The Gore Gore Girls

1972 trashy murder mystery

Rating: 4/20

Plot: Somebody's mutilating strippers, and a suave private dick and a sexy newspaper reporter team up to try and crack the case.

Some Herschell Gordon Lewis gory funk, something I think I might have watched instead of going to church. First off, what a cool detective. He's got a cane and makes all kinds of inappropriate and cold puns about the murder victims. What's not to love about this hero? Well, except the acting of Frank Kress. I checked his filmography, and it's another example of a one-and-done, a performance that the guy knew he'd never topped so he never even bothered. The sickest thing about these proceedings is the comedic flavor which instead of giving this a healthy injection of very dark comedy only manage to make this seem like it's made by somebody who's slightly sick in the noggin. Look no further than the scene in which a throat-slitting isn't fatal but apparently a vicious spanking with a meat tenderizer is. Afterwards, the killer adds spices which in the hands of somebody a little more capable than Lewis's could possibly be funny. Here, after the extended shots of the bloody rump after other extended shots of mutilated thises and thats, it just seems sick, the wrong kind of twisted. Add relentless go-go music and prolonged scenes of nearly-attractive dancers disrobing rhythmically, and the experience of watching the movie just makes you want to take a long shower afterward. You know what you're getting into when popping in a Herschell Gordon Lewis flick though.