The Gore Gore Girls

Aside from the familiar cinematographic style and manditory gore, this film exceeds the sophistication of any of Herschell Gordon Lewis's previous films by leaps and bounds. The gore effects are sicker and more unnecessarily blatant than ever, and are quite convincing even by today's special effects standards (how many contemporary horror films have the villain squeezing the contents of a REAL eyeball until the juice squirts in all directions, just for show?). Many of my friends, who have seen all of the Faces of Death videos without a flinch, cannot keep from turning away from the extreme sickness of some of these sequences. The acting is at least on par with that of more acclaimed films of the time such as Shaft of French Connection; in particular, Frank Kress, though perhaps not the most photogenic actor, delivers an impressively competent and smooth performance as Abraham Gentry, the all-knowing hero. The soundtrack, written by Herschell, is effectively sleazy in an upbeat way, with the eerily out-of-tune guitar and sax reminiscent of Arch Hall Jr.'s music. And it is this juxtaposition of lighthearted music, comedy ranging from subtle to beyond-toilet-humor, and extreme gore that make Gore-Gore Girls so mind-blowing. And Henny Youngmann's appearance in the film is the best $500 HG could have spent; it takes this opus over the top. Also, as a visual arts student, I especially appreciate the entrancing aesthetic value of the title cards (I know, what does that have to do with anything? But it's my favorite part of the movie.

Herschell Gordon Lewis achieved his own entry on the list of the pulp gore exploit or whatever genre. The nudity of the strippers looks today rather comical and grotesque (than anything I would call erotic) and the gore effects are delicious bad and pure extraordinaire dilettantism (for the expert eye of today's well trained audience regarding special effects).

The Gore Gore Girls - a mix of a crime/detective story with elements of gore and some nudity, all in all only watchable if you are really into bad taste "style"and you like to breath pulp - not his best but still a funny watch.

Now, just what are you expecting from the director of The Wizard of Gore, Blood Feast, and Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat. Herschell Gordon Lewis can certainly pile on the gore. There is so much gore that you quickly forget what that naked woman looked like before the killer got started.

There is actually a story here. Abraham Gentry, played by Frank Kress in his only role, is hired by The Globe to investigate a stripper's death. He is accompanied by cub reporter Nancy, played by Amy Farrell, whose had a couple of TV roles, but only one other movie role, a stew on Airport 1975.

The strippers are typical 70s. They wore pasties, didn't have a pole, and danced to cheesy music. The customers were typical for the time, too.

Now, I was an Argento fan long before Juno discovered him, and I was a Lewis fan before Justin Bateman brought him to light in the same film. It's schlock, and the gore is not going to be to everyone's taste, but it is campy fun.

SPOILER: The last gore film of Herschell Gordon Lewis is perhaps one of his goriest and remarkably one of his funniest..intentional and unintentional. Lewis has eyeballs squeezed, nipples cut off of breasts with scissors(one breast has white liquid flowing while another has chocolate), a woman's rump bludgeoned and then salted, a host of throats slit, a woman being run over by a truck, and a woman having her face shoved in a boiling bowl of french fries(you might have noticed in this scene that the pot was tall and not very wide in the first shot prior to the actress having her face embedded in the pot then in the close-up the pot is short and wide to accomodate her face). No question about it, the film definitely has a misogynistic edge to it. Women are beaten and killed senselessly(isn't that every Lewis film?). The story about an amateur detective being paid by a newspaper to solve the crime was not THAT bad...certainly better than most plot constructs used in other Lewis vehicles. Frank Kress as Abraham Gentry certainly also is one of the best actors ever used in a lead in a Lewis film. His acting style was fresh and he could convey irony and wit. The rest of the cast was so-so, with lots of naked girls jiggling(none of them particularly attractive and looking in that sleazy, has-been 70's kind of fashion). Henny Youngman, the only big name to grace any of Lewis's horror films, stars as a night club owner and talks so fast you will have trouble hearing what he says! Lewis wants to sicken you in this film, but he also goes for the laughs and some of them work. The photographers in each murder scene are hilarious as is the general mood of the film when some poor girl isn't losing appendages, skin, or having her eyes gouged out. The score is like some sleazy jazz theme and Lewis even has the temerity to use pieces of classical music and opera such as the Anvil Chorus. Despite all the twisted killing, the film kind of grew on me. Now, maybe I am the sick one. Watch out for the ending...it is Lewis having some more fun...and the revelation of the killer is one of the most ludicrous explanations put on film. Look fast too because the killer meets his/her end so fast you'll have to rewind it to see what happened.

Legendary splatter master Herschell Gordon Lewis takes violence just about as far as he can in the standout scenes of this typically insane film. The only problem is, the movie tends to be tedious in between all of its outrageous highlights. It's certainly sleazy enough: the story has a series of go go dancers being mutilated in unspeakable ways by a demented killer. Nancy Weston (Amy Farrell), a ditzy reporter for a newspaper, hires renowned private detective Abraham Gentry (Frank Kress) to determine who the murderer is. "The Gore Gore Girls" features all of the hallmarks of any HGL film. The acting is often atrocious; exceptions here are lead Kress, who actually plays his unflappable if somewhat smarmy hero with wit and style, and the famous stand up comedian Henny Youngman, who plays his strip club impresario with gusto. Unfortunately, Youngman often talks so fast and loud one can't make out all of his quips. Farrell certainly is easy on the eyes, and due to the story line one can expect a fair amount of skin bared. One can also expect an odd ball character or two, especially hostile weirdo Grout, who loves to sit at bars and smash & smush produce. The persistent soundtrack is likewise good for some amusement. Making the whole thing worthwhile is the great flair HGL brings to his gore scenes. They're so far over the top, and so protracted, that it feels as if what he's really doing is spoofing himself. There are throat slittings, head mutilation, boiling a face in oil, and the piece de resistance, the slicing off of nipples which results in a flow of milk from one breast and chocolate milk from another. If nothing else tells us just how much HGL's tongue is in his cheek here, that'll do it. Fans of the director, and vintage exploitation / horror should lap it right up, others need not watch. There's undeniable padding; even at 85 minutes, this goes on a bit longer than it really needs to. And the identity of the killer will come as no surprise, although I can't imagine how many people would watch this actually hoping for a good murder mystery. As utterly crazy, trashy entertainment goes, one could definitely do worse than this. Six out of 10.