A Woman's Torment

A Woman's Torment (1977)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Somewhat notorious hardcore film from director Roberta Findlay is pretty much a take-off on Roman Polanski's REPULSION. In the film, the mentally disturbed Karen (Tara Chung) is left home alone and soon begins to have hallucinations that slowly drive her insane and forces her to attack several people that she comes into contact with. When I say attack, that includes both sexually and in a more violent nature. A WOMAN'S TORMENT has a small cult following thanks in large part to the director's whose own popularity seems to be growing more in the digital age but the film is also known for some rather bizarre and violent moments. I'm not going to sit here and call this a "good" movie but at the same time it's somewhat refreshing seeing Findlay trying to more than your typical 70's bump 'n grind film. This one here certainly tries to be something more than that and I give the director credit because there are some pretty good things here and especially her directing skills. I thought the scenes involving the woman's slow breakdown were shot extremely well and I also thought that the director did a good job at showing this woman coming undone. The sound effects were actually good, the editing from reality to the hallucination was very good and overall I thought the film had a pretty good atmosphere. The best thing about the movie was Chung who was at least believable in the role even though she never gets good enough to where you'd buy her as a real performance (or something that you'd see in a non-hardcore film). With that said, there are a few problems with the film and the biggest is the lack of story. After a while we just get one sex scene after another and anything dealing with a plot or character development just stops. Still, this is certainly a better than average picture that fans of the director will want to check out.

Sometimes you'll see an uncut version of a horror or exploitation flick and completely out of nowhere, there will be some hardcore porn. It seems out of place and sure enough, quite often it will have been added at a later stage, usually to sell to a different market. Conversely, there are also adult movies that released in a softer form with large sections cut out, again to sell to a specific market. This falls into the latter, as it was I believe primarily intended to be an adult movie, but one which had other elements. With that said, it isn't particularly erotic due to the fact the story revolves around mental illness and murder! I decided to watch the softer version because personally, I like horror to be horror and porn to be porn. I won't give away too much about the storyline, other than to say it isn't particularly complicated. What I can say however is that it's quite well shot, has a lovely score and is reasonably well acted. With better actors and a bit more gore, I think this could've been a really great movie, but it's by no means a bad film, particularly when you consider the small team who made it. I did flick through the full uncut version afterwards and sure enough, it is highly explicit. I'd seen Michael Gaunt in 'Intrusion' the night before, so it was interesting to see him in another role (also there was an interview with him on the Blu Ray, presumably filmed at the same time as his interview for Intrusion). Another interesting person to make a (brief) appearance is Robert Kerman (or R Bolla). To me he'll always be Professor Monroe from Cannibal Holocaust, but he crops up in quite a few adult movies. On the soft version he can be heard discussing Fellini at a cocktail party - mildly interesting given his acting roles in Italian cinema. I believe on the strength of other performances, he and Gaunt could have been solid actors in more mainstream films, but I suppose once you get your name known as an adult film star then it can be difficult to get other roles.

I would certainly recommend the soft version to anyone interested in proto-slashers and horror, but just bear in mind there's nothing particularly memorable in terms of the kills. Considering the small team behind it and the fact the star apparently ran off from set before the movie had been finished, I think they did a pretty good job bringing it all together into a watchable film.

Married couple Estelle and Otis (Jennifer Jordan and Jake Teague) are unsure how to deal with Estelle's emotionally disturbed sister Karen (Tara Chung). While the couple try to decide what to do with Karen, the crazy woman turns homicidal, killing those who visit her at the beach home where she is living.

Before becoming a director of low-budget horror, Roberta Findlay was a maker of low-budget porn; a Woman's Torment straddles both genres. Some have likened it to Roman Polanski's classic psychological thriller Repulsion (1965), but Findlay is no Polanski and Tara Chung is no Deneuve.The acting is terrible: I assume that it's a cast of porn stars trying their hand at acting, rather than actors giving porn a go. They might be pros when it comes to sex*, but they're shockingly amateurish when it comes to delivering lines.

Findlay's attempts at Polanski style-hysteria and madness are laughable, largely thanks to Chung's lamentable central performance, and the hardcore sex is unimaginative, with several scenes going on for way too long (Karen with workman Larry - so tedious!).

3.5/10, rounded up to 4/10 for IMDb. Just about worth a watch for curious Findlay fans.

*The use of a not-very-well concealed tube spurting presumably fake ejaculate suggests that one performer wasn't quite ready for another pop shot.