Woodyanders Two depraved young men kidnap a sexy blonde (a sympathetic portrayal by the sumptuous Mai Jansson) and hold her hostage in the grubby cellar of an old warehouse so they can their sick kicks doing assorted foul and perverted things to the poor lass. Tautly directed with trademark streamlined efficiency by exploitation ace Lee Frost (who also did the stark black and white cinematography and razor-sharp editing), with an unflinchingly harsh script by the legendary David F. Friedman, a brisk pace, plenty of yummy bare distaff skin, a hard, warped, and utterly amoral tone, excellent use of the grimy and claustrophobic basement location, a dynamic bebop jazz score by Dave Roberts and William Castleman, and jolting moments of sadistic misogynistic violence, this nasty little number packs quite a harsh punch. Bryon Mabe and Jerome Eden are both perfectly slimy as our odious twosome, with Mabe a particular stand-out as the meaner and most scary of the disgusting duo. Moreover, the fact that these two bastards are basically well-to-do good-looking guys who engage in all kinds of foul antics primarily to alleviate the tedium of their comfortable lives makes them that much more despicable. A sleazy and sordid treat.

christopher-underwood Amazing Friedman production, generally considered to be the first 'roughie', so it's black and white soft-core sex. Plus because there were restrictions as to how much sex action could be seen, we get violence instead. Great irony as others have noted that you couldn't show too much loving but you could show hitting. This is a bit slow in places and the cars, the girls and the guys all look more 50s than 60s but the flesh, the fashions and talk of 'kicks' brings us more into the period. The extent of slapping and spanking is astonishing and the sleaziness of the kidnapped girl's basement surprising. Friedman reckons this would get an 'R' rating today - he's living on another planet if he thinks it would even get made. Excellent key trash movie.

sixtwentysix Shown usually in a double feature DVD, Scum of the Earth was definitely more entertaining than The Defilers but I found them both equally tragic in how horrible films like this were made. Something Weird doesn't do much with fixing the print which is jumpy and bad but it's still well worth a look if you love sleazy drive in fare. The film captures an awkward age between the sexual revolution and the early century moral values. "We need a CAPER!" & "I said KICKS! KICKS! not chicks, sheesh, next you'll be suggesting BEER!" Good movie for those who like this sort of thing.Terrible acting but yet still interesting to watch.

Eegah Guy When the "nudie-cutie" and nudist camp films began to lose popularity, filmmakers like Russ Meyer, Doris Wishman and Dave Friedman began to add a little violence to the mix and shoot in black & white to get the look of old stag films. A simple tale of the abduction and abuse of a girl from Minnesota by two thugs looking for "kicks." Sure it's distasteful but Byron Mabe is very good as the more twisted of the pair of abductors, which is all the more remarkable when you consider that he was hired as part of the crew but stepped into the lead role immediately after the original actor froze in front of the camera. The DVD commentary by Friedman is a very informative and entertaining talk about the making and distributing of exploitation films like this and the hilarious array of characters he worked with in those days.