Oui, Girls (DVD Review) - Impulse Pictures

USA/1982
Directed By: Fred J. Lincoln
Written By:  Fred J. Lincoln
Starring: Anna Ventura, Lisa De Leeuw, Sharon Kane
Color/81 Minutes/Not Rated
Region 1

The Film
Ever want to see a guy jerk off just feet away from a woman changing a tire? Ever want to see a slow-mo cumshot that would make any modern day action film director envious? How about a little murder investigation with your sex? Well you've come to the right place. Barbara and Nick go to the Circle S swingers ranch to investigate a murder. While there the pair sleeps around with the other guests trying to gain information to solve the mystery all the while becoming closer than ever before with each other.



OUI, GIRLS is a pretty solid little porno. The movie is more decently acted than almost any other vintage porno I've seen. This could be due to the fact that there is a cast member that looks like Jeffrey Jones from Beetlejuice and Ferris Bueller's Day Off and one that resembles Pamela Springsteen from Sleepaway Camp 2 and 3... not that there was any sort of award winning acting in those slashers. And while the movie certainly focuses more on the sex than the story (and who really would blame them) they got the idea right, at least for this format of film. The sex scenes are certainly more interesting than the average skin flick and it features some pretty funny moments too. 

The Audio & Video
Impulse Pictures brings OUI, GIRLS to DVD with an anamorphic widescreen 1.85:1 widescreen transfer that looks pretty good after you get by the rough opening credits. The print isn't perfect but for an early 80s porno it has an attractive and natural looking transfer. The audio is good as well, with just a bit of background noise. The surprisingly catchy and well written theme song might even get stuck in your head. 

The Extras
 Bare bones.

The Bottom Line 
OUI, GIRLS is one of the better vintage porn titles I've reviewed this year and the DVD deserves a place on your shelf (or in the box under your bed) if you're into these movies.  

OUI, GIRLS is available HERE

The Blue Hour Triple Feature (DVD Review) - Vinegar Syndrome

USA/1971, 1965, 1969
Directed By: Sergei Goncharoff, Albert T. Viola, Marty Rackum
Written By:
Starring: Edward Blessington, Anne Chapman, Mary Beth Hughes
Color and B&W/220 Minutes/Not Rated

The Films
THE BLUE HOUR is a visually striking, oddly entertaining and just a bit out there story of a young girl with a clouded past who finds herself the victim of the seedy and strange side of Los Angeles. The main attraction of this set is, not surprisingly, the best film included from its writing to its direction and photography. The film is full of as much art house as it is sexploitation and deserves to be discovered and respected.

In ONE NAKED NIGHT a small town girl move to New York City to escape the prying eyes of small town life and to truly experience life. She quickly gets into the modeling community with the help of her friend and ends up in bed with her photographer after a night on the town with him. Her relationships begin to fall apart and she realizes that she moved to the city to escape the judgement from her old life but now must face the mirror and judge herself.

ONE NAKED NIGHT is a pretty decent little movie. The main girl is a likable girl, innocent and curious who finds out that not everything in life works out the way you planned and there will be plenty of setbacks that you have to deal with when trying to find yourself. I enjoyed this one a good bit.

If you like nude hippie girls enjoying their sexuality and freedom then THREE IN A TOWEL is for you. That really is all it is, with some Shakespeare narration over top. This movie is a rare one from what I can tell as I've been able to find very little information about it on the internet. This is a little known piece of hippie film culture that, while very simple, displays a large part in the free spirit nature of the 1960s.

The Audio & Video

THE BLUE HOUR looks very good, in its anamorphic widescreen transfer which does justice to the film's striking images. Colors are strong and bright without being over saturated and there is only a sparse amount of print damage. The audio is also strong with a bit of background noise in limited areas being the only complaint. ONE NAKED NIGHT looks very good overall. The black and white cinematography benefits from a clean print that has been kept in good condition over the years. Black levels are deep and whites never get too hot. The night time New York City streets look especially beautiful in this presentation. The audio track is just as crisp and clean as the picture with a well mixed track and no background noise to speak of. I don't think Vinegar Syndrome could have done better without it being on Blu-ray.

THREE IN A TOWEL is a mixed bag. At times the full frame transfer look reasonably good with natural skin tones and a clean print but it often goes right into a scene that is scratchy and a bit washed out. Dark scenes suffer from poor lighting and cinematography so they look green and blocky. The audio is fine, with background whirling and crackling present but not enough to become a real annoyance. 

The Extras
The lone extra is an original theatrical trailer for THREE IN A TOWEL

The Bottom Line
While the films vary in quality as they do on most multi-feature sets such as this, this is a strong offering from Vinegar Syndrome that will please fans of the label and of sexploitation films.

THE BLUE HOUR triple feature is available HERE

The Films Of Chester Novell Turner: Black Devil Doll From Hell / Tales From The Quadead Zone (DVD Review) - Massacre Video

USA/1984, 1987
Directed By: Chester Novell Turner
Written By: Chester Novell Turner
Starring: Shirley L. Jones, Gladys Ames
Color/132 Minutes/Not Rated
Region 1

The Films
In BLACK DEVIL DOLL FROM HELL a devout church going, Jesus loving woman finds a really creepy looking puppet in a thrift store and falls in love with it despite the creepy story from the shopkeeper. After buying it the woman starts to have nightmares and sexual fantasies until the puppet comes to life and attacks her, leading to him acting out all sorts of sex acts on her, including taking her long protected virginity. After thinking it was all a dream the woman finds some blood to realize it wasn't. Pleased with the experience she now refers to the puppet as "Mr. Wonderful". The doll has since disappeared and our devout Christian has turned into a little pre-marital sex with stranger having tramp. And that's that for an extended period of time until the doll returns and attacks the woman again.

This movie fucking sucks. I'm sorry. I know it is a huge cult title, especially in the VHS collecting community and this is its debut on DVD but it just sucks. I have no idea why it is so sought after. It is bad even for a shot-on-video movie. The soundtrack is beyond irritating, the acting sucks as much as you'd imagine and the only thing it has going for it is that the doll is creepy looking... who the hell would buy that thing? The movie just doesn't end either.Nothing happens for a good 25 minutes leading up to the finale... I had a serious urge to bash my head into a wall until I passed out. 

TALES FROM THE QUADEAD ZONE fares a wee bit better and I do mean a wee bit. The film is considerably shorter which is already a plus because had it ran any longer and I'd have that urge to concuss myself into unconsciousness again. In this movie a woman reads stories from a book baring the same name as the movie to her ghost son. The stories make up this anthology movie starting with "Food For ?", a story about a poor family who never has enough food to feed everyone at the table so one of the siblings takes matters into his own hands. "The Brothers" is about 2 brothers who have hated each other their whole life. Now that one has died of a heart attack the other steals his body straight out of the funeral home to disgrace him one last time, until his corpse of a brother has other ideas. And the wrap around story is "Unseen Vision" which is more of the mother and her son and how she deals with her husband who disapproves of her talking to their dead son.

QUADEAD ZONE isn't nearly as slow as BDDFH but it is still pretty damn bad and just plain uninteresting. Each and every gag could have been done by anybody, and I really do mean anybody. There's nothing at all special here and it is amazing that these movies have such a cult following. 

The Audio & Video
Perhaps the kings of bringing shot-on-video horror to DVD (and special limited editions), Massacre Video brings BLACK DEVIL DOLL FROM HELL and TALES FROM THE QUADEAD ZONE to DVD for the first time and they look and sound how you expect a no-budget horror film from the mid 1980s shot on consumer level VHS camcorders to look and sound. The picture is weak and washed out, with tracking issues and waves and wobbles while the sound is thin and tinny. The soundtrack commonly drowns out the diablogue. These discs look no better than home videos of the time would look. Massacre Video used the master tape from Chester Turner himself, which is the best available copy in existence so it won't look better than this and none of the issues present are their fault.

 
The Extras
-"Return To The Quadead Zone" - a 35 minute documentary on the films of Chester Turner with Turner and his star Shirley L. Jones. 
-Commentary tracks for both films
-Alternate cut of BLACK DEVIL DOLL FROM HELL
-Trailers
-Still galleries 
-Reversible "VHS Design" covers

The Bottom Line
If the resurgence in VHS collecting has done one thing it is bring the chance of introducing a whole bunch of little known horror films to a new generation of fans (or an old generation that missed them the first time). This box set from Massacre Video brings two of the most valuable VHS titles to a much more widely accessible package while not really losing their VHS presentation. The extra features are a nice touch to round out the set and the design of the packaging is great and I have no problem recommending this set for fans interested in checking out the films, bad as they may be. It certainly beats paying $600 for the VHS.

THE FILMS OF CHESTER NOVELL TURNER box set is available HERE

Game Show Models (DVD Review) - Vinegar Syndrome

USA/1976
Directed By: David Gottlieb
Written By: David Gottlieb
Starring: Gilbert DeRush, Rae Sperling, John Vickery
Color/89 Minutes/Not Rated
Region FREE

The Film
Every film we watch, or most anyways, come with preconceived notions of what we are about to see. We expect certain things when we hear a plot synopsis, or a director or actor's name. Even the production and distribution companies tell us what to expect. Sometimes though, a movie comes along that is not at all what we expected. Sometimes that is good and sometimes that is bad.

GAME SHOW MODELS is about a man who leaves his performance artist girlfriend as he wants a more steady job in society and not to be broke all the time. He lands a gig with a popular sex-driven game show where all of the models are beautiful and nude and the contestants have to go through all sorts of tests of sexuality. The man begins to hate his current position and tries to rekindle his relationship and his free spirit.

I don't know what to think about GAME SHOW MODELS, I really don't. I don't even know what kind of movie they were going for here. It seems obvious that they were going for some sort of sexploitation but it is pretty tame. I'm aware the director intended GAME SHOW MODELS to be more of an art house movie but producers re-cut the film for the seedy movie going audience. I don't really see much of an art house movie here either. What it boils down to is a fairly dull drama with some T & A thrown in now and again for good measure. The film does contain a few good scenes including the last one before the credits role and a memorable performance from Dick Miller as the host of the game show. That said, I would suggest the original cut of the film over the re-cut as it is an all around more interesting movie to watch.


The Audio & Video
As I've come to expect Vinegar Syndrome does good work with a film that may or may not have been kept in good conditions. And they've done another good job with the 1.85:1 widescreen transfer. Despite some areas with minor print damage such as scratches, GAME SHOW MODELS is a pretty attractive presentation. It's a shame the set of the game show wasn't more colorful because this disc could have probably done nice work with it and really had it pop. Despite some instances of background hiss and crackle the audio track is clear and stable, nothing more you can ask for out of a movie like this. 

The Extras
Vinegar Syndrome gives us a nice 2-disc release with some solid extra features including:
-Audio Commentary with director David Gottlieb
-The original edit of the film known as "The Seventh Dwarf"
-Outtakes
-Still gallery 

The Bottom Line
I honestly wouldn't count myself among the fans of this film but the fact that this 2-disc set has a respectable A/V presentation and the inclusion of both cuts of the film make it a worthy purchase that will please fans.

 GAME SHOW MODELS is available HERE

Hanging For Django (Blu-ray Review) - Raro Video

Italy/1969
Directed By: Sergio Garrone
Written By: Sergio Garrone
Starring: Anthony Steffen, William Berger, Nicoletta Machiavelli
Color/97 Minutes/Not Rated
Region A

The Film
Johnny Brandon (Anthony Steffen) and Everett "Preacherman" Murdock are a pair of bounty hunters that have come to town to find a group of criminals an cash in on their capture or killing. While in the town they catch wind of Mr. Fargo, a local landowner who is running an illegal ring of smuggling people across the border from Mexico for cheap labor. Fargo has a nasty habit of murdering the whole bunch and dumping them in a ravine anytime someone gets suspicious. There is a massive $40,000 reward offered to the pair to capture Fargo but Brandon and Preacherman are on completely opposite pages and each has their own agenda with Preacherman only caring about himself and his wallet. 

HANGING FOR DJANGO also known as Una lunga fila di croci  (A Long Row Of Crosses) doesn't feature any hangings and is one of literally dozens of films to use the name Django in the title despite having nothing at all to do with Sergio Corbucci's classic film. What it does have is a strong cast including Steffen and Berger in the lead roles who are classic spaghetti western actors and Sergio Garrone (the 3rd Sergio) at the helm. Garrone had success in many different genres of Italian cinema making films to match the popularity of whatever genre was hot at the time. He may be best known for his time in the western genre and this film, while a bit sloppy on the story telling features a lot of action, some fun gun play and a weapon that is a cross between a Gatling Gun, shotgun and rifle.

Ripe with the classic characteristics of the genre, HANGING FOR DJANGO is violent, a bit silly, and handled capably by the cast and crew. Far from great and by no means a classic it is pretty damn decent and certainly entertaining.  

The Audio & Video
I read a review on another site prior watching this disc that absolutely tears the presentation of this disc apart. I have to say, I have no idea what they were watching. Raro Video brings HANGING FOR DJAGO to Blu-ray with a 2.35:1 scope widescreen presentation that does happen to be a 1080i transfer. That said, it isn't bad looking. Colors are decent, and facial details in the many close-up shots you'll see in spaghetti westerns actually feature pretty strong detail. Textures show some decent detail as well. I wouldn't say the image pops or is particularly strong overall but it isn't a disaster or even bad. I'd call it a decent transfer that has room for improvement.

There are a pair of audio tracks, one English and one Italian. Since these Italian productions didn't record live sound and featured casts assembled from all over the world, both tracks are dubbed and neither could really be considered the native language. I chose the English track which sounds okay, but a bit thin. The mix between dialogue and soundtrack is fine and overall it is very listenable. English subtitles are available for the Italian language track.

The Extras
The disc features a 15 minute mini-documentary on the film and its cast and crew. The packaging also includes a full illustrated booklet that features bios of the director, stars and an essay on the film.

The Bottom Line
HANGING FOR DJANGO is an entertaining spaghetti western that won't become a classic anytime soon and this disc probably won't win any awards but it will satisfy fans of the genre with a really decent overall product that I'm proud and extremely happy to have in my collection.

HANGING FOR DJANGO is available HERE

The Candidate / Johnny Gunman (DVD Review) - Vinegar Syndrome

USA/1964, 1957
Directed By:
Written By:
Starring:
Black & White/151 Minutes/Not Rated

The Films
THE CANDIDATE surrounds an up and coming politician running for senate and his sexual relationships along the way. Starting with a beautiful blond he meets working in a hotel who he takes on as his new secretary to the woman that he impregnates and arranges the abortion. There are court room proceedings, some laughs and even a home made sex tape.

THE CANDIDATE features a simple story and a simple presentation but the attractive girls, likable characters and timeless story of politicians that can't keep it in their pants makes this one hard to turn away from. It ends up being quite a bit more entertaining than the simple synopsis would lead you to believe.

JOHNNY GUNMAN is a noir type thriller about a pair of lifelong friends who look at each other as brothers who are feuding over mob territory now that the boss, their father, has died. Stuck between their greed, their women, their love for each other and their loyalty this is a quick moving piece that boils down to a knife fight in the streets they played in as kids. This film is a quick and easy noir to enjoy.

The Audio & Video
The first feature on this DVD from Vinegar Syndrome is THE CANDIDATE, presented in an attractive 1.85:1 widescreen print. There is a small amount of scratches through the print but otherwise the source material used was in great condition and the transfer here shows it. There is nice shadow detail and deep black levels. The audio on THE CANDIDATE is also good with intermittent crackling in the background but never becoming a distraction. 

JOHNNY GUNMAN has a nice 1.33:1 full frame transfer from quality source materials. The print has similar high qualities to the first feature on this set with even less print damage while the audio also performs highly with little to complain about. 

The Extras
The packaging features reversible cover art for whichever feature you prefer, other wise it is bare bones. 

 
The Bottom Line
The solid pairing of films and their good condition and presentation make up for the lack of special features enough to warrant a recommendation. 

THE CANDIDATE and JOHNNY GUNMAN double feature is available HERE

The First Time / Oriental Babysitter (DVD Review) - Vinegar Syndrome

USA/1978, 1976
Directed By: Anthony Spinelli
Written By: Richard Delong
Starring: Mimi Morgan, Joey Silvera, Linda Wong, David Book
Color/143 Minutes/Not Rated
Region FREE

The Films
THE FIRST TIME follows a young woman who is working on her first porno film and takes a look back at some of her sexual exploits that have allowed her to be so open and comfortable fucking on camera for the first time. Then, she attends her first swinger party where she has a couple more first time experiences all the while fighting with her deadbeat boyfriend.

THE FIRST TIME features enough of a story to get attached to, and enough sex to keep you entertained. It isn't the most interesting film, but there are a few moments including one at the end that are sort of made me say "what the fuck?" A breezy film that any vintage porno fan will enjoy.

When it comes to story telling THE ORIENTAL BABYSITTER makes THE FIRST TIME look like Goddamn Shakespeare. The entire narrative is our star discussing her time spent as a babysitter and how she licked, sucked and fucked the parents of the kid she was supposed to be watching. This also includes her first time with a man where she is forced in to it by a drunk father but ends up loving the attention.

Nothing new or surprising here as 95% of the run time is spent on sex with the remaining 5% on credits and shots of the babysitter talking.

The Audio & Video
Vinegar Syndrome presents both films in this double feature with anamorphic widescreen  1.85:1 prints. THE FIRST TIME looks nice with minimal print damage in the form of scratches. The colors and skin tones look strong and natural and overall it has a nice healthy look to it. THE ORIENTAL BABYSITTER fares just as well with minimal print damage and a strong presentation. Both films have a good audio track as well with very little background noise to be a distraction.

The Extras 
Bare bones. 

The Bottom Line
There isn't much debate here, either you're interested or you aren't. You'll know right away upon reading the synopsis if this is for you. If you dig old school adult films check it out.

THE FIRST TIME/ORIENTAL BABYSITTER Drive-In Collection  Double Feature is available HERE