The Gruesome Twosome

Gruesome Twosome, The (1967)

** (out of 4)

An elderly woman and her deranged son kill young women so that they can scalp them in order to put their hair in a wig shop. As is normally the case with a Lewis film, this one here is very short on plot but as an early splatter film goes, the gore does come off is fun red style. This is certainly a poorly made film with awful performances, bad dialogue and questionable direction but that doesn't really matter as what the film delivers is nostalgic fun. The film, as bad as it is, is a lot of fun because of how cheaply made it is and how much fun the director has with the gore. The gore effects are so obviously done but they remain fun just because of how fresh and at times original they are. One must remember that Lewis didn't have anything to copy off of so he was pretty much coming up with this stuff as he went along. If one is looking for a horror film to shock and scare them then this certainly isn't your movie but if you want a classic example of drive-in trash then this film remains fun.

"The Gruesome Twosome" has a simple plot. Old Mrs Pringle (Elizabeth Davies) lives in a lovely little house just outside a Miami University Campus and runs a high quality wig shop from within it. Her son, Rodney (Chris Martell), who's a little simple in the head, helps her out. His speciality is procuring the real human hair that goes into making these wonderful wigs. Unfortunately for the local students, this involves the brutal killing and scalping of every beautiful young girl who is lured into the house under the pretense of finding a room to rent. But hey, don't blame Rodney, it's not his fault - he's a child trapped in a man's body and his domineering Mother dearest (accompanied at all times by her stuffed bobcat, Napoleon) continually threatens him with the prospect of being sent to "the place where bad boys go" if he doesn't carry out her murderous desires.

Sounds from that like it could be one of a million naff exploitation movies churned out by the late 60's but this one has the distinction of being directed by the undisputed king of the genre, Herschell Gordon Lewis. As a result the film is loaded with the same kind of screwball, absurdist humour as found in his "She Devils On Wheels" opus (shot virtually back to back with this'un), mixed in with the trademarked ultraviolence of his earlier splatterfests. Hilariously, as revealed in the commentary on the recent DVD release of this, much of the humour was derived unintentionally from the fact that they shot far too little footage on the set and were forced to pad out the 75 minute running time with lingering scenes of very bizarre activity that was never in the original script. For example, the film opens with a camp 7 minute conversation between two wig blocks painted to look like garish pink Mr Potato Heads. We also have an outlandish, almost dadaist "film within a film" sequence at the Drive-In in which a young female tries to seduce a gluttonous Ray Sagar ("The Wizard Of Gore") who is more concerned with squashing peaches and stuffing his face with potato chips than he is with her wily charms. However, even discounting the unintentional comedy resulting from the timing mix-ups, Lewis still manages to cram in plenty of deliberate gags from his cast of kooky, colourful characters. We have a quirky heroine, Cathy Baker (played by the delicious model/actress Gretchen Welles), who is an overzealous and fairly inept Nancy Drew type attending the local university and is forever trying and failing to solve mini-mysteries, such as the whereabouts of her friend's pet parrot (she believes they ate it the previous day in a pot pie!). We have a creepy caretaker on campus who happens to be a bone smuggler (!) when he leaves work. We have extended scenes of pseudo-go-go dancing from the female students (including one where they all bop around waving legs of Kentucky Fried Chicken, as part of a product placement agreement Lewis scored with the fast food chain who, in turn, fed the entire cast and crew!). To cap it all off, we're even treated to a bikini beach party scene *AND* a stock car demolition derby! Anyone seeking prime 60's trash will be in Heaven here!

But it's not all fruitcake comedy. Gorefiends will delight in the extended sequences of scalpings, decapitations, disembowellings and eyeball gougings, shot in squishy, sickening close-up and rich with Lewis' beloved "red glop". It's strange that even over 30 years on from the Godfather Of Gore's heyday, no one has, in my mind, been able to out-gross him on the slippery viscera scale. The violence in "The Gruesome Twosome" is as stomach-wrenching today as it was in 1967.

Whilst not as seminal as "Blood Feast", as shocking as "2000 Maniacs" nor as trashy as "She Devils On Wheels", "The Gruesome Twosome" is nonetheless probably Lewis' weirdest finished product and, as a result, an essential part of his oeuvre. It's obvious from the DVD commentary that he still views the film with great affection and you should too. It's a gem.

The Gruesome Twosome are a little old lady called Mrs Pringle, who runs a wig shop, and her retarded son Rodney who murders and scalps pretty college girls. A student called Kathy investigates their disappearances. Directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis, the "Godfather of gore", Gruesome has four splatter scenes, very graphic but even at 72 minutes the film is heavily padded out. The beginning has a bizarre 4 minute conversation between two talking styrofoam heads, later added to stretch out the running time. We are also treated - if that's the corrected word - to drawn out scenes of groovy dancing, car racing, etc, again just to pad out time. Kathy's initial investigation is strictly comical, featuring that horror staple, a creepy janitor. Elizabeth Davis as the very eccentric Mrs Pringle is a lot of fun, she has a stuffed, scary looking big cat as a pet, called Napoleon. Hilarious! The acting at best is amateur but generally it is abysmal. This is a very cheap looking, crude movie, on purely technical merit I would score it only 2/10. However I do enjoy bad, strange and cult movies, this one leans towards the so bad it's good type. To date "Blood. Feast" is still my favourite HG Lewis movie.

Mrs. Pringle and her half-witted, needs-to-be-institutionalized son Rodney run a small business called the Little Wig Shoppe, which is also next to a room they "rent" out to beautiful college co-eds with long hair. Of course at Mrs. Pringle's establishment only 100% human hair is used. Does she then buy a lot of hair? Don't bet on it. Her son uses a knife(and later an electric carving knife) to scalp these girls for their hair and also various organs(Thursday is Napoleon's night for liver). That's right, I forgot to mention the third member of this happy little family. His name is Napoleon, and he is a stuffed Lynx(or Bobcat). Mrs Pringle talks to Napoleon throughout the whole picture. Business is booming for Mrs. Pringle till a young girl decides to investigate the disappearance of her long-haired friend out searching for an apartment. As far as Herschell Gordon Lewis flicks go, this one is decidedly a notch above films like Two Thousand Maniacs, The Wizard of Gore, and Color Me Blood Red. It has the best acting in it that I have seen for any of his films, not good but almost average! Ronnie Cass plays the demented mother with a likable camp. The film is also one of Lewis's better shot films in terms of direction. Sure we have a ridiculous scene in the beginning with two styrofoam heads with painted faces and wigs talking, but the film has a pretty good pace throughout. Am I saying this is good? No, but is it very entertaining. It also has some pretty good music in it, "Right Napoleon?" As for the gore, it's there but there really is not a lot of it and it fortunately never reaches the hyperbolic level of Lewis's The Wizard of Gore.

H.G. Lewis like to stage bloody set pieces. However in order to show them off he likes to make a feature length film. Many of them aren't very good and they're padded out to make the 70 minute mark. The gruesome Twosome is one of those films. The film revolves around a crazy old lady who makes nice realistic looking wigs and her ogreish son. She has a secret in her wig making that you'll find hair raising. They're many filler scenes placed through out the movie. The most notorious one (and clever) takes place in the beginning where two wigs are holding a conversation. The gore set pieces are cool but you'll have to sit through the movie to experience them.

Recommended for campy cult fans.

B