TITILLATION (1982)

After Russ Meyer packed it in with Beneath the Valley of the Ultravixens, he dabbled in projects here and there, utilizing actress and then-girlfriend Francesca “Kitten” Natividad in Mondo Topless Too, some of the footage of which turned up in 2002’s Pandora Peaks (though, sadly, none of it including Natividad). But despite their lifelong admiration […]

PANDORA PEAKS (2002)

If Russ Meyer’s last three films of the seventies were a reckoning of his career and his views on sex and sexuality as the golden age of pornography pushed him out of the market, Pandora Peaks, Meyer’s direct-to-video final film from 2002, was a way to reckon with the first half of his career, namely […]

BENEATH THE VALLEY OF THE ULTRAVIXENS (1979)

In Up!, Russ Meyer’s gory sex mystery from 1976, Raven De La Croix’s Margot Winchester grinds on a hillbilly cop through multiple marathon sex sessions in which no position goes untried and no location goes unexplored. Yet, despite all the physical exercise, Margo Winchester eventually looks down at her stud and, in her best Mae […]

UP! (1976)

After the refreshing journey of self-discovery that was 1975’s Supervixens, Up!, Russ Meyer’s follow up from the following year, is hostile and mean-spirited at times and curiously sexy and experimental in others. While the previous picture felt vigorous and refreshing, Up! began a slight downward trajectory for Meyer as the humor began to feel old-hat […]

SUPERVIXENS (1975)

With its audacious, astonishing, Christy Hartburg-emblazoned one-sheet that reminded audiences that Russ Meyer loved boobs as much as flamboyance, 1975’s Supervixens roared into theaters specifically designed to make the money that had eluded him with The Seven Minutes and Black Snake. But aside from its return to home base to generate some much-needed commercial appeal, […]

BLACK SNAKE (1973)

Taken separately, 1971’s The Seven Minutes and 1973’s Black Snake feel like curious outliers in the world of filmmaker Russ Meyer. Taken together, they show the work of an artist who was trying to vie for some kind of recognition outside the realm of sexploitation; strong examples of Meyer: The Artist. The frustration felt by […]

THE SEVEN MINUTES (1971)

The movie kicks off like any other Russ Meyer film with a briskly cut burst of vivacity as a striking and buxom woman (Mora Gray) walks her German shepherd (or as is really case, is being walked by her German shepherd). However, the film quickly settles into the car of two vice cops who ogle […]

BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS (1970)

So many words have been written and uttered about Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Russ Meyer’s first studio film made at the behest of the then-struggling 20th Century Fox, that you’d think it would be exhausted of all interesting content. But yet, despite the growing accolades it has picked up in the half century-plus […]

SPIDER BABY (1967)

While the reputation for Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre damn near drowns in its tangential relation to real-life serial killer Ed Gein, there is rarely a peep of recognition for Spider Baby, Jack Hill’s incredible film from 1967 which feels like more of a direct influence on the film than the legend of […]

WATER POWER (1976)

“The film you are about to see is based on a true story. The names of places and persons have been changed to protect the innocent. But it could have happened anywhere or to anyone, even to you.” So says the text that opens Water Power, hardcore pioneer Sean Costello’s notorious shocker 1976. And, in […]