The Body Shop

A couple of clarifying comments are in order. Herschell Gordon Lewis contributed a brief introduction to the video release of DOCTOR GORE (aka THE BODY SHOP), wherein he touched upon his collaborative efforts with J.G. "Pat" Patterson, director and star of DOCTOR GORE. Patterson concocted the "gore effects" for THE GRUESOME TWOSOME and a few other Lewis movies in the late 60s. Lewis remarks that whereas 2,000 MANIACS was a "five gallon" film (referring to the amount of stage blood required), the Lewis-Patterson productions were "fifteen gallon" pictures. Lewis does not describe DOCTOR GORE as a "fifteen gallon" film -- he's only talking about the films he & Patterson made together. Lewis has confessed (elsewhere) that his introduction to DOCTOR GORE was improvised before he'd even seen Patterson's film! So take it with a grain of salt.

This may be an "unfinished" film, but like some unfinished novels it does have an "ending." It's just missing some connective tissue.

Patterson has definite stage presence & a dry sense of humor, helping to make this simplistic show somewhat more watchable than it should be. There's an extremely bare-bones plot -- even BLOOD FEAST is more complex -- and a gratingly repetitive musical score by William Girdler. A bit of nudity & lots of skin. The entire middle section of the film involves the construction of a "perfect woman;" this is concentrated gore for the bloodthirsty, and laughable.

Patterson the director is in way over his head, but he tries hard to tell his story creatively, if it's possible to use Frankenstein clichés creatively. But the best reason to see this film (on Something Weird's DVD, if possible) is that it features a perfect Nashville weeper, Bill Hicks' "A Heart Dies Every Minute." Ain't it the truth!

I believe that if you are a fan of films such as the A.I.P. classic "How To Make A Monster", Hammer Films' various Frankenstein pictures, and the gore films of the immortal Herschell Gordon Lewis then "The Body Shop" (A.K.A. "Dr. Gore") should be right up your alley.

This is not a movie that will not be enjoyed by film snobs, and deserves the respect of those of us who truly enjoy underground gems beyond thinking that they're "so bad, they're good". But rather, their beauty and enjoyment lie in the fact that they are less than perfect. You can feel the passion he had for for films and film making in J.G. "Pat" Patterson's single directorial effort "The Body Shop". Many people will groan and I'm sure laugh a few times while watching this film, but those of you who truly sit down to watch it, not to "try and watch it" (if you're entering with that attitude it's best to avoid these type of films altogether and stick to the latest big budget Hollywood star vehicles) and laugh ALONG with it will have quite a memorable and fun ride ahead of you.

SIDE NOTE: If you have ever wondered what Funny-man Louie Anderson would look like with a beard just check out the character of "Bill Hicks" of the films band "Bill Hicks and the Rainbow" who preforms "A Heart Dies Every Minute".

The lines in the title of this review are the first lines in this film's theme song, a wonderfully demented parody of the (in my opinion horrible) song "My favorite things" from "The Sound of Music". And this fun little detail isn't the only aspect that makes "The Body Shop" aka. "Doctor Gore" (1973) recommendable to my fellow Gore/Trash fans. The film, which was created almost entirely by J.G. Patterson Jr., who served as producer, writer, director and leading man as the eponymous Dr. Gore, is crap, no doubt, but it is also beyond doubt that it is amusing, and that everyone involved, probably Patterson especially, was aware that they were not exactly making a masterpiece.

Dr. Brandon (Patterson) a famous but totally insane plastic surgeon, looses his beloved wife Anitra, a model, in an accident. Along with his hunchbacked assistant Greg (Roy Mehaffey), he henceforth kidnaps beautiful young women in order to build himself a new, perfect wife out of their body-parts...

"Doctor Gore" is doubtlessly a film of the 'so bad it's good kind', but it is also has qualities beyond the usual ridiculous trashiness. Mad science has always been one of my absolute favorite Horror topics, and, as a matter of fact, it is also one of the coolest topics for ridiculous Gore Trash flicks. Obviously shot on a minimal budget, "Doctor Gore" pays some homage to the "Frankenstein" films, especially James Whale's masterpiece "Bride of Frankenstein" (1935), and resembles the look of the early Troma / Herschell Gordon Lewis Gore flicks such as "Blood Feast" (1963) - only that this looks a lot cheaper and crappier. Obviously J.G. Patterson's motive was not merely to make a fun gore flick: Being a rather ugly, weird-looking fellow, his role of Dr. Brandon gave Patterson the opportunity to make out with a couple of hot, scarcely dressed young women (who would later end up as body-part donors in Dr. Brandon's laboratory).

Most of the gore is actually pretty well-made regarding the obviously tiny budget. The dialogue includes some extremely hilarious lines ("Get that, it might be the door... and put a coat on so they don't see you're a hunchback."). Besides the aforementioned theme song, "Doctor Gore" also includes a wonderfully crappy appearance by a country band called 'Bill Hicks and the Rainbows' - my new favorite band, NOT. For the rest of the film, I kept wondering whether Bill Hicks and Roy Mehaffey, who plays the hunchbacked assistant, are twins or even the same person - the two look exactly the same, and having two unrelated obese, red-bearded guys looking this weird in one film would be a huge coincidence. Other than J.G. Patterson, most of the cast members never did any other films. This is the first film I've seen out of the few by Patterson. Sadly, the man died of cancer in 1975.

Overall, "Doctor Gore" is a film that certainly isn't for everyone. As a matter of fact, it is total crap. But it is also amusing, and recommendable to my fellow fans of weirdness and cheap camp stuff. Dictionaries should show a screenshot from this film under 'trash flick'.

The Body Shop (1972)

** (out of 4)

Dr. Brandon (J.G. Patterson, Jr.) loses his beautiful wife so he decides to build another one with the help of his hunchback. Soon the two are kidnapping women and chopping them up for their parts.

Also known as DOCTOR GORE, this film is pretty much a mixture of FRANKENSTEIN, EYES WITHOUT A FACE and THE AWFUL DR. ORLOFF. This film is best remembered for features some gore but it's doubtful there's enough to keep most people entertained. I think it's best that you don't take this film too serious and just enjoy it's low-budget charm and sometimes gore.

Director Patterson, Jr., also cast himself in the lead and for the most part his performance is bad yet it's good enough for this type of movie. I thought the best thing that can be said about the film is that whenever it goes for some humor it usually works. I will gladly admit that I found myself laughing several times including the scene where the hunchback needs help getting his lab coat on.

Again, the film is mainly known for some of its gore but in all honesty there's really not too much here. There's more bloody in those early Herschell Gordon Lewis pictures but there are still some memorable moments here. The film goes on a tad bit too long and there's a long "romance" sequence that really goes on too long. Throw in a weird sequence with a country singer and another weird one with a sheriff and THE BODY SHOP is just campy enough to be slightly entertaining.

One of the commenter's is wrong. This is not the only Pat Patterson film and he didn't die two years after this was made. He shot a film called the "Electric Chair" in Pineville, NC. He shot this a few years after Doctor Gore. Patterson died in the late 70's. I know this because he used my house and he left a cat there!! It sucked also. This was a big deal when the movie came out. No independent horror films were being made in NC. This movie didn't help matters. Patterson used to do gore effects for H. G. Lewis. He was also good at magic. His gore scenes in Body shop were actually well done. The film was shot in a building that also housed a 7/11. You can actually see the tops of the walls in some scenes. The budget was less that $20,000 and the script looked like a child wrote it. Only Patterson could understand it. Still...it's entertainment and it's a classic.