BAT PUSSY (197?) (AGFA Blu-ray Review)

BAT PUSSY (197?) 

Label: AGFA/Something Weird Video
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 50 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Mono 2.0
Video: 1080P HD Full Frame (1.33:1)
Director/Cast: Unknown

Amateur 70's porn-parody Bat Pussy opens with a guy named Buddy reading an issue of SCREW magazine, making himself horny while reading and peeping the sexual happenings in the mag. His dumpy, ginger/freckled wife Sam meanwhile chastises him for sexing up other ladies, they bicker back and forth like the unhappily married couple they are, but nonetheless she begins servicing his noodle while he argues/apologizes with her and occasionally munches on her naughty bits, all the while neither stop arguing back and forth, it's a real half-hearted hate/fuck situation. Buddy's dirty talk revolves around sucking the freckles off her tits and the possibility of fucking her ass and nose! He's a weird one, both deliver their dialogue with a slow Southern drawl, which isn't hard to make out but adds a veneer of peculiarity to the proceedings.

Meanwhile, back at a place clearly labeled with a hand-written piece of paper as the Bat Pussy Headquarters, we find a brunette woman named Dora Dildo who awakens from a couch-nap when her twat begins to twitch, which I guess is a version of Spider-Man's tingling spider-sense? Anyway, her twitching twat is a clear indicator that someone in Gotham City is making a fuck-tape without her, so she drops her nightie and clumsily dons a homemade Bat-Girl costume and hops on her hippity-hop (which she keeps in a port-a-pottie?), bouncing her way down the side roads and interstates towards our hate/fuck duo, once arriving engaging in a boner-killing three-way with good old Buddy and Sam.

At just fifty-minutes long this one goes by fast, but not fast enough folks! Awful, awful stuff, there's nothing slightly erotic about it, sure there's a penis in that woman's mouth and she's technically sucking it, but it's a god awful sight, and the insult laden exchanges make for odd fuck-tape banter, but I will say that there's nothing out there (that I've seen anyway) that is anything like this one right here, but one's more than enough in my opinion.

Audio/Video: Boner-killer Bat Pussy arrives on Blu-ray from AGFA and Something Weird Video with a new 2K scan of the only surviving 16mm film print, it's a warts and all image, very raw with a 70' amateur porn patina. Audio comes by way of an English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono presentations, again, raw and gritty, you can hear the camera, but Buddy and Sam's scathing bickering and sexual gratifications are front and center. There are no subtitles, this is a porn after all, but an audio descriptive service would have been a nice addition! 

Onto the extras we get an audio commentary from Something Weird's Lisa Petrucci and Tim Lewis, and the AGFA team which includes Tim Lewis, Joe Ziemba, ebastian del Castillo and Bleeding Skull's Annie Choi. A fun listen, brief though it is like the film, loaded with talk about the film's discovery, cult-following and scene-specific commentary. There's also some video goodies from the SWV vaults, educational/training films pertaining to proper teen-dating etiquette and a guide to recognizing theft in a retail setting. There's also a 2-min video of a couple checking out a peep-show, the feature starring a stud in a werewolf mask getting it on. There's also nearly a half-hours worth of crime-smut trailers from the SWV Vault, and a bonus movie, this time it's the soft core version of Too much Loving (1971) under the title Robot Love Slaves (1971), wherein a henpecked science-guy hides from his nagging wife in the basement where he has invented some sort of hosed-device that can re-animate the dead, making them into sexy love-slaves. This is sourced from a 2K scan of the 16mm theatrical print, the whole thing is deeply scarred by vertical emulsion scratches, but the patine doesn't detract from the naughty fun, and this one at least has some modicum of sexiness. 

ROBOT LOVE SLAVES 

This single-disc Blu-ray releases comes housed in a clear Blu-ray keepcase with a sleeve of artwork by Johnny Ryan (Prison Pitt), also featuring illustrations of Buddy and Sam on the b-side, but not reversible, it's very pink-centric. There's also a 16-page booklet with writing on the film from Mike McCarthy who discovered the only known print of the film, an appreciation from SWV's Lisa Petrucci, notes about the transfer, AGFA, Something weird Video and production credits.

Special Features:
- New 2K scan from the only surviving 16mm theatrical print
- Commentary track with Something Weird's Lisa Petrucci and Tim Lewis, and the AGFA team
- Dating Do's and Don'ts (12 min) HD
- The Shoplifter (20 min) HD
- A Trip to the Storefront Theater (3 min) HD
- Crime-smut Trailers from the Something Weird Vault: The Black Alley Cats (1973), Dr. Carstairs 1869 Loveroot Elixir, Street of a Thousand Pleasures (1972), Carny Girl (1970), Bunny and Clod (1970), Whip's Women (1967), The Twisted Sex (1966), Frigid Wife (1950) (27 min) HD
- Liner notes by Mike McCarthy, the savior of BAT PUSSY, and Something Weird's Lisa Petrucci
- Bonus movie: ROBOT LOVE SLAVES (1971)(54 min)HD, a new 2K scan from an original theatrical print
- Reversible cover art with illustration by Johnny Ryan (PRISON PIT)

The twat-twitching Bat Pussy is such a strange porn entry, I suppose it's a porn-parody, but it manages to me neither porn-sexy nor parody-fun, having all the erotic value of watching your middle-aged parents argue naked in the living room. The intrinsic value here is that the movie exists at all and how it was found, everything about this movie is awful except for the kernel of idea that was making it a Batman parody, and they even failed at that! I would say that the bonus film, commentary and liner notes that accompany this one are several measures more intriguing that the actual film, but I am glad that this exists on Blu-ray with all the bells and whistles, piece of shit that it is.

THE VIOLENT YEARS (1956) (AGFA Blu-ray review)

THE VIOLENT YEARS (1956) 

Label: AGFA (American Genre Film Archive)
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 65 Minutes 
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Mono 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 
Director: William Morgan
Cast: Jean Moorhead, Barbara Weeks, Art Milan

Synopsis: "I shot a cop... SO WHAT!" So say the girl gang thrill-killers of Ed Wood's delirious THE VIOLENT YEARS! Written by legendary Hollywood outsider Edward D. Wood, Jr. (PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE), this is the story of Paula Parkins, a good-girl-gone-bad who leads her degenerate teenage hellcats down a path of gas station hijackings, pajama party orgies, and cold-blooded murder! From Wood's patently deranged dialogue to the scene where the gang performs a ''man attack,'' THE VIOLENT YEARS is an essential expose on crime, gender politics, and sweater-stealing. Remember, ''This is a story of violence!''

Teen delinquency films were quite a thing in the 50's, dire warnings of the most exploitative kind, salacious exposes of what unchecked youth can get up to without proper parental supervision and moral values. Such is the story of the perky nice-girl Paula Perkins (Jean Moorhead, Playboy Playmate 1955), daughter of workaholic  newspaper editor Carl (Arthur Millan) and social-bee Jane (Barbara Weeks), both are so preoccupied with their own lives to give much thought to their daughter and what she's up to. As it turns out she is the ringleader of an all-girl gang of juvie-delinquents along with school pals Phyllis (Gloria Farr), Geraldine (Joanne Cangi), and Georgia (Theresa Hancock). The teens go out at night and violently rob gas stations, also getting their kicks by sexually assault young men! However, when a night out destroying a highschool classroom goes wrong the cops show up and a shootout ensues, a cop dies, and young Ms. Perkins winds up on trial and imprisoned for life for her crimes. Not to worry though, her life doesn't end up being all that long. The movie begins and ends with a judge, played by I. Stanford Jolley (The Crimson Ghost) shaming the parents for being absent in their daughters life, leading to her moral decay. It's another highlight of this over-dramatic and deliciously awful slice of teen delinquency. Having been written (not directed) by Ed Wood (Plan 9 from Outer Space) this one was never gonna be a dramatic masterpiece, while the film is not too poorly shot, it is woodenly acted and badly edited, but damn if it isn't a trashy slice of 50's exploitation, chock full of busty teenage nihilism.

Audio/Video: Teenage delinquent cult-classic The Violent Years (1965) arrives on Blu-ray from AGFA with a brand new 4K scan of the original camera negative. The black and white image looks strong there's some minor print damage by way of speckling, scratches and frame damage, but the contrast is good, it truly is a revelation compared to what we had before. Audio comes by way of an English DTS HD MA Mono 2.0 track that sounds good, appropriately  flat and unremarkable, but surprisingly clean. Optional English subtitles are provided. 

Onto the extra we begin with a new audio commentary from Basketcase director Frank Henenlotter and Ed Wood biographer Rudolph Grey, a fun listen, Grey has an early draft of the script in front of him which they occasionally reference, Grey having interviewed Ed Wood has lots of great stories, and Henenlotter is a treasure trove of juvenile delinquent cinema trivia. We also get 15-min of Gutter-noir trailers from the Something Weird vault, 10-min of footage Ed wood shot for an unfinished feature called Hellborn (from a poor VHS source), and a wonderfully  salacious theatrical trailer for The Violent Years. 

Making this release a double-feature we get Anatomy of a Psycho (1961), presented in a raw 2K scan of a theatrical print, framed in 1.78:1 widescreen with DTS-HD MA Mono 2.0 audio, optional English subtitles provided for this one, too. The source has plenty of scratches but looks remarkably good, the first few minutes and the last few are the worse for wear, but easily blowing away anything I've seen previously on numerous public domain budget collections, though I have not seen the Vinegar Syndrome release. Directed by Boris Petroff Anatomy of a Psycho stars Ronnie Burns as teenage Chet, who is driven to the edge of insanity by the execution of his older brother. After having his face slashed in a senseless alley-way brawl paranoia begins to set in, everyone around him seems an enemy. Chet turns to his sweet younger sister, his slutty girlfriend, and even his old poker buddies for solace, but each seem to have real or imagined links back to the ill-fated trial that condemned his brother, thus aggravating Chet's growing psychosis. After viciously assaulting the prosecuting attorney's son the troubled youth draws the attention of detective Lt. Mac. Spiraling out of control Chet commits an arson and then a senseless murder. With Lt. Mac ratcheting up the pressure, he sinks deeper and deeper into the bottomless pit of his own psychotic delusions. Notably, this was actor Ronnie Burns final performance, he being the adopted son of George Burns and Gracie Allen.

This single-disc Blu-ray comes in a clear Blu-ray keepcase with a sleeve of reversible artwork, plus a collector's booklet with an introduction from Joseph A. Ziemba, excerpts from the Something Weird paper archive, including what appears to be a shooting script, images from the film, behind the scenes pictures, plus we get notes about the transfer, production credits, and info about AGFA and Something Weird Video.  

Special Features: 
- New 4K scan from the original 35mm camera negative!
- Commentary track with Director Frank Henenlotter and Ed Wood biographer Rudolph Grey!
- Theatrical Trailer (2 min) HD 
- Hellborn (10 min) HD 
- Gutter-noir trailers from the Something Weird vault! (15 min) HD 
- Bonus Movie: ANATOMY OF A PSYCHO (1965), new 2K scan from an original 35mm theatrical print! (74 min) HD 
- Booklet with Memorabilia scrapbook

The Violent Years (1956) is a super-trashy slice of 50's teenage delinquency cinema, it's a poorly made and stiffly delivered piece of work, but this thing had me laughing for the whole hour! Teenage girls knocking over gas stations is just the beginning, then it's onto destroying classrooms and unwittingly carrying out a clandestine commie agenda, layer onto that the teens group-raping a man off screen (we hear him screaming), plus a cop killing and a jailhouse pregnancy that goes horribly wrong. There's a lot of bad here to love. While I'm not sure how many folks were screaming for a definitive Blu-ray edition of this delinquent teen cult-classic I know that AGFA and Something Weird Video had to be the ones to do, so dig in. 

Alamo Drafthouse's American Genre Film Archive and Something Weird Announce Release Date and Pre-order For BAT PUSSY (1973) Blu-ray -- Banned By Amazon!

BAT PUSSY (1973) 

A new 2K transfer of BAT PUSSY from the only 16mm theatrical print in existence on Blu-ray October 17th 2017

Alamo Drafthouse's American Genre Film Archive, the largest non-profit genre film archive in the world, and Something Weird are excited to announce an October 17, 2017 release date for the BAT PUSSY Blu-ray. After a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2015, AGFA purchased a 4K film scanner to create new digital transfers of titles from the Something Weird library. BAT PUSSY is the second release of dozens in this partnership, following THE ZODIAC KILLER. Fans of trash cinema will be able to snatch up a copy of BAT PUSSY from a variety of retailers following its release, save for one: mega-retailer Amazon.   "We're thrilled that our Blu-ray release of BAT PUSSY has been banned by Amazon," said AGFA director Joe Ziemba. "It's reassuring to know that truly outlaw exploitation filmmaking is still alive and kicking -- even if it's forty years old."   Considered to be the first X-rated parody, BAT PUSSY is as lurid and tasteless as its title implies. Put another way: It's mess-terpiece of your wildest dreams... And also your most horrifying nightmares. The citizens of Gothum City are under attack by smut filmmakers and only one hero can help! Bat Pussy (Dora Dildo) hangs out in her secret headquarters (aka an outhouse). When her "twat begins to twitch," warning her of imminent crime, Bat Pussy hops on her Holy Hippity-Hop to foil the grotesque sex schemes of un-happily married couple Buddy and Sam! The unidentified lunatic filmmakers of BAT PUSSY have never been located, providing further proof that this movie was most likely made by extraterrestrials.   To celebrate the release, AGFA and Something Weird will present a world premiere screening of their new transfer of BAT PUSSY at Fantastic Fest in September, with Something Weird's Lisa Petrucci in person.   "Having BAT PUSSY restored and released on Blu-ray is just gawd-damn crazy," said Petrucci. "Out of all the films AGFA could have chosen for it's second collaboration with Something Weird, this one is unexpected and will come as a shocker to most genre fans. Needless to say, this pleases me."   Special Features: - New 2K scan from the only surviving 16mm theatrical print - Commentary track with Something Weird's Lisa Petrucci and Tim Lewis, and the AGFA team - Crime-smut trailers and shorts from the Something Weird vault - Liner notes by Mike McCarthy, the savior of BAT PUSSY, and Something Weird's Lisa Petrucci - Bonus movie: ROBOT LOVE SLAVES (1971), a new 2K scan from an original theatrical print - Reversible cover art with illustration by Johnny Ryan (PRISON PIT)   Pre-order BAT PUSSY here.

THE ZODIAC KILLER (1971) (AGFA Blu-ray Review)

THE ZODIAC KILLER (1971)

Label: AGF/Something weird Video
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 86 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Full Frame (1.33:1)
Director: Tom Hanson
Cast: Hal Reed, Bob Jones, Ray Lynch, Tom Pittman, Mary Darrington, Frank Sanabek, Ed Quigley, Bertha Dahl, Dion Marinkovich, Doodles Weaver, Gloria Gunn, Richard Styles

Synopsis: Directed by Tom Hanson, who had previously owned a chain of Pizza Man restaurants, THE ZODIAC KILLER was made to capture the real-life Zodiac Killer. That plan didn't work. Instead, we got the most outrageous and compelling "tabloid horror" vortex in the history of planet Earth. And beyond. During theatrical screenings, Hanson constructed in-theater "traps" to lure the killer from hiding. These included the use of an ice cream freezer filled with rent-a-cops and a raffle with a motorcycle as a prize. You won't get insight like this by watching a David Fincher movie. But you will get it while watching THE ZODIAC KILLER.

Director Tom Hanson made this 16mm slice of true crime sleaze in '71 when the real-life Zodiac killer was still on a murder spree in and around San Francisco, which is bizarre, the movie is said to have been made as his attempt to capture the Zodiac, and it opens with a disclaimer from the very real San Francisco Chronicle reporter Paul Avery, who describes the movie as a public service, which I think is a nice exploitative touch. I really think the making-of story of this film might be more interesting than the film itself, but that's not to say I don't love this slice of true-crime tabloid terror, because I had a blast with it.  

The film opens with the titular psychopath committing s few heinous crimes, we begin with a taxi driver being shot at point blank range through his open car window, then an assailant wearing a fake nose and glasses knifes a teen girl to death on the sidewalk of a suburban street, her blood trickling through the cracks of the sidewalk to form the circle and cross  symbol of the Zodiac Killer! . We're then introduced two our two main characters, a hard-drinking truck driver named Grover (Bob Jones) and a frustrated postal worker named Jerry (Hal Reed). Both men are angry, frustrated weirdies in their own right, with Grover being a misogynistic divorcee who at night puts on a ridiculous wig and frequents the bars, picking up the ladies and pretending to be a big shot. Jerry is more quiet, he tends to his rabbits at home, at one point becoming rattled by the death of one his furry friends. He is further tormented by a woman on his route who thinks he does a lousy job at delivering the mail, he's also friends with an old perv (Doodles Weaver, The Birds) in the neighborhood who reinforces his hatred of women, telling Jerry he likes his woman plump, juicy and dumb! Jerry has some serious daddy issues, too, which we get more of  late in the film, he yearns for his father's affection and approval, while visiting his father in the loony bin. The movie sets these guys up as the possible zodiac killers, but which one could it be? The safe money is always on the frustrated postal worker, but I'll let you figure it out, and there's a plot twist mid-way that caught me off guard and that makes it pretty clear who it is. 

The movie is tonally strange, it has a weird regional movie sort of feel about it in that it's goofy, but it also has some harrowing murder scenes, a few of which are based on the then very current and real murders the zodiac, some bare an uncanny resemblance to the scenes we saw decades later in David Fincher's phenomenal take on the material in Zodiac (2007). The two most effective kills are the real life murder of a couple parked on a lover's lane and another pair caught necking on a blanket near the edge of a lake, these are done very realistic and they are executed surprisingly well, they gave me the chills. Other kills are a bit more over-the-top and corny, a pair of them involve the Zodiac happening upon older women with car issues stranded on the side of the road. He bashes one old broad over the head with a spare tire, the other he murders by slamming the hood of her car on her repeatedly. When the Zodiac's not busy killing folks he's hanging out at the beach freaking out a young couple and rescuing a cat from a tree at the park, or calling the police and newspapers to go off on one of his diatribes, and then there's the bizarre worshipping evil at an altar stuff, the "zodiac supreme" to his "children" about a new cycle of life, the slaves he will take into the afterlife, and building pyramids... weird stuff. 

Yeah, it's a weird and wild stuff one all around, the mix of true crime details mixed with wacky made-up stuff makes this one a strange watch, but it's hard to deny that a few of these scenes are actually quite harrowing, it feels gritty in Last House on the Left (1972)sort of way, though this movie came first. The Zodiac Killer (1971) has a few keen moments that dread filled terror, but then you have the weird, slightly inept, regional film making tonal shifts, but that's what makes this such a strange and entertaining watch. 

Audio/Video: This crazy true-crime slice of exploitation arrives on Blu-ray/DVD combo from a wonderful team-up between AGFA (The American Genre Film Archive) and Something Weird Video. It arrives in the original full frame (1.33:1) aspect ratio in 1080p HD, derived from a fresh 4K scan of the only known surviving theatrical print, blown up from the original 16mm. The movie has the patina of a well-worn grindhouse print, loaded with grain that's inherent to the 16mm film, it's faded, there's damage to frames and all that good stuff, but it looks natural in all it's faded glory and was never less than watchable. Audio on the disc comes by way of an English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono with optional English subtitles. It's not pristine audio but it suits the video component nicely with some hiss and pops along the way, there are some anomalies along the way going back to the low-budget source material, but it's relatively clean, though crisp is not a word I would use to describe it, notably the movie has some cool jazzy freak-out moments that make for a great backdrop to the weirdness. 

Onto the extras we get a new audio commentary with director Tom Hanson and producer Manny Nedwick moderated by Joseph A. Ziemba and Sebastian del Castillo from AGFA, it begins with AGFA guys giving a nice tribute to Something Weird Video and the late Mike Vraney before being joined by Hanson and Nedwick who give a fine recounting of making the film, and a bizarre story about screenings of the movie which were set-up to capture the Zodiac Killer who was still active at the time, including a strange story about perhaps meeting the dreaded killer during one of those screenings! Not sure if I believe it, but they sure do, and it makes for an fun commentary.  

There's also a three minute on-camera interview with Hanson and Nedwick, a brief but entertaining piece with the two discussing Hanson's pizza business, how he broke into movie making, and setting up the screenings to capture the Zodiac killer. There's also a selection of true-crime 70's trailers from the AGFA archive, these include Carnival of Blood, The Manson Massacre, The Other Side of Madness, Three On A Meat Hook and The Toolbox Murders, all in HD, all well-worn and lightly tattered. 

Reversible Artwork

The last of the video extras is the full length second feature, Another Son of Sam (1977) in 1080p HD widescreen (1.85:1), a 2K scan derived from a 35mm print, like The Zodiac Killer it has the grindhouse patina, well-worn and cheaply shot, but it looks pretty decent all things considered. The film itself is not great, it has nothing to do with the Son of Sam NYC killings, but instead is about a guy who escapes from the loony bin and embarks on a murder spree. The release also contains a DVD with the same feature and extras.   

This release comes housed in a clear Blu-ray keepcase with a sleeve of reversible artwork, plus a 14-page booklet containing an interview with director Tom Hanson conducted by Chris Poggiali of Temple of Schlock. The booklet also contains images from the film, notes about the transfer, and information about both AGFA and Something Weird Video. 

Special Features:
- Audio Commentary with director Tom Hanson and producer Manny Nedwick moderated by Joseph A. Ziemba and Sebastian del Castillo from AGFA 
- Interview with director Tom Hanson and actor Manny Nedwick (4 min) HD
- Tabloid-horror trailers from the AGFA archive! Carnival of Blood (1970)(2 min) HD, The Manson Massacre (1971)(2 min) HD, The Other Side of Madness (1971)(2 min) HD, Three On A Meathook (1972)(1 min) HD, The Toolbox Murders (1978)(2 min) HD,
- Liner notes and director Tom Hanson interview by Chris Poggiali of TEMPLE OF SCHLOCK!
- Reversible cover art!
- Bonus Movie: ANOTHER SON OF SAM (1977)(72 min) HD, New 2K scan from a 35mm theatrical print!

I'm a huge fan of what the obscure and cult-cinema archivist at AGFA have been doing with their first two releases, right out of the gate, rescuing these weird slabs of oddball cinema from disintegration, presenting them with their natural, well-worn patinas intact in HD. These guys are truly doing the cult cinema Lord's work, and God bless em for it. It was revealed by Joseph Ziemba and Bret Berg from AGFA on a recent episode of the Shock Waves podcast what the next few releases from AGFA will be. We can expect more team-ups with Something Weird Video, beginning with Bat Pussy (1973) on October 17th, Ed Wood's The Violent Years (1956) in November, and in January 2018 comes The Sword and the Claw (1975) (aka Lion Man), then later in 2018 AGFA and Bleeding Skull are teaming up for a series of Blu-ray releases! Lovers of 70's cinema weirdness, true crime exploitation and oddball regional strangeness need this sort of culty awesomeness in their collection.

THAT'S SEXPLOITATION! (2013) (Blu-ray Review)

THAT'S SEXPLOITATION! (2013) 

Label: Severin Films

Release Date: April 26th 2016 
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 136 Minutes
Audio: English LPCM 2.0 Stereo 
Video: 1080i HD Widescreen (1.78:1) 
Director: Frank Henennlotter
Cast: David F. Friedman, Frank Henenlotter

That's Sexploitation! is a fun and naughty documentary that guides you through the illicit history of nudie movies in America, the doc is directed by Frank Henenlotter who brought the classic b-movie Basket Case and Frankenhooker. Henenlotter introduced the doc and then hands over the reigns to sexploitation pioneer David F. Friedman who then walks us through the story decade by decade, film by film, and the damn thing is jam-packed with eye-popping vintage nudie clips. The story begins back in the 1920s, with with the advent of cinema it was just about impossible that sex would not eventually end on celluloid and in the homes of nudie lovers with the proliferation of 16mm film projectors. 

From there Friedman and Henenlotter take us through the decades of nudie movies in all their wonderful varieties from the silent era on through to the pre-code peeps, then onto the roughies, the burlesque loops, the psychedelic druggies, the nudist movies and the doctor-approved "white coaters", right up to the proliferation of hardcore sex movies which all but brought an end of the innocent softcore nudie movies. Watching this was a load of dirty fun, the tour through the cinema smut was both a cinema education and a cheap thrill. Not having the most robust background in early dirty movies I found this both a fun watch and a turn-on, hanging onto every word and clip. 

Henenlotter is quite a storyteller in his own right, but he leaves most of the storytelling this time around  to the very charming Friedman who passed on shortly after his interviews were filmed for this doc, sadly he never saw it finished. Friedman touches on many of the notable players from the nudie era, names like Herschel Gordon Lewis, Russ Meyer, husband and wife duo Michael and Roberts Findlay and the Queen of the Nudist films herself Doris Wishman. Friedman also points out that the nudist movies have their  origins in Hitler's Third Reich of all places, though I might need to fact check that one, haha. 

I found the clinical sex hygiene films to be quite an eye opener, as were the sex education scare films which were meant to scare kids and soldiers off of sex with alarming graphics and grotesque pics of diseased schlongs, some of which were real stomach churners. One of the movies features a shot of a baby being birthed straight from the source, a brief but graphic shot that might get that gag reflex going on some of you weaker stomached viewers. 

Friedman notably perks up when he spoke of the '60's, an era he called the "decade of innocent decadence", speaking about the orgiastic drug fueled nudie films that were drenched in hippie-nudity, with plenty of go-go dancing and psychedelic op-art visuals layered upon them, my favorites of the bunch were Hedonistic Pleasure and Psychedelic Sex Freak, both were vibrant and fun with a wonderful Davie Allen-esque fuzzed-out guitar score. The roughies gets some good play, with clips from Aroused, Tortured Females, Bad Girls Go To Hell, and Friedman's own standard-setting roughie The Defilers. 

Friedman also speaks of the Motion Picture Production Code, also known as the Hays Code, and the introduction of Jack Valenti and Motion Picture Association of America and the effect that both organizations had on nudie cutie movies of the era, providing some context for each of the eras. The doc doesn't go into the advent of hardcore porno much at all, other than to say that once the hardcore cinemas proliferated it was the doom for the more innocent nudie films.

Henenlotter and Friedman really put sexploitation on front street with this doc, a gorgeous eye-popping love letter to a more innocent time of nudie films, and if that is not enough to draw you in might I suggest the entire two hour plus doc is worth a watch just to catch a glimpse of the Batman parody Bat Pussy, with female hero Dora Dildo, alias Bat Pussy, a crime fighter who jumps into action when her twat begins to twitch!

Audio/Video: That's Sexploitation! is a Severin Films/Something Weird Video team-up, who bring it to Blu-ray framed in 1.78 widescreen, the 1080i image looks generally good but the abundance of rare and vintage clips of nudie awesomeness does tend to fluctuate in quality from scene to scene and era to era, but I never less that watchable. A few of these clips are coming up on 100 years of age, all things considered I think it looks great. The movie is bookended with Frank Henenlotter at a strip club, shot on digital video and looking great, as do the David F. Friedman interview clips. The English LPCM 2.0 audio sounds just fine, it does fluctuate along with the video quality based on the quality of the source material but is otherwise clean and discernible. 

Onto the extras we have an audio commentary with director Frank Henenlotter and Something Weird Video’s Lisa Petrucci. Co-producer Mike Vraney of Something Weird Video passed on in early 2014, and both Henenloter and Petrucci talk at length about his contribution and love for the project. While Henenlotter took a bit of backseat to Friedman on the doc this commentary is where he gets to become the animated storyteller we know and love, the guy can go forever about this stuff, and thankfully does just that! Speaking in-depth about a few of the clips, some of the players, and his own story as a teen watching nudie films on 42nd Street, pointing out the cinemas he often frequented in his youth. 

In addition to the over-stuffed doc and audio commentary we have a trailer for the doc plus over three and a half hours of Sexploitation Shorts straight from the Something Weird Archives, which is all sorts of awesome!

Special Features: 
- Over 3 1/2 Hours of Sexploitation Shorts from the Something Weird Archives (213 Mins) 
- Audio Commentary with Director Frank Henenlotter and Something Weird's Lisa Petrucci 
- Trailer (2 Mins) 

That's Sexploitation is an expansice and detailed exploration of the nude films from the '20 through to the '70s, we're treated to a guided tour of peep shows, stags films, sex-hygiene films, nudie-cuties, roughies, druggies, and white coaters along with David F. Friedman, a man who lived and breathed nudie movies most of his life, and brought to you by Frank Henenlotter, a guy who has  loved them for most of his. Part cinema history lesson, part sleazy fun, and 100% awesome, highly recommended.