A Week to Dismember
Does anyone know how hard it is to find horror movies that aren't already available to stream? Not very easy! Tubi, Pluto, Plex, and Shudder have scooped up a lot of the more out of the way rarities. Which ultimately is great, because most of it is free or cheap to watch. But if there's a will, there's a way! So this week I'm highlighting a few strange pictures directed by women. Two of which don't seem to be online, and two bonus flicks eventually found buried on Youtube, but in what I consider less than ideal versions.
First up to axe (haha get it?) is Queen of the Sexploitation flick's only foray into horror, Doris Wishman's A Night to Dismember (1983). But don't get too excited. The name is the best thing about this slasher. It's about a woman who is recently let out of a mental institution for the murder of two boys. But she's not the only one who's got a fetish for blood. In fact, her whole family has been inflicted with a curse that drives them to commit murder. We know most of this by the over the top voiceover that comments on every boring detail. Really, this whole thing is a mess and a becomes a real testament to your attention span. There's the 80s sitcom music that is totally incongruous to the slicing and dicing, absolutely bonkers editing, and an impossible narrative that makes the whole thing nearly incomprehensible. It's achieved a sort of cult status, but for me, I'd consider it a pure curiosity. But Criterion Channel has a spotlight of her exploitation pictures, so check it out if that's your thing.
The second movie is A Woman's Torment (1977) by Roberta Findlay, another director who cut her teeth in exploitation, with some porn to boot. As you can see from the poster, many consider this one a "hardcore Psycho," and a "porn rip off of Repulsion." While this does have its fair share of sex, this is actually the toned down R-Rated cut, and apparently the director's preferred version. Probably had to spice it up to get some producers involved. It's about a mentally unstable woman who holes up in a beautiful beach house. She suffers from paranoia and hallucinations, which ultimately lead her to kill. This one is a huge step up from A Night to Dismember. Actually decent acting (comparatively), some competent cinematography, and it seems like Findlay is trying to transcend the sexploitation genre to say something about desire and trauma. Seems there's now a Roberta Renaissance with people recognizing her as a genre pioneer.
So two movies about women who are insane followed by bloodshed, sex, and madness. But that's not all! I'm also gonna throw up two other bonus movies as well: Lurkers (1987), also by Findlay, and Dolly Dearest (1991) by Maria Lease.
BONUS MOVIES WOW!
After her exploitation days, Findlay got into low budget horror, and while some find Lurkers to be surreal nightmare fuel, it didn't do much for me. It's about a young girl turned young woman who sees frightening ghosts and monsters, which all seem to be attached to the building she grew up in. A portal to hell??? There's little that makes sense, and what does is mostly lost in the tediousness. So bad it's good? Maybe to some. Another movie about trauma and ghosts and the past that is always lurking around the corner to haunt us. Maybe Findlay was still working through that trauma theme with this one.
Last but not least is Dolly Dearest by Maria Lease, who acted in softcore stuff up 'til the early 70s, and even directed a few nudie exploitation pictures. Seems dear old Dolly is her only mainstream movie that she directed. It's about a family that moves to Mexico after buying a doll factory, an idea they think will make them stinking rich. Talk about exploitative cheap labor! Not cool! Little do they know that an ancient demon baby has possessed the dolls. That's called Karma!
This one is definitely riding off the coattails of Child's Play, but unfortunately feels totally uninspired. It does star Denise Crosby though, the mom from Pet Sematary (another horror movie directed by a woman, Mary Lambert!). It also stars Rip Torn doing the worst Mexican accent I've ever heard. Or maybe he's supposed to be Irish? That's how bad it is. Hate to say it, the movie is more lifeless than Dolly. But! It does feel like something you’d watch on an afternoon home from school with Halloween creeping around the corner. I'm sure I would have loved this one as a kid. It does have that going for it. Annabelle, eat your heart out!
So there you have it. Four films directed by women: two exploitation flicks by two genre pioneers about mentally deranged women wielding knives, and two low budget horror movies about girls who deal with freaky demons. None of which I loved, but maybe that's because I was coming off the high of watching the sexy, erotic, and totally hypnotic Daughters of Darkness (1971). Derek’s suggestion in The Watchlist was the final nail in the vampire’s coffin — I had to watch it! These movies fell a little flatter than maybe they would have it I hadn’t just watched something so great. Maybe you'll have a different experience. Wait, is anyone even reading this? Anyone at all???
Extras:
Another by Roberta Findlay: The Oracle (1985)
A few other cult classics directed by women:
Messiah of Evil (1972) Gloria Katz & Willard Huyck
The Slumber Party Massacre (1982) - Amy Holden Jones
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991) - Rachel Talalay
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