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Released by: Severin Films
Released on: April 26th, 2016.
Director: Frank Henenlotter
Cast: David F. Friedman, Frank Henenlotter and a cast of hundreds (mostly girls)!
Year: 2013
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The Movie:
Directed by none other than Frank Henenlotter, the same man who gave us Basket Case and Brain Damage, 2013's That's Sexploitation!, which was produced by the people at Something Weird Video, delves deep into the history of vintage nudie pictures. While Henenlotter may be best known for delivering some pretty memorable horror pictures, those hip to the sex movie scene know that he's long contributed to a line of Frank Henenlotter's 'Sexy Shockers From The Vault' and 'Hardcore Horrors' for Seattle's finest distributors of cinematic mirth and mayhem. So who better than he to spearhead a project in which the mighty monarch of exploitation himself - the late, great David F. Friedman - takes us on a personally guided tour of pre-hardcore smut and sex films?
This two hour and sixteen minute documentary starts and ends with some amusing bookend segments where Henenlotter himself visits a nudie bar but in between? That's where the real meat and potatoes of this movie is, and once Friedman is introduced hanging out in his garage full of movie memorabilia, we go up to his office for a chronological chat about the history of sex films in America.
And as it's just that - chronological - we start in the twenties and then travel through time. As we do, we learn how early American filmmakers developed an interest quite quickly in recording on celluloid the finer points of the female form. This quickly proved commercially viable and pretty much constantly right up through into the seventies filmmakers were in conflict with censorship agencies. The smart ones were quick to find loopholes, meaning that sex films could be barely covered up as educational films or white coaters, movies with a message of something to teach audiences that would allow them to be publicly displayed in theaters across the country. Hygiene films and morality plays proved to be good venues for smut peddlers to use in order to ply their filthy wares on a public hungry for poon and before you know it, a cottage industry morphed into big business.
As the decades pass, we learn about burlesque films and how lovely ladies like Bettie Page and Tempest Storm appeared in these pictures alongside some of the best bad baggie pants comedians to ever walk a plywood stage. We also learn how certain filmmakers took on more important roles than others. Doris Wishman would emerge as the queen of the nudist colony films with her epic production of Nude On The Moon. Russ Meyer would take the nudie cutie to the next level with The Immoral Mr. Teas. Herschel Gordon Lewis would deliver The Adventures Of Lucky Pierre, co-written with Friedman two years before they'd make horror movie history together with Blood Feast. Hippies and the free love movement would prove an ample breeding ground for sexploiteers quick to cash in on the latest trend, while Michael and Roberta Findlay would help to usher in the roughie! This trend of combining sex and violence to levels never before seen on American theater screens would prove to be quite the cash cow with plenty of other filmmakers getting in on the action, Friedman delivering one of the defining entries in the genre with The Defilers!
Along the way we learn about some of the filmmakers, stars and starlets who all played a part in this. Ms. Page is talked about as are the aforementioned directors, but so too do we get some discussion as to the story of the beautiful but allusive Stacey Walker, the buxom blonde star of A Smell Of Honey A Swallow Of Brine and The Notorious Daughter Of Fanny Hill. There's talk about huge-chested Marsha Jordan and plenty more - it's great stuff!
The movie winds to a close, as you'd imagine, with some talk of how the opening of full on explicit hardcore theatrical presentations made softcore null and void. Clips from Bat Pussy show up here - as if you need a reason to show clips from Bat Pussy - as Friedman finishes up his tour on a bit of a somber note.
While documentaries like Mau Mau Sex Sex, Naked In The 21st Century and Schlock! The Secret History of American Movies might have beat Henenlotter to the punch by a few years, this one goes way more in-depth and focuses pretty much entirely on sexploitation (whereas Mau Mau and Schlock! touch on horror pictures as well). This gives the movie plenty of original content and while those well versed in Friedman's story might not be blown away with tons of new information, hearing him tell it in his own words alongside so many amazing clips from the SWV archive? Well, that makes for great viewing. Along with that we get tons of stills, photos and emphemera alongside plenty of great pictures of various theater marquees over the decades too. The end result is a pretty comprehensive journey through the long gone years of softcore moviemaking that is interesting, historically important, sexy, confusing, weird, often times very funny and always endlessly entertaining.
Video/Audio/Extras:
That's Sexploitation! arrives on Blu-ray from Severin Films framed at 1.78.1 widescreen in an AVC encoded 1080i (not 1080p as noted on the packaging) high definition presentation that typically looks pretty good. As you'd guess, quality varies from clip to clip, with some of the older black and white clips from the 20s and 30s looking a bit worse for wear and with some of the later clips from the 60s and 70s looking very nice and a whole lot of other clips falling somewhere in between. The newly shot footage with Henenlotter and Friedman was done using an HD digital camera and so it's pristine. Some clips show some interlacing effects but aside from that the disc is nicely authored. Presented on a 50GB disc, the feature takes up almost 30GBs of space and is free from any obvious compression problems.
The only audio option for the feature is an English language LPCM 2.0 mix that, like the video quality, ebbs and flows in regards to its quality based on the source material and clips. Some of the archival bits have obvious hiss and occasional distortion, others sound crystal clear. The audio is properly balanced, however, and the newly shot bits featuring our hosts all sound just fine. The music used over much of this also sounds quite good.
Extras begin with an audio commentary from director Frank Henenlotter and Something Weird Video's Lisa Petrucci. It starts off with Henenlotter talking about another film made in the seventies under the same title which was never edited, let alone finished and released. This was produced by Friedman, who wanted the project finished, and a lot of the footage in this documentary was taken from that original project (Friedman had it and handed it over). A lot of that footage was missing the audio, however. From there, Henenlotter talks about the late SWV video founder Mike Vraney's involvement in the picture, how Friedman's eyesight and hearing was getting worse over the span of time it took to get this made and because of that how Henenlotter himself wound up hosting the documentary, and the importance of having a lot of naked girls around. As the documentary plays out we get some input on some of the clips and the people who made them along with some great stories about hanging out with Friedman, working with Vraney, Friedman's personal life and how he 'lasted too long' in that he outlived not only his wife but most of his best friends too. Henenlotter explains why he chose the clips that are highlighted in the movie and how he didn't want to wind up making a 'best of' highlight reel, how it was tough to edit down as much material as he did, how he tried to define each era of sexploitation filmmaking with the clip selections, how various fetishes are explored through the movies, and how Henenlotter wound up going to the Fine Arts Theater in New York City at seventeen by going to screenings looked over by a woman with bad eye sight who couldn't really verify his age! He also offers up some specific information about Nude On The Moon - how it was denied certification in New York because it didn't take place at a real nudist camp! This is a fun track that is a mix of Henenlotter's personal memories about his theater going in the boom days of these movies, affectionate reminiscences about working with both Vraney and Friedman and just interesting facts and trivia about the movies that this documentary covers. Henenlotter has more to say than Petrucci does but she gets plenty of time on the track too, sharing her thoughts on putting this project together and on many of the films and actresses highlighted here.
In addition to that, the disc also contains over three and a half hours of sexploitation clips culled from the Something Weird Video archive! Dig into this section for selected highlights from Uncle Si And The Sirens (Cine Art Productions, 20s), The Wood Nymphs (30s), Nude Frolics (Pacific Productions, 1937), Personal Hygiene Book Pitchs (40s), The Art Of Love Book Pitch (40s), Nudism - A Way Of Life? (40s), A Special Message From Walter Hale (50s), Betrayed (50s), Kalantan (Aleen Dupree) In Her Exotic Fire Dance (50s), My Tale Is Hot (Sonney Amusement Enterprises, 1964), Shocking Set!!? (Barry Mahon, 1965), Naked Fury! (Barry Mahon, 1966), Moonlighting Wives (Morgan Pictures, the late, great Joe Sarno, 1966), The Sin Syndicate (J.B.A., Michael Findlay, 1965), Wild Night At The Interlude (PAD Productions, 1967), Cowgirl Watusi With Michelle Angelo (Vanity Films, 60s), Belly Dance Watusi (Vanity Films, 60s), Balloon Watusi (Vanity Films, 60s), Bullfight Watusi (Vanity Films, 60s), Nudist Beach Contest (Vanity Films, 60s), How The Nudist Keeps Fit (Vanity Films, 60s) and last but most certainly not least Joy In The Boudoir Modelling 'Way Out' Lingerie (Vanity Films, 60s). This material is presented in 480i but even if it's not in HD, it's still cool to see -there's a lot of killer stuff included in here and while much of it is used in the documentary, typically we see MORE here than in the feature. And who doesn't want more naked ladies?
Outside of that, you get a theatrical trailer for the feature, animated menus and chapter selection.
The Final Word:
That's Sexploitation! covers a lot of ground in its two hour plus running time, painting a pretty thorough picture of sexploitation pictures throughout the decades by using scores of pertinent clips and first person discussion courtesy of David Friedman, a man who really and truly lived it. It's pretty fun stuff, a genuinely interesting look back at a long gone cinematic trend almost obliterated by the advent of hardcore filled with great stories and amazing archival material. The presentation is decent and hey, three and a half hours of bonus nudie footage? What's not to love.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
