Cover Girl Models

This film is classed as a thriller; it is the story of three young fashion models away on location in Hong Kong, who somehow become mixed up in an international espionage ring. Apart from being difficult to follow, this story was absolute punk and hopefully the scriptwriter involved was subsequently advised to take an early retirement. Nevertheless the film features some delightful vacation scenery which brought back memories of holidays I would not want to forget, as well as the group of charming models who provide various fashion shows of their very attractive summer outfits. What more should one expect? The cinematography was generally fully adequate, and at this level there was very little to criticise. I would not want to keep watching it, but I can enjoy an occasional re-run with complete equanimity. However, the primary reason why my copy of this film occupies an important place in my collection of DVD and VCD disks, is its unusually short running time (73 min.). I am often glad to have a few short films that run for not much more than an hour available for the entertainment of the children of guests who cannot stay very much longer than this. Since most home videos were originally produced as films intended for showing in movie houses, most tend to run for 90 min. or more, and very few meet my 75 minute requirement. Because Centrefold Models helps to fill this important gap I am rating it more highly than I might otherwise have done at 4/10.

Before Roger and wife Julie Corman's full-fledged New World production SUMMER SCHOOL TEACHERS, tall blonde beauty Pat Anderson and intense brunette Rhonda Hopkins played COVER GIRL MODELS...

Which wasn't made but distributed by Corman, who sent many production companies (including his own) to the Philippines for low-budget exploitation ranging from female prison flicks to what COVER GIRL MODELS quickly shapes into...

A kind of James Bond flick with chicks in the lead, and not really a spoof since the microfilm plot involving villain Vic Diaz vs helpful karate hero Tony Ferrer can get dangerous while the most lightweight aspect's in Corman regular Tara Strohmeier (quickly replacing the diva-like Hopkins): beginning as a naive, endearingly sweet and clumsy model's assistant before becoming one herself, attached to handsome photographer (and her TRUCK TURNER co-star) John Kramer...

Yet the real scene-stealer's future spunky TV-actress Lindsay Bloom (who'd play Stacy Keach as Mike Hammer's secretary Velda), not fitting as much as either Pat Anderson or Tara, both usually game for lots of Corman nudity...

During the central overseas photo-shoot and fashion show, Bloom's quirky peroxide-blonde keeps trying to land a role for a fat-cat producer, who said models cannot be actresses, a kind of in-joke since she's particularly natural and effective: accidentally going undercover before winding up a hostage to gun-wielding thugs...

Making COVER GIRL MODELS both a three-women Corman style sexy-adventure (actually produced/directed by Cirio H. Santiago) and a crime flick exploitation hybrid, that, backed by a groovy xylophone lounge-jazz-score, works much better than intended or expected.

This movie is quite simply horrible.

I only watched it because Mary Woronov was in it. Barely in it.

It's mostly shot overseas -- Singapore. No on can act and the story is just too silly to keep your interest.

Besides Mary, there is another woman, whose name I can't place but whose face is familiar from Grind house flicks of the 70's.

Unfortunately this movie isnt really grindhouse by any standard. It's just a dull exercise in bad acting, bad directing and bad writing.

I'm not familiar with the director but apparently, based on some other reviews, he has a history of making slow tiresome movies.

For the most part, I do not like the movies of Cirio H. Santiago, even though they are exploitation movies. Though I love exploitation movies, I find Santiago's exploitation movies to be cheap and dull. To be fair, "Cover Girl Models" is a little slicker and more polished than what you usually get from Santiago. However, he was unable to pull off in the end fooling the audience to thinking the Filipino filming locations were actually Hong Kong locations. He does throw in some ample toplessness from the female cast, which is welcome. And the movie is well photographed, looking very nice on the DVD. But exploitation fans will probably fall asleep before the end because the movie, except for a couple of genuinely exciting kung fu sequences is extremely dull. If you want to see a good Santiago movie, watch "Eye Of The Eagle 3".

When the name of Cirio H. Santiago is listed, you know it'll be bad exploitation trash. If you're lucky it's action-packed and entertaining bad exploitation ("Death Force", Equalizer 2000", "Stryker"), but most of the time - alas - it's just plain bad exploitation; - period ("Demon of Paradise", "Future Hunters", "Vampire Hookers"). Based on my 2/10 rating, it's needless to say "Cover Girl Models" belongs in the plain bad category. There's absolutely nothing remarkable about this dull flick. A photographer takes three beautiful models to Hong Kong for a series of nudie shoots (and that's exactly the footage Santiago uses as filler for about ¾ of the film) and they accidentally become involved in a criminal espionage network. Mary Woronov has a sexy cameo at the beginning and Vic Diaz appears as one of the bad guys, like in every flick ever shot in The Philippines, but nothing helps to make it even remotely interesting. Maybe it was a must-see in the late 70s, because our leading ladies Pat Anderson, Lindsay Bloom, and Tara Strohmeier have luscious curves and show plenty of bare skin, but you can find that all around the internet nowadays.