The Plot:
Eight films - eight divergent storylines. Instead of trying to sum up this box set in a single paragraph, let's look at a simple statement of the plot for each movie featured, beginning with:
Drive in Cult Classics 4
The Plot:
Eight films - eight divergent storylines. Instead of trying to sum up this box set in a single paragraph, let's look at a simple statement of the plot for each movie featured, beginning with:
Candy (1968)
Candy Christian (Ewa Aulin) is a beautiful who spends her days attending high school. She lives at home with her father, a history teacher (John Astin). Candy's life takes an unusual turn when a Welsh poet with a taste for hooch named McPhisto (Richard Burton) shows up at school to deliver a speech. Candy, more than a little naïve, is easily talked into riding along with McPhisto in his limousine that takes them back to her place for a rather strange set piece wherein he dry humps a mannequin and she winds up fooling around with the family gardener, Emmanuel (Ringo Starr).
Forbidden Zone
A lesser-known cult favorite, Forbidden Zone has had a relatively frequent publishing schedule on home video, getting a DVD release in black and white in 2004 from Fantoma Films, followed by a color version put out by Legend Films in 2008. There was also an ultimate edition on Blu-ray in 2015, which included a CD soundtrack. All three have been reviewed by DVDTalk.
The Movie
Somehow, until this DVD crossed my path, I had never seen Forbidden Zone, a delirious mix of John Waters and old-school pre-PC cartoons courtesy of film composer Danny Elfman's older brother Richard. That shouldn't be a big surprise, as it's not exactly a well-known film, but for someone who seeks out the fringe of film, it's rare to find something that's personally new and undiscovered. Now that I have, it's a pleasure to say the wait was worth it, as this film is the kind of over-the-top experience so rarely seen in film today.
Hell of the Living Dead
Zombie movies have never been too good with plot, and this film is no exception. There's a not too bright seeming journalist lady, who will get naked, a couple a dudes in blue uniforms who are apparently supposed to be SWAT team members, and zombies. A whole zombie conspiracy, as a matter of fact, leading to what has got to be the lamest attempt at social commentary your gonna see in a zombie movie outside of 'Dr.Butcher M.D.' perhaps. (That movie is awesome. Check it out if you haven't seen it, though if you're looking at this, you probably already have.) The film takes place in New Guinea, I believe, which leaves them ample
Melinda (1972)
The hero of this funky little flick is strutting radio DJ Frankie J. Parker (Uptown Saturday Night's Calvin Lockhart), whose first line of dialogue -- spoken into a mirror, but really spoken at us -- is, "I hate to say this, but I am such a pretty motherfucker. Hahaha... YEAH!" It's an immediate indicator that the character is a larger-than-life badass -- or at least, he thinks he is. In the next scene, Frankie talks tough to his instructor in a karate class and gets his ass handed to him. By the way, that instructor is played by Enter the Dragon's Jim Kelly, so Frankie clearly didn't have a chance. Frankie may be a black belt, but he is not Black Belt Jones.
Weiße Haut und schwarze Schenkel
Description: Robert Kuhn hoped to spend the evening in the brothel. First, watching a strip show, and then he brings the woman to his room. After some time he is arrested, and the girl with whom he spent the night in hospital with severe injuries...
Messalina
Description:
In the year 43 AD, Claudius reigns over the Roman Empire with his beautiful wife, Messalina, at his side. Messalina is a sex-obsessed woman who mercilessly exploits her husband's power in an attempt to satisfy her insatiable lust. Actively supported by Agrippina, Messalina turns the Roman court into a squalid place of vice and perversion. One day, however, the Emperor finds out what is going on behind his back and takes cruel revenge.
Take It Out in Trade: The Outtakes
One of Ed Wood's final productions, TAKE IT OUT IN TRADE is a sex film that consists of footage discovered by archivists and assembled to make some sort of sense. No audio track was found, so basically all you see are several outtakes and scenes from the movie, set to instrumental music. An ugly guy rolls around with some girls, there's a homosexual couple, and Ed Wood is seen playing the character of a woman.
Naked chicks and Ed Wood in drag. What else can you ask for? Well, the full movie would be great for starters. But unfortunately, this is one of Ed's lost films (although there are some who claim this isn't actually a lost film and that at least one print exists - but it has never surfaced anywhere that I am aware of, so it's lost enough for me). But what we have here is the next best thing, 70 minutes of outtakes, re-takes, alternate scenes and bloopers from Ed's 1970 porn film debut, discovered during the 1990's in a Santa Monica movie theater. Thanks to our friends at Something Weird Video, these outtakes were released on VHS in 1995, and then later as a DVD-R which is what you will find here.
Dad Made Dirty Movies
Description: Follows the life and films of Stephen C. Apostolof (A. C. Stephen) his escape from Communist dictatorship in Bulgaria, his journey to Hollywood to become one of the finest erotic filmakers of all time.
"Follows the life and films of Stephen C. Apostolof (A. C. Stephen) his escape from Communist dictatorship in Bulgaria"
This one follows the life of Bulgarian sixties "Sexploitation" film maker Stephen C. Aposterof, who made his way to the 'States via Paris and Canada and managed to get Republic interested in his anti-Communist film, launching him on a career of sixteen millimeter nudie movies of which ORGY OF THE DEAD is the best known. The arrival of 35mm. hard core wiped him out.
Lots of clips, with well shaped near naked young women, are interspersed with home movies and interviews with family members and associates, including Ted V. Michels. There's also accounts of working with Ed Wood who Aposterof's son feels got all the so bad glory that his dad should have shared.
They make the man sound like the prototype of the Burt Reynolds character in BOOGIE NIGHTS.
Schulmädchen-Report Vol 3
Alessia… un vulcano sotto la pelle
As she arrives, she starts to remember the crime that made her and orphan.
The animosity she feels towards her aunt starts to get explained.
Aunt Agnes was responsible for the crime, so she could get the land.
Alessia starts to use her sexuality to manipulate the men around her and set a trap for her aunt as revenge.
Fire Maidens of Outer Space (1956)
Francesca, a seventeen-year-old Roman, is finally sure she has found love. Almost sure. She spends the day observing other lovers' behaviors and considering whether she is ready to jump. Her age notwithstanding, this movie is more about coming of age than about improper or illegal romantic relationships.
If Catherine Spaak, beautiful and innocent, acts with brio, the quality of the supporting cast makes the movie. From a fifty-year-old indebted socialite who is having too much fun for her daughter's taste to a jaunty gigolo who turns out to be eaten by unreciprocated love, the minor characters entertain, delight, and subtly teach valuable lessons to both Francesca and the audience.
This film's unpredictability is refreshing. Whether written or filmed, coming-of-age stories often fail to surprise or intrigue the audience. In I Dolci Inganni, most characters seem at first to be crazily entertaining walking clichés, but they later astonish the audience by revealing their depth and their inner struggles. If love is widely accepted as a common human need, it can be expressed in mysterious, unsettling, incomprehensible ways. The variety of its forms in the movie gives the spectator an opportunity to reflect on his or her own endeavors and dreams.
This movie will seem slow paced to Gen-Xers, but anybody interested in human nature should see it.
