The Gore Gore Girls

Gore-Gore Girls is on of my favorite H.G. Lewis films. But the film has a sleazy, old school porn quality and feel to it. The director giving Henny Youngman lines that were mostly one liners was an interesting touch. However whenever he strayed from his one liners the lack of acting showed big time. The set pieces were interesting but everything else had a cheap aura. Like most of H.G. Lewis' films, no one takes it seriously and that's what I enjoy about this movie.

Recommended for campy horror film fans.

B

Now, just what are you expecting from the director of The Wizard of Gore, Blood Feast, and Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat. Herschell Gordon Lewis can certainly pile on the gore. There is so much gore that you quickly forget what that naked woman looked like before the killer got started.

There is actually a story here. Abraham Gentry, played by Frank Kress in his only role, is hired by The Globe to investigate a stripper's death. He is accompanied by cub reporter Nancy, played by Amy Farrell, whose had a couple of TV roles, but only one other movie role, a stew on Airport 1975.

The strippers are typical 70s. They wore pasties, didn't have a pole, and danced to cheesy music. The customers were typical for the time, too.

Now, I was an Argento fan long before Juno discovered him, and I was a Lewis fan before Justin Bateman brought him to light in the same film. It's schlock, and the gore is not going to be to everyone's taste, but it is campy fun.

I have so much to say about this movie but I must start by explaining that the plot summary is completely wrong.The reporter isn't ditzy, the private eye isn't sleazy and she only asks him to solve one murder. I will submit a correct summary, maybe they will use it. Anyway, the on screen title of this movie was Blood Orgy, even though this site doesn't list any alternate title. It also says the rating is X and that too is false.So the movie....I really don't know what to think of it. There was so much dumb stuff that it's hard to know if they were purposely trying to make it dumb. It starts off with the private eye putting his cat in a cupboard and then he is never home again for the rest of the movie. Then the reporter knocks on his door and above the knocker there is a piece of paper with his name on it that is taped to the door. The tape is under the paper and you can still see it.You can tell his "home" is really a hotel room even with the constant tight shot. He goes to a strip club and is rude to the waitress. A different waitress brings his drink but she acts like the first one. Are we supposed to think it's the same person? And he doesn't pay for the drink, even though he pays lots of other people just for information. Later the same exact thing happens with the waitress again. For the first half of the movie it sounds like the microphone is too far away from the actors, while most of the second half appears to be dubbed and sounds like they had their faces pressed against the microphone. At least a third of the movie is average looking women dancing like idiots to stupid music. They have them stripping to circus music and military marches and it's just a silly waste of time. At one point the guy flags down a taxi(the only other moving car in the entire movie), he walks up to the drivers door, opens it and tells the elderly driver to take the passed out drunk girl home. And the driver does it! Did I mention that he's making bad jokes all the time? Or that he talks to the camera a few times? Or that the gore effects may be the worst ever put on film? I didn't even get to the story. Oh well. Despite all the silliness, it's not a bad movie. Give it a chance.

Herschell Gordon Lewis' movies are an acquired taste, and 'The Gore Gore Girls' is a perfect example of this. Many people find the combination of silly humour with extreme gore shots involving the torture and murder of women difficult to get a grip on. I don't have a problem with that so much. HGL doesn't take the material seriously as a film maker, and doesn't expect the viewer to either. Many regard this as his best movie. It certainly gorier than 'Blood Feast' or '2000 Maniacs', and has slightly more sophisticated production values, but overall I found it a little repetitive and dull, and nowhere near as entertaining as those two or 'Color Me Blood Red'. The plot involves a "gentleman detective" investigating the bloody murders of go-go dancers. The detective is played by the unknown Frank Kress who is fairly amusing. Veteran Henny Youngman appears briefly as a club owner and is not amusing at all. I suggest you only watch this if you have seen and enjoyed earlier Lewis efforts, otherwise give it a miss. Apart from the infamous meat tenderizer, face-frying, and nipple scenes there's not all that much to recommend this one. Plus the DVD commentary is one of the most tedious and uninteresting I've ever heard.

Aside from the familiar cinematographic style and manditory gore, this film exceeds the sophistication of any of Herschell Gordon Lewis's previous films by leaps and bounds. The gore effects are sicker and more unnecessarily blatant than ever, and are quite convincing even by today's special effects standards (how many contemporary horror films have the villain squeezing the contents of a REAL eyeball until the juice squirts in all directions, just for show?). Many of my friends, who have seen all of the Faces of Death videos without a flinch, cannot keep from turning away from the extreme sickness of some of these sequences. The acting is at least on par with that of more acclaimed films of the time such as Shaft of French Connection; in particular, Frank Kress, though perhaps not the most photogenic actor, delivers an impressively competent and smooth performance as Abraham Gentry, the all-knowing hero. The soundtrack, written by Herschell, is effectively sleazy in an upbeat way, with the eerily out-of-tune guitar and sax reminiscent of Arch Hall Jr.'s music. And it is this juxtaposition of lighthearted music, comedy ranging from subtle to beyond-toilet-humor, and extreme gore that make Gore-Gore Girls so mind-blowing. And Henny Youngmann's appearance in the film is the best $500 HG could have spent; it takes this opus over the top. Also, as a visual arts student, I especially appreciate the entrancing aesthetic value of the title cards (I know, what does that have to do with anything? But it's my favorite part of the movie.