Anyway - hi Weirdos! Welcome back, in today's installment of 7 Days of Something Weird I'd like to talk about a REALLY niche genre of grindhouse film: The Nudie-Roughie. When we talk about what played in "Grindhouses" of the 60s, this is actually the kind of film we're usually talking about, although most people think of the much later blaxplotiation and sexploitation genres of the 70's.
Somewhere in the Venn diagram overlap between the almost quaint naughtiness of the "Nudie Cutie", the art house film, and the straight up porno, the "nudie roughie" generally had a plot, and (duh) nudity. It didn't show explicit sex, but made up for it with large helpings of disturbing and often downright violent subject matter. Fetishes, voyeurism, and sado-masochism were all fair game, usually in the context of a Freudian morality tale gone off the rails. Don't repress your urges, seems to be the main message of the nudie-roughie, or you'll end up like one of these guys:
The Sex Killer
This is one of my all time favorite SWV titles, because it's just so freaking bonkers. Tony, a frustrated voyeur, likes watching nude sunbathers on his off hours from the mannequin "factory" (is the loud screeching in the background every time we cut to the factory location intentional, or was somebody just jackhammering the sidewalk on the day of shooting?). Since Tony can't work up the nerve to talk to an actual girl, he starts going on dates with a mannequin head. Half of the movie is him taking the mannequin head out to dinner, touching its lips, and staring lovingly into its eyes. Then, I guess he graduates to strangling women and having sex with their corpses? For some reason? This guy really needs to find a better way to relate to women.Download the Sex Killer, $9.99, on the Something Weird Site.
The Animal
While The Sex Killer entertains mostly through demented camp appeal (seriously, it does - I'm not selling it well), the Animal - like the other films of director R. Lee Frost (The Defilers, Zero In and Scream) - is genuinely creepy and disturbing. It plays out more like a horror film or a psychological thriller than a goofy campfest. "Ted Andrews (John Alderman) is a booze-swilling, pot-smoking, mother-hating psycho who suffers from severe migraines and gets his kicks from invading the privacy of women." Alderman, in his first role, "actually manages to be both scary and strangely sympathetic at the same time."Download the Animal, $9.99, on the Something Weird Site.
Strange Rampage
A smarmy "sex doctor" who "looks like a low rent Vincent Price" gives four personal case histories of his female patients in psychoanalysis who are victims of the "serious sociological problem" of having too many women competing for not enough men. Spoiler alert: the thin sociological pretext is an excuse to show women dancing around in their underwear, pullling their shirts up for the TV repairman, and... making out with a mannequin? What's up with the mannequins?
I have a soft spot for this one because I did an intro to it on the VHS version of Strange Rampage, which I'm linking to because the actual trailer for Strange Rampage has too many boobies. Johnny was like "okay, give me something to come in on like do something with the whip or something, okay action." And I guess I did a... mean face? I don't know how to use a whip, really. Enjoy!
Download Strange Rampage, $9.99, on the Something Weird Site.
