ABCs at the Movies: The Doubles Round!

[Meryl]

[MaineWriter]

from IMDb:

The Library of Congress print of this bizarre, apparently hybrid film clocks in at 45 minutes, so if you've seen a shorter version, you haven't seen the 'whole' film. Cobbled together from what appears to be three or possibly four different pieces of footage, The Penitente Murder Case (as the LC print is titled) outlines in bare detail the journey of a newspaperman into the barrens of New Mexico, where he stumbles upon a hardcore Catholic sect of peons who practice bizarre rites of self-flagellation. He hooks up with a cooperative local 'boy', Chico, who escorts him, unseen, to a number of secret rituals. At the end of the film the reporter is murdered so that the 'secret' of the sect stays within the local community.

The distinct sets of celluloid include some apparently silent footage, which appears to be real, of New Mexicans performing their Good Friday ceremonies (these segments were clearly shot at 16FPS); extremely bad hand held footage with enough pan shots to give anyone a headache; incredibly dull footage of the reporter and Chico standing around 'watching' the natives; and some ve ry fine dramatic footage that is clearly staged--especially good is the circular shot of the police interrogation at the end of the film. Credited director-cinematographer Roland Price was probably responsible for the character shots, but I can't imagine the man who also shot Marihuana: Weed With Roots In Hell and Son of Ingagi being capable of the 8 or so competent minutes in this film. Penitentes was apparently butchered by the Hays Office, but the extant footage is still pretty strong stuff, as the film features whipping, nudity, and crucifixion. Narrator Zelma Carroll flubs several lines and sounds like he was given a single take to record his unctuous overdubs. He also sounds like he was well lubricated for the task at hand.

This is truly a roadhouse classic, a film so strange and so ineptly made that I find it hard to criticize. Essential viewing.

[oilgun]

ParaCinema

An example of paracinema that includes taboo sexuality, gore & my favourite, nuns!  I just LOVE this film!




From an IMDb Comment: A small group of children are shown in the Spanish Civil War of Spain, threatened with blackouts and invasive nighttime slaughtering of citizens. Ramala (Nilo Mur), Tur (David Lozano), Julia (Sergi Moreno), and Francisca (Victoria Verger) witness the terror of the assassination of men, and the revenge that drives one of them to murder and suicide. These wide-eyed children become adults, carrying all of the psychic disease and trauma repressed in their minds.

We then encounter the three who survive into adulthood where they are all confined to a tuberculosis sanitarium. Ramala (Roger Casamajor) has survived as a male prostitute, protected by his 'john' Morell (Juli Mira), and has kept his life style private. Tur (Bruno Bergonzini) has become a frail sexually repressed gay male whose cover is his commitment to Catholicism and the blur of delusional self-mutilation/crucifixion. Francisca (Antònia Torrens) has become a nun and serves the patients in the sanitarium. The three are re-joined by their environment in the sanitarium and slowly each reveals the scars of their childhood experiences with war. Tur longs for Ramala's love, Ramala longs to be free from his Morell, and Francisca must face her own internal needs covered by her white nun's habit.

The setting of the sanitarium provides a graphic plane where the thin thread between life and death, between lust and love, and between devotion and destruction is played out. To detail more would destroy the impact of the film on the individual viewer, but suffice it to say that graphic sex and full nudity are involved (in some of the most stunningly raw footage yet captured on film) and the viewer should be prepared to witness every form of brutality imaginable. For this viewer these scenes are of utmost importance and Director Villaronga is to be applauded for his perseverance and bravery in making this story so intense. The actors, both as children and as adults, are splendid: Roger Cassamoor, Bruno Bergonzini and Antònia Torrens are especially fine in inordinately difficult roles. The cinematography by Jaime Peracaula and the haunting musical score by Javier Navarrete serve the director's vision. A tough film, this, but one highly recommended to those who are unafraid to face the horrors of war and its aftermath. In

[Fran]

Yet another one from the blaxploitation genre.

From IMDb:

Even though this movie came out a year before I was born, it is definitely one of my favorite comedies. It stars Redd Foxx as a father who tries to understand his son's homosexuality. Like most parents, he doesn't know a thing about what it means to be gay and has all of these stereotypical notions of what gay people are like. His son, Norman, is now grown up and living on his own. When his father, Ben, finds out that his son is gay, he pays his son a visit in hopes of changing him. The title comes from one of the funniest lines in the movie -- when Ben gets to Norman's apartment he runs into a female prostitute and thinks it's his son in drag ("Norman... is that you?")....

[memento]

IMDB: Hunky businessman Cliff and his sweet wife Mindy move from Grand Rapids, Michigan to Los Angeles, California. They take up residence in an apartment complex where several lovely young ladies also live. Pretty soon Cliff is cheating on his wife with the boss' secretary while Mindy gets involved with alluring and predatory bisexual nightclub owner and dominatrix Tanya.

[oilgun]

Sexploitation

From xploited cinema: Russ Meyer would be proud! Salacious porn princess and ex-gubernatorial candidate Mary Carey heads a cast of scantily-clad, buxom vixens whose tops are popping amidst a devious serial killer wreaking havoc by splattering buckets of gore. Perpetually horny James (Sean Andrews) is spending the summer with his bible-preaching, whore-loving father when gruesome deaths, objectifying sculptures and a sexy lesbian nurse disrupt his visit. This instant cult classic salutes sexploitation comedies with female flesh, a bloody hex, and above all, sex!

=aside= Gil


  Congrats on 1000 posts.

Thank You!  It's amazing how fast posts add up when playing this game!  Oh, and I remember  the Ilsa, She-Wolf of the S.S. series, they are something else!

[MaineWriter]

IMDb does have "exploitation" as one of the keywords for this movie.

[Fran]

More blaxploitation.

[oilgun]

Nunsploitation

From xploited cinema:   An Italian nunsploitation epic in which a demented Mother Superior and a rabid collection of mentally disturbed and sex crazed sisters lose their habits and morals with equal gusto. Inspired in part by "The Devils of Loudon," this is considered a classic of the genre. Stars Françoise Prevost, Jenny Tamburi, Paolo Malco & Franco Ressel.

[MaineWriter]

from IMDb:

Incredibly over-dramatic "message" film about a good girl (Jennifer West) and a good boy (Richard Evans) who fall in love but make the dramatic choice of having sex. Soon the girl ends up pregnant, which makes her feel like a slut and it also puts a strain on the teenager's relationship. This is in the same company as Reefer Madness as far as being overbearing in trying to deliver a message but this film here never quite hits the same level of camp. There are some over the top moments, which make for a few laughs but for the most part this is played straight forward and tries so very hard to be serious. The biggest problem are the two leads who turn in horrible performances and they bring more laughs when the film is going for seriousness. There's one great sequence inside an abortion clinic, which was shot to look like a horror film and actually manages to be just as creepy as the majority of horror films out in this time period. Jack Nicholson has a small role as a hot rod.