She-Devils on Wheels

Look, I'm not saying that Herschell Gordon Lewis should have just "stuck to what he knew", and just do nothing but gore flicks, because Moonshine Mountain was awesome, and This Stuff'll Kill Ya was also quite good, and, well, come to think of it, that's pretty much all I have to say about Lewis's non-gore. However, it seems I have just committed myself to a review of She-Devils On Wheels...*sigh*... OK, fine.

This is what I'm talking about. She-Devils On Wheels is a prime example of the 60's gore flick without the gore. And then, what are we left with? That's right. Just boring a pile of blah blah blah. Yes, I realize that this film, and films like Just For The Hell Of It is apart of its own genre, separate from gore. Yet, exactly what that genre is, escapes me.

The first thing I hate about this movie is the man-eaters theme song from the beginning. Fingernails on a chalkboard. The second thing I hated was the fat, loud chick. There's nothing I hate more than someone who thinks they can push others around just because they're fat. As if somehow all that fat makes them super-strong. I don't know, maybe it's like that for chicks. After that, I really hated on that pointlessly-PG orgy, or whatever that was supposed to be. Enough rambling. I gotta tell you what it's about sooner or later.

The Man-Eaters (shouldn't they be called the She-Devls?), a motorcycle gang, are an ornery bunch of gals, just lookin' for trouble. When these chicks aren't terrorizing the locals, they're usually out somewhere holding motorcycle races, to determine who gets first dibs on any available men, although, none of them really think too highly of men. And yes, this is where these so-called orgies come in. But there ain't much huggin' and kissin' when a rival all-male gang starts some trouble. Good thing these gals got the fat one on their side... Wait, nevermind.

Herschell Gordon Lewis once said that he sees filmmaking as a business, and pitys anyone who sees it as an art-form. Now, I'm not exactly sure how that is relevant to this anti-She-Devil review, but those words do sorta sound like they came from a man who makes incredibly boring movies (from time to time). It seems like Herschell was kinda trying to go semi-mainstream. Unfortunately he wouldn't learn his lesson so easily, as for the next few years, the non-gore would greatly out-weigh the gore. It's OK, because The Wizard of Gore was amazing.

I would suggest pairing this up with something awesome like Werewolves On Wheels, but perhaps one movie would be enough, because this movie sucks, and there's Just no way around it. Sorry, H.G., it hurts to say such harsh things about a film that you are so obviously proud of. And you should be, sir, because She-Devil's On Wheels is more than most of us accomplish. So, as usual, my rating of a Lewis film will be more than fair, considering Lewis is the man and all. But I really hate this movie. I really, really do. 6/10

This angry female-biker flick was my first acquaintance with the legendary director Hershell Gordon Lewis. I'm much more looking forward to seeing some of his most controversial films like 'Two Thousand Maniacs', 'Blood Feast' or 'The Gruesome Twosome' but I consider this to be a reasonable appetizer. It's not nearly as shocking or offensive as it might look and the script contains very few material to make a movie of. Loud-mouthed bitches who drink and race all day, while they consider all males to be…mothers! They live by strange rules (for example: when you donate too much attention to the same guy, you're out of the group) and organize orgies with a cabin full of studs! A couple of persons get severely mutilated and one of them even loses his head but, other than this, there isn't much gore or action to detect. Best aspects about this film actually are the sleazy-sounding title and the opening song, entitled 'Get off the Road'. Lewis' She-Devils on Wheels is a very campy film! Some of the dialogue is really hilarious, but almost literally impossible to understand.

This film decently represents the she-exploitation subgenre. But not nearly as good as Russ Meyer's legendary 'Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill' which was made 3 years earlier. The shrews in this particular film were a lot meaner, relentless and – most importantly – sexier.

'She-Devils On Wheels' is quite a change of pace from Herschell Gordon Lewis , the gore pioneer best known for movies like 'Blood Feast' and '2000 Maniacs'. Apart from a guy getting dragged by chains behind a motorbike and later, a decapitation there is very little blood or violence in this campy and surprisingly lame look at a "wild" all female biker gang The Man Eaters. The girls spend most of their time racing each other to see who gets first pick in the "stud" line, with limerick reciting and stealing candy from children for a bit of variety. This movie of course is awful, but still worth a groan or two if not an actual chuckle. The best thing about it (apart from the fantastic title, which it cannot possibly live up to) is the catchy and ineptly performed theme tune, later covered by The Cramps.

Master exploitation filmmaker Herschell Gordon Lewis tries his hand at the biker genre that really took off the following year with "Easy Rider". Here he gets fair results, with a screenplay credited to his then-wife, Allison Louise Downe. It functions more as a series of bits than a real story, and overall it's kind of mild. Those people expecting the fireworks produced by his renowned gore films will be disappointed.

The Man-Eaters, the all-female motorcycle gang depicted in this non-epic, are never terribly threatening or much of a danger to society. Mostly they love to recite poetry, help themselves to an assortment of studs, and race. One of their number is Karen (Christie Wagner), who joined a while back despite the objections of her boyfriend Ted (Rodney Bedell). Their "mascot" is a sweet faced, upbeat gal named Honey Pot (Nancy Lee Noble). And the official leader of the gang is the swaggering Queen (Betty Connell). They cause trouble for themselves when they rumble with a male gang led by Joe-Boy (John Weymer).

We do see the aftermath of some rather nasty violence, but the only hilarious bit of gruesomeness comes from a decapitation near the end. The movie offers some fun, but it never reaches the lunatic heights of HGLs' best known work. This viewer can see why some trash lovers - even those who are fans of HGL - might consider it boring.

The acting is pretty rough and amateurish, but the performers are entertaining enough to watch anyway. Connell does have some charisma, and corpulent Pat Poston some screen presence.

This is lesser HGL, but even lesser HGL is not completely without entertainment value.

Six out of 10.

The worst movie I've seen in a while...and the most entertaining!! While there is nothing really great about this film from the acting to the plot, it's insanely amusing! This is another film that falls into the 'It's so bad that it's good' category. You think the theme song is bad? Wait till you get a load of those 'Maneater' vests! They look like a gang of 9 year olds made them! The plot is almost too simple to even be called a plot. The sex and violence are so fake that it's embarrassing. As usual in these kind of youth-sploitation films, the bad ass teens are totally laughable. With all that said...I still found this movie extremely amusing to watch and I actually enjoyed every minute of it!! It's one of those movies that I'm sure I'll enjoy more each time I see it! So bottom line, when I say it's the worst I've seen in ages, what I really mean is that I loved it! Now go out and watch it!!!