5 Films 5 Years – Volume #2 — 5 Films 5 Years – Volume #2(Blu Ray)
On the first disc we have two films, and the second disc we have the remaining three films. So on disc one we first up have The Muthers- this is from 1976 and is a blend of fairly tame WIP & Blaxploitation fed action. It’s a Phipleano production, and it’s directed by prolific Manila-based director & producer Cirio H. Santiago. The Muthers of the title is a group of 1970’s pirates, that are led up by three roll-neck wearing black women- one of their sisters gets sent to a jungle-bound women’s prison, so the three women go undercover to get her out. The films more amusing & 70’s grooving then anything really shocking or flesh bound- we get some really bad choreographed flight sequences, amusingly clichéd nasty prison warden, and a great funky soundtrack that sounds like a slightly ham-fisted take on the more upbeat numbers from Miles Davis Get Up With It album.
The other film on the first disc Murder On The Emerald Seas( aka The Great Masquerade)- this is from 1974 and was the third film from Alan Ormsby( Deranged & Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things). And this has to one of the most bizarre films on this set- it’s basically a blend of murder mystery & unfunny comedy- with a decidedly unbalanced tone through-out. The film centers around a cop dressing up in drag, to infiltrate a beauty show on a cruise ship. The murder mystery elements are rather unappealing, and the humor barely raises a chuckle- but what it does have is a great wacky concept and lots of What-The-Hell moments.
First, on disc two we have The Dungeon of Harrow- this is an extremely low-rent euro influenced gothic horror film shot in Texas in 1962. I’d say it’s on par with the likes of Andy Milligan’s more period focused horror films, but lacking the ranting dialogue & deranged flair. The film plot tells of a nobleman & his ship captain who get shipwrecked on an island after a storm- & fairly soon the pair comes across the castle of a deranged count. If you enjoy truly bad 60’s exploration you'll have fun with this, though at times it does become tiring. You have possibly some of the most crappy miniature effects ever seen- firstly of a boat meant to be out at sea( but clearly in a bath), and the outside of a castle. Continuous & often jarringly placed stock soundtracking from the 1940’s/50’s. Stilled delivery & overacting, a two-room location that they redress as the ship, then the castle, and its dungeon. You get a giant spider on a string, lo-grade swirling effects, and weird inversed imagery. We get a host of gothic horror clichés, often overdone to the point of parody- for example, cobwebs cover everywhere, including characters when they fall asleep. We have flicking candles everywhere, mist, a low-grade crypt, and of course the dungeon- which is fairly sparse featuring just a rack. Added to this we get some truly naff face make-up, some over red blood & murder- which feels like HG Lewis on a shoestring. As I said if you enjoy ‘bad’ 60’s US movies,with the rather bizarre twist of tribute euro gothic horror- you'll dig this.
Second, on disc two we have The Hang Up from 1969/ 1970’s- this is grim, but at times arty example of sexploitation/ roughie from New York-based playwriter- turned director John Hayes. The film opens with two vice cops dressed in drag watching a most bizarre & creepy seated erotic routine, which came across like something out 60’s Jess Franco movie. Fairly soon the clearly drag wearing cops are picked up & taken back to their hotel room, with the expected bust happening soon.
The remainder of the film sees the pair of cops interacting with pimps, underground sex show owners, and prostitutes. One of the cops becomes enamored with one of the prostitutes, but it is revealed along the way she is underage. The film shows female flesh & soft-core action, but this is filmed in a most off-angular & un-arousing manner. Also along the way you get some striking set pieces- for example, there’s a scene where several nude couples are sat on Orange sheets dotted around a vibrantly green vine covered field. And another scene where a naked female character is been raped, with her buttocks, pushed out of an upstairs window- all creating an unsettling yet surreal encounter. Of all the five films here I’d say The Hang up gets the most of its 2k/4k transfer, as the colors really pop, adding an often garishly surreal edge to the generally grimy & downbeat feel of the film.
Lastly, in the set we have Flesh & Bullets – this is from 1985 and was directed by Efrain "Carlos" Tobalina – who between the late 1960’s & 1980’s directed both hardcore & soft-core films, in total he directed over forty films, under various names. Flesh & Bullets has glimpsers of flesh, but really it ’s a campy & puzzling thriller- feeling more like it’s from the 70’s instead of a late 80’s , save for the easy listening-to- vaguely pacey synth score. The films main plot focuses in on two men meeting in Vegas, and agreeing to kill each others wife’s- we have the mustached, sweaty, and big-haired Roy Hunter- who looks like he’s just walked off a 70’s Russ Meyer movie. And Jeff Bordon- an aged slightly gone to seed blond haired surfer type. The unfolding film is a messy, often confusing, through great shot of so-bad-its-good filmmaking. We get a host of bad & seemingly aimless flashbacks & forwards, lots cheesy voice-overs, uncomfortable love scenes, crappy action scenes, creepy children spouting corny dialogue, and a few jarringly cutscenes. I found this a hell of a lot of fun, but I’d say it will only be for fans of bad movies- as there’s really never enough flesh, gore, or action here to attached straight exploitation fare.
5 Films 5 Years – Volume #2 is a mostly worthy & fairly varied collection of exploitation movies, going from 70’s WIP/ action crossbreeds, onto bizarre murder mystery. Through lo-rent gothic horror, onto grim roughie, and finishing with campy action. There have been murmurings that they may be more vols of this collection through-out 2017, so let’s keep our fingers crossed, as Vinegar Syndrome do have a good selection of other weird & wonderful DVD only titles they’ve released over their five-year existence.