Blood Orgy of the She-Devils

BLOOD ORGY OF THE SHE DEVILS opens with a blood sacrifice, complete with the She Devil Dance Troupe, observed by Victor French lookalike, William Bagdad. Presided over by the wicked high priestess / medium, Mara (Lila Zaborin), much hocus is pocussed.

Mara can contact and become possessed by her "Indian guide" (!), or her Aunt Jessica (!!) at will. She is soon called upon by criminal types to kill off their enemies. Mara is double-crossed, leading to big trouble.

Directed by schlock guru, Ted V. Mikels, what could have been interesting is instead an experiment in tedious absurdity. Mara's hyena-like squawks, squeals, and shrieks during her seances simply must be heard, though some of her emitted sounds might damage eardrums. This is sub-sludge cinema at its putrid, dull best! A true brain mulcher.

Ms. Zaborin is unforgettable in her ludicrous role, even if you try to forget about it...

T.V. Mikels movies often have outlandish plots and titles but the execution almost always lacks excitement. This PG-rated hokum about suburban occultism will have your mind wandering half way into it and fully asleep by the end. So what's good about it? I did like the electronic score and the harem of dancing girls swaying to a native bongo beat in their castle. Whoever played the head witch put some gusto into her performance but overall this movie is a real drag. Even more dull than watching this movie is watching it with Mikels' audio commentary on the DVD. If you've seen the episode of The Incredibly Strange Film Show on Mikels you know that he's a lovable eccentric but he barely says anything on the commentary.

I spent $5 on a VHS copy of this film. I want that $5 back. I mean, think of all the gumballs I could have bought instead!

There's no orgy, there's little blood and Leslie McCrae hasn't learned to dance any better since her terrible turn in "The Girl in Gold Boots." Everyone in this film looks like they swallowed a quart of Nyquil before filming began. The plot...was there one? I saw this film less than six months ago and I can't remember much about its central storyline. Maybe it's a subconscious defense mechanism that caused me to block it from my memory. It's AWFUL! It tried too hard to be arty, and fails because nobody's art is going to be taken seriously when you have scantily clad go-go dancers wiggling around with long spears.

Big yawn.

I have to admit, this movie was not as bad as I thought it would've been. Now, it's no Dario Argento, but there is this underlying dark theme of witchcraft, occult, the black arts and the low budget quality is apparent. Plus, considering I've seen "Girl in Gold Boots" first, I thought this one scored higher (although Gold Boots has become a favorite laffer for me). The music and visual effects helped add a creepiness to the film. Mara as the head witch does scream a lot especially during the seance scene. The Indian guy reminded me of Tomy Chong. Tom Pace did not make as many goofy faces as usual and Leslie McRae (ROWR, yum yum!!) was just great to look at despite her so so acting (I think Ted agrees). Some flaws included the witch trial flashbacks with the men donning modern dress slacks (poor kid got whipped) and the fake bat. Good late night fodder.

You can believe Ted Mikels did in fact reserch witchcraft quite a bit before making "Blood Orgy Of The She Devils"; it has a lot of ideas jumbled into a non-plot trying to get Ted a piece of The "Roosemary's Baby" dollar.

Alas, it is all very lame, lacks any unintentional humor, and has none of the bounce of "The Girl In The Gold Boots". Much of Mikel's cast from that klutzy charmer are back, but even the wonderful Leslie McRae gets no chance to display any of the vunerable warmth and charm She had in that film. Hollywood sadly overlooked this stunning beauty who could have been a contender.

The rest is just cheap, absurd Ted, though played at a slower speed. On the DVD he talks a lot about his celebrated "castle"; where most of this was shot.