Lesser Rollin's film, but not a TOTAL waste of time
This movie recently showed up on the DVD collection "The Grindhouse Experience" (as if I haven't bought enough Jean Rollin's movies on purpose) under the unlikely title of "High School Hitchhikers" because apparently the original English title "Schoolgirl Hitchhikers" sounds too perverse or politically incorrect by today's standards (don't worry though--the lead actresses look mature enough that this could have easily been called "Post-Doctoral Hitchhikers"). Actually though it would probably have been more accurate to use directly translated the French title "Impudent Young Girls"--I don't know if the protagonists are all that "impudent" but at no point are they ever seen hitch-hiking.
The "plot" (people familiar with Jean Rollin's body of work should be rolling around on the floor laughing right now) involves two female drifters who go into a strange château for no apparent reason. After some typical girl-on-girl action they run into some criminals on the lam who. . . well, that's pretty much it. It is similar to a lot of better Rollin's movies like "Requiem for a Vampire" with the gratuitous lesbianism and silly and unconvincing bondage and torture scenes, but it lacks the bizarre surrealism or more "fantastique" elements that mark the director's more interesting work. This is just a knock-off softcore sex flick along the lines of "Bacchanales Sexuales" but with shorter sex scenes (which may or may not be a plus depending on your motives for watching it).
The best thing about this movie is that the two lead actresses are very appealing (at least, if you're not some drooling pervert drawn in by the lurid title). Joelle Couer had a short but memorable career in early 70's French sexploitation film, including Rollin's own (much better) film "The Demoniacs", but she refused to make the leap to hardcore and was supplanted by much less attractive actresses like Claudine Beccaire. The other, more obscure lead looks like a 1970's French version of Mena Suvari. She is wearing a plaid skirt at the beginning of the film (though not for long!), which might partially explain the misleading title. I guess this movie isn't a TOTAL waste of time but just about.
The "plot" (people familiar with Jean Rollin's body of work should be rolling around on the floor laughing right now) involves two female drifters who go into a strange château for no apparent reason. After some typical girl-on-girl action they run into some criminals on the lam who. . . well, that's pretty much it. It is similar to a lot of better Rollin's movies like "Requiem for a Vampire" with the gratuitous lesbianism and silly and unconvincing bondage and torture scenes, but it lacks the bizarre surrealism or more "fantastique" elements that mark the director's more interesting work. This is just a knock-off softcore sex flick along the lines of "Bacchanales Sexuales" but with shorter sex scenes (which may or may not be a plus depending on your motives for watching it).
The best thing about this movie is that the two lead actresses are very appealing (at least, if you're not some drooling pervert drawn in by the lurid title). Joelle Couer had a short but memorable career in early 70's French sexploitation film, including Rollin's own (much better) film "The Demoniacs", but she refused to make the leap to hardcore and was supplanted by much less attractive actresses like Claudine Beccaire. The other, more obscure lead looks like a 1970's French version of Mena Suvari. She is wearing a plaid skirt at the beginning of the film (though not for long!), which might partially explain the misleading title. I guess this movie isn't a TOTAL waste of time but just about.
- lazarillo
- Aug 16, 2007