Two Girls for a Madman

Two Girls for a Madman (1968)

** (out of 4)

Psychopath Frank (Lucky Kargo) should be in a mental hospital but he's out on the streets and begins stalking the beautiful Toni (Arlene Farber) who he eventually rapes. After the attack he begins to follow her when he notices Toni's best friend Sonya (Jean Weston) and soon he wants her too.

TWO GIRLS FOR A MADMAN comes from director Stanley H. Brassloff and I must admit that I was a bit shocked by how well made it was. If you're a fan of Something Weird Video then you know that they've released a lot of trash without much merit but there are also some gems like AROUSED. This film here isn't quite that good but it's certainly much better than this type of film usually is.

What was so great about portions of the movie is that technically it looked wonderful. The cinematography and editing were terrific and you can see how great during a drug fueled orgy sequence. The music score is also extremely good and helps bring out the dirtiness of the picture. I also thought Kargo was very good in the role of the villain and there's no doubt that Farber was easy on the eyes.

There's nudity throughout this semi-roughie but the only real problem is that there's really not enough done with the story to help carry the 78 minute running time. There are a few too many scenes where not much happens and this drags the film down a bit but TWO GIRLS FOR A MADMAN is still worth watching.

Lousy camera work and terrible sound recording can't quite sink this late 60s roughie. Toni, an underage minx on her own, is a "technically hideous" ballet dancer who meets her producer date at the door in bra and panties and lets him leer while she finishes dressing. Then she's surprised when Seymour gets all handsy on the couch before they go out! He takes her to a coffee bar that turns into a masked orgy, but luckily Toni is game to be the first to strip!

Toni's friend Sonya is a slightly more awful dancer and "a little foggy about the third movement," even after she's had a long, hot shower to think about it. Other than the shower, tho, she's rather prim.

Titular madman Frank catches up with Toni and Seymour and rapes Toni at gunpoint while gutless Seymour is forced to drive them around. Writer/director Brassloff doesn't bother to show us the awkward aftermath; Toni just shows up at ballet practice with bruises and a clinical case of Stockholm Syndrome.

Frank continues to torment our heroines, both physically and in memory, and eventually stalks them to ballet class, where he slips in afterward to catch Sonya and partner Eddy (sic) practicing for an upcoming gig in Amsterdam. The madman isn't so much mad as he is giddy, laughing like a hyena almost continuously thruout the movie until Eddy rises to the occasion like no male ballet dancer ever has, aside from maybe Baryshnikov in White Nights.

The Bohemian coffee bar scene is a real slice of 60s life. The nudity is fair to middling. The madman is the real weakness (aside from the lousy camera work and terrible sound recording). It's worth a look if you're a fan of the genre.