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PeekARama: Little Sisters/Powder Burns
Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
Released on: April 21st, 2015.
Director: Alex de Renzy
Cast: Kandi Johnson, Clair Dia, Tyler Reynolds
Year: 1972/1971
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The Movies:
The latest entry in Vinegar Syndrome's Peekarama Collection features two low budget, early hardcore pictures directed by the late, great Alex de Renzy. Never one to shy away from a bizarre idea, these two films showcase the director's knack for combining strange set pieces, taboo busting couplings and storylines that border on the surreal.
Little Sisters:
The first feature is the more coherent of the two films on this disc. The story follows a mother and her two daughters, Kandi (Kandi Johnson) and Emily (Clair Dia), who all live together in a weird wooden mobile home thing out in the middle of nowhere. They seem happy enough, living outside of society, but when it comes time for mom to head off to visit some guy who runs a mill, she wants them before leaving them alone to stay out of the woods.
Of course, the girls ignore mom's advice. While she's off doing what she needs to get done with the miller, they wind up getting abducted by a gang of forest pirates who whisk them off to their home base for a big ol' gang rape. The girls, surprisingly enough, seem completely okay with this. Mom comes home and finds her kids missing and an unusually profane letter in their place. She figures someone had to have kidnapped her kids but instead of fingering the pirates as the guilty party, she assumes it was that gang of 'dykes' that also hang out in the woods. Mom heads to the pool where the 'dykes' live to find them having a pool party/orgy and after a bit of that, once she explains to the leader why she's arrived the somehow talks the gang of lesbians into helping her track down the pirates to save her daughters, but not before we see some cross-dressing and some weird monks get in on some hardcore gay sex.
This is a strange one to be sure, mixing up all sorts of weird elements into one big, goofy, cinematic melting pot. Part porno movie, part fairytale it's hard to say who de Renzy though would be the target audience for this one, but it's a fascinating little fuck film in its own right. Clocking in at just over an hour it goes at a good pace and features enough lunacy and headscratchingly bizarre set pieces that, if you're not into the sexy side of things, you should at least get something out of the more unusual aspects of the picture.
Kandi Johnson and Clair Dia are both fun to watch in the leads. They're quite attractive ladies and they play the naí¯ve, almost childlike daughters rather well. The actress who played the mother looks to be about the same age as her kids, which kind of makes that whole illusion hard to take seriously, but then it doesn't appear that de Renzy intended anyone to take any of this seriously in the first place.
Power Burns:
As strange as the first feature is, Powder Burns trumps in that department and it does so without cross-dressers or gay monks. This porno western hybrid tells the sordid tale of the McNasty Brothers, three outlaws who are quite popular with the inhabitants of Sewerpipe Creek because of their penchant for blowing all of their money at the local watering hole. This all goes to pot when Sheriff Sham kicks the three hoods out of town - he is the law, after all, so it's his job to deal with such things.
In a strange twist of fate, however, Sham is not only the sheriff but also the bartender so with the MacNasty Brothers gone, he too needs to figure out a way to get some cash rolling in. Enter a gal named Lolita, a foxy blonde dancer who impresses Sham with her striptease skills. He knows a good thing when he sees it and so he hires her to strut her stuff in his bar to get the guys rolling in and the money flowing once again. When this turns out to be a smart move he brings in more girls to peel for pay and he starts running some gambling tables too. Things are going quite well for him until the McNasty Brothers return to Sewerpipe Creek, but Sham has a plan and doesn't intend to let his business go down the tubes again…
This one is pretty incomprehensible. It's essentially a western about a Sheriff who winds up running a whorehouse but it's all over the place in terms of plot, pacing and style. Even when the Sheriff narrates things in an attempt to bring all of this together it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. It's a fairly experimental film and it definitely gets points for taking strange chances in terms of setting, casting and… pretty much everything else but it's loopy as loopy can be.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Both features are presented in new 2k transfers taken from the original 16mm vault elements framed at 1.33.1 fullframe, which certainly appears to be their intended aspect ratios. There is some minor print damage throughout and some visible wear and tear but most fans won't take issue with the way that the movies look. Colors are reproduced very nicely and detail is actually pretty strong given what there was to work with here.
It's English language Dolby Digital Mono across the board, no alternate languages or subtitles options provided. Both films feature clear, well balanced audio though some minor hiss pops up now and again if you're listening for it. Nothing really too problematic though, the movies sound fine considering their age and low budgets.
No extras, just a static menu offering chapter selection.
The Final Word:
Vinegar Syndrome's double feature release of Little Sisters and Powder Burns offers up too incredibly obscure Alex de Renzy offerings in as fine a condition as they're likely ever going to see. Neither film is particularly sexy but as far as bizarre, off beat smut goes? Both features have got a lot to offer - seriously though… what the Hell???
