, directors and crews who worked on these independent underground films. They were renegading, risk-taking, rule-breaking, movie-making mercenaries! I was very saddened to hear of the death of Something Weird Video’s founder Mike Vraney on January 2nd of this year. Vraney took his love and passion for these films to the next level. A collector himself, he was able to make his hobby into a successful business. Many of these gems may have been lost forever had it not been for Vraney’s diligence and affection for the material. Fans like myself have much to thank Mike Vraney for. This may be the end of the feature but by no means will it be the end of my Something Weird Video viewing. One day I will see every single film that Something Weird Video offers. In fact, I forgot to move all the Something Weird titles from the top of my DVD rental queue; so some time in the next few days I will be receiving the double feature Kitten in a Cage with The Girl from Pussycat! If you have been following this project the below choices will not be terribly surprising ones. I have given all but one of these films a full review during this feature with the exception of the last film on this list which was included on my favourite five Doris Wishman films list. These treasures all earned a perfect 5/5 rating. It was especially difficult to choose my ultimate five as I had thirteen titles I gave a perfect rating.

Check back tomorrow to find out what the other eight films were that received a perfect score and which I chose as my next five favourite Something Weird Video films! PART TWO TOMORROW!

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SUBMISSION (1969)
Directed by: Allen Savage
Starring: Jennifer Welles (as Lisa Duran), Gary Judin, June Adams, Sue Beaudry, Sheila Britt

Submission is the story of two highly dysfunctional characters; Vickie a lovable and empathetic infantine and Barry an arrogant, sexually predatory criminal. Vickie is kept in “Submission” by Barry with toys, candy and sex. Barry hustles wealthy women. Barry with Vickie in tow takes employment with these women who he eventually murders and robs. Submission is peppered with flashbacks but focuses mainly on their current “mark”; fashion designer Linda Staples. It is a quiet film with very little dialog and a peculiar but hugely effective score that made for a highly visceral experience. Submission’s performers were well-chosen; in particular the gorgeous and talented Jennifer Welles who plays the film’s infantile enchantress Vickie. Submission really blew me away. It is a deliciously unique, sexy, daunting and beautifully filmed curio that was as artful as it was sleazy. Submission is a hypnotic treat and a little known fascination that deserves more attention.

To read my full review of Submission click here.

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THE ULTIMATE DEGENERATE (1969)
Directed by: Michael Findlay
Starring: Michael Findlay, Earl Hindman, Uta Erickson, Janet Banzet, Suzzan Landau, Rita Vance, Kim Lewid, Donna Stone, Cindy Freemont, Yolanda Cortez

The film’s “Ultimate Degenerate” is Spencer; a mentally unstable eccentric with unusual sexual fantasies. Spencer hires women through a New York sex paper to come live and “perform” for him. The Ultimate Degenerate is also Maria’s story; Maria narrates our tale as she relays her experiences with Spencer, his assistant Bruno and an array of sexy, horny, often naked broads. Women perpetually practicing a performance that will never be put on, clock fucking, cigar fucking, corn fucking, broads chewing on each other and whipped cream; lots and lots of whipped cream, are just a few of The Ultimate Degenerate’s naughtier details. The Ultimate Degenerate also boasts a finale you will not soon forget! The visuals in The Ultimate Degenerate are a sinfully sweet hypnotic treat; especially the tripping out scenes! There is an incredible amount of nudity in the film and so many adorable and sexy ladies on display; Uta Erickson, Janet Banzet, Suzzan Landau, Rita Vance, Kim Lewid, Donna Stone and Cindy Freemont to name a few. In the end it is The Ultimate Degenerate himself that steals the show. Michael Findlay’s performance is beyond entertaining and his unusual quirky accent and delivery is completely unique. The Ultimate Degenerate is funny, crazy, titillating, violent and sleazy; it’s the perfect introduction to Findlay’s work and to the parade of fine and sexy broads of the world of sixties underground cinema!

To read my full review of The Ultimate Degenerate click here.

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SIN IN THE SUBURBS (1964)
Directed by: Joe Sarno
Starring: Judy Young, W.B. Parker, Audrey Campbell, Dyanne Thorne, Marla Ellis, Richard Tatro, Derek Crane, Ella Daphni, Charles Clements, Wayne Roberts, John Aristedes, William Donaldson, Joseph Garri, Mari Kiselle

Sin in the Suburbs focuses on several women in a suburban neighborhood whose husbands “Gotta make that 7:21”. Geraldine Lewis is one of the main focuses of the story and is the neighborhood ringleader of sorts. It is no secret that these women spend a goodly amount of their time entertaining other men during the afternoons. Early in the film Gerldine’s daughter Kathy walks in during one of her trysts and ends up in the arms of the neighborhood divorcee Yvette Talman. Yvette’s boyfriend Louis Muse concocts a profitable plan to take advantage of the sinful suburban shenanigans that eventually results in the undoing of several of the neighborhood’s families. The dialog is sharp and the performances are excellent; particular standouts were Audrey Campbell as Geraldine Lewis; Dyanne Thorne as Yvette Talman, W.B. Parker as Louis Muse and Judy Young as Kathy Lewis. Sin in the Suburbs is a nice looking film full of interesting shots and I really loved the use of the linen masks and matching satin robes which added a delectable, dreamy and kinky vibe. Joe Sarno has been one of my favourite director discoveries during this Something Weird Video feature. However, even after watching thirteen other Sarno films; and enjoying most of them, Sin in the Suburbs still remains my favourite. Sin in the Suburbs is a sexy, sinful, well-acted, captivating melodrama and the perfect way to kick off your Sarno viewing!

To read my full review of Sin in the Suburbs click here.

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THE PSYCHO LOVER (1970)
Directed by: Robert Vincent O’Neill
Starring: Lawrence Montaigne, Jo Anne Meredith, Elizabeth Plumb, Frank Cuva, John Vincent, Sharon Cook, Diane Jones, Luanne Roberts, David Astor, Lynn Lyon, Judy Lang

The Psycho Lover focuses on Dr. Kenneth Alden; a wealthy and successful psychiatrist with an unhappy bitter wife that refuses to divorce him and a twenty-five year old mistress named Stacy. Dr. Alden receives a call from a Lieutenant Morlock asking for his assistance with a case involving a young man named Marco Everson; Marco has vivid dreams of killing women that match the facts in some recent murders. Eventually Dr. Alden and Marco’s lives intersect after Alden begins treating Marco. The cast was well-chosen. Lawrence Montaigne looks the part of the respected psychiatrist Dr. Kenneth Alden and has a confidence bordering on arrogant that suits the role well. Jo Anne Meredith looks like a woman who goes to the beauty salon regularly and has an elegance about her but at the same time a touch of tackiness. Her character is a lush but Meredith plays it in a proper “keeping up appearances” fashion. Elizabeth Plumb as Stacy is a sweet, likable, bubbly gal; although a touch too sweet and bordering on air-headed. It is easy enough to see why the anal retentive Kenneth would fall for her though. Frank Cuva is excellent as Marco Everson. The Marco character has the perfect balance of everything that makes a good horror film antagonist. He is reasonably intelligent and unassuming in appearance and when unprovoked could be the nice guy that lives next door. Needless to say, Marco can not always hide the anxiety and threat bubbling just below the surface waiting to boil over. When Marco goes into killing mode he is cruel, brutal, relentless and frenzied to the extent that he literally foams at the mouth. A well drawn character and a spot on performance. The Psycho Lover is an exceptional horror film with intense well-executed murder sequences, an excellent story, strong performances and it is one of the most visually stimulating horror films I have had the pleasure of watching in recent memory.

To read my full review of The Psycho Lover click here.

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INDECENT DESIRES (1968)
Directed by: Doris Wishman
Starring: Sharon Kent, Trom Little, Michael Alaimo, Jackie Richards, Buck Starr

Indecent Desires is about a creepy loner named Zeb who finds a ring and a doll in a garbage can. After envisioning a beautiful blonde named Ann as his doll he somehow causes a voodoo-esque connection between the two. This is the beginning of a strange and supernatural journey for the unfortunate Ann. Ann now feels the same sensations that the doll would feel; if of course a doll had senses. Initially Zeb spends his time feeling the doll up. As he caresses dolly’s breasts Ann feels the sensation as well and begins to caress her own breasts. Zeb begins stalking Ann and discovers she has a fiance and the odd young man’s feelings of sexuality eventually turn to bitterness. Indecent Desires is the only Wishman film from this period of her career with a supernatural premise (Wishman would make a XXX and horror film with a supernatural premise in the decades to come). The imagery in the film is quite unforgettable. The little dolly found in the trash gets lots of focus as does its stunning counterpart Ann who looks like a real live doll. Ann is adorable and sexy and spends a good chunk of the film in various states of undress and feeling herself up! Sharon Kent is a beautiful actress and does a terrific and convincing job of a woman who in not in control of her own movements. Michael Alaimo also leaves an impression as Zeb; creepy, quiet and the perfect garbage picking, psychotic stalker. Also memorable is Ann’s sexually charged friend and co-worker Babs played by Jackie Richards. Indecent Desires is Wishman’s most esthetically pleasing and creative film full of sassiness, sex appeal and violence. Its enthralling plot, enthusiastic performances and visuals make for some seriously frisky fun. As is my obsessive way; I have seen 23 of Doris Wishman’s 30 directorial efforts and there is no two ways about it; Indecent Desires is definitely my personal favourite on her resume!

Indecent Desires was featured on my Favourite Five Doris Wishman list; to find out what my other four favourite Doris Wishman Films are click here.

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SUBMISSION (1969) – The Dungeon Review!

I had seen a trailer for Submission and was interested in the film just based on that. It was pushed up the queue after seeing the film’s lead actress Jennifer Welles in Career Bed. As an added bonus it was part of a Something Weird triple feature DVD that also featured Joe Sarno’s Vibrations. I have loved the hell out of Sarno’s stuff and Vibrations was one of my co-host David’s favourite Sarno flicks. Check out his thoughts on Vibrations (1968) here. I have been very pleased with most of my SWV purchases but this one is the crown jewel. There is very little dialog throughout Submission; not a single word is spoken until eight minutes in. It is a slow but steadily paced drama, that is disturbing, sad, strange and enthralling. Jennifer Welles plays the lead role of Vickie in the film. Vickie is infantine, innocent and a touch simple. She is surrounded by dolls, musical carousels and candy. Although child-like Vickie is also a woman with sexual desires. Vickie is kept in “Submission” by her boyfriend Barry. Fucking Barry; his arrogance, his patronizing, his entitlement, his voice, his violence, his smirk, everything about Barry made me want to spit. He controls every aspect of Vickie’s life; thinking for her, speaking for her and making her crawl and beg for candy bars like a dog. Submission focuses on one particular event in the duos life but is peppered with flashbacks that fill us in on the character’s pasts. Submission is one of the most beautiful, disarming, hypnotic and completely unique films that I could not say enough good things about; but I will try.

Vickie’s child-like wonder of everything around her makes her endearing and yet empathetic. She goes to a candy store and enthusiastically chooses candy bars. When she pays for the chocolate she pulls a large hair ribbon and some garbage out of her pocket before she pulls out her money which she keeps folded in a handkerchief. She can not resist going into a pet store upon seeing a monkey in the window. And then again I can not resist going into a pet store myself!

Barry is an oppressive, cruel hustler not to mention a voyeur, rapist and murderer.

Vickie has become involved with Barry who keeps her submissive with toys, candy and sex. Barry with Vickie in tow is planning on taking a job with a wealthy fashion designer Ms. Staples who he intends on murdering and robbing.

“Vickie is a little tired from the trip. Would you mind if she went up to bed now?”

Barry speaks for Vickie often and tries to avoid her interaction with their “mark” as much as possible. Instead of going straight to bed however Vickie decides to take a bubble bath and Ms. Staples and Barry walk in on her. A scornful look from Barry let’s Vickie no he is displeased.

Vickey masturbates with a lit candle. This is at least the fifth film I have seen during my Something Weird Video feature where women have masturbated with candles. Although this was the first time the candle was lit.

Who the hell is this? Seriously?! Who in the hell is this. It is a nice looking scene and sexy too, but who are these people? That is DEFINITELY not Barry unless Barry had reconstructive face surgery. It is never explained, so I guess they are just people who Barry watched having sex? I have no idea.

Also…Can anyone confirm for me who that actress is? She looks so familiar!

Vickie brings Ms. Staples breakfast in bed. She tells Vickie that she could be a model and plays with her hair.

“I like it very much, but I don’t think Barry would.”

“She’s gone.”
“Barry, I like her, I don’t think we should.”
“Cut it out huh?”

Vickie rips the head from her clown toy and throws it at Barry and than yanks hard on his shirt. “I’m going to get you for that” Barry warns and Vickie in response flees the room.

They find a projector and some film and watch Ms. Staples engaging in a lesbian orgy.

Vickie comforts Ms. Staples after Barry assaults her. The two engage in a wee bit of frolicking.

Vickie does the buttons up on her blouse as she contemplates Barry’s cruelty.

The finale is magnificent and I loved the final couple of shots which initially focuses on Vickie and then Ms. Staples.

Submission is a story that focuses on two seriously dysfunctional characters. One lovable and empathetic infantine and one arrogant, predatory and criminal. Their dysfuction is what they have in common. Ms. Staples is just another one of Barry’s marks, or so it seems. Ms. Staples has issues of her own but she sure does sum Barry up in a hurry; and then again it doesn’t take Freud to pick up on this guy’s asshole vibe. Flashbacks are scattered throughout Submission of Barry raping other women as well as the details surrounding their previous “mark”. A big part of what made Submission so appealing was the cast but especially the talented Jennifer Welles. Jennifer Welles is perfect as the child-like Vickie full of wonder and sexuality. Welles is a beautiful woman and a fascination to watch; she captures your attention and delivers a wallop without speaking a word. Gary Judis who plays Barry and June Adams who plays Ms. Staples are also very well cast; I was surprised that this was the only film on both Judis and Adam’s resumes. This one is all about Ms. Welles though. Submission is quite unusual and the mood and atmosphere is intense, sexual and perverse. You never know what might happen in the next scene. Submission’s peculiar, daunting music adds a curiously effective vibe to the picture. I’ve never seen anything quite like Submission or more accurately, I have never experienced anything quite like Submission. The film’s lack of dialog makes it a very visceral experience. The imaginative visuals are a real trip. When I use the world hypnotic I am speaking literally; the combination of the images, the pace and the music put me under a spell. I have watched Submission three times in the last week and I look forward to visiting it again in the future. With the exception of the seemingly random strangers having sex Submission is perfection. Submission gets my highest of recommendations; a perfect score.

Dungeon Rating: 5/5

Directed By: Allen Savage

Starring: Jennifer Welles, June Adams, Sue Beaudry, Sheila Britt, João Fernandes, Gloria, Suzzan Landau, Sharon Miller, Natalie Shilvers, Kristen Steen