Sklaven des Eros

This 1968 Greek sexploitation film is one of those rare cases of brilliant direction that looks pretty goofy. It's an overwrought tale of a weak-minded woman who loves her man so much that she allows him to pimp her out, among other degradations. When he kicks her out of his life she kills herself. The meat of the movie is the revenge that the girls sister carries out. Told in partial flashback (the sister is reading the deceased's diary throughout) this black and white film is one of those great emotional European films that shows Americans how to passionately smoke cigarettes, and scream like an animal when the situation warrants it. It's a simple movie, but that's a big part of the charm. It's like a snapshot of a time and place that leaves you feeling like wearing Beatle boots and drinking whiskey.

Last night at Weird Wednesday, The Alamo Drafthouse in Austin presented 'The Wild Pussy Cat'- a '68 Greek sexploitation movie that superseded everyones expectations. The performances were perfectly overwrought and weird and the melodrama was high, but in this very stylized, syrupy way. This movie did sex and sadism wrestling with one another in a way that I've seen a lot of other films attempt but fail, and clearly other directors have seen this one. According to Kier-La Janesse, Joe D'Amato remade this one as an Emmanuelle movie, with some very minor changes. I hope someone makes a DVD of 'The Wild Pussy Cat' at some point, it's worth seeing (provided, of course, you can cope with sick Greek S&M revenge movies, but otherwise, why would you be looking for information about it now?)