The Sexy Box — The Sexy Box( Blu Ray box)

The Sexy Box Is a three-disc Blu set bringing together the early wacky ‘n’ raunchy comedies released by Troma films in the early 1980s, a few years before they locked into their more known quirky comic gore ‘n’ boobs bound fare. The box presents us with three films in all 1982’s Waitress, The First Turn on !!, and Stuck On You- both from 1983. With each film coming presented on their own disc, and featuring a selection of extras- including commentary tracks for each of the films.

First up we have Waitress -aka Soup to Nuts in Germany. It appeared in the year 1982, and was the first joint directorial collaboration between Troma Kingpins Lloyd Kaufman (as Samuel Weil) and Michael Herz. The film very much nods towards the companies more famous campy horror output, but without of course the gore ‘n’ wacky violence. So we have silly, manic, and often innuendo laced comedy, random female nudity, and touches of slapstick/ visual comedy.

The films set in Manhattan restaurant- focusing on the life’s & loves of three waitresses- we have Andrea( Carol Drake) an aspiring actress, Jennifer (Carol Bevar) slightly dippy trying to be a journalist, and Lindsey (Renata Hickey) the spunky and rebellious daughter of the owner of the chain of restaurants. With supporting characters in the restaurants been Jerry ( Jim Harris) the curly-haired and moustached manager of the restaurant whose also in a relationship with Andrea, a drunk and crazed Russian chief, a randy cowboy hat-wearing sous chef, and an always trying to get high off food kitchen helper.

The film largely focuses on Andrea's story- as she tries to get general acting roles, then on getting the role of Joan of Arch- and her berating & bothering the man behind the play. When not working Jennifer is researching an article about getting in picked up by men in NYC, and Lindsey is kicked out of college due to her behaviour- made to work in the restaurant as a punishment.

The around one hour and a half minute film rushes by in a zany and at times manic pace- with a mix of innuendo laced dialogue, silly food-related visual gags( like I have fly in my soap, as patron digs out a zipper), on-going jokes( most memorable & repeated regarding wine), light softcore encounters with just female nudity, and a blend silly character tropes, slapstick manic-ness, & generally zany wackness.

The acting throughout is good enough to passable, with the pace/ flow of the film kept constantly busy. Sure not all of the jokes/ humour doesn’t hit, but I certainly found myself chuckling more than a few times throughout proceedings. So on the whole Waitress!, is an entertaining example early of the 80’s raunchy comedy form- maybe not as flesh bound as some of the sex comedies of the decade, but if you like this genre I feel you’ll find much to like here, and it’s great to see the origins of Troma’s wacky & zany side.

On the extras side on this disc, we get an around minute & a half new intro to the film from Lloyd Kaufman, a trailer reel, and Gizzard Face promo. Though the main extras here is the commentary track from Lloyd- and this as you’d expect it’s both entertaining and interesting. He starts off by talking about the shooting dates been between 1979 & 1980, and why Michael Hertz never does commentary tracks/ interviews. He talks about filming in the restaurant- working between 12 midnight & 10 am, and how they dealt with this when doing certain scenes. He comments on the cast, and some of the other work they went on to do. Later on, he discusses the film's budget being $100,000, and how his previous film Squeeze Play had rather opened up the funding channels more- which carried on as Troma formed into a full-scale independent studio.

 

Up next, we have 1983’s The First Turn-on!!, and once again sees Kaufman & Herz in the director's chair. It’s a summer camp set raunchy comedy- with an anthology story layout, that’s surrounded by a series of sketches, and the banter of the balding owner of the camp- who is only interested in making money, even putting the campers at risk/ in danger

The film's anthology set-up comes from a group of four teens and their nature teacher getting stuck in a cave avalanche after they get caught smoking weed. 
The first story is with boastful and cocky Mitch/ aka self-named Stud( Michael Sanville) trying to get it on with a hooker after she gives him a lift, then gets invited back to her apartment. He takes along his dumb friend who has a list of how to woo women- blow in her ear( he starts blowing in her face), get her wet( he throws water over her)- then he gets kicked out, and she & Mitch get it on.
The next story finds Henry( the wonderfully named Googy Gress) a porky constantly junk food eating teen, who goes to a Halloween party in a homemade ghost costume that looks like a KK smock- he gets beaten up by some brothers, and inadvertently saves a rich nymphomaniac, who takes his home for sex & doughnuts.
The third story finds a farm girl getting it on with an actor who breaks into her house- with the two making it out with the sheep & the chickens.
The fourth finds skinny redhead Danny(John Flood) going on a vacation with his older brother to get laid- on the beach he starts imagining he’s seeing the centrefold from Playboy, and somehow she is real- as he gets it on with her, and his brother's date in a threesome.
Then finally we have the story of the tight blond curly-haired nature teacher Ms Farmer( Georgia Harrell) relating how she met her first love- a greasy, spotty and food face smearing geek- played by a young Mark Torgl- aka Melvin from The Toxic Avenger. He takes her to prom, then goes off with another date- and she gets it on with twin brothers.

The film is a mix of saucy humour, sight gags, with a few fart jokes, and a fair few naked breasts- it lacks the charm and zany manic-ness of Waitress, but on the whole is a passable enough summer camp set 80’s raunchy comedy- which did have me lightly chuckling on a few occasions.

On the extra front on this disc, we get an eight-minute on-screen interview with actress Sheila Kendy, an around two-minute intro to the film, trailers and a year 2000 commentary track from Lloyd. Once again another worthy track- it opens with some tomfoolery and funny voices from the editing team. As we move on Lloyd tells us how the idea for the film came from how Hertz met his wife at camp, mentions that the cast/ crew stayed at the camp while filming. He mentions that characters in this & other Troma films often have set clothes colours. He talks about how Madonna auditioned for the film, but Hertz turned her down. He discusses the cave location and comments on the cast. He talks about the beach scene, the around 200 extras it featured- and how the main cast kept them entertained. And much more.

Lastly, we have 1983’s Stuck On You (working title Cracked Eggs )- which is once more helmed by Kaufman & Herz. And this feels like a blend of Waitress and The First Turn-On in its presentation, as we have the wacky manic energy of Waitress mixed with the anthology structure of The First Turn On.

The main focus of this film is living together couple Carol(Virginia Penta) and Bill(Mark Mikulsk), who go into court for a palimony hearing after their relationship falls apart- she works in a law firm( Crum and Scrum) and he at an egg factory/ chicken farm( hence the working title). They get decidedly kooky & odd judge Gabreail( Irwin Corey) hearing their case, and he takes them to his chambers to discuss the case- and here we get a blend of amusing flashbacks to the couple's past, as well as stories of couples, striving for love from though-out history.
The historic stories go from the caveman era, where they invent the wheel with the help of lube. Adam & Eve’s story, where they meet in a bizarre animal singles bar- where the animals' chat & flirt. There’s Columbus as portrayed by a wiseguy Italian American, riding in on fake sea via a car. We have fighting  King Arthur and Genevieve, and Napoleon and Josephine- who has multiple lovers who all hide and start farting when Naplone comes back. Around this we have flashbacks to pairs past- like putting on body paint & mixing in super gue( hence the title), general amusing couple bickering & foible criticisms, chickens let loose in the law firm, rapping rabbis, and even chicken porn which gets the hens laying eggs in a projectile manner. Yes, it’s very silly, and at times total over the top but I must say I very much enjoyed what the film had to offer.

Penta & Mikulsk work well together as the bickering couple, and Corey is great as the wacky and at times very bizarre judge. As you can imagine there’s a fairly big cast due to the film's structure, and for the most part everyone we see on screen is working well in the humour/ flow of the film. Talking of the humour it’s a mix of sight gags, slapstick, more bawdy jokes, and general wackiness. The film runs around the hour and twenty-five-minute mark, and boy do they cram a lot in and most of it hits home with either a good chuckle or snigger. Of the three films on this box, I’d say this is most evenly rewarding- and I can certainly see myself rewatching it.

On this final disc, we get the following extras- an around two-minute intro to the film, Troma trailers, Jealous Of Troma now promo, and another Lloyd commentary track. And once more it’s another most worthy track- he starts off by commenting on the animated introduction to the film, who did it and the other work he did on early Troma pictures. He talks about the original title Cracked Eggs, and how they changed it after it did not attract the audience. He discusses Irwin Corey who played the judge- who had been a satirical comedian- apparently, he was a union actor, so got in trouble for acting in the film, he also like smoking pot, and had roaming/ grabbing hands when onset. He talks about the two leads- how they did their parts well, though never did any acting after this film. Later on, he mentions the films $150,000 budget, comments on location at the chicken farm- which apparently had 60,000 chickens in it. He talks about the film having nine writers, and that the film featuring the Troma first gore effect limb hacking- which was censored for the rated version. And lots more.

 

It's great to see these early Troma films brought together in one place- with rewarding/ worthy commentary tracks and not bad prints for each film. I’d say this is certainly of interest to those who enjoy wacky and raunchy comedy, or those who want to see where/ how the whole Troma thing started.