Monster and the Stripper kicks off with a lot of Mondo movie-style footage of Bourbon Street and Mardi Gras. It’s edited like a Russ Meyer film, complete with rapid cuts and many Dutch angles. Even the hard-boiled narration is similar to the Meyer style. Then the plot begins.
Nemo (Ron Ormond, who also directed) is the owner of a strip joint on Bourbon Street. He watches a bunch of women doing various striptease numbers as part of an open audition. Frustrated that none of the girls can compete with his headliner, Titania (Georgette Dante), a babe that uses FLAMING tassels in her act, he decides he needs a new angle. Nemo then asks his right-hand man to capture a supposed swamp monster that’s been offing the locals so he can put it in one of the stripper’s act. Thus begins a cinematic journey that will leave your jaw agape for most of the running time.
If you’ve ever seen a Ron Ormond movie, you know he’s a fan of padding. Girl from Tobacco Row was padded with country music. (The wacky harmonica duo from that film also appear here.) In White Lightnin’ Road, it was stock car racing. Here, it’s striptease numbers. I’m sure you can guess which film offers the best kind of padding.
Not only does Ron have a sizeable role in this one, but so does his producing partner/wife June. She plays the stage manager at the club and also does a comedic fan dance! It truly was a family affair for the Ormonds as their son Tim (who frequently appeared in their films) plays the young jungle guide who takes the hunters to find “The Swamp Thing”.
The early audition scenes feel like an unofficial remake of Horrors of Spider Island. Heck, even the monster (played by the awesomely named rockabilly singer, Sleepy LaBeef) kind of looks like the monster from Horrors of Spider Island (mixed with a little bit of Eegah! for good measure). The film also reminded me a bit of Orgy of the Dead too. It’s not as single-mindedly driven by striptease scenes as Orgy was, but its structure is certainly similar. It also has an Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies vibe as the numbers almost have the same amount of screen time as the “drama”. There’s even a King Kong-inspired “Beauty and the Beast” stage act that sets up the final reel.
The scene where the Swamp Thing rips a guy’s arm off and beats him to death with it is as good as anything you’d see in a Herschell Gordon Lewis movie. We also get a doozy of a reveal when we learn the Swamp Thing has ripped one of the strippers’ tit off. We probably could’ve done without the real-life cow mutilation and chicken beheading, but that just goes along with the whole “What the Hell will they show us now?” vibe.
Even the plot detours are strongly crafted. The scene where a bunch of gangsters threaten a goon who’s been stealing from them is expertly done. The placement of the spittoon shots at first seem random until it becomes apparent they will empty the contents of the spittoon on the traitor’s head if he won’t comply with their wishes. It’s downright Hitchcockian the way Ormond allows the scene to unfold.
The cinematography is straight-up gorgeous too. Nothing quite looks like a sleazy, late ‘60s horror/stripper movie like a sleazy, late ‘60s horror/stripper movie, and this is about as good of a looking one as you’ll see. The garish colors highlight the luridness of the premise and the full-color process helps to preserve the stripping acts in a cinematic time capsule.
I will say that although the film contains a LOT of stripping, there’s no actual nudity because the dancers all wear pasties or tassels. Trust me when I say that it doesn’t matter as their performances are truly entertaining. Titania’s fire dance in particular is really something.
In short, Monster and the Stripper is incredible. Any movie that can call to mind the works of Russ Meyer, Herschell Gordon Lewis, Ray Dennis Steckler, Ed Wood, AND Alfred Hitchcock (not to mention King Kong, Horrors of Spider Island, and Eegah!) needs to be seen immediately. Ron Ormond (who also played the killer in Teen-Age Strangler) needs to be as well-known as all those fine gentlemen. It is my mission to make that happen, as I will be bringing you many more reviews of Ormond’s work in the coming week.
AKA: The Exotic Ones.
No comments:
Post a Comment