The Defilers

Shown usually in a double feature DVD, Scum of the Earth was definitely more entertaining than The Defilers but I found them both equally tragic in how horrible films like this were made.

Something Weird doesn't do much with fixing the print which is jumpy and bad but it's still well worth a look if you love sleazy drive in fare. The film captures an awkward age between the sexual revolution and the early century moral values. "We need a CAPER!" & "I said KICKS! KICKS! not chicks, sheesh, next you'll be suggesting BEER!" Good movie for those who like this sort of thing.

Terrible acting but yet still interesting to watch.

Amazing Friedman production, generally considered to be the first 'roughie', so it's black and white soft-core sex. Plus because there were restrictions as to how much sex action could be seen, we get violence instead. Great irony as others have noted that you couldn't show too much loving but you could show hitting. This is a bit slow in places and the cars, the girls and the guys all look more 50s than 60s but the flesh, the fashions and talk of 'kicks' brings us more into the period. The extent of slapping and spanking is astonishing and the sleaziness of the kidnapped girl's basement surprising. Friedman reckons this would get an 'R' rating today - he's living on another planet if he thinks it would even get made. Excellent key trash movie.

This is a great DVD package from Something Wierd with two early sixties exploitation classics ("the Defilers" and "Scum of the Earth"), two great short subjects, three drive-in intermission promos(if you don't believe this world is gone forever, check out the butter-and-red-meat saturated 'refreshments' offered by the friendly drive-in snack bar!) , a great commentary track by David Friedman tracing the history of West Coast poverty-row movie production, and a dozen cool trailers for such masterpieces of cinema as "Banned" and "Sex Killer"! The folks at Something Wierd should be commended for a great job of packaging which captures the time period better than a thousand pretentious documentaries! For fans of the genre, I would give the DVD an eleven!

Of the two features, "the Defilers" is the'better' of the two, almost artistic in some sections, and although it's very tame by today's standards, I personally think it is a thousand times more sensual and interesting than the pro-forma 'erotic thrillers' the industry turns out today.

When the "nudie-cutie" and nudist camp films began to lose popularity, filmmakers like Russ Meyer, Doris Wishman and Dave Friedman began to add a little violence to the mix and shoot in black & white to get the look of old stag films. A simple tale of the abduction and abuse of a girl from Minnesota by two thugs looking for "kicks." Sure it's distasteful but Byron Mabe is very good as the more twisted of the pair of abductors, which is all the more remarkable when you consider that he was hired as part of the crew but stepped into the lead role immediately after the original actor froze in front of the camera. The DVD commentary by Friedman is a very informative and entertaining talk about the making and distributing of exploitation films like this and the hilarious array of characters he worked with in those days.

Although quite tame by todays standards, this early roughie produced by the king of Exploitation David F. Friedman, and Directed by Lee Frost (Director of such drive-in classics like Love Camp Seven, and Chain-gang Women) is still enjoyable to watch if your a fan of Exploitation films. The story goes The Defilers are two hedonistic young men who, just for kicks, abduct a sexy blonde (Mai Jansson) as their own personal sex toy. They keep her in a litter, graffiti infested basement room, and when she does not go along with their plan, they beat her unmercifully until she submits. There is not much nudity this film (or Defiling as the title suggests), too risky for those innocent times when nudity on the screen was a big deal. Even the violence in the film is just downright cheesy in this day in age. But fun nonetheless to watch. The Opening sequence with a cool Jazz score is so cool!! They do not make films like this anymore. A lost art.