MURDER OBSESSION - Tacky late entry in Ricardo Freda's ouvre which I do quite like because of the schizophrenic bizarreness that takes hold after the talky first half hour. What actually carries the build up beyond the sleazy opening is the cockeyed mix of lavish but suffocating gothic atmos and passages of ridiculous cheapness (never has an A4 piece of acetate been wielded before the camera in the hope of inducing a 'trippy' visual with quite the same panache). If you can make it over the acetate threshold, there are the many splendours of whacky dream sequences which veer from laughable to genuinely disturbing, some really ludicrously bad gore, more sleaze and an exit which loses itself in utter confusion.
LIVE FEED - From the director of 'Gutterballs' and 'Hanger', two lip smackingly sordid nasties which are much meaner and much better than this. Having said this, I enjoyed 'Live Feed', which at least manages to wallow unapologetically in its own sleaze when it finds it can't cut it in terms of plot or dynamics. It's pretty gory and, despite being an obvious 'Hostel' rip, throws a couple of Yakuza action type diversions into the pot as well. I was a little surprised to find it uncut in the uk, but I guess it doesn't go THAT far. Well, anyone checking this out probably knows what they're getting into so is unlikely to care too much about the shitty acting and awful shot on video look, but, on this last point, I have to say that the uk DVD presentation sucks big time. Still worth a look for Nicholson fans.
NAKED VENGEANCE - Enjoyable pot boiler which doesn't really take its rape-revenge storyline anywhere new, nor is it particularly transgressive. It does move along pretty swiftly after it establishes the avalanche of bad luck which will set its lead character up as a righteous avenger bent on venting the wrath of the wronged well to do white bread middle classes. Slight disappointment in that I was maybe anticipating something a bit harder, but, like I said, its fast paced enough not to offend and is just the right side of ridiculous to work as a VHS era exploitation relic. Needs a DVD release.
THE NIGHT OF A THOUSAND SEXES - Or 'Night has a Thousand Sexes' or something like that. This is mid-eighties era Jess Franco, and those entranced by the gossamer sleaze of 'Macumba Sexuale' will recognise a similar hazy vibe. This really is hypnotic stuff, I guess some will revile it as boring and nonsensical, and maybe on some level it is - I suppose it depends on which part of your brain you're coming from. You'll know already if you dig it or not. Personally, I think Franco was some kind of genius - I can think of few who could wring so much from so little. Here, the most minimal ingredients come to seem utterly haunting - the highlight has to be a scene which seems to roll on for hours, but which is just basically Lina R smoking some pot and getting down with some hippie girls before stabbing their gigolo, all to some really weird music (the soundtrack to this one is particularly outstanding). Possibly a slightly overlooked Franco film, but, I think, it's up there with the best of them.
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