I'm surprised there isn't an Albert Zugsmith cult yet. The films from his "auteur" period (1958 on) are so odd and distinctive that someone needs to over-praise him and find some grand design in his body of work. Having seen many of his films over the years (including The Chinese Room and the trailer from Movie Star American Style or LSD I Hate You), I wonder why people who have seen the extant Andy Milligan films and Ray Dennis Steckler's projects haven't latched on to Zugsmith. This one is from the mid-60s, when Zugsmith no longer worked at second-string semi-majors such as Allied Artists, and was making films for the same "adults only" marketplace as Barry Mahon and David Friedman and Doris Wishman. I always find Zugsmith's sex-oriented films to be ugly--even if he has attractive looking cast members, the projects always have a dingy, sleazy feel that makes the films seem dirtier than they are. This one is oriented around voyeurism and low-rent Freudian psychology. There's even a psychologist who seems to be playing himself, and there's a disquieting incest subtext running throughout the film that will turn off most people's libido. On the good side,excellent (though diverse!) library music cued throughout the film, which makes the static visuals seem more vibrant than they are. Overall, PSYCHOPATHIA SEXUALIS/ON HER BED OF ROSES seems to be an attempt to make a Barry Mahon style film with a twist of Joe Sarno. It's sad to think that the man who produced Orson Welles' TOUCH OF EVIL was making films like this--one step above something like Lou Campa's SOCK IT TO ME BABY--seven years later. Unless you must see all of Zugsmith's films, you'd be much better off finding some Lou Campa or Barry Mahon or Joe Sarno film you haven't seen rather than sitting through this waste of time.
