Mondo Keyhole

MONDO KEYHOLE (1966) * (D: Jack Hill, John Lamb) Black and white sleaze film about a husband who ignores his wife and winds up a rapist. Cheap, but contains some artsy dream sequences; ultimately unsatisfying - and no skin - for what it's worth.

Legendary cult filmmaker Jack Hill is screenwriter, editor, cinematographer, and co-director of this particularly striking sexploitation drama. Nick Moriarty stars as Howard Thorne, operator of a mail-order business that deals in everything from adult films to torture soundtracks on vinyl. He's also a serial rapist, who goes after any attractive young woman who catches his fancy. Meanwhile, at home his wife Vicky (Adele Rein) tries everything that she can think of to get him sexually interested in *her*.

With John Lamb ("The Mermaids of Tiburon") serving as co-producer and co-director, "Mondo Keyhole" is an interesting adults only entertainment. It plays as if somebody like Bergman made a soft core film. This is because the film is not only sleazy but stylishly moody and effectively surreal as well. The music by The Psychedelic Psymphonette merely adds to the strange atmosphere. It has a somewhat linear narrative for a while, getting more and more bizarre towards the end, with a "vampire" (Christopher Winters / imitation Bela Lugosi voice by trailer narrator Ron Gans) serving as Vicky's guide to the latest in human debauchery. The human salad bar is an especially memorable set piece. One of the hooks to the film is the whole "is it fantasy or is it reality" approach to the storytelling.

The acting is passable for this sort of thing. Amusingly enough, the voice of Vicky is provided by cult actress Luana Anders, who's recognizable for her work with Corman and Coppola in the 1960s.

Worth a look for followers of the sexploitation genre.

Seven out of 10.

Watched the original when it came out. Black and white and later bought a copy from Something Weird Video. Was disappointed to see the SWV copy was not the same as the original. A rather erotic scene involved a girl in a stripped blouse be attacked in a junkyard. He wrestles with her a bit and then tears her blouse open exposing a very nice and large pair of bosoms. The original version, she tries to run away after he has ripped her blouse open and we see her running hard with her blouse wide open and of course....her **** bouncing madly, a good scene. He of course does catch her....Considering the time period, these movies were stretching the limits and looking back, have become an enjoyable journey back to a time more innocent with lots to gain...It is worth a view!

Think of this as more of a sexy art film rather than an erotic sexploitation sleaze fest. Howard Thorne (Nick Moriarty) manages Art Products Inc., a Los Angeles producer of BDSM magazines and stag movies. (The company logo is a parody of Botticelli's Venus wearing a corset, stockings, and holding a whip.) Having lost interest in his sexy wife Vicki (Adele Rein), he has become a serial rapist who can barely control his compulsion to stalk and attack women. Haunted by nightmares and visions about these assaults, the line between reality and fantasy is blurred. Several surreal, quasi-documentary segments attempt to explain his slide into madness and his obsession with the "eternal cruel female".

This is the first film to take us inside the adult underground industry. As Howard makes his rounds, we see the printing of adult materials and an artist doing Eric Stanton type drawings. He watches an 8mm fetish film being shot with two dominant women caressing and flogging a bound man. Whether by accident or design, the director bears an uncanny resemblance to B- movie director Ed Wood.

Howard answers a classified ad listed by Carol (Carole Baughman) seeking a "tough guy". He ties her up and whips her with his belt before raping her. Carol then enlists Cathy (Cathy Crowfoot), a man-hating karate instructor, to help her get revenge. There are some wonderfully surreal dream-like interludes as Howard's nightmarish fantasies gradually become a reality leading up to an appropriately ironic ending.

Director Jack Hill went on to make other offbeat but less creative exploitation films like ''The Big Doll House'' (1971), and ''The Big Bird Cage'' (1972).

This film starts off with a young woman screaming while she is being raped by a serial rapist by the name of "Howard Thorn" (Nick Moriarty). When he gets home he finds that his attractive but love-starved wife, "Vicki" (Adele Rein) wants to get intimate. But he wants none of it. For him the thrill is in the brutal conquest. As a result, Vicki turns to heroin while he becomes more and more reckless. Anyway, while I expected a risqué film of sorts, I never expected something produced in 1966 to feature as much violence and nudity as this one did. In black and white, no less. Be that as it may, what was also unique about it was that it took a rather crude plot and did a remarkable job of displaying it in an artistic manner. In that respect it was artistic--yet crude at the same time. In any case, while this movie might be interesting to some it is hardly something that will please a general audience. Definitely for mature audiences only.