The Sensuous Nurse (1979) Review

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(More customer reviews)I remember that when this film played in theatres here way back when, the newspaper ads included the proviso that, due to the explicit nature of the film, photography was strictly prohibited. "Who's going to take photos of a movie?," I thought. I figured it was just a gimmick to play up the sex in the film. I also imagined that Ursula Andress' career must have really gone downhill to have participated in a trashy quasi-porn film like this. Having recently watched the DVD, I can say that I was right about the amount of skin seen in the film (especially by '70s standards). The nice booklet that No Shame Films provides with the DVD also explains that Andress was no longer on the A-list of actors as she had been. What I was wrong about was the film itself, as it turns out that it's quite enjoyable and fun to watch!
Leonida, the patriarch of the Bottacin family of wine producers, is in a bad way. He's just had a heart attack while in bed with the local gravedigger's wife - and his family couldn't be happier. Nieces Jole and Italia, nephew Gustavo and (especially) Italia's husband Benito can't wait for the old man to kick the bucket so they can make a deal with American gangster Mr. Kitch to go international. The trouble is that Leonida won't go so quickly, so Benito hires Anna, his sexy former nurse (and bed mate) to quicken the old boy's pulse and cause a second, fatal heart attack. Add in Jole's son Adone (the only relative who wants the old man to live), Giovanni (the frequently drunk servant) and Tosca (whose services to the family go well beyond cleaning and cooking) and you've got the makings of lots of mayhem.
Besides Andress (whose scenes include a nice nude swim), the cast is lead by Duilio Del Prete, doing a lot of physical comedy in his role of Benito. One of the highlights is when he tries to show Anna the 'proper' way of caring for Leonida to do him in - to which she replies that he may die laughing. Mario Pisu is funny as Leonida (especially in his final scenes), Carla Romanelli is quite delightful as Tosca, while former Bond girl Luciana Paluzzi ("Thunderball") joins in the racy goings-on with a topless scene. Jack Palance also has a few short scenes as Mr. Kitch - and it's rather evident that he enjoyed himself in the process!
The picture quality on DVD is good, enhanced for widescreen sets and filling the screen. The video box says that the proper aspect ratio is 1.66:1, which would mean that a bit had to be trimmed from the top and bottom to fill the screen, but I couldn't notice anything missing. There are two soundtracks, Italian and English, and I chose to listen to the Italian with the optional English subtitles. Though the subtitles are easy to read, I found myself going back a few times to re-read them as some went by too fast - a small price to pay, as I always prefer the original language to get the proper feel of the film. The DVD also includes interviews with director Nello Rossati and his brother Tony, the costume designer; the trailer; a poster and still photo gallery; and an informative 8 page booklet (the norm for No Shame releases) which is such a rarity these days.
As that booklet states, " 'The Sensuous Nurse' will never be mistaken for a remarkable film but it does have its charms." I wholeheartedly agree. While it's not a classic by Fellini or Antonioni, the film is a lot of fun, with enough laughs and amusements to bring a smile to your face.


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"****" – Mr. Skin.comAfter having consoled himself for the loss of his wife by taking up with the undertaker's wife, super wealthy aging widower count Leonida (Mario Pisu of Fellini's JULIET OF THE SPIRITS) has now suffered a near-fatal heart attack.Hoping that the old Casanova will pass by at a faster speed due to his lusty desires his scheming nephew Benito has assigned him the incredibly sexy and sensuous nurse Anna (Bond girl Ursula Andress of DR. NO and WHAT'S NEW, PUSSYCAT?).Her arrival sends everyone in the house into a tizzy, and the plans of Benito and the rest of the old man's heirs go completely astray when the sensuous nurse falls for the decrepit old count!Featuring an international cast including Academy Award-winner Jack Palance (CITY SLICKERS, SHANE), THE SENSUOUS NURSE is both a biting social satire and an erotic comedy of the highest order.Starring one of the filmdom's sexiest women at her most revealing, THE SENSUOUS NURSE is considered by many to be one of the best Italian erotic comedies of its era.A staple of late night cable television airings throughout the 70s and 80s, anyone who remembers this erotic gem will find it as sexy today as it was when you first saw it… and that's pretty damn sexy!NoShame Films is proud to present THE SENSUOUS NURSE for the first time on DVD in its original widescreen aspect ratio, digitally re-mastered from the original negative, uncut and uncensored, the only way it should be!

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SS Hell Pack Triple Feature Review

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(More customer reviews)Three tedious Nazisploitation efforts, each largely indistinguishable from the vast majority of pictures in this genre.
SS GIRLS (1977), a SALON KITTY knockoff from the feeble mind of Bruno Mattei, is set in a secluded mansion wherein a crazy and debauched Nazi commander (Gabriele Carrara) employs prostitutes--each highly trained in ballet, weightlifting, fencing, gunplay and schtupping the spectrum of physically disgusting men--to lure unsuspecting Nazi traitors to their doom. The nudity quotient is high but the sex scenes, not unlike most of the male participants involved in them, are flabby, unrealistic and repetitive. And then there's some unpleasant business between a whore and a severely deformed man that, had this not been directed by one of the worst Italian directors of all time, would surely have engendered ill will. But with Mattei, it's tough not to have anything BUT ill will toward virtually everything he's ever done, so I suppose exploitation of the diseased should come as no surprise. The film is by design rather low on the torture and "cruelty" one associates with this genre, with even the mass suicide ending--which at last releases us from the company of these ridiculously smarmy actors--almost completely devoid of blood. In an interview included on the disc, Mattei reveals that he hates watching nearly all of his own films because he always sees many things he could have done better with more time and money. One would think that a director who worked extensively (and repeatedly) on low budgets and tight schedules would certainly not hurt for ingenuity, or style, as often as Mattei has, but such was not the case, if his long, depressing trail of visually ugly and sloppily plotted exploitationers is any indication.
Moving up a rung on the ladder of quality--arguably a lateral step, really, as the production value isn't much better--is Sergio Garrone's SS EXPERIMENT LOVE CAMP (1976), a once-notorious "video nasty" in England which features more full frontal nudity and butcher-meat-laced cruelty than the Mattei picture, though the romantic couplings are again rather uninvolving despite their showcasing far more attractive performers of both sexes. In this camp, ladies not chosen to improve the German race through ridiculous sex experiments are instead deemed fit for ridiculous medical experiments. (Garrone was known to do research for his films, so in all likelihood his onscreen experiments also happened in real life, and were equally as pointless) The film's key plot device--and arguably it's wildest asset--involves the camp commandant's desire for a new pair of testicles with which he can get a proper leg over for Der Fuhrer's greater glory, items duly (and seemingly unwittingly) removed from one of his officers. When good guy Helmut discovers he's a nut-free by-product of the Nazi machine just before mounting his love camp lovely, he races naked throughout the compound until he finds the duplicitous Colonel von Kleiben (Giorgio Cerioni, who looks very much like one of the puppets on Gerry Anderson's THUNDERBIRDS), furiously demanding to know "what have you been doing with my balls!?!" before inciting an all-out riot. Still, it's decidedly a case of parts surpassing the whole, as it tends to be with Nazi pictures that don't star Dyanne Thorne in a lead role.
The set concludes with Sergio Garrone's SS CAMP: WOMEN'S HELL, actually known as (and ID'd onscreen as) SS CAMP 5: WOMEN'S HELL. Exploitation Digital's sleeve for this dates it to 1977, though it's obvious Garrone shot it at the same time as SS EXPERIMENT LOVE CAMP using the same locations and most of the same cast in different roles. Garrone admits as much in the accompanying interview, and the comparatively stronger plotting, acting and action elements on offer suggest this was actually the first of the two pictures completed. Thanks to its meatier scenes of torture and medical experimentation, WOMEN'S HELL ventures closer to being a "video nasty" than LOVE CAMP, but then as now, it's tame stuff, notable mainly for introducing a Pam Grier blaxploitation vibe in the form of Rita Manna as the cunning Jamaican whore Alina, who takes advantage of besotted camp commandant Col. Strasser (Giorgio Cerioni, again sporting a THUNDERBIRDS coiffure and the plastic complexion to match) to plot the bullet-riddled liberation of her fellow prostitutes. Again, Garrone's superficial research informs the film's scenes of cruelty and degradation--including a cheap-but-effective optical that allows dead bodies to jerk and twitch in the camp's ovens (a trick used several times in LOVE CAMP as well)--but the vintage newsreel footage of actual Jews being stripped of their belongings and their lives sits uncomfortably amidst all the gratuitous boobs and beaver on display. But this was Italy in the 70's: "anything goes" was the cinematic order of the day, but cheap moralizing in a film such as this is offensive.
Thankfully, this thematically-challenged genre wasted away on the merits of films such as those included in this set. They're worth watching if you're new to the genre and want to see three average examples at a budget price rather than getting burned on the individual releases (which each cost nearly as much as this triple feature), but there are better examples out there, most notably ILSA: SHE WOLF OF THE SS. Extras on each disc include an interview with the respective director (running 10-15 minutes), meager still galleries, and selections of trailers, including some for other Nazisploitation titles.

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Devil in the Flesh (1986) Review

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(More customer reviews)The story: A girl and a boy fall madly in love , even though the girl is promised to another guy. That's it. There is not much more of a story. So why did I rate this film with four stars? It is is absolutely worth your time. It lives, like many italian films of that era from the expectation, that something will happen. Nothing does, really. If it were not for the absolutely beautiful Maruschka Detmers. She alone makes the film worthwhile. The way she looks, the way she is dressed, her laugh and, yes, the sex-scenes. Very nice. And, yes, the explicit oral scene is included.
The picture of the DVD is perfect. Good remastering. The only language offered is italian, but that's fine with the english subtitles. Unfortunately I did not purchase the No Shame-version. This edition has no extras, except a trailer.
So, enjoy!

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Papaya: Love Goddess of the Cannibals (1978) Review

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(More customer reviews)ok, Papaya, Love Goddess of the Cannibals (1978)
Directed by Joe D'Amato (Anthropophagus and Emanuelle in America).
Ever since I herd that this Joe D'Amato classic was coming out into DVD, I was so excited and couldn't wait!! Released a last week on DVD by Severin (Emanuelle and the White Slave Trade). Now Fully Uncut and Uncensored
Me, like most people owned the VSOM version or the X-Rated Cult DVD - That I thought were uncut?
But, when I received my copy of the Joe D'Amato classic.... I was not very happy!!! The DVD cover design/packaging was great - But, c'mon.... the DVD had Not one single special feature besides a Damn trailer that I could go online if I wanted to watch it!!
Could Severin not get Stelvio Cipriani to do an interview? They at least have put the Damn soundtrack from the film as a Bonus Disc, especially since the movie cost almost $30.
Also, the picture quality of the movie doesn't even look like is remastered! I checked out www.severin-films.com and for some odd reason Jess Franco's Devil Hunter and Bloody Moon, that cost only $17.99 (WTF!!) are remastered and are in High Definition and also include MORE then a Damn trailer as a special feature...they both include rare Jess Franco interviews!! I don't understand???
Well, I've wasted enough of my time talking about this Amazing Joe D'Amato classic. It is a Must have for any Italian,Horror,Joe D'Amato fan! I'd wait til the price goes down.
~ Joe D'Amato Jr.

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Now Uncut & Uncensored For The First Time Ever In America!Her name was Sirpa Lane, the succulent Finnish beauty who became an international sex symbol in Roger Vadim's CHARLOTTE, then shocked the world with her inhuman degradation in Walerian Borowczyk's THE BEAST. But perhaps her ultimate cinematic destiny was to star in this tropical sleaze-fest from the notorious Joe D'Amato - director of EMANUELLE AND THE WHITE SLAVE TRADE and ANTHROPOPHAGUS - as a woman who hungrily surrenders to perverse trysts, native vengeance, graphic carnal carnage and much more. Severin Films is shamelessly proud to present PAPAYA fully restored - including the complete Disco Cannibal Blood Orgy sequence - from an Italian vault print seized from the private collection of a jailed magistrate!EXTRAS:Theatrical Trailer

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Over the Edge (1979) Review

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(More customer reviews)Over the Edge is as relevant today as it was when it appeared in 1979, maybe even more so. It's a teenage rebellion movie in the best tradition of films like Rebel Without a Cause and The Blackboard Jungle. I can't think of a movie that better depicts the boredom of the American teenager in a sub-divided suburban wasteland where nothing to do becomes a full time activity.
New Granada is a planned community in the middle of nowhere. It's a resounding success. At least the adults want to believe it is. They make money, make deals, and want to attract business and create something in the middle of nowhere, a shiny happy place to live, away from the big city. Meanwhile the kids are stuck in limbo with nothing to do and nowhere to go save a Rec center run by an older hippy woman who lets the kids drink, smoke, toke, and generally make a science out of boredom.
Carl is a good kid from a good home, but he's beginning to fall in with the wrong crowd of kids, one of whom is Richie (Matt Dillon in his first film), a rough and tumble teen who sparks the now all too believable climax. The photography is beautiful and lends the film an eerie quality as it depicts New Granada as an ambitious moral failure, a new but already rotting development. The money to build a promised shopping mall and bowling alley has run out, leaving the kids with a Rec center that is eventually shut down by a police force (led by Dough Boy from Taxi Driver) that puts the pressure on until something has to give.
It's supposedly based on a true story, but which true story is unimportant. There are countless New Granadas in America, and the film was shot in a planned community in Aurora, Colorado. The landscape is bleak, with a consistently gray and grainy sky. The 70s trappings, the promise of 'Tomorrow's City...Today' and the grim reality of its cultural bankruptcy all create a depressing and desperate atmosphere. The powder keg finale probably seemed unlikely and over the top in 1979. Not so today as we're reminded of another Colorado suburb named Littleton.
Like Kids, the cast of Over the Edge actually look to be the appropriate age they are depicting (not your typical Hollywood 25 year olds playing high school students). This film is a sharp contrast to the popular teen films of the 80s such as the John Hughes oeuvre and even Fast Times at Ridgemont High. While kids today are more plugged into the outside world (literally) with computers, the internet, video games, and a greater exposure to mass media, the themes of alienation, frustration, and parents who are trying to save their kids but more concerned with property values are still relevant. Today, however, the more kids have to do, the more scapegoats people can find for their actions in the wake of events like Littleton.
Highly recommended, if you can find it. This is screaming for a proper DVD release.

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"Tomorrow's city...today" is how the planned suburban paradise of New Granada promotes itself, but something has been left out of the plans. No one is paying attention to the town's teens. Jonathan Kaplan directs this hot-blooded cult classic (a 1979 London Film Festival Outstanding Film Award winner) about kids left to discover their own values and coming up with enough drugs, booze and discontent to push everyone Over the Edge. Fourteen-year-old Matt Dillon makes his screen debut as the kids' charismatic, doomed leader Richie. The anthemic soundtrack by Van Halen, The Ramones, Cheap Trick and others provide the film's rock-n-roll heart. DVD Features:Audio Commentary:Commentary by Director Jonathan Kaplan, Screenwriters Charlie Haas and Tim Hunter and roducer George Litto Theatrical Trailer

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Drive-In Cult Classics, Vol. 3 (2010) Review

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(More customer reviews)VAN NUYS BLVD.
The best of this bunch, especially if you've ever actually been to Van Nuys, and the theme song is hilarious. It's mostly just a loose collection of scenes, very few of which have anything to do with cruising or Van Nuys Boulevard. It's really more of a California fantasy lifestyle teen flick than anything else, loosely based on car culture, sex in vans, the beach, etc. Director's commentary is only occasionally interesting but at least there is one. Some lame-brain comedic scenarios, a lot of toplessness, and one scene that would be right at home in American Pie. But in spite of product claims to the contrary, Bobby does not 'get involved with topless dancers and bikers'. There is dancing, there is toplessness, there are bikers of a sort, but that's not the same thing.
THE POM POM GIRLS
A fun dumb high school flick that isn't really about the Pom Pom Girls. It's mainly about rebellious football dudes (who are remarkably non-jock types) playing outrageous pranks on each other and their rival high school. Loose, freewheeling, unencumbered by plot, but enjoyable.
THE BABYSITTER
The only black-and-white movie in this bunch and a pretty solid b-movie that balances the legitimate acting of George E. Carey against the guilty pleasures of gratuitous sex, bikers, lesbians, psychedelic bands, etc. But who wrote the synopsis on the DVD package? Were they high, or did they write it two weeks after seeing it and confuse the details? Candy does not "take a job working for the powerful district attorney" - she has an affair with a prosecutor who works for the DA. Candy also does not "step in and blackmail the D.A." - she tries to stop a biker chick from blackmailing George, the prosecutor. Get your story straight, man!
BLOOD MANIA
Another fine example of exaggerated titling and bunko synopsis writing. There are 2 murders but it's hardly blood mania. Craig, a doctor who used to perform abortions, is being blackmailed for 50 grand by a hilariously miscast 'heavy'. One of Craig's patients is a wealthy old benefactor, the daughter of whom is a crazy art chick who is in love with Craig. She decides to kill the old man to get the inheritance money to solve Craig's blackmail problem, but it doesn't work. This has a Movie of the Week feel, for the most part. But again, the synopsis on the DVD package is way off - it is not about "a scorned daughter [who] murders her abortionist/physician father to get his inheritance and help out her junkie boyfriend."
WEEKEND WITH THE BABYSITTER
Written and produced by the star, George E. Carey, who also wrote, produced, and starred in The Babysitter. Almost the same film, just updated a bit and in color this time, with a subplot about a heroin addict wife getting caught up in a botched drug deal on a boat. There's a disconcerting combination of faux hippy culture, shamelessly age-inappropriate sex, and moments of unabashed sincerity. A strange mishmash of The Trip (lite), Hawaii Five-O and Lolita. And another cul-de-sac sudden ending.
MALIBU BEACH
Very light fare, typical beach movie.
PINK ANGELS
The first time I tried, I could not finish this movie. The setup of six gay bikers riding down the West coast to a drag cotillion in L.A. was fine, but the seemingly improvised dialogue and sketch comedy scenes of clashes with straight society felt like it wasn't paying off really - neither funny nor particularly captivating. I just watched it a second time, to the end, and although it is somewhat trying at times, the shocker of an ending recontextualizes the ambling, slight scenes that lead up to it and add an unexpected layer of poignancy.
In typical early 70s fashion, the Angels shock and run afoul of the law, roadside diner employees, clothing store clerks, a straight motorcycle gang, and so on, interspersed with plenty of road footage and initially inexplicable cuts to a general in a remote office. It's essentially a typical loose counterculture road movie with a gay twist. As genres go, it's probably one-of-a-kind, and as gay cinema, it's probably also historically significant. I just thought it fell short of the mark in terms of comedy, characters, and what I generally am looking for in "drive-in cult classic"-type films: either so bad it's good, or surprisingly good for how bad I expected it to be.SINGLE ROOM FURNISHED
Painfully horrible. Within 15 minutes you're in a digression within a digression and have the sinking feeling you stumbled into a black box theater where a scene study class is taking place. A blue collar couple is on a fake firescape talking about their not-actually poignant lives. The guy can't for the life of him fake a New York accent and can't stop moving his head with every word he speaks. Gave up after 30 minutes. Two nights later I picked up where I left off. That scene thankfully ended and another couple was introduced. They were no more watchable than the first, so I gave up again.

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