10 reviews
Having seen the Trailer for this film on other DVD releases from Something Weird, and knowing that the trailer usually has the best scenes from a film, I didn't have high expectations when I finally broke down and purchased the DVD. While far from a perfect film, it is competently made technically, which makes it watchable despite the glaring gaps in logic and the weak storyline. What really sells the film, though, is Garth's creepy portrayal of the wacko 'scientist' Dr. Bradley. I don't think he personally looks like Henry Kissinger, but if you ever had a itch that you could only scratch by imagining good ol' Henry rubbing his bare torso down in oil and getting his groove on, this is the place to look!
- wilburscott
- Dec 22, 2005
- Permalink
Pretty work colleagues Ann and Terry (Eve Reeves and Joyce Danner) attend a wild party at an isolated barn where Ann is almost raped -- saved in the nick of time by voyeur Dr. Bradley (Daniel Garth), who hits Ann's attacker with a pitch fork handle. When the girls decide to leave the party, they discover that their car has no gas, so they walk to a nearby house to ask if they can use the owner's phone.
The girls are surprised to find that the house belongs to Dr. Bradley and his sister Ida (Irene Lawrence), but are disappointed to hear that the Bradleys' phone is out of order and that their car is being serviced. The Bradley's invite Ann and Terry to stay for the night, but the girls become worried when they discover that the windows to their room are barred and that their door has been locked from the outside. It turns out that Ann and Terry are just the latest in a long line of female 'guests' at the house, all of whom became unwilling participants in Dr. Bradley's sexual experiments.
If The Texas Chain Saw Massacre had been made a decade earlier, then the girls in Behind Locked Doors might have been more wary about knocking on the door of a remote house in the country while looking for help. Speaking of Tobe Hooper's '74 classic, there's a chase scene in Behind Locked Doors that gave me serious Texas Chain Saw vibes, while the ending, in which Dr. Bradley's 'human mannequins' come to life for revenge, reminded me of another horror classic... William Lustig's excellent Maniac (1980). I wonder if either Hooper or Lustig were influenced by this film.
Of course, Behind Locked Doors isn't in the same league as either The Texas Chain Saw Massacre or Maniac: it's cheap, sleazy trash that suffers from clumsy direction, bad acting and terrible pacing (the first 15 to 20 minutes primarily consists of crap go-go dancing to bad music). Director Charles Romine seems more intent on catering to the dirty raincoat brigade than in delivering tension and scares, missing no opportunity for his female stars to get naked, even having lesbian Terry masturbate under the covers while sharing a bed with Ann.
4.5/10 for the sleaze, rounded down to 4 for the bit where Dr. Bradley covers his body with baby oil -- horrifying!
The girls are surprised to find that the house belongs to Dr. Bradley and his sister Ida (Irene Lawrence), but are disappointed to hear that the Bradleys' phone is out of order and that their car is being serviced. The Bradley's invite Ann and Terry to stay for the night, but the girls become worried when they discover that the windows to their room are barred and that their door has been locked from the outside. It turns out that Ann and Terry are just the latest in a long line of female 'guests' at the house, all of whom became unwilling participants in Dr. Bradley's sexual experiments.
If The Texas Chain Saw Massacre had been made a decade earlier, then the girls in Behind Locked Doors might have been more wary about knocking on the door of a remote house in the country while looking for help. Speaking of Tobe Hooper's '74 classic, there's a chase scene in Behind Locked Doors that gave me serious Texas Chain Saw vibes, while the ending, in which Dr. Bradley's 'human mannequins' come to life for revenge, reminded me of another horror classic... William Lustig's excellent Maniac (1980). I wonder if either Hooper or Lustig were influenced by this film.
Of course, Behind Locked Doors isn't in the same league as either The Texas Chain Saw Massacre or Maniac: it's cheap, sleazy trash that suffers from clumsy direction, bad acting and terrible pacing (the first 15 to 20 minutes primarily consists of crap go-go dancing to bad music). Director Charles Romine seems more intent on catering to the dirty raincoat brigade than in delivering tension and scares, missing no opportunity for his female stars to get naked, even having lesbian Terry masturbate under the covers while sharing a bed with Ann.
4.5/10 for the sleaze, rounded down to 4 for the bit where Dr. Bradley covers his body with baby oil -- horrifying!
- BA_Harrison
- Dec 22, 2023
- Permalink
Two swinging chicks get trapped out in the country after attending a party. When directed to a phone at a house down the street they become the test subjects of a depraved maniac doctor with his sister wanting to use there bodies for sex experiments. "Behind Locked Doors" is actually a notch above most of the Something Weird titles. It does have plenty of sleaze to go around but the acting is pretty good for this type of production. The story is pretty solid as well and the production value is pretty good too. If you like films like "The Last House on the Left", "I Spit on Your Grave" or "The House on the Edge of the Park" you may like this one too.
- suspiria10
- Sep 24, 2005
- Permalink
This ultra-rare 1969 sex/thriller/horror film deserves immediate re-release and high-profile exposure. Directed by Charles Romine BLD is a tale of a spooky old house, the two girls who are trapped there, and the weirdos who inhabit it. "A palace of PLEASURE or a pit of PERVERSION?" screamed the voice-over, while two women who looked like they'd failed the audition for Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill! were subjected to various tortures by a psychotic middle-aged brother and sister combo.
Behind Locked Doors is the tale of two female "swingers", Ann (Eve Reeves) and Terry (Joyce Denner). They go to parties, held in out-of-the-way barns apparently, and dance to bad lounge music. It is at one of these parties that they encounter gate-crasher Mr Bradley (Daniel Garth), an unattractive tubby man with thick glasses and a posh accent. He saves Ann from being raped in a hayloft, and later offers hospitality to the girls when their car mysteriously won't start.
My favourite character in the film is Mrs Bradley - a sadistic house-keeper with short greying hair who makes Mrs Danvers from Rebecca seem like Mother Theresa. Many of the film's best moments come from lingering close-ups of Mrs Bradley's evil face, Mrs Bradley listening at doors, Mrs Bradley with her whip! We want more Mrs Bradley!
The muscle-bound handyman (played by Ivan Hager) is one of the least perverted characters in the film - and that's saying something. And as this is a Harry Novak presentation, we have a lesbian subplot involving the two main characters and quite a bit of nudity, including a few unneccesary shots of Mr Bradley rubbing baby oil onto his lardy body (stop the horror!). He's been conducting these strange "experiments" you see, and like it or not, Ann and Terry are about to be recruited as his latest subjects. And if they make a fuss, they'll end up like the previous victims in the cellar...who in many ways are better actresses than our heroines - even though they aren't supposed to move or speak. I think that Mr Bradley is a good representative of this film's potential audience, where no doubt it was shown at the "Pussycat" or other similarly named flea-pit, where unattractive, bespectacled men fiddled for mints under their raincoats throughout the whole film. But oddly, this is more than simply sexploitation. Plot appears to be central, and little nudity is present. The majority of the violence is off-screen too. The film does have an interesting sound-track and occasionally makes good use of lighting. However, it seems a little short on props. Various bits of furniture keep turning up in different rooms, as the budget is stretched to its limits.
I also like the clothes that the girls wear throughout the film. Ann is dressed in a tacky black and white leopard print top with frills down the front, while Terry is forced to wear an ugly brown patterned sweater that's right out of a 1970s knitting pattern. No wonder the poor things keep taking their clothes off at every opportunity - you would too! Actually, the lesbian subplot is handled almost delicately (or perhaps I've just been desensitised by watching too many adverts for other Harry Novak films), and although it's clearly just there for a little bit of extra titillation for the raincoat brigade, at least it's resolved in a gentle way. Terry was not "punished" in the storyline for being attracted to Ann, and it's suggested that she's in a relationship with another woman at the end of the film. Ann, on the other hand seems content to go back to the man who wanted to rape her at the beginning. Rape isn't really handled very sensibly in the film. Both Terry and Ann are subjected to unwanted sexual encounters, which while they find rather distressing, they both seem to take a rather matter-of-fact attitude to it all. It's a case of "oh well, now it's my turn. I suppose you'd better get it over with if you must," beforehand. And then "Well, that wasn't much fun was it?" afterwards. Germaine Greer was probably not consulted on the script.
The suspension of (dis)belief is required throughout the film. Although much of the action is supposed to happen at night, it is always day outside. Are we really supposed to believe that the two girls wouldn't be able to get away from a fat middle-aged man and his frail-looking sister? Why are their attempts at escape so pathetic? Why does Ann seem in denial about the danger she's in one minute, and the next pushing Terry into making a run for it? And for that matter, why does she appear so sexually naive? If she's not going up into a hayloft with a potential rapist, she's suggesting to Terry that they undress to their underwear and get into bed together. Talk about mixed messages. And as for the final scenes - well, even you're able to discount all of the above, there are still a few suprises left, which defy explanation...
Still, for all its (many) flaws, this one goes under the genre of camp/cult classic. I'd like it to be revived, with audiences shouting the lines back at the screen, dressing as the central characters and acting out key scenes.
Behind Locked Doors is the tale of two female "swingers", Ann (Eve Reeves) and Terry (Joyce Denner). They go to parties, held in out-of-the-way barns apparently, and dance to bad lounge music. It is at one of these parties that they encounter gate-crasher Mr Bradley (Daniel Garth), an unattractive tubby man with thick glasses and a posh accent. He saves Ann from being raped in a hayloft, and later offers hospitality to the girls when their car mysteriously won't start.
My favourite character in the film is Mrs Bradley - a sadistic house-keeper with short greying hair who makes Mrs Danvers from Rebecca seem like Mother Theresa. Many of the film's best moments come from lingering close-ups of Mrs Bradley's evil face, Mrs Bradley listening at doors, Mrs Bradley with her whip! We want more Mrs Bradley!
The muscle-bound handyman (played by Ivan Hager) is one of the least perverted characters in the film - and that's saying something. And as this is a Harry Novak presentation, we have a lesbian subplot involving the two main characters and quite a bit of nudity, including a few unneccesary shots of Mr Bradley rubbing baby oil onto his lardy body (stop the horror!). He's been conducting these strange "experiments" you see, and like it or not, Ann and Terry are about to be recruited as his latest subjects. And if they make a fuss, they'll end up like the previous victims in the cellar...who in many ways are better actresses than our heroines - even though they aren't supposed to move or speak. I think that Mr Bradley is a good representative of this film's potential audience, where no doubt it was shown at the "Pussycat" or other similarly named flea-pit, where unattractive, bespectacled men fiddled for mints under their raincoats throughout the whole film. But oddly, this is more than simply sexploitation. Plot appears to be central, and little nudity is present. The majority of the violence is off-screen too. The film does have an interesting sound-track and occasionally makes good use of lighting. However, it seems a little short on props. Various bits of furniture keep turning up in different rooms, as the budget is stretched to its limits.
I also like the clothes that the girls wear throughout the film. Ann is dressed in a tacky black and white leopard print top with frills down the front, while Terry is forced to wear an ugly brown patterned sweater that's right out of a 1970s knitting pattern. No wonder the poor things keep taking their clothes off at every opportunity - you would too! Actually, the lesbian subplot is handled almost delicately (or perhaps I've just been desensitised by watching too many adverts for other Harry Novak films), and although it's clearly just there for a little bit of extra titillation for the raincoat brigade, at least it's resolved in a gentle way. Terry was not "punished" in the storyline for being attracted to Ann, and it's suggested that she's in a relationship with another woman at the end of the film. Ann, on the other hand seems content to go back to the man who wanted to rape her at the beginning. Rape isn't really handled very sensibly in the film. Both Terry and Ann are subjected to unwanted sexual encounters, which while they find rather distressing, they both seem to take a rather matter-of-fact attitude to it all. It's a case of "oh well, now it's my turn. I suppose you'd better get it over with if you must," beforehand. And then "Well, that wasn't much fun was it?" afterwards. Germaine Greer was probably not consulted on the script.
The suspension of (dis)belief is required throughout the film. Although much of the action is supposed to happen at night, it is always day outside. Are we really supposed to believe that the two girls wouldn't be able to get away from a fat middle-aged man and his frail-looking sister? Why are their attempts at escape so pathetic? Why does Ann seem in denial about the danger she's in one minute, and the next pushing Terry into making a run for it? And for that matter, why does she appear so sexually naive? If she's not going up into a hayloft with a potential rapist, she's suggesting to Terry that they undress to their underwear and get into bed together. Talk about mixed messages. And as for the final scenes - well, even you're able to discount all of the above, there are still a few suprises left, which defy explanation...
Still, for all its (many) flaws, this one goes under the genre of camp/cult classic. I'd like it to be revived, with audiences shouting the lines back at the screen, dressing as the central characters and acting out key scenes.
This creepy yet unintentionally hillarious film is one of my favorite b-movies. I mean you have got it all in this film-cheesy music, cheesy clothing, and the bad guy's hair alone is worth seeing this film. The plot goes something like this. A couple of college gals are partying, one of them almost gets raped, but is saved by the ubiquitous bad guy with the hair, Dr. Bradley. He invites them back to his house, where he lives with his warped sis and their necrophiliac handyman. The girls are then introduced to Bradley's demented world. Don't worry, it's not very scary or suspenseful, but definitely a campy film worth watching when you have some time to kill!
When their car is deliberately drained of gas by ex-mortician Dr.Bradley Ann Henderson and her semi-lesbian friend Terry Wilson seek help in Bradley's isolated house where he lives with his creepy sister Myla and a servant Freddy.Dr.Bradley captures both girls for sex as he wants to find 'perfect love mate'.His ghastly memorial exhibition room with naked women looks truly memorable.Very likable exploitation movie directed by Charles Romine and shot in upstate New York.There is plenty of delicious sleaze and mannequin-like naked ladies are lovely.The film is quite atmospheric too!6 cat-fights out of 10.The climax slightly reminded me "Maniac" with Joe Spinell.
- HumanoidOfFlesh
- Feb 22, 2015
- Permalink
This film is long overdue for rediscovery! Apparently titled ANYBODY ANYWAY until Harry Novak got his hands on it, by any name it smells as sweet. The barn sequence at the beginning with its twenty minutes of grade "A" film library/go-go music (some of it recognizable from H.G.Lewis movies) is worth the price of admission alone. This is one politically incorrect film. From the adenoidal Mr. Bradley and his "love experiments" to the jaw-dropping "happy" ending, trash fans can not go wrong with this one. The tone is perfect--not too self-parodic, but definitely impossible to take seriously as it catalogs the various clichés of male fantasies that invariably appear in softcore films.
- marshall crist
- Oct 9, 2001
- Permalink
For a zero-budget indie film, "Behind Locked Doors" isn't half bad. The basic plot--about two city women who are abducted from a swinger's party in the country to become unwilling sex slaves-is actually pretty good.
The film's first 14 minutes get things rolling pretty fast: A group of 20-somethings dance and mingle in an abandoned barn deep in the middle of nowhere. One by one, the couples pare off and get it on in various haylofts. This sexy opening reaches its crescendo when the hottest guy at the party takes an interest in permanent virgin, Ann. Sequestered in a loft, he puts the moves on her but she resists hard enough to make Doris Day proud. This leads to a not-bad rape scene, which is interrupted when the film's weakest link, a bird-watching Henry Kissinger clone, arrives and whacks the poor stud with a pitchfork.
Having established himself as a good guy, the Kissinger clone leaves and then orders his hunky handyman (who gives off a major porn star vibe), to drain the gas from Ann's car, so she'll be forced to walk to his house and ask for help. This Ann does, along with her lesbian friend, which leads us to the film's dullest segment: a 20-minute sequence where we get to know the Kissinger clone (who is a mortician) and his improbable sister, while Ann and her pal get comfy in their room. Finally, the plot kicks in again, as the girls realize why the Kissinger clone tricked them into staying the night. Things pick up from there, with a couple of tame rape scenes and some genuinely creepy scenes in the spooky, cadaver-filled dungeon.
It's a shame the producer made some decisions which detract from the film's impact: casting a portly old Kissinger clone as a serial rapist, adding the wildly unlikely character of his sister helping (and even watching him) performing the rapes and a clumsily handled climactic scene in the dungeon. With just a few changes, this could have been a major underground classic. Imagine if instead of a bird-watching old mortician, you had a ruggedly handsome ex-con. If the little old lady sister character had been replaced by a two more cons who had escaped with the lead con and killed the inhabitants of the house, taking it for their own. If all three cons were having their ways with the captive women, before offing them. Much stronger, scarier and sexier!
It is what it is though, and it's not all bad. I enjoyed this film and others who like '60s ephemera, grindhouse films, underground indie works, etc. Will probably "dig it" as well.
The film's first 14 minutes get things rolling pretty fast: A group of 20-somethings dance and mingle in an abandoned barn deep in the middle of nowhere. One by one, the couples pare off and get it on in various haylofts. This sexy opening reaches its crescendo when the hottest guy at the party takes an interest in permanent virgin, Ann. Sequestered in a loft, he puts the moves on her but she resists hard enough to make Doris Day proud. This leads to a not-bad rape scene, which is interrupted when the film's weakest link, a bird-watching Henry Kissinger clone, arrives and whacks the poor stud with a pitchfork.
Having established himself as a good guy, the Kissinger clone leaves and then orders his hunky handyman (who gives off a major porn star vibe), to drain the gas from Ann's car, so she'll be forced to walk to his house and ask for help. This Ann does, along with her lesbian friend, which leads us to the film's dullest segment: a 20-minute sequence where we get to know the Kissinger clone (who is a mortician) and his improbable sister, while Ann and her pal get comfy in their room. Finally, the plot kicks in again, as the girls realize why the Kissinger clone tricked them into staying the night. Things pick up from there, with a couple of tame rape scenes and some genuinely creepy scenes in the spooky, cadaver-filled dungeon.
It's a shame the producer made some decisions which detract from the film's impact: casting a portly old Kissinger clone as a serial rapist, adding the wildly unlikely character of his sister helping (and even watching him) performing the rapes and a clumsily handled climactic scene in the dungeon. With just a few changes, this could have been a major underground classic. Imagine if instead of a bird-watching old mortician, you had a ruggedly handsome ex-con. If the little old lady sister character had been replaced by a two more cons who had escaped with the lead con and killed the inhabitants of the house, taking it for their own. If all three cons were having their ways with the captive women, before offing them. Much stronger, scarier and sexier!
It is what it is though, and it's not all bad. I enjoyed this film and others who like '60s ephemera, grindhouse films, underground indie works, etc. Will probably "dig it" as well.
- michigindie
- Oct 14, 2024
- Permalink
As one can derive the plot from the many previously posted messages here, I'll not address it in this post. Perhaps it's a girl/girl thing, or maybe I've just watched too many Harry Novak "classics," but I have to say that I found Joyce Danners to be the 'erotic anchor'of this film. I chose to watch this flick on the strength of her presence in the trailer. This red-headed vixen steals the movie with her measured speech and the deft way she somehow manages to blink under those hefty-looking false eyelashes. She's my hero-again, probably just a girl/girl thing. Though the rape scene and the character's subsequent reaction to being violated make this movie irritating at times, you gotta' love the fact that the lesbian character (joyce danner) 'takes care of her own business' after her advance are spurned. Danners could definitely benefit from the enhancement surgeries of today. Still, she's got a definite sex appeal, if you go for that sort.