THE LAUGHING, LEERING, LAMPOONING LURES OF DAVID F. FRIEDMAN (1992) ***

The Laughing, Leering, Lampooning Lures of David F. Friedman is a feature-length trailer compilation of exploitation pioneer Friedman’s films.  It is a bonus feature on Something Weird and AGFA’s Blu-ray release of She Freak.  I’m not the world’s biggest fan of She Freak, but I do love me a good trailer compilation, so if you enjoy Friedman’s work as much as I do, you’ll definitely want to pick up the disc just for this bonus attraction.  

The best trailers display Friedman’s gift for ballyhoo and sensationalism.  Many play up the lavish budgets and production values (although the results usually look like your typical low budget sex flick).  Such trailers are the ones for A Smell of Honey a Swallow of Brine (which plays up the search to find the perfect starlet to play such a sleazy leading role) and The Lustful Turk (which is comprised mostly of outtakes and behind the scenes footage playing up the fact it was allegedly a bigger production than most skin flicks of the era, which of course was probably a bogus claim).  

Some of the trailers are fun (like the preview for The Defilers, which is comprised solely of still photographs), but many of the longer ones have a tendency to wear out their welcome.  (The one for Love Camp 7, while well-done, clocks in at a whopping eight minutes!)  Another debit is the fact that while the trailers are shown in chronological order, there are many glaring omissions.  While I’m sure you could see trailers for Blood Feast, 2000 Maniacs, and Color Me Blood Red in many other trailer comps, this collection kind of feels incomplete without them, seeing as they rank among Friedman’s most famous work.  On the other hand, it does contain a lot of his lesser-known titles, which I guess is an acceptable trade-off.  

The complete trailer rundown is as follows:  The Defilers (“Everything they touch is stained!”), The Notorious Daughter of Fanny Hill, A Smell of Honey a Swallow of Brine, She Freak, The Acid Eaters, The Lustful Turk, The Head Mistress, Brand of Shame (a nudie western), A Sweet Sickness, The Pick-Up, Thar She Blows, The Ramrodder, Starlet, Love Camp 7, The Master Piece, Trader Hornee, The Long, Swift Sword of Siegfried, The Suckers, The Adult Version of Jekyll and Hide, and The Erotic Adventures of Zorro.