The Defilers

The Defilers (1965)

** (out of 4)

Friends Carl (Byron Mabe) and Jameison (Jerome Eden) have a lot of great things going for themselves and especially when it comes to women. They've slept with most of the ones in town but when they meet Jane (Mai Jansson) they have different plans for her. Those plans include kidnapping her and forcing her into a warehouse where they're going to hold her as a sex slave. THE DEFILERS often gets called one of the best "roughies" from this period and I will admit that it's a notch or two above most but it's still far from a "good" film. I've always found these roughies to be a rather strange genre but what's even stranger is how popular they were back in the day. The female abuse here is all over the map but there's an early scene where a woman doesn't behave so the guy pulls her panties down right there and spanks her very violently. There are a few other scenes of women being slapped around but there's nothing overly graphic here. The rape sequences all take place off camera so there's nothing like that either. There is plenty of female nudity all around as every woman in the cast takes her clothes off at some point. The performances aren't all that bad and there are a few good touches from the director. THE DEFILERS isn't the greatest film in the world but it's certainly not the worse either. Fans of the genre should enjoy it.

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.

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.

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.

David friedman wrote this and it's no surprise. The acting is actually pretty good for this kind of film which makes it more realistic. Two young thrill seekers kidnap a girl and make her their slave. It is "purely for kicks" states one of the kidnappers but the other begins questioning his partner and wants to let her go sooner rather then later. Their life seems to consist of driving around town or making out on the beach with babes. This film has a reputation for being rough to watch for its subject matter but I think most will find it pretty tame. There is however a scene or two where they spank the girl and hit her with a belt but not much is shown. I found this film fairly entertaining but it is certainly not for everyone.