THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS (1976) **

Catharine Burgess stars as a bored, frigid housewife who becomes obsessed with an old mirror in her attic.  One night, she masturbates in front of the mirror and a man comes out of it and fingers her.  Jamie Gillis is the “demon” in the mirror that takes the form of her late father and beckons her to join him on the other side of the mirror. 

Through the Looking Glass is a XXX movie that tries to serve a dual purpose.  It wants to be a psychological drama and a porno flick all rolled in one.  None of the elements really click.  There’s some Alice in Wonderland imagery here, although probably not as much as the title would lead you to think.  Burgess has a lesbian scene with a woman who runs off and says, “I’m late” and there’s a Mad Hatter tea party when the guests fuck a woman with a carrot.  That’s about it though. 

The non-porno scenes are kind of dull and it takes a good twenty minutes to get to the first explicit sex scene.  Even though the scenes revolve around kinky fetishes such as incest and pissing, none of them are particularly hot.  There is also an enema scene, but it’s nowhere near as graphic as the ones found in Water Power, which also featured Gillis.   

Much of the problem lies with Burgess.  She just never really engages the audience.  I did like the scene where the camera actually goes inside of Burgess’ pussy though.  The movie fitfully comes alive when Gillis is on screen.  He has a demented charisma that everyone in the cast lacks.   

Through the Looking Glass’ artistic aspirations are muddled at best, and its turn into horror territory in the third act is even less successful.  If you can get past the sluggish pacing, you’ll be rewarded with a handful of memorable moments.  Overall, it’s just too uneven to be completely successful as either art or porn. 

The effective score was by none other than Harry Manfredini of Friday the 13^th fame.

HALLOWEEN HANGOVER: BLACK DEVIL DOLL FROM HELL (1984) **

This is one of the most infamous no-budget shot-on-video horror movies of the ‘80s.  Like many videotaped wonders, it contains slipshod editing, amateurish performances, and poor audio and picture quality (the latter adds to the overall feel of the film).  The music is pretty good though. 

A lonely God-fearing woman goes into an antique store and buys a ventriloquist dummy.  The puppet (who looks like Lester from Willie Tyler and Lester with dreadlocks) watches her shower and rapes her.  She starts to like it though (she even calls him “Mr. Wonderful”) and soon she becomes a sex-starved trollop.   

Much of Black Devil Doll from Hell is slow and excruciating.  The dialogue scenes are so long and boring that the camera starts wandering around the room filming walls and knickknacks instead of the performers.  If you can get past these long scenes (which take up the bulk of the movie), you’ll be treated to some jaw-dropping antics.   

The money shots of the puppet humping are hilarious.  (“How do you like that bitch?”)  They do tend to go on too long.  You have to wonder if the director had some kind of puppet sex fetish.  These scenes, long as they are, are worth the price of admission.   

It’s those non-puppet scenes that are a problem.  The running time is 90 minutes, but it could’ve easily been cut down to 75.  Okay, 45.  I mean the long disco dancing scene could’ve been excised completely and no one would’ve known the difference.  I would recommend it, but you’re probably better off just watching the puppet fucking highlights and forgetting the rest of it.  If you do decide to watch it in its entirety… well… you were warned.

HALLOWEEN HANGOVER: DEATH WALKS AT MIDNIGHT (1972) **

Director Luciano Ercoli re-teamed with most of the same cast for this spiritual sequel to Death Walks on High Heels.  Everyone is playing different characters than last time, but the plot is thematically similar.  Like Death Walks on High Heels, it’s way too long and things get needlessly convoluted by the end.  I will say this for Death Walks at Midnight:  It has a much better hook and gives a lot more screen time to its leading lady, Susan Scott.  

Scott stars as a model who agrees to take a new experimental psychedelic drug so her boyfriend (Simon Andreau) can write about the effects for a tabloid.  During her drug trip, she sees a woman being brutally killed by a man with a spiked iron glove.  Naturally, no one believes her until the killer comes after her. 

The opening scene packs a wallop.  It’s almost like something out of a Dario Argento movie.  Things quickly bog down from there though.  The scenes of Scott playing Nancy Drew aren't very involving either.  As with Death Walks on High Heels, there are so many red herrings and plot twists in the final act that it gets to be a bit much.  However, I’ll give this one the slight edge, just for the harsh iron glove slayings. 

AKA:  Cry Out in Terror.  AKA:  Death Caresses at Midnight.

HALLOWEEN HANGOVER: DEATH WALKS ON HIGH HEELS (1971) **

A stripper (Susan Scott) receives threatening phone calls from a killer with a robot voice.  He thinks she has some diamonds her late jewel thief father stole, and he claims he’ll kill her if she doesn’t fork them over.  She doesn’t take him seriously until he breaks into her room and accosts her with a straight razor.  Thinking her drunkard boyfriend (Simon Andreau) is the killer, she pops off to London with an adoring fan, a rich married doctor (Frank Wolff), to escape his clutches. 

There’s a plot twist halfway through that's worthy of a Hitchcock movie.  I wouldn’t dream of spoiling it for you.  I will say that as a consequence, the alluring Susan Scott gets less and less screen time.  Without her slinky presence, Death Walks on High Heels loses a lot of its drive.  

Taken on its own merits, the first act is a solid little piece of exploitation filmmaking.  It’s in the second act that the film loses its way, big time.  It’s here where it stops being a slightly trashy thriller and becomes a dull police procedural.  During the finale, director Luciano Ercoli piles on twist after twist, almost to the point where you’ll gladly take any conclusion as long as it makes the movie end.   All the endless twists wind up doing is jerking the audience around, which is a shame considering how well-executed the first half-hour was. 

AKA:  Death Stalks on High Heels.

HALLOWEEN HANGOVER: ANTIBIRTH (2016) * ½

Natasha Lyonne gets wasted at a party and winds up pregnant.  She isn’t fazed by it though and continues boozing and drugging it up.  Eventually, she realizes this is no ordinary pregnancy as the new life inside her slowly starts to take over her body. 

I wanted to see this mainly for the cast alone.  It’s been a while since Lyonne has had a role she could really sink her teeth into.  I mean who wouldn’t want to see her and Chloe Sevigny teamed together for a monster baby movie?  As a bonus, we have the one and only Meg Tilly on hand playing a mystery lady who shadows Lyonne.  I can’t remember the last time I saw her in a film and it’s good to have her back on the screen where she belongs.   

Unfortunately, the movie is borderline unwatchable.  How can you take such likeable performers and then give them unlikeable, loathsome characters to portray?  It quickly becomes tiresome watching them sitting around, getting high, and watching TV.  Sad thing is, most of the running time is devoted to this. 

Once we finally get to the horrific scenes, things improve slightly.  The gore effects are well done, and the blister-popping scene alone is enough to ensure it won’t get a One Star rating.  The birthing sequence, when it finally rears its ugly head (and I mean that quite literally), is appropriately icky.  However, the final moments of the film plunge deeper and deeper into excess, culminating in WTF note that will leave your alternately shaking and scratching your head. 

HALLOWEEN HANGOVER: NIGHTMARES (1980) ** ½

A kid gets fed up watching her mom fool around with her boyfriend while driving.  She tries to make them stop and inadvertently causes an accident.  Twenty years later, she tries out for a play and wins the lead.  As opening night approaches, people start being murdered by a black-gloved killer with shards of broken glass. 

Nightmares is an Australian Ozploitation movie that has many similarities to American slashers and Italian gialli.  Since the slasher film was still in its infancy (it was released the same year as Friday the 13^th), I’d have to say that the giallo thrillers were more than likely its main inspiration.  (A killer wearing black gloves is a staple of gialli.)  Still, the scenes of horny people being sliced up after humping, and the POV shots of the stalking killer would feel right at home in an American slasher. 

These scenes are done effectively for the most part.  It’s the stuff in between the stalking that’s a little on the dull side.  There are a couple of subplots that bog things down too (like the critic that tries to seduce an actor in exchange for a favorable review).  Considering the running time is only 79 minutes, the pacing should’ve been much tighter. 

The ending is also predictable.  It’s obvious from the get-go who’s doing the killing and why.  I’m not even sure why they tried to make it a mystery.  It might’ve worked better if they didn’t try to hide the killer’s identity.  I mean why not?  The audience has already guessed who it is anyway. 

AKA:  Stage Fright.  AKA:  Nightmares on the Street.

THAT’S SEXPLOITATION! (2013) *** ½

Frank (Frankenhooker) Henenlotter and David F. Friedman are your hosts for an eye-opening tour of a half-century’s worth of smut.  All facets of vintage erotica are discussed at length.  There are segments on arcade loops, drug scare films, sex hygiene movies, nudist camp pictures, peep shows, VD army training films, nudie-cuties, roughies, psychedelia, and gay and lesbian films.  Each segment is loaded with fascinating clips representing each genre and they all look great in stunning HD. 

Henenlotter (who also directed) also discusses “white coaters”, which was basically a legal hardcore movie filmed under the guise of marital education.  This eventually opened the door for the rise of porn, which to Henenlotter, says signaled the end of the line for sexploitation pictures.  Once you got to see sex in XXX, there was no longer anything left to exploit. 

Both men are fascinating to listen to.  Friedman has a mind like a steel trap and can recall with great clarity minute details from decades-old films.  Henenlotter’s enthusiasm is infectious.  Ever the historian, he chose some terrific clips to emphasize his points.  (I especially liked the side-by-side comparisons of the “Hot” versions of some of the movies.)   

Sure, at over two hours, That’s Sexploitation! runs a little on the long side.  Honestly, there’s probably enough information here to fit two movies.  Besides, seeing so many clips from such a vast library of filth alone is worth the price of admission.