She-Devils on Wheels

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.

She-Devils on Wheels was. to say the least, disappointing. The title leads you to believe that these female bikers called the Man-Eaters, are hard, fist swingin', booze drinkin' chicks! Nope. They really bland when you see them. Maybe for that time in the 60's, they were something crazy. But when you do a movie about biker women who are supposed to be really tough, why hold back and make it realistic? I think that Hershel Gordon Lewis really held back. There were some good gory moments, the fight scene between the Man-Eaters and the hot roders was pretty good. I just think that these chicks should have been more hard-core. There must have been a tougher gang of biker-chicks that Lewis could have made a movie about.

The theme tune of this classic was appropriated by the Cramps (who also did a version of Faster Pussycat Kill Kill) - although I like the originals better.

This film comes under the "so bad it's good" category - odd, half-mumbled dialogue (apparently they were trying to get a mainstream rating so the actors had to fumble the swearing) and only a minimum of nudity. The actresses were bikers first and actresses second - and I think it shows. They can all ride bikes at least. The two leads - Betty (Queenie) and Pat (Whitey) are great anyway. The concept of the "stud-line" is very amusing - and everyone at least seems to be enjoying themselves. Check out Queenie's leopard skin waistcoat and silver go-go boots. I got this film on DVD under the Something Weird label in the Virgin Mega Store New York (Times Square) - there were loads of copies in the cult section - This film is due for a massive revival. The DVD version has commentary from Herschell Gordon Lewis, as well as the groovy trailer, and a weird short film about biker gangs, where a straight-as-they-come narrator hilariously attempts to use hep dialogue "these cats are really cool.." etc and the biker member gives a long incoherently rambling narrative about what it means to be in the gang. Recommended!

She-Devils on Wheels (1968)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

A female motorcycle gang known as the Man Eaters cause destruction wherever they go. Their leader loves to party with men but the group is also known for destroying them. One member of the crew decides she wants out but doesn't know how to do it.

Herschell Gordon Lewis adds the motorcycle flick to his endless genres that he managed to work in during his career. After the success of THE WILD RIDE we got a whole slew of low-budget motorcycle pictures but there's no doubt that this here isn't one of the better ones.

As with a lot of Lewis' other films, their low-budget charm is on full display but it just doesn't add up to what you'd consider a good movie or a very entertaining one. It's really amazing that he started off in rougies before moving to nudies and then his infamous gore films. Later in his career he would make films like this, which were rather lame and tame. Sex is a big subject here yet we only see people kiss. There's no sex or nudity to be had.

The film offers up the type of performances that you'd expect. There are some bloody bodies on display, although they don't reach a BLOOD FEAST type of level. The group of women add a little fun to things but SHE-DEVILS ON WHEELS just doesn't have enough going for it.

Classic she-exploitation. What can I say about a film where girls lick blood off each other and kiss as initiation rites into a biker cult? Men are beaten, dragged behind bikes, f*#$ed, and decapitated. Good acting from a few of the leads. Terrible script with no story provides opportunities for humor and visceral violence. No nudity.

Not as gory as other Lewis films, but more fun than most.