Grindhouse Experience (Corpse
Grinders/Blood Orgy Of The She Devil/Doll Squad/Umbrella Entertainment
DVD/Region Zero/0/PAL Format)
Picture:
C/C+ Sound: C
Extras: C+ Films: C+
PLEASE NOTE: This DVD can only be operated on
machines capable of playing back DVDs that can handle Region Zero/0/PAL format software, and can be
ordered from our friends at Umbrella Entertainment at the website address
provided at the end of the review.
In the
era of tired torture porn, the films of Ted V. Mikels (pronounced Michaels) are
an amusing nostalgic trip from a simpler time when tales of B-movie terror were
not as spiteful of the audience and had some entertainment value. Though his films are not great, they are
interesting and four of them are being issued in a DVD set dubbed the Grindhouse Experience, even if this
comes all the from Umbrella Entertainment in Australia. The indie U.S. productions include three
theatrical releases.
The Corpse Grinders (1972) is the tale of a cat food
company who solves their financial insolvency by stealing bodies form a local
graveyard and turning them into a new “secret ingredient” for their cat
food. At 72 minutes, it does not wear
out its bad-acting welcome and the production values are a riot. This was a hit for Mikels who had just
directed the amusing (but not on this set) The
Astro-Zombies and is worth seeing.
The videotaped 2000 sequel Corpse
Grinders 2 is also included on a separate DVD, but it is highly
unnecessary.
Blood Orgy Of The She Devil (1972) quickly followed and feels
rushed, involving female nudity, murder, witches, psychic powers and
supernatural occult dealings. It is not
very memorable and is all over the place, though can be an amusing mess while
you watch considering they were going for broke to do a follow-up film they
thought everyone would like.
Doll Squad (1973) is the best of the four
films here as a female group of assassins goes on the kill, all dressed in Emma
Peel-type tights, they handle firearms as well as they can do karate, which in
this case is amusingly mixed. Can they
stop plague-infested rats from destroying the U.S.? Well, in one fight scene, one of the dolls
puts down a male villain opponent with several karate kicks while holding a
gun, then shoots him! That gives you an idea of their efficiency
and what you get here. Actresses
featured include Lisa Todd, Francine York, Leigh Christian, Carol Terry, Judith
McConnell and Tura Sanata. Michael
Ansara, Anthony Eisley and Rafael Campos are the male principals.
The anamorphically
enhanced 1.78 X 1 on Grinders 1 and Squad are the best two in the set,
while the 1.33 X 1 on Grinders 2 is
the worst of all with poor analog NTSC videotaping, while Devil is weak, but not as bad. Grinders 1 and Devil may lack color fidelity and look worn, but still look like
films versus Grinders 2 with its
poor video look that makes it look like a 1980s shoot unintentionally. That leaves Squad having better fidelity,
detail and depth, with limits, but is still soft too often.
The Dolby
Digital 2.0 Mono on all the films show their age and the 2000 sequel sounds as
bad as the early 1970s soundtracks simply by having bad location and in studio
recording from the poor video production.
Extras include very good Mikels feature-length audio commentaries on all
four films, making of featurettes on all but Devil and trailers on all but Grinders
2 which rightly went straight to VHS.
As noted
above, you can order this import exclusively from Umbrella at:
http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/
- Nicholas Sheffo