The Punisher (1989) Review

Director: Mark Goldblatt
Stars: Dolph Lundgren, Louis Gossett Jr.
Genre: Action, Exploitation

One of the earliest film adaptations of a Marvel comic book character (lest us not forget the Howard the Duck movie), though perhaps not the finest example of how to do a comic book movie right.

So the mob kills Frank Castle's, an ex-cop's, wife and children. So he decides to kill every criminal there is, especially the mob. Thus he becomes The Punisher. However, when the yakuza come over from Japan and try to take over the mob by kidnapping all the dons' young children, The Punisher must step in and save the children.

The plot doesn't really have much to do with The Punisher comics at all. Sure there's Frank Castle's backstory (a very loose backstory, mind you) but there's no classic Punisher enemies, take for example Jigsaw, instead there's all new enemies and a new story. I know that when this film came out The Punisher was still a fairly new series (started in 1986) but they still had plenty to work with. This is essentially The Punisher thrown into the plot of a typical 80s action film. The yakuza? Seriously? A bunch of young kids serving a major plot in the film? The kids in the film mostly ruined it for me. It made the film seem like it was undecided whether it wanted to be family-friendly or not. With the yakuza and ninjas and the kids it almost feels like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie at times.

The main problem is that this film is just some damned conventional and boring. Everything about it follows the formula of an 80s action film: from the enemies to the stereotypical black 80s cop to the involvement of children to the soundtrack to the camerawork to everything else. If you've seen any other action film from the 80s you've essentially seen this one. 

Then we have The Punisher himself, played by Dolph Lundgren (whom also did many of his own stunts in here). Lundgren does a decent job portraying The Punisher/Frank Castle, for the most part. He certainly fits the look (except for that painted on 5 o'clock shadow. Seriously, what the hell?). He has such a dumb face though that sometimes the sight of him makes you want to laugh. If anyone has a dumb-looking face it's Dolph. He's not a terribly good actor either, but that sort of works for The Punisher. He does a decent enough job as the title character, I can't really complain. What I can complain about, however, is the design of the character. Where the hell is the skull? Why would you design The Punisher without a skull on his torso? That's like making a Superman movie and not giving him the 'S' on his chest. Were they trying to make it less comic-booky and feel more realistic?

This is an action film. In fact, I'd probably even call it an exploitation film (or, more accurately, an Ozploitation film). The only problem is the action scenes are lame. They're boring. The action is dull, unimaginative, and often gratuitous (not that I have much of a problem with gratuitous violence, so long as it's in good fun). And when an Action Film's action fails then there's not much else you're left with.

I watched this movie a lot when I was a kid. I wasn't born yet when it was released (not that it was released into U.S. theaters anyway), but I remember having a VHS or possibly even DVD release. There was probably even a time when I would have called The Punisher my favorite comic book character largely because of this film (my favorite pretty much changed every other week back then). But even with nostalgia working for it I couldn't call this a good film or even a largely enjoyable one.

There's many better Action films from the 80s that you can watch. I'd avoid this one unless you really love The Punisher and want to see what early Marvel films were like.

Purchase The Punisher on Amazon: DVD - VHS

Women in Cages (1971) Review

Director: Gerardo de Leon
Stars: Pam Grier, Roberta Collins, Judith Brown
Genre: Exploitation

A sort of spiritual successor to The Big Doll House, which came out only months earlier. It features much of the same cast (Pam Grier, Roberta Collins, Judy Brown), the same producer (Roger Corman) and it also shares a near identical plot and set of characters. I suppose the question then is, which is better?

The plot follows, as you may expect from a film of the Women in Prison subgenre, women in prison who wish to escape. In this particular case (as with The Big Doll House) the prison is run by a sadistic lesbian guard (played by Pam Grier, in a reverse role from last time). Throw in some stuff about heroin and prostitution and you've got yourself a prime exploitation picture!

In many ways Women in Cages is better than The Big Doll House, but in some regards it's worse. First off the cinematography and general imagery is much better here. I daresay that Gerry de Leon was a bit more competent of a director than Jack Hill in that area. So, in turn, we get a film that actually looks pretty cool. 

The acting, as is to be expected, isn't exactly great. But any exploitation fan will be happy enough seeing the likes of Pam Grier and Roberta Collins on screen at once. So though the acting may be b-grade, the cast is definitely good...if you're a fan of course.

There's not quite as much nudity in here as you may expect from a film about a sadistic lesbian and a prison full of women. Which, I suppose, is a bit disappointed for a film titled as such. The mud-wrestling and food fights of The Big Doll House certainly has Women in Cages beat when it comes to the tits-and-ass department.

The film is mostly without a score but what little soundtrack there is is pretty decent.

It's not a terrible exploitation flick and it's pretty enjoyable throughout. Watch it for the legendary Pam Grier and the beautiful Roberta Collins. For fans of the genre only. 

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The Big Doll House (1971) Review

Director: Jack Hill
Stars: Pam Grier, Roberta Collins, Sid Haig
Genre: Exploitation, Women in Prison

The Big Doll House is a film which neatly falls into the exploitation sub-genre of Women in Prison, because it is indeed a film about women in prison. Directed by cult director Jack Hill, whom found his start in co-directing Roger Corman (who produced this film by the way) films such as The Wasp Woman and The Terror, but later went on to make his own classics such as Blood Bath, Spider Baby, and eventually Coffy, Foxy Brown, and Switchblade Sisters. Sitting at this film's actor's table we have the likes of cult stars such as Pam Grier (Coffy, Foxy Brown, Scream Blacula Scream, Bucktown, Friday Foster, Jackie Brown), Roberta Collins (Caged Heat, Death Race 2000) and Cult King Sid Haig whose been in just about every exploitation feature there is. A cult sub-genre + a cult director + a cult producer + a cult cast = a cult film indeed.

As far as plot is concerned it's about, as many Women in Prison films are, women trying to break out of prison. In this such case the prison of which they are trying to escape happens to be run by sadists.

Really all you need to know about the plot is this: there are attractive women whom throughout the film catfight, mud wrestle, shower together and indeed wash each other, food fight, nearly sweat to death, are tied down and whipped, and periodically groped. From attaining this knowledge you should now be able to aptly judge whether or not you wish to proceed in the viewing of the film.

Pam Grier plays Grear (I see what you did there screenwriter), a tough as nails lesbian; Judy Brown plays Collier, a husband murderer; Brooke Mills plays Harrad, a heroin addict and servant to Grear; Sid Haig and Jerry Franks play Harry and Fred, two horny men who deliver food to the prison; Christiane Schmidtmer plays a sadistic warden. It's quite the colorful set of characters.

The acting is, as one should expect, pretty mediocre, but it's a great enough cast that any fan of exploitation will be joyed to see the familiar faces. 

The soundtrack is very average throughout (and in fact very often absent) but of note is the song played at the beginning and end of the film, the song called "Long Time Woman" performed by Pam Grier herself. It's such a great song; give it a listen here. It was later used in Tarantino's Jackie Brown. Don't you just love when you find such beautiful songs in such dirty films? (Also see The Last House on the Left soundtrack).

The film is notable for having greatly shaped the genre of Women in Prison in the 70s. It, in a sense, wrote the recipe (along with 99 Women and Love Camp 7 of course). It spawned countless imitators and even two spiritual successors in the form of Women in Cages which came out later that same year and once again starred Pam Grier and Roberta Collins and shared a very similar plot and then the 1972 film The Big Bird Cage which saw Jack Hill returning as producer, Roger Corman as producer, and Pam Grier and Sid Haig through the lenses.

Though an early Women in Prison film it's still not the best the genre has to offer (See the Female Convict series, House of Whipcord, Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS) nor is it even a particularly great film when compared to certain films in the immense genre of Sexploitation.

The Big Doll House is a solid film that should be avoided by most but enjoyed by fans of exploitation and sleaze cinema. It's good, dirty fun. 

Purchase The Big Doll House on Amazon: Blu-Ray - DVD - Stream - Women in Cages Collection

Super Fly (1972) Review

Director: Gordon Parks, Jr.
Stars: Ron O'Neal, Julius Harris
Genre: Crime, Blaxploitation

Super Fly is pure blaxploitation. It doesn't get any more black than this.

The film is about a drug dealer, Priest, who wants to get out of the drug business. But with his partner and some new business associates and the police breathing down his neck getting out proves to be harder than it seems.

I was pretty disappointed with Super Fly. It's a pretty dull, boring film. It's really only notable for being an early blaxploitation film (though not the first). I suppose it did form many of the genre's stereotypes, like the pimp image and the pimpmobile.

It's, simply put, a bad movie. The acting is fairly mediocre; Ron O'Neal wasn't terrible though. The cliches are abundant, the 70s camp is ever present. The plot is boringly simple, the characters are forgettable. 

There was a pretty cool chase scene in the beginning of the movie, unfortunately not much happened after that. There was a really odd sex scene thrown in there too...which I'll admit was pretty nice.

The film is kind of stylish in its own right. Mostly do to the 70s atmosphere and the extravagant costumes. I feel like the film's poster is the coolest part though.

The one good thing about Super Fly, no, the one great thing about Super Fly, is its soundtrack which was created by Curtis Mayfield. One of the greatest film soundtracks of all-time and I mean that quite literally. Super Fly is one of the few films to be outgrossed by its soundtrack. Rightfully so, Curtis Mayfield is a damn talented man and is music is awesome.

Buy the soundtrack and maybe give the film a watch but its passable. There were also two sequels, Super Fly T.N.T. in 1973 and The Return of Superfly in 1990.

Recommended for: fans of blaxploitation, Curtis Mayfield fans

Purchase Super Fly on Amazon: DVD - Stream - Soundtrack CD / MP3

Piranha 3D (2010) Review

Director: Alexandre Aja
Stars: Elisabeth Shue, Ving Rhames, Steven R. McQueen, Christopher Lloyd, Jerry O'Connell, Richard Dreyfuss, Eli Roth
Genre: Horror, Comedy, Exploitation

One of Piranha 3D's slogans is "Sea Sex and...Blood." That is what you will get. If you are expecting anything more then go watch a different film. Piranha 3D comes as advertised.

Piranha 3D is a remake of the 1978 B-movie Jaws rip-off of the same name (minus the 3D) which was produced by Roger Corman and directed by Joe Dante. This remake is directed by Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes remake, Mirrors).

The movie is about, well, it's about piranhas that attack during spring break. Seriously, what'd you think it'd be about?

I guess I'll start with the film's strong points. There's a whole lot of nudity. Okay, that's not really something that should make or break a film, and I'm sure it's even a detractor for many, but goddamn there's some great nudity in here. And I don't just mean there's an abundance of nudity, there's also a variety of nudity. There's your standard nudity, then there's your underwater nudity, then you have your parasailing nudity, and of course your bloody nudity. So we have abundance and variety, but is it quality nudity? Well, considering that famed pornstars Riley Steele, Gianna Michaels, and Ashlynn Brooke and model Kelly Brook all make appearances I'd say that it's safe to answer with a yes. Avid porn viewers are sure to recognize a few faces...or breasts. I've just realized that this is the longest I've talked about nudity in a review so to avoid sounding obsessive I will move on.

The effects are mostly computer generated. It's no secret that I'm not a fan of CGI in most cases. The CGI here looks...well, to be honest it looks pretty decent at some points...but at most points it looks pretty bad. If it was a B-movie I might be able to pass it off as decent CGI; "But, Mr. Reviewer, Piranha 3D is a B-movie," you say? It had a budget of 24 million dollars. That does not fit my definition of low-budget. For 24 million dollars I expect damn good effects or at the very least damn good CGI. The original Piranha in 1978 was made for well under 1 million dollars, and even with inflation that comes nowhere near 24 million.

It's not only that the CGI is decent at best, it's also the fact that if they had gone with traditional effects it would have greatly added to the camp value and cheesiness (which they were clearly going for). I mean, if this is supposed to be an homage to older B-movies, or even a parody of them, shouldn't they at least get the effects right? With such a large budget they could have done some interesting stuff. Plus Gregory Nicotero was credited as a Make-up Artist; Nicotero is a special effects master. I couldn't even begin to name all the stuff he's worked on, just look at his Wikipedia page. The effects could have been really out of this world had they chosen to go the traditional route.

Despite the generally poor effects some of the kills are actually pretty cool and dare I say creative. The parasailing one was great, the Ashlynn Brooke bra kill was cool, Eli Roth dying is great, there was just some pretty solid deaths in here.

The cast is pretty great...though the acting, for the most part, isn't. First off there's some really awesome cameos. Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future), Ving Rhames (Marsellus Wallace from Pulp Fiction), Jerry O'Connell (the white guy from Kangaroo Jack), Richard Dreyfuss (Jaws), Elisabeth Shue (The Karate Kid), Eli Roth (director and actor), not to mention again all the pornstars. Plus Eli Roth gets killed in here, and any movie where Eli Roth gets killed is a movie worth watching...especially when his head is crushed by a boat. But yeah, all the cameos are awesome and definitely make the movie much more enjoyable. And they all do a pretty good acting job.

The rest of the cast however ranges from awful to decent and you probably won't recognize any of them. Steven R. McQueen (yes, he is the grandson of Steve McQueen. Yes, I do mean the Steve McQueen) is a fucking awful actor. And I hate his face. Okay, I'm sorry. I do hate his face though. Jessica Szohr wasn't terrible, and I definitely didn't hate her face.

The soundtrack is awful. Nothing else needs to be said. It's just goddamn fucking abysmal. Trash. Garbage. Rubbish. Absolute 100% shit. Not even regular shit, I'm talking mushy, wet, sick shit. Who composed this shit? Hold on, let me look it up...Michael Wandmacher. Hey, Michael, fuck you. You know all that good music they play at spring break parties? Oh, that's right, there isn't any. I will say one thing though, that kid had some great fucking band posters on his wall. They were all your typical teen posters (Nirvana, Lou Reed, Radiohead, Ramones) but why couldn't we have some music like that instead of the annoying trip-hop or dubstep or whatever in the world it's called. The kid even wore a Pixies shirt! I apologize if I'm offending anyone's taste in music but seriously, fuck you. To be completely honest there were a few parts that had some decent tracks but for the most part it was pretty bad.

Well, I've gone on about nudity and music quite enough. My conclusion is that Piranha 3D isn't a good movie. But it isn't awful either. In fact it's quite enjoyable, especially if your a heterosexual male (or I suppose a homosexual female). There's some cool cameos, a few cool kills, tons of nudity. It could have been a lot better and there was so much missed potential, but it also could have been worse. I'd even say it's better than the original in some ways. For me it was worth watching, and if you think you can place all seriousness aside and watch this as pure nonsensical entertainment then maybe you should give it a shot too. There was also a 2012 sequel Piranha 3DD.

Pros:

+Lots of nudity

+Some cool kills

+Awesome cameos

Cons:

-Bad effects

-Bad soundtrack

-Some bad acting

-Missed potential

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Gayniggers from Outer Space (1992) Review

Director: Morten Lindberg
Genre: Science Fiction, Comedy, Exploitation

Well, if you couldn't tell from the title, this is a film that isn't exactly meant to be taken seriously. It also happens to be about homosexual black men from another planet.

So these homosexual black men (or gay niggers if you prefer) are from a planet called Anus. They fly around in their tin-foil space ship and look for planets that have females on them. They then go down to said planet, in this case it's Earth, and they exterminate all the females. The men of Earth welcome these Gayniggers, and give them hugs when they kill their wives (perhaps because they're liberated from heterosexual oppression or maybe they just hated their wives). Once the planet is completely rid of females the Gayniggers leave behind a Gay Ambassador to watch over the planet and they go back into space, searching for the next planet for them to save.

The Gayniggers are made up of none other than Captain B. Dick, Sergeant Shaved Balls, D. Ildo, and ArmInAss.

The film's only 25 minutes long and for what it is it's enjoyable. Satirizing, I suppose, blaxploitation, science fiction, and even racism and homosexuality. And this short film is pretty damn racist. Stereotyping Asians, Germans, and pretty much any race they encounter.

It's obviously amateurish, it's obviously not meant to be serious, and it obviously only has cult appeal. But it's pretty amusing. The tin-foil space ship looks like something out of an Ed Wood movie, the dubbing is (probably intentionally) awful. If it was any longer than 25 minutes it'd probably get boring and annoying, but as it is it's not bad at all.

The soundtrack is also surprisingly good. I'm not sure if it's original or not.

Thriller: A Cruel Picture (1974) Review

Director: Bo Arne Vibenius
Stars: Christina Lindberg, Heinz Hopf
Genre: Thriller, Exploitation, Rape and Revenge
Also known as: They Call Her One Eye

Thriller: A Cruel Picture is hardcore. How hardcore? Well let's see. A real corpse was used for an eyeball gouging scene, real live ammunition was used, saline solution was injected in place of heroin, there's a load of hardcore pornography sequences. To top it off, it was later revealed that the film's producers had taken out a huge life insurance policy on the lead actress during filming. So they were pretty much just expecting someone to actually die in this movie.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is exploitation rape and revenge at its utmost finest.

It's about a woman, Madeleine, who was sexually assaulted when she was a very young girl and ever since then has been unable to talk, i.e., she's a mute. She grows up and ends up being drugged by a man and he gets her addicted to heroin and forces her into prostitution. Madeleine slowly learns how to fight, drive, and use guns, so she can take her revenge on those who did her wrong.

Christina Lindberg plays a silent girl, who looks like she's 16 but the actress was 24 when this was released, and she does a wonderful job. The character of Madeleine blurs the line between little girl and badass. She may seem small, weak, helpless, but at other times seem awesome, crazy, unstoppable. She utters not a single word the entire film, but she doesn't need to, her appearance and performance say enough.

Real ammunition was used, which makes the film all the more scary. Though it is nice to see an almost entirely accurate portrayal of firearms, unlike many other films. The sex here is very graphic. You see penis, vagina, there's anal, lesbian, creampies, all of it. In Sweden, at the time, there was a very liberal pornographic trend going on and this film intended to capitalize on it. Stuff like this in a film is rarely ever seen outside the pornography genre. It definitely adds the the disturbing terror of this film. With all the sex, violence, death, drugs, etc., Thriller: A Cruel Picture isn't for the light of heart.

The film is very silent, like our main character. The second half of the film is very light on the dialogue and there isn't much of a score. When there is music playing it is very minimalistic and has a very ambient electronic sound that actually works great. But most of the time the film opts to let us hear natural sounds, such as moans or gunshots or whatever it may be, rather than music. Which I love.

The cinematography is fantastic, especially for an exploitation film. There's some really awesome shots and camera angles and, oddly enough, it is a very visually pleasing film. There's a lot of first person POV shots that involve the viewer in the film and at certain times a character will look directly at the camera whilst talking, which makes for a very chilling and moving experience. All the locations are great, whether it be an autumn field covered in yellow and orange leaves or the side of a desert road, it all looks quite beautiful.

A lot of people complain about the overused slow-motion in the second half. I can understand that, I didn't really like it either at first. All the kills are in super slow-motion and can sometimes drag the scene out. But the way I look at it is that we're seeing the deaths as the main characters sees them. Surely after all the torture she has gone through she will savor killing these people and will enjoy every second, every detail of their deaths, and the slow-motion allows us to see it the same way; seeing the blood spurt out and the pain on their faces. Every death is a celebration that must be savored.

There's some minor plot-holes in the story, but it's nothing major and most will probably not even catch them. One thing that I didn't like, or that confused me, was that [minor spoiler] the main character, who is supposed to be the protagonist, kills some innocent people in that driving scene. I love how easily all those cars blow up, but why the hell did she kill them? They never hurt her. Perhaps symbolism that she isn't representing justice but rather personal satisfaction in the form of revenge? I don't know. Minor annoyance.

I like the ending. The film has a very western feel to it, along with some other styles. It's a very good film, one of the best exploitation has to offer. Great plot, characters, acting, violence, soundtrack, cinematography, etc. A scary film for some, disturbing for others, emotional maybe, but definitely enjoyable for most. Thriller truly is a Cruel Picture.

Purchase Thriller: A Cruel Picture on Amazon: DVD

The Last House on the Left (1972) Review

Director: Wes Craven
Stars: Sandra Cassel, David Hess, Lucy Grantham
Genre: Horror, Exploitation, Rape and Revenge

Not only is The Last House on the Left the debut of legendary horror director Wes Craven, who went on to create the likes of The Hills Have Eyes, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Scream, but this is also the debut of Sean S. Cunningham, another respected name in horror, who serves as Producer here and later went on to direct Friday the 13th.

The plot concerns two girls who are kidnapped by psychotic rapists and murderers. That's all I will say, because anymore may potentially ruin the charm of that first viewing. It's not like the plot is of much importance here though anyway.

The plot is actually based on, and heavily inspired by, Ingmar Bergman's 1960 film, The Virgin Spring.

All the actors here are unknowns and for many of them this was their only film. That's how I like my gritty horror flicks, especially the exploitation ones. It adds to the realism and makes the characters feel distinct and rare, rather than seeing, oh I don't know, Rock Hudson or Johnny Depp in a film, unknowns make the experience a bit more special, a bit more personal. However, a side effect of unknown actors is the actual quality of the acting, which is pretty mediocre in The Last House on the Left, and can arguably detract from the feel of realism that amateur actors can potentially provide.

The two kidnapped girls in here, Sandra Cassel and Lucy Grantham, are very foxy, as is Jeramie Rain as the seductive Sadie. David Hess, who went on to have a somewhat respectable career in film, plays a typical goon, accompanied by Fred Lincoln (a producer for pornographic films at the time) and Marc Sheffler. Richard Towers plays the dad and the very beautiful Cynthia Carr plays the mother. None of their acting is really anything special, except for maybe Sandra Cassel and Lucy Grantham who occasionally manage to convey a believable sense of fear, hopelessness, and terror.

The film is known for its disturbing nature, and was really the only thing the film set out to do (see the original trailer here) but I can't say that I was disturbed much. Of course the film won't have the same effect on me as it did to people in 1972, and I've probably become extremely desensitized to many things by way of watching a potentially unhealthy amount of horror films, but The Last House on the Left really didn't do anything for me at all. Night of the Living Dead, which was released four years earlier, managed to disturb me a bit and provided a much better feel of gritty realism. Blood Feast, released nearly a decade before, managed to gross me out more. Hell, even The Virgin Spring from a dozen years earlier, of which The Last House on the Left is supposed to be a hardcore rendition of, managed to affect me in a more emotional way and even disturb me more. So what is it that The Last House failed to do that the others did?

It doesn't take itself seriously. Which can sometimes be a good things for movies (see: every Troma film ever), but not when you're attempting realism or trying to create a disturbing atmosphere. The whole buddy cop subplot is just so ridiculous and unfitting to the film that it largely detracts from everything else. At times even the music in the film feels completely out of place (though I'll get to the soundtrack shortly). It feels as if The Last House on the Left wasn't sure if it wanted to be a campy B-movie horror comedy or a gritty Night of the Living Dead-esque horror film. So what we're left with is something in between the two...which just doesn't work at all. It doesn't take itself seriously but it pretends to be serious.

It's a shame too, because there are some fine examples of comedy done right in The Last House on the Left. Take for example the bit where the mother asks the girl what her parents do for a living, "They're in the iron and steal business," replies the girl. "Iron and steel both together? How unusual," the mother remarks. "Well, my mother irons and my father steals," says the girl, the punchline to the joke. You see? That was genuinely funny. The joke was set up and led me on, kept me just as ignorant as the mother in the film thinking her parents made metals, and then the punchline made me laugh. That was funny and fit the film well without detracting from the horror and brutality of the film. I even found the frog part to be pretty funny. But the physical comedy parts, that's a fine example of how to not do comedy right in a film of this nature.

The physical comedy bits weren't even done particularly well. I'd even go so far as to say that the 1980 film Mother's Day, which is essentially just a Last House rip-off, actually implemented the slapstick comedy duo much better.

There are some genuinely great scenes in here though. The scene with Mari in the lake is stunning, the scene with Sadie in the pool is great, the graveyard scene was alright, the final showdown in the house is pretty cool, or the dream sequence. And everyone loves some good ole' oral castration, am I right? Unfortunately this isn't frequent enough and left me only wanting more and with a great sense of missed potential.

A lot of people complain about the soundtrack, not that it's bad or poorly produced, just that it doesn't suit the film. (You have songs like this playing half the time). I didn't think it was too bad. Only one or two times did I consciously acknowledge that it felt a bit misplaced. They obviously wanted the soundtrack to contrast the events in the film, with upbeat tunes playing while murderers drive around with kidnapped girls in their trunk, or soothing ballads playing during rape scenes. It's a technique that, though we're fairly familiar with now, wasn't very popular at the time. So for that I do give some credit, though their delivery wasn't all it could have been. The slapstick nature of the two police officers was obviously included to contrast all the torture, but unfortunately that just flat out didn't work well for the film.

For the most part though I thought the soundtrack was really good. Just listen to the song "Road Leads to Nowhere" also known as "Wait for the Rain" which I could hardly believe was actually part of the original score for the film. That is a legitimately awesome song and David Hess (who both starred in and composed the film) should be applauded on his fine composition work. Not only is the song good, but it's implementation into the film is done superbly. It suits the film's theme and is played in all the right parts. Then there's another awesome one, "Now You're All Alone" which plays right after Mari's friend is murdered and right after she is raped. It's pretty effective music if you ask me. That all being said, in retrospect and despite some questionable musical parts, the soundtrack really is superb and one of the best I've heard in such a film. 

Overall it is an enjoyable film that has its amazing moments, its awful moments, its dull and its exciting moments. Worth the watch. 

Pros:

+Has some great scenes

+Awesome soundtrack (though a tad silly at times)

+Can occasionally manage to be genuine

Cons:

-Unfitting slapstick

-Not very disturbing

-A bad mix of B-movie camp with gritty exploitation horror

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