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Released by: Alpha Blue Archives
Released in: 2006
Director: Zebedy Colt
Cast: Zebedy Colt, Annie Sprinkle, Ras Kean, C. J. Laing/Terri Hall/Harry Reems, C. J. Laing, Bree Anthony, Terri Hall, Nancy Dare, Zebedy Colt
Year: 1976
The Movies:
A sort of 'enfant terrible' of the seventies smut movie scene, Zebedy Colt (sometimes credited as Zebediah Colt or Zepety Colt) had a penchant for making some of the finest and nastiest roughies to emerge from the era but was somehow able to infuse a certain sort of artistry into his work, despite the content and the obviously limited means with which he had to work with.
Colt supposedly died in 2004 but his work remains popular thanks to his knack for pacing and for truly depraved set pieces. Alpha Blue Archives had the good sense to once again compile three of his features for their second wave in their Cult 70s Porno Director series of releases (alongside the ranks of such notables like Doris Wishman and Ray Dennis Steckler!), here's how it all plays out...
TERRI'S REVENGE (57 Minutes, 1976)
Also known as Terri's Sweet Revenge, this sleazy little inner city gem follows the late Terri Hall (of Unwilling Lovers, The Story of Joanna and Sex Wish and looking a little like Tim Curry in The Rocky Horror Picture Show) as, well, Terri. The film introduces us to her as she wanders around bombed out shitty ghettos reminiscing about the good times that she had with her late husband, Chad (Chad Lambert Of The Devil Inside Her). From there, however, we learn through a few well played flashback scenes that Terri spills to her English lesbian lover that Chad wasn't such a great guy after all, in fact he was a bit of a douche bag as proven when he brings back one of his pals to help tag-team his poor, pretty wife. Chad's amigo rapes the Hell out of his wife, only to have to go through the whole song and dance a second time when Chad himself decides she needs more rough stuff.
After Terri tells her lady-friend about her ordeal, her lady-friend confesses that she too has been the victim of rape. After Terri and her pal discuss killing of pretty much the entire male race, the wine kicks in and the opt to simply get revenge on those who hurt them. The duo hooks up with Women Against Rape, a group who just isn't down with rape at all for some bizarre reason (that's sarcasm if you can't tell) who have the resources to send the two ladies on their path of revenge. Unfortunately for our two heroines, a cop named Henderson is on the scene...
Interestingly enough, Colt splices in some footage that looks suspiciously like it was taken from Lasse Braun's The Vikings (as seen in the History Of Rape boxed set), a loop which sends Terri and the recently seduced Henderson on a sexual rampage. It all leads to a rather disturbing and bizarre conclusion but one can't help but snicker during at the music the plays out in the loop and the fall out from its bedroom screening.
AFFAIRS OF JANICE (72 Minutes, 1976)
The second film on the DVD stars the lovely C. J. Laing as the titular Janice in a film that begins with her lover, the married George King (Colt himself) found face down in a pool by his wife, Martha (Crystal Sync). We flashback almost instantly to what happened before George's inevitable demise and learn that Janice was actually his wife's protégé but that she initially had eyes for Kirk Landsing (Ras Kean). It turns out, however, that Janice and Kurt just don't have the kind of compatibility they need to make it all work. This doesn't stop them from fucking like rabbits a few times out in George's garden, however.
As the story unfolds, we find out there are a few more kinks in the plot than we first thought! Martha has desires for pretty Janice as well, and the two of them enjoy a little lovely lady loving in the kitchen of the family home. Of course, George is having feelings for Janice as well and so eventually it all explodes and nothing ends well.
Plenty of dramatic piano tunes and prolonged shots of flowers make this a genuinely odd film. It's not as rough as most of us would expect from Colt (at least for the first hour... it changes drastically around the sixty minute mark at which point Colt gets to go absolutely bat shit crazy!!!!) but it's still fairly sexy even if it is in a more tender way. The scene in which Laing and Kean do their thing in the pool is pretty hot even if the incessant piano over top of it all makes it sound like a silent film from decades prior. Colt's inspired scene as a frustrated painter around the 53 minute mark is so bizarre that you can't help but love it, the narrated conversation filling in strange plot gaps and by its very nature damning poor Janice based on George's own twisted value system. How many times do you get to see Zebedy Colt break down and cry? Despite what the first two thirds might make you think, this movie is seriously messed up and silver body paint has never been used so well!
EROTIC DR. JECKYLL (65 Minutes, 1976)
The final film on the disc stars Harry Reems (the star of Deep Throat), sporting a completely ridiculous fake beard as a young Dr. Jekyll III, a scientist who really seems to dig hand-jobs and banging nubile young ladies. When he's not getting it on he's hanging out in the lab where Igor (Bobby Astyr) helps him out with some random experiments, the kind of which his ancestors started but left unfinished. Jekyll finds a magic love potion left behind by his grandfather and when he takes it he becomes a manic love machine! He tells his lady friend, Linda (C. J. Laing) that he has to go to Africa to do research, and then once he's gotten her out of the way he goes off and bangs a bunch of ladies and plays in a rock band.
Seeing Harry Reems on stage with a headband all messed up and pretending to be able to play guitar is worth the price of admission alone. He's horrible, and it's great. His new found fame finds him decked out in a Paul Stanley-style glitter-suit on a talk show, where he lets Terri Hall give him head before bending her over and doing her doggy-style in front of a live audience that applauds him all the way. As Reems and his magic moustache grow in popularity, he winds up becoming a nationally known sex star until finally he's asked to prove his worth by doing one hundred virgins in one session!
Reems is in full on pimp-mode in this film, contrasting quite amusingly with Astyr's extremely hammy Igor. The two of them completely dominate the film and while as nice as it is to see Terri Hall, C. J. Laing and even Bree Anthony show up in the movie, it really is their show all the way.
Fast paced and campy as can be, it's actually fairly surprising that Reems isn't better known for this film than for some of his other pictures. Obviously a certain Lovelace collaboration is going to overshadow anything else but he shows some real comedic timing here that proves he was more than just a random seventies dong willing to penetrate poon on camera.
Video/Audio/Extras:
All three films on this DVD are presented fullframe, as most readers probably expected. While it's hard to say for sure if they were shot this way or not, we can make a reasonable assumption based on how things look that fullframe is the intended aspect ratio for both of the film on this disc. Compositions on both films seem to be okay, and they've been taken from what appear to be a reasonably good sources. The images are scratched and beaten up but watchable.
To break it down into finer detail, the first film looks okay. Not great, but okay. It appears to have been taken from a film print and despite some obvious print damage in the form of splices and scratches and dirt and debris, it is at least a perfectly watchable transfer and those accustomed to the representation of seventies obscurities on DVD should have no problem.
The Affairs Of Janice, however looks pretty bad. It's obviously been taken from a worn and beat up old tape as there are tracking lines and weird wobbly lines all over the place from start to finish. It also falls victim to some seriously harsh mpeg compression artifacts and ugly blocks and pixelation.
Thankfully the final feature looks very good indeed. Erotic Dr. Jeckyll has obviously been taken from a film print that was in reasonably good shape. Colors are pretty bright and there's a nice level of detail here. It's not mint but it's good considering the obscurity of the picture and it's doubtful those who appreciate such films will find much to complain about.
For the three features on the disc, it's mono all the way. While the quality isn't mind blowing, everything is audible but be prepared to turn the volume up a bit as the levels are lower than normal. The funky score and wonderfully inept dialogue comes through just fine, however and while this isn't a remarkable set of mixes, they get the job done well enough.
Well, considering there are three features on here it's probably not worth complaining about, but this release is completely barebones aside from the menu screen. It's a shame that there aren't any trailers here for any of the three films but who knows if they even still exist.
The Final Word:
The first films works as a roughie, the second film as a mind-fuck and the third as a bizarre comedy and as such this triple feature winds up being a varied but completely entertaining ride.