She-Devils on Wheels

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.

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.

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!