Operation: Hot Water

Oh goodness this movie brings back memories, i bought this video 10 years ago, at a closing down video store, i was only 15 years old at the time. "HOW DID THEY LET ME BUY THIS VIDEO?? IT HAD A TOPLESS GIRL AT THE BACK OF THE COVER the guy at the store just looked at me after he saw the cover and didn't say anything. The movie is actually called "HOT WATER"(1985) in Australia but i never knew it is also known as "JUNIOR".

Anyway this is the story:(FROM BACK OF INSERT) Two beautiful young women suddenly find themselves at the centre of a terrifying whirlpool of horrifying violence, when they become the prime targets of a systematic reign of terror by a vicious gang of bikies. A rundown restaurant and a waterfront marina looks to be a golden opportunity for a fresh start after a life on the streets and a recent stretch in prison. Moving in they find themselves the unwilling landlords of the gang, who have long regarded the marina as their own. The merciless confrontation between the two sides rapidly escalates into a murderous, bloody climax.

"If you can get your hands on this title buy it!"

This one's about two prostitutes who just got out of jail to start a new life in a small town, only there's one small problem, and it's name is Junior. The box makes it sound like this is your classic slasher flick, comparing itself to both "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Nightmare on Elm Street" and clearly stating it's "a cut above the rest." Here's the problem with that, the movie's only 80 minutes long and the only things that die by the hour mark are a plant and a dog. But any movie that features a scene where a girl makes a gas bomb out of her bikini can't be all bad.

The rating 5/10, which I awarded to "Junior", is far too generous. I'm well aware of that. And yet, I can't help being mild for this insane and severely inept piece of Canuxploitation! The film is a bit of a mishmash between "Porky's", "I Spit on your Grave" and "Psycho". Interesting combo, to say the least, but it roughly just translates as juvenile (but welcome) nudity, tough chicks extracting vengeance, and a driveling maniac with a mommy complex. Although entirely filmed in ice cold Québec, the story supposedly takes place in the deep South. Two buxom babes, freshly released from prison, settle themselves in a lakeside town where seemingly only male hillbillies live. The craziest redneck of the bunch is named Junior, and he makes it his mission to terrorize the girls so that he can impress his mother. The scenes with "momma" form the most hilarious highlights of the film. She just sits there, on her porch, with a pair of binoculars in her hands and cheers for his idiot son from a distance. Momma can't be seen properly, but I strongly suspect she's played by a male actor, probably because the director couldn't find an old lady crazy enough to appear in his film. She/he isn't listed in the credits, neither. Despite the buzzing chainsaw on the VHS-cover, "Junior" doesn't contain much gore, suspense or action. Gratuitous sleaze, on the other hand, there is plenty! And jolly good, brainless fun as well.

This movie combines several exploitation genres in a high energy, highly entertaining way. It includes Women In Prison, Good Old Boy Action Comedy, Horror, Soft Core Sex, Women Stand Up and Fight Back Against Town of Rednecks, and more! It is not, as the box suggests, just another slasher film. If you are looking for that, you might be disappointed. If you like campy humour, and lots of beautiful women in bikinis (and often out of them, too), you can't go wrong with Junior.

JUNIOR (or HOT WATER) is a Canadian film that's amazingly trashy, but in a very good way. The film starts out with these two female convicts who are released from jail (the two women look pretty good for jailbirds). Anyway, one of the funniest moments I've ever seen happens the minute they leave prison: they meet the pimp/drug dealer and what ensues ALWAYS makes me laugh out loud whenever I watch it or think about it. It's so over-the-top exploitive, violent and unintentionally funny that the whole beginning of JUNIOR was worth the whole one buck I paid for the video. The beginning of film is a must see for lovers of trash. Not that there isn't more trash afterwards (there's lots more) but once the story settles down at the waterfront hotel/bar place, well, the level of lunacy seen at the beginning mostly disappears (except for a few places here and there, certainly when Junior is around). What's fun about JUNIOR is that the producers knew they were making an exploitation flick and they makes no bones about it.

I actually like almost everything about this genuine "So Bad It's Good" movie. The Canadian locals pretending to be the US. The bad over-acting. The all-over-the-map story, that veers from one genre to the next but eventually settles in full horror at the end. There are loads of deaths, a great boat scene, attempts at rape, an elderly woman who looks like a man in drag, some beefcake, gratuitous nudity, and some chainsaws, of course. The only thing missing from the whole "kitchen sink" package was some lesbian scenes between the two gals. Had the film included some lesbian action, JUNIOR would have been a complete smörgåsbord of exploitation elements under one title. Arf!!!

I rate this 2 stars as an average film but rate it 8 stars as a trashy film.