Junior

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.

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.

The main review on this page says it's a wannabe slasher. Well it's not a slasher. And I don't think it ever intended to be. Just clearly a film that was marketed as one because they didn't know which way to pigeon hole it. Just as combat shock was marketed as a war movie when actually its a gritty depiction of post traumatic stress disorder and mental illness. Granted this movie does have some hokey and schlocky moments (the mother and some genuine under reaction in a few scenes) But I think there is more going on here than just another mindless Texas chainsaw rip off.

I'll focus in a on a few key points as to why I think this is a cut above.

First off the strong female leads. These two girls are bad ass and don't take sh*t from anyone.

The building tension though out the film. From the first encounter the girls have with junior and his posse you can tell they are in over their heads. As juniors pranks escalate in cruelty the level headed girls start to unravel. You constantly see people over stepping their boundaries, coming into the girls house, chasing them around on boats, calling them every name under the sun. It builds a tension right into the sh*t kicking climax.

The whole fish out of water scenario. As much as this film may borrow from I spit on your grave, Texas chainsaw and psycho it also has elements of deliverance and straw dogs. It's really an interesting mix.

Don't let the other reviews fool you. Sure some of the dialog is cheesy and you have to suspend belief in a few scenes but it's a solid flick with some genuinely likable and despicable characters. Not just another hack n slash gore fest (which I also love) but there's more too it.

I'd say definitely check it out

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.

I'm not at all familiar with the hicksploitation genre outside of its out and out horror entries, so Hot Water was a bit of an education for me. It definitely comes under the mantle of horror mind, but it isn't the slasher or TCM clone it was marketed as, more a fun and trashy, even suspenseful hicks plus city gals equals bad times tale. Hookers KC and Jo get released from jail and find themselves rich after a run in with their crazy aggressive pimp. They decide to head out and start a new life, which they plan to do by setting up a marina in a backwater town, not counting on despicable locals, especially a retarded momma's boy by the name of Junior, who proves to make their stay pretty stressful, as well as the mean local sheriff. I was a little bothered by the pairs lack of logic here, I'm all for female empowerment and all that chit and KC and Jo make for highly appealing heroines, but I can't see anyone other than the most bull headed no brain trying to set up shop in a territory where just three people like them, as opposed to literally everyone else. Still, their unbelievable stubbornness marks them out as appealingly spunky and its good to see a film like this where the female leads have proverbial balls from the get go. The comely Suzanne DeLaurentiis (daughter of Dino?) is a blast as the tough and brassy KC, though I would have liked her even more had she not been sporting brunette hair as opposed to her seemingly natural red, since as we all know redheads are awesome to the max. Linda Singer is a nice contrast as the blonde and ditzy Jo with an amusing habit of talking about movies at relevant but inopportune moments and they have a fun chemistry, supported by Michael McKeever and Cotton Mather as their charming beaus. On the villainous side of things Jeremy Ratchford is effectively sleazy and unpleasant as Junior, packing a good lumbering menace, while Ken Roberts is suitably officious and scummy as the sheriff. The smart pace and build up of events is what really gives this one a kick though, things start with unwanted intrusion but grow to attempted rape, fish-hook violence, a terrific chainsaw attack and verbal abuse a-plenty amongst other things, lots of fun stuff here and a bodacious, surprisingly intense finale. The big downside is that there really isn't much in the way of bloodshed here, there are a few bits where full on brutality would have really worked but it just isn't there (although what is there was still enough to make the astoundingly cretinous BBFC of 1986 cut this one by nearly ten minutes for its UK video release. There's a bit of nudity though, which is pretty rad as the stars are fine. Overall this is real solid stuff, sweet locations, decent amount of the good stuff, could have packed more punch but still cool, check it out says I.