SHRIEK OF THE MUTILATED (1974)

It would be tempting to say that 1974’s Shriek of the Mutilated, the final pairing of the legendary filmmaking team of Michael and Roberta Findlay, is a sad capper to a partnership that churned out many pioneering, underground classics. The seemingly sick and dastardly duo who once shocked audiences with a three-story grindhouse of sexual […]

TELL THEM JOHNNY WADD IS HERE (1976)

Bob Chinn’s Johnny Wadd series had come to an end when hardcore became a very risky business in vice-cop heavy L.A. and he had to hang back in the cut while biding his time producing softcore features. But after that had run its course and then dipping his toes back into the waters by helming […]

SNUFF (1976)

When holding a round table discussion about Snuff, there are two separate things that need to be hashed out. The first thing on the agenda would be Slaughter, a mostly worthless and unreleased Michael Findlay film that he and Roberta cobbled together in Argentina in 1971 which makes up the actual bones of Snuff. The […]

TROPIC OF PASSION (1971)

Tropic of Passion came about as director Bob Chinn and producing partner Alain Patrick were keen to get out of the then-hot L.A. area to avoid an all but certain bust by the vice squad as hardcore pornography was most definitely illegal to make at the time and the authorities had a particular hard-on for […]

JANIE (1970)

“It’s autumn now Janie. Your favorite season. The season when everything is dying. When life turns gold and brown and drops from the trees until the whole world is dead. Barren, frozen, stiff, lifeless, dead. Autumn is the best season of the year, Janie. It proclaims death to all.” According to the people actually involved […]

THE BLONDE IN BLACK LACE (1971)

The smashing successes of the same year’s Johnny Wadd and Flesh of the Lotus necessitated another entry in the cycle of the titular private eye films so another production budget of $750 was set aside and another day on the calendar was blacked out to make everybody’s dreams come true. In the world of early, […]

MNASIDIKA (1969)

Given the inaudibility of the voice over narration wedded to the only readily available transfer of Michael and Roberta Findlay’s Mnasidika, it’s hard to understand exactly what is stuck in Michael’s craw in regards to the women characters in the film (I mean, outside his usual issues). From what can be gleaned from watching this […]

FLESH OF THE LOTUS (1971)

While Bob Chinn’s Johnny Wadd did an outstanding job as a showcase for John Holmes’s hammer, there wasn’t much mystery nor adventure to be found within. Flesh of the Lotus, Chinn’s follow-up that, due to overwhelming demand by theater owners arrived in theaters a couple of months later, corrects this by opening up the space […]

THE NINE LIVES OF FRITZ THE CAT (1974)

Presented as an omnibus with no real sense of purpose, 1974’s The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat is the “We have Fritz the Cat at home” meme printed to celluloid. Stacked to the rafters with pot humor, condom gags, dick and fart jokes, and knee slappers involving diarrhea, The Nine Lives of Fritz the […]

JOHNNY WADD (1971)

When Jeannie Hamilton (Patti Lee) goes missing, her girlfriend (Andy Bellamy) calls on Johnny Wadd (John Holmes), a private detective who lives in a groovy beachside condo in Marina del Rey. After taking the case, the plot thickens when Sandy Hamilton (Sandy Dempsey) hires Wadd to drop the inquest into her missing sister. The first […]