The Gore Gore Girls

Herschell Gordon Lewis' movies are an acquired taste, and 'The Gore Gore Girls' is a perfect example of this. Many people find the combination of silly humour with extreme gore shots involving the torture and murder of women difficult to get a grip on. I don't have a problem with that so much. HGL doesn't take the material seriously as a film maker, and doesn't expect the viewer to either. Many regard this as his best movie. It certainly gorier than 'Blood Feast' or '2000 Maniacs', and has slightly more sophisticated production values, but overall I found it a little repetitive and dull, and nowhere near as entertaining as those two or 'Color Me Blood Red'. The plot involves a "gentleman detective" investigating the bloody murders of go-go dancers. The detective is played by the unknown Frank Kress who is fairly amusing. Veteran Henny Youngman appears briefly as a club owner and is not amusing at all. I suggest you only watch this if you have seen and enjoyed earlier Lewis efforts, otherwise give it a miss. Apart from the infamous meat tenderizer, face-frying, and nipple scenes there's not all that much to recommend this one. Plus the DVD commentary is one of the most tedious and uninteresting I've ever heard.

"The Gore Gore Girls".Here is a film so silly,campy and bad,that watching this film is like committing a criminal act.Although,it is not a criminal act to watch this film,I myself felt victimized by this extreme waste of garbage that actually is a cult classic.Alright,maybe it's not but it can be being that Herschell Gordon Lewis directed it.His films ranging from "Blood Feast" to "2000 Maniacs" have achieved cult following. Even though he has loyal fans that rent his films,I have to say I am not one of them.This is the third Herschell Gordon Lewis film that I have seen. Each of the films have a comic look to them that are not even funny.The gore scenes even though some of them look awfully fake can still be unsettling.There is probably enough gore in this film to fill up an entire empty bucket.My guess is that when they made this film they took that bucket and tossed out the story and the acting and the direction and replaced it with an hour and a half of pure waste.Life can be short.I had to waste part of it on this trash.Maybe I'll rent another Herschell Gordon Lewis film to see if he'll out do himself.He usually does by making one film after another that gets worse and worse.

Herschell Gordon Lewis achieved his own entry on the list of the pulp gore exploit or whatever genre. The nudity of the strippers looks today rather comical and grotesque (than anything I would call erotic) and the gore effects are delicious bad and pure extraordinaire dilettantism (for the expert eye of today's well trained audience regarding special effects).

The Gore Gore Girls - a mix of a crime/detective story with elements of gore and some nudity, all in all only watchable if you are really into bad taste "style"and you like to breath pulp - not his best but still a funny watch.

Aside from the familiar cinematographic style and manditory gore, this film exceeds the sophistication of any of Herschell Gordon Lewis's previous films by leaps and bounds. The gore effects are sicker and more unnecessarily blatant than ever, and are quite convincing even by today's special effects standards (how many contemporary horror films have the villain squeezing the contents of a REAL eyeball until the juice squirts in all directions, just for show?). Many of my friends, who have seen all of the Faces of Death videos without a flinch, cannot keep from turning away from the extreme sickness of some of these sequences. The acting is at least on par with that of more acclaimed films of the time such as Shaft of French Connection; in particular, Frank Kress, though perhaps not the most photogenic actor, delivers an impressively competent and smooth performance as Abraham Gentry, the all-knowing hero. The soundtrack, written by Herschell, is effectively sleazy in an upbeat way, with the eerily out-of-tune guitar and sax reminiscent of Arch Hall Jr.'s music. And it is this juxtaposition of lighthearted music, comedy ranging from subtle to beyond-toilet-humor, and extreme gore that make Gore-Gore Girls so mind-blowing. And Henny Youngmann's appearance in the film is the best $500 HG could have spent; it takes this opus over the top. Also, as a visual arts student, I especially appreciate the entrancing aesthetic value of the title cards (I know, what does that have to do with anything? But it's my favorite part of the movie.

Gore-Gore Girls is on of my favorite H.G. Lewis films. But the film has a sleazy, old school porn quality and feel to it. The director giving Henny Youngman lines that were mostly one liners was an interesting touch. However whenever he strayed from his one liners the lack of acting showed big time. The set pieces were interesting but everything else had a cheap aura. Like most of H.G. Lewis' films, no one takes it seriously and that's what I enjoy about this movie.

Recommended for campy horror film fans.

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