The Roommates

Well this was a real time waster wasn't it? You have four (4) young liberal ladies strutting their stuff and their personal lives clashing with some of the local yokels. But wait...there is a killer on the loose who appears to be a woman? No wait....maybe it is a guy in drag....no wait....maybe the killer is a woman?

Does it really matter who the killer on the loose is? we know how this story is going to end and quite frankly whoever the killer is when we eventually find out do we really care? No, and I will tell you why. There is no substance to this 1970's low budget film filled with actors and actresses who seemingly were just happy to have made any film and see their stage name run through the end credits.

Speaking of the end credits the best piece of this film were those magical two words...."THE END"

I rated it a 3 out of 10 simply for the producers trying to convince their audience this was a suspense/thriller film. NOT!!!!!

This movie has been unavailable in any form for many years. Short of driving down to the original Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas when they did the occasional repertory showing, there has simply been no way for most people to see it. Now that has changed with a long-awaited DVD release. And it was actually worth the wait. It isn't that this is a brilliantly conceived movie by master filmmakers, or conversely, that it's one of those largely mythical "so-bad-it's-good" films, but it's one where all the elements just happily gel together in a near-perfect exploitation romp.

The format of the story involves four sex college-age girls, who are not all technically "roommates", but are spending summer vacation together in two lakeside houses. The girls each have individual adventures. The black girl (Marki Bey) works at a library and is torn between two lovers, a jealous white stud and a heroic black sheriff's deputy. The blonde girl (Roberta Collins) has a fling with a recent divorced older man. The brunette (Pat Woodell) is supposed to be "babysitting" her younger cousin (Christina Hart), but they BOTH get involved with a middle-aged womanizer and his troubled teenage son. The last and sexiest girl (Laurie Rose) becomes a nurse at a boy's camp where she helps out a bullied male virgin (although not so much with the bullying part). These separate stories follow the formula established by Roger Corman/New Line in the early 70's with his "Nurse" movies, but this film does not have the ham-handed attempts at humor or the dated and often annoying faux-feminist politics of the Corman-produced films. Instead it has a giallo-esque killer wandering around picking off the secondary female characters--which is actually a lot more fun.

The movie actually spends more time creating various red herrings than it does on the murders (they should have called the lake Lake Red Herring), and the identity of the murderer ends up being rather perfunctory and obvious. But the mystery-killer plot does avoid some of the borderline misogyny that mars some of the other films produced by Arthur Marks in that era like "Centerfold Girls" and "Bonnie's Kids". This falls between the pseudo-feminist preaching and the sleazy misogyny of the low-budget 70's era into a happy medium of truly enjoyable exploitation.

The five girls, of course, really make the movie. Marki Bey is the best actress. Roberta Collins would have the most substantial exploitation career (although she is somewhat wasted here). TV actress Pat Woodell is serviceable. The best two though are Laurie Rose and Christina Hart. Rose is probably the closest to being a purely softcore sexploitation actress, so not surprisingly she has the most nude scenes, but her acting is actually quite good here. Christina Hart plays a character that alternates between a naive innocent and a malicious young tease (similar to Robin Mattson in "Bonnie's Kids"). She is incredibly sexy even with her clothes on. I'd highly recommend this one.

Carla (Marki Bey), Heather (Pat Woodell), Beth (Roberta Collins), and Brea (Laurie Rose) are four absolutely lovely young co-eds who head to the community of Lake Arrowhead for some R & R. The story mostly consists of their amorous adventures, while the activities of a psycho on the prowl form a major subplot.

Written by director Arthur Marks and actor John Durren (who plays the small role of Socks the biker), this is good, straightforward exploitation entertainment that has its cake and eats it too. By that, this viewer means that Marks & Durren combine some enlightened sexual politics - the four main characters are independent women who know their own minds - with diversions of the far more lurid kind. The script has some surprising wit going for it, although there are some pretty silly lines as well. The assets of the female cast are stressed whenever the opportunity presents itself. Also, our actresses are engaging and intelligent as well as being fine eye candy. Bey, in particular, shines.

Many of the men in this series of episodes are not exactly portrayed in the most flattering light. Lee (Ben Pfeiffer) is especially sleazy, the kind of guy who has no more need for a woman once he's gotten what he wants from her. David Moses is very likable as Mike, the rural cop who becomes instantly smitten with Carla (you can't blame him).

This is a very nicely shot movie that is simply gorgeous in more ways than one; Harry J. May performed the cinematography duties.

Look for appearances by Connie Strickland as a victim of the killer, and Juanita Brown & Uschi Digard in the orgy scene.

Seven out of 10.

I came across a blu ray double feature with this and A Woman For All Men (havent watched that 1 yet) and went in without knowing anything about the film, outside of the description on the back of the box. Overall the film looks remarkable, with vibrant colors, and good cinematography. Cast is all adequate-good as well. The plot is where things stumble, with a general incoherent sense about it, and far too many long takes of girls just awkwardly dancing to the 70s tunes (the music itself, while cheesy, was fun). Once things pick up, at about an hour in, it is definitely a fun ride, and sadly the violent finale is somewhat more poignant today, however the film as a whole was entertaining, and thus I give it a passable 6/10.

Tl:dr: looks good, cast is quality, jiggling ladies, and a wack ass story. Thumbs up, recommended.

It's a shame that Arthur Marks' THE ROOMMATES is for the most part verrrrry hard to come by because it's one of his best! It's a hell of a lot better than CENTERFOLD GIRLS, that's for sure, and while it's no BONNIE'S KIDS, it is a unique blend of beautiful girls and 70s drive-in elements. While the four leading ladies only share one or two scenes together, this is typical of the four-independent-and-beautiful-twentysomethings subgenre of the drive-in. New World's NURSES and TEACHERS films, as well as THE STEWARDESSES and Al Adamson's rip-offs, featured beautiful girls who were friends, but their individual stories were followed more closely. The social politics of the time (the sexual revolution, women's lib) also play heavily in character development, as in the aforementioned films.

Marki Bey, who would soon become SUGAR HILL before becoming a featured player on "Starsky and Hutch", gives probably her finest performance as a smirking librarian who makes no apologies when she jumps from one man to another who catches her fancy. Pat Woodell, besides contributing a little nudity in a shower scene, is given little to do despite her star billing. She was the only established star of the cast, yet she's obviously not the character Marks was most interested in. Laurie Rose had the most varied career of the girls, from David Friedman skinflicks (ADULT VERSION OF JEKYLL AND HIDE) to Lee Frost sleaze (POLICEWOMEN) to Filipino action pics (THE HOT BOX). Here she is given probably her most interesting and sensitive character. Today she is a professional bellydancer and doesn't look on her past too highly, but she should at least be proud of her work in this film. Roberta Collins is the most vivacious of the quartet, and as evident in most of her films, is an adept comedienne who totally endears herself to the audience. How could anyone watching her films NOT fall in love with her? One of the strongest actresses of the 70s drive-in, she also handles dramatic scenes astonishingly well. Unbelievably, she never graduated to the bigger and better Hollywood roles she so richly deserved.

Also on-hand are two more popular drive-in beauties. Christina Hart (THE STEWARDESSES, JOHNNY FIRECLOUD) is a seemingly innocent cousin of Woodell's who turns out to be a conniving little sexpot who plans on having the swingingest summer of her life. Connie Strickland, the blonde bombshell from BUMMER!, appears in a small role as a vacationing water-skier who is the killer's first victim. Strickland didn't get to star in too many films, usually in small character roles; Marks would use her again in CENTERFOLD GIRLS. Look fast for Uschi Digart in an orgy scene and Albert Cole (THE INCREDIBLE TWO-HEADED TRANSPLANT) as a biker!! ROOMMATES is a little slow-going. The first 15 minutes set-up the four best friends, who have lots of dialogue discussing their personal politics and establishing the two goofball comediennes (Marki Bey and Roberta Collins) and the more serious lasses (Pat Woodell and Laurie Rose). Following a wild party where Rose beats a jock in a sit-up contest, the girls take off for their summer vacation at a lovely resort. And all of a sudden, a charming comedy in the vein of SUMMER SCHOOL TEACHERS becomes a twisted killing-spree-whodunit with beautiful girls falling dead left and right (very much like the Sebastians' THE SINGLE GIRLS from the same year, or New World's NIGHT CALL NURSES and STUDENT TEACHERS). All four gals manage to pair up with respective male partners in-between the murders, and the film successfully jumps back and forth between these two very different parts.

I think The Hoyk's review below is a little off; Tarantino probably never saw this film (which was never available on home video and is still near impossible to find) so its influence on him is zero. Hopefully some DVD company will come along to rescue this one from obscurity and release it with appreciative extras with Marks and the six featured actresses and the tender loving care it deserves. It's not a four-star, solid 10 exploitation feature, but there is still plenty here to keep fans of 70s drive-in fare happy.