Psychotic Cinema

Genre: 50's science fiction

Dr. Jeffrey Stewart (Richard Carlson) and his partner Dr. Dan Forbes (King Donovan) both work for the O.S.I. (the Office of Scientific Investigation) as A-Men, which means Atom Men. Their job is to investigate unexplained phenomena.

They are called out to a down-town hardware store which is having a problem with everything becoming very magnetic. Upon further investigation they discover the problem is emanating from the upstairs apartment.
When they enter the upstairs apartment they find that the room has been wrecked and a body lies on the floor. They notice a high level of radio activity and soon find that a container which once held the radio active element is now empty.
Back at their lab, they run tests on the empty container and soon find out that what had been stored in it before is like nothing seen on this earth. Whatever it was, it had enough radioactivity to blow-up a couple of down-town blocks. There priority is to now find the missing element.
When it looks like their search will be in vein, they get a call from a taxi driver at the airport, who reports that the engine in his cab had suddenly stopped running and had suddenly become magnetic. This is the lead they need.
On questioning, the cab driver explains that he had taken an elderly man to the airport and he was carrying a large briefcase. Armed with a Geiger counter, they scour the airport and soon find out which flight the man had boarded.
The flight is recalled mid-flight back to the airport – and just in time, too, because the engines on the plane begin to cut out. Upon boarding the plane they find the highly radioactive briefcase and remove it to the safety of special van. Meanwhile, the elderly man is dieing of radiation poisoning and his dieing words to Dr. Stewart and Dr. Forbes is that he has created a radio active muting element which he now can’t control and which needs to be constantly fed with electricity. If it's not fed, it will consume everything around it.
The element is stored at the local university, but it isn’t long before there is a large explosion, killing a couple of people. The authorities want answers from Dr. Stewart and upon investigation, Dr. Stewart confirms what the old man had told him – that the element is constantly growing and sporadically devouring everything around it.
The two doctors are temporarily able to feed the element with electricity as it grows, but they know they only have a limited time and soon they will need larger amounts of electricity. Soon they have to divert all the electricity from the city to feed the element.
Dr. Stewart realizes that even this huge amount of electricity won’t feed the element and eventually it will grow so much that it will destroy the Earth by throwing it off its orbit. Help is at hand, because one of the military officers assigned to the case tells of the Canadians having a secret research lab which can generate more electricity than anything else in the world.
In next to no time, Dr. Stewart and the element are flown up to the Canadian research lab which is a huge place situated deep in the ground under the sea. The inventor of the research lab tells Dr. Stewart that by bombarding such a high voltage of electricity at the element could blow-up the entire research lab before it destroys the element. This is something Dr. Stewart has to take his chance with to save mankind. In the meantime, the Canadian inventor goes insane and tries to fraught Dr. Stewart's plans.

The Atomic Age had only recently begun and this film taps into the fears which harnessing this energy could bring. This is a great piece of 1950’s science fiction and is very well written with some logical scientific reasoning.

There’s also a simultaneous storyline running throughout this movie concerning Dr. Stewart’s pregnant wife. It’s quite interesting the connection they make concerning how when you are pregnant you grow larger to produce something ‘good’ (although for Dr Stewart, he’s worried that his wife hasn’t grown larger after four months of pregnancy) and how the element must grow larger, but for something ‘evil’.

There is plenty of stock footage used in the making of this film and even though it’s credited to Curt Siodmak, most of the film was actually directed by Herbert L. Strock, who was hired by Ivan Tors because of his skills as an editor, which were viewed as essential for a film which relied so much on stock footage.

Computer geeks might be interested in the stock footage of a vary early computer called the MANIAC computer (Mathematical Analyzer, Numerical Integrator, and Computer or Mathematical Analyzer, Numerator, Integrator, and Computer) which became operational in 1952..

Other footage of the special effects used towards the end of this film were taken from a 1935 German science fiction film called Gold and this isn’t the only German connection to this film, with supposedly the film crew originating from German impressionist cinema of the 1930s.

As well as an intelligent script, these special effect scenes at the end of the film really make it stand out amongst other films from this decade.

The fictitious government agency The Office of Scientific Investigation would later turn up again in Tors’ Gog (1954) and some episodes of Science Fiction Theater (1955-1956).

This is definitely a good 50’s sci-fi movie to track down if you want one which is slightly different and more intelligent.

The Magnetic Monster (1953)

Genre: Science Fiction 70's Porn

I love hardcore porn from the 70’s because it can sometimes be so weird and much of it actually has a plot. Also in those days you couldn’t watch it on video or DVD in the privacy of your own home, you had to go to a cinema. Often these movies would be based around a theme, such as devil worshippers, Nazis, a deviant on the loose, or science fiction as in the case with Invasion of the Love Drones.

 The film opens with the New York skyline with the Twin Towers in the distance. George (Eric Edwards) is asleep in bed with his girlfriend. He awakens and goes to the bathroom. Meanwhile a phallic shaped spaceship turns and points towards the Earth. Suddenly the naked George is beamed aboard the spaceship.

On board the spaceship George has sex with two aliens which results in him being turned into a love drone. He is then beamed back to his bathroom. He comes out of the bathroom and speaks to his wife. She doesn’t seem to notice that he walks and talks like a robot. They have sex and George’s girlfriend also becomes a love drone.

On board the spaceship

The next day George, walking like a robot through the streets in his safari suite, goes to a sexual research laboratory and volunteers to take part in the research. In the laboratory he has sex with another volunteer and this also turns her into love drone. An alien voice announces that the aliens spread through sexual energy and will take over the world.

The two scientists act shocked

The two female scientists in the laboratory witness the girl being turned into a love drone which briefly involves George turning into a glowing white alien before he transforms the girl. One of the scientists calls her superior on the telephone to report the incident.

Meanwhile, George’s girlfriend is posing for a glamour photographer and they end up having sex. He too becomes a love drone.

Two aliens on board the spaceship

 On board the spaceship two aliens have sex. Their lovemaking becomes more intense as the sexual energy is siphoned from the Earth.

Next we see a James Bond secret agent arrive at an apartment block where he bumps into an old female friend. In next to no time, they are having sex which results in the secret agent becoming a love drone.

At the headquarters of the FBI they decide to send a female agent, Agent Rona (Jennifer Jordan, who is also on the credits for the sound), to investigate instead. She arrives at a club house where all the members are sitting around playing chess. The club leader turns out to be a love drone, so she escapes, but doesn’t get far when she finds the keys to her car have been taken. A biker offers to help her escape, so she jumps onto the back of his bike. Instead of taking her away, he takes her back to the club where she is held down on a glass table by the club members and the club leader proceeds to have sex with her. This scene with the love drones attacking her is very much like something from Invasion of the Body Snatchers. She has also now become a love drone.

The club leader temporarily transforms into an alien

The scientist tells her assistant that she has a plan to save the world which involves going out and picking-up a guy with the hope that he will be a love drone. At the moment he orgasms and momentarily turns into a glowing aliens, she will inject him with a syringe containing enough venereal disease to 'infect most of China'.

Her first attempt involves picking-up a rather camp over-weight guy, but this attempt fails because he doesn't turn into an alien when he orgasms - he's just a normal guy which leaves the scientist feeling humiliated.

In the meantime, George is beamed back onto the spaceship where the Queen of the Love Drones appears. If this film wasn’t already weird enough, it gets really weird with the Queen being a black actress who has shaved her head bald and who's naked body is completely covered in white makeup with two gold metal caps over her breasts.

Queen of the Love Drones

She begins to have sex with George. There is something very surreal with the imagery for this scene as she straddles George which the two naked aliens assisting her.

Back on the Earth more and more people are turning into love drones. The scientist returns to her laboratory and she too has now become a love drone. It is up to her assistant to save the Earth.

The scientist is about to save the Earth with what she believes is a love drone

This film is great with the dialogue being hilarious. It is so weird, and even with its obviously low budget, it is imaginatively done. There are moments during the film which are quite stylish, especially the scenes with the two aliens making love on the spaceship. There is something very “disco” about these scenes, even though no disco music is heard. Instead they are accompanied by some really great ambient music. Actually all the music in this film is really good and comprises of an odd assortment of styles ranging from 60’s James Bond style surf music, to some psychedelia, to moog, to sensual ambient.

Bree Anthony as an alien

Music buffs may be interested to know that the mellow music played during the alien couple sex scenes on the spaceship is taken from a 1972 library music album by Stringtronics called Mindbender and the track is called Dawn Mists. It also appears on the compilation Barry 7's Connectors.

If you like your porn from its Golden Age during the 70's, then you'll love Invasion of the Love Drones. It's so bizarre and will have you laughing.

Invasion of the Love Drones (1977)

Genre: 80's Sword and Sorcery

Occasionally after a hard days work, I have a craving to see semi-naked warrior women fighting - or even better still, topless warrior women fighting and today was one of those days. Luckily my craving was satisfied by the 1986 Roger Corman produced soft-core sword and sorcery movie, Amazons.

Now let me take you back in time… to a time when the Earth was ruled by the powers of light and darkness… where half-human creatures roam the deep forests – capturing beautiful maidens to sacrifice… where a dark evil wizard conquers and enslaves the peasants… and where there is a tribe of busty warrior women with 80’s hairdos… meet the Amazons.

Dyala and Tashi

Kalungo (Joseph Whipp) is the evil wizard and with his magic powers and his army of back clad soldiers, he has invaded a small fortified town. In the process he ruthlessly kills and enslaves its population.

In the nearby forest live the Amazons. They are a tribe of warrior women ruled by a good queen, her advisor (a guy with a headband and Burt Reynolds moustache) and a high priest.

Tshingi at the home of the Amazons

One of the girls, Dyala (Ty Randolph using the pseudonym Windsor Taylor Randolph), has a dream about an Excalibur type sword. The Queen tells her that if she can find the sword and bring it back to the tribe, they will be able to defeat Kalungo.

Kalungo (right) with his sidekick (left)

Dyala takes a companion with her called Tashi (Penelope Reed), but not before Tashi’s evil mother Tshingi (Danitza Kingsley) tells her to kill Dyala once Dyala has found the sword and to bring the sword back to her.

Dyala and Tashi set out on their quest for the sword and soon run into trouble when Tashi is captured by the half-humans and is to be sacrificed along with a cage full of buxom topless maidens.

A cart full of captured maidens

The scene in the cage is actually fairly creepy as the maidens purposely drug themselves so as to be anaesthetized from any pain when they are sacrificed.

Kalunga’s pet lion is also sent to find the sword, but first the lion temporarily metamorphosis into a naked girl before disappearing into the forest. Meanwhile, Tshingi double-crosses the Amazons by making a pact with Kalunga and it isn’t long before she is riding upon his pork sword.

A maiden awaiting sacrifice

With the help of a good witch, Dyala and Tashi find the sword in a cave, but the lion has found it too. The witch had prophesized that three will enter the cave, but only one would leave. Will Dyala get the sword and will she return to defeat the evil Kalunga?

There was a real fad for these sword and saucery movies during the 1980's and this is one of the better Americanized ones which came out during this era. Everything seems rather standard until about 22 minutes into the film when we are suddenly treated to the Amazon's splashing around naked in a river. This scene would have made Russ Meyer proud. From there on we are treated to plenty of soft-core nudity for the remainder of the film's running time.

The Amazons: battling she-babes

Amazons also contains its fair share of violence and at times it can be quite strong. One notable scene is the half-humans sacrifice of the maidens with one sacrifice being especially gory.

Kalungo’s lion is far from ferocious and is noticeably quite small when involved in the fight scenes with the Amazons. The lion looks more like it would enjoy a nice bowl of milk.
The acting, especially be the Amazons, is laughable, with terrible fight scenes and any scene of a dramatic nature is hilarious. Don't let this put you of - it just adds to the general low-brow entertainment value. Overall this is a fun film to watch, with plenty of titillation, a fairly descent plot and would compliment a crate of strong beer nicely.

Amazons (1986)

Genre: Violent Italian Crime

Two hooded men board a bus in Rome and begin robbing the passengers at gun point. In the commotion that follows a young man is shot dead and the two robbers flee. The bus races through the streets to find a doctor and help.

Enter blonde haired tough cop Commissario Betti (the leading man in the Italian crime film genre, Maurizio Merli). The music on the soundtrack changes to a slow electric guitar solo.

Commissario Betti - he's tough

  Betti has seen too much of this violence on the streets of Rome and when he looks into the eye’s of the dead man’s girlfriend, he knows he is going to seek revenge.

With the help of his police informer friend Biondi (Ray Lovelock) he soon tracks down one of the culprits to a gas feeling station. There he corners the trapped suspect inside an empty bus and does his own style of interrogation, which involves not much speaking, just a lot of hitting. The beaten-up suspect admits to the crime and tells Betti who his accomplice was. Soon the two hoodlums are behind bars and regretting they had ever come into contact with Betti’s fists.

An unorthodox interrogation method

Next we see a woman being violently mugged by two robbers in broad day light. Onlookers watch with fear, but do not dare to come to the woman’s aid. We then see the two robbers attack another woman, but this time she retaliates and leaves their beaten bodies in a heap. She takes off her wig to reveal she is a male cop.

Something big is going to go down and Betti needs to find out what it is. Using one of his more unorthodox methods, which is above the law, he picks up a suspect, but is unable to gain any information. Betti he has no choice but to release the suspect.

Betti metes out justice from a police Fiat

Betti is shrewd and has the suspect followed. This leads them to a bank which the suspect and his gang attempt to rob. Betti and Biondi rush in to confront the robbers, but Biondi is shot in the back. Two of the robbers escape in a car with Betti hot on their trail.

We are now treated to a great car chase through the streets of Rome with Betti following unrelentlessly behind. When Betti’s windscreen is smashed he kicks it out with his foot while still driving his car.

Woman about to be thrown out of a speeding car

To stop Betti following them, the two robbers machine gun some school children by an ice cream stand and then continue on their way. Betti only pauses momentarily from the shock, but soon is in hot pursuit again.

Eventually he catches up with the robbers and gives them swift justice the way he only knows how.

It's not long before Betti is in trouble with his superiors due to his unconventional ways which leads to Betti resigning from the police force.

A father gunned down in front of his family

In the meantime, his friend Biondi is recovering in his hospital bed from the gunshot wounds and Betti is told by the doctor that Biondi will be paralyzed from the neck down for the rest of his life.

When Biondi asks Betti what he would do now that he has resigned from the police, Betti explains that he is a cop and can be nothing else. Betti then goes off and joins a group of vigilantes who take the law into their own hands. Cue more violence and beatings.

A father forced to watch as his daughter is raped

The plot in this film is paper thin, to more or less non-existance, which lets the film down. Basically it is cop uses unorthodox methods to capture violent criminals, gets into trouble with his superiors and resigns and joins a group of vigilantes. There’s really not much else to the plot apart from that. There were also some loose ends which weren’t tied up at the end of the film.

This paper thin plot is surrounded by a selection of short vignettes where violent crooks rob and kill people and are then violently revenged by Betti – and violent these vignettes are! We get women being beaten up, shot, and thrown out of speeding cars alive, father’s shot in front of their families, daughter’s raped in front of their father’s and revenge dished out with guns, knuckle dusters and baseball bats.

Justice vigilante style

Even with the weak plot, I still loved this movie. It’s fast moving with the violence more or less non-stop. Maurizio Merli is great as Betti and this was the movie that launched his career. Violent Rome was popular in Italy as well as elsewhere and Betti was the perfect Franco Nero look-a-like.

After the success of Vilont Rome, Maurizio Merli would continue to play the tough cop in a string of Italian crime movies throughout the 70’s. Merli was perfectly matched to this violent genre and was known to get so carried away with his performances that he would actually physically hurt the stunt men during the fight scenes.

Directed by Marino Girolami, who brought us the crap-tastic Zombi Holocaust (1980), you can’t go too wrong with this movie, even with the weak plot because Maurizio Merli holds it together with his fist punching, teeth grinding, ‘shoot them all’ cop character as he continually beats the crap out of every violent criminal in Rome.

This is a great film to watch with a group of friends and a lot of beer.

Violent Rome (1975)

Genre: 70's Pseudo-Paranormal Documentary

The actual on-screen title to this documentary is William Shatner's Mysteries of the Gods. Yes… you’ve guessed it, Captain Kirk, himself, William Shatner presents this feature-length documentary on the influence of "ancient astronauts" on mankind's history.

Primitive sculpture compared with a space suite

 I love these pseudo-paranormal documentaries from the 70’s. They are so weird and there’s something really creepy about them and it’s not just their subject matter. My favorite ones were produced by Sunn Classic Pictures, notably The Amazing World of Psychic Phenomena (1976) hosted by Raymond Burr and containing footage of various unexplained phenomena, including early footage of Uri Geller, The Mysterious Monsters (1976) hosted by Peter Graves (this is the movie that freaked me out as a kid because there is a scene where Bigfoot's hairy arm comes crashing through the window into someone’s living room) and The Bermuda Triangle (1979). All of these documentaries would present their subject matter as if 100% true.

UFO expert with William Shatner

  The 70’s was a decade where an interest in the paranormal grew, with such popular topics as 'life after death', the power of pyramids, the Lochness Monster, ESP, UFOs, to name but a few.

Erich Von Daniken was very popular during this time with his books on the belief that the Earth had been visited in the past by ancient astronauts and Mysteries of the Gods delves into Von Danikiken’s theories from the angle of a complete believer. We are presented with unquestioning evidence of these visitations by ancient astronauts including prehistoric giant human footprints, pyramids lost in the Amazon Jungle, the ritual outfits worn by South American Indians which closely resemble modern-day space suites, old legends and Biblical stories.

A UFO

What makes this particular documentary great is William Shatner, who is dressed in a large wide collared shirt and matching bell-bottoms and [I presume] hairpiece with side-burns. As usually Shatner puts his “all” into his role as he delves deeply into the material presented. Shatner unequivocally believes everything he is told in his quest to understand these ancient astronauts and proceeds to interview a mixture of UFO related experts.

Shatner connects with the makers of the crystal skull

One funny scene involves Shatner in an old lady's living room where he’s holding a crystal skull. He stares intensely at it, trying to connect to the makers of the skull. He delivers the lines as if he's playing Captain Kirk during one of the more dramatic moments of Star Trek:

"I’m trying to put myself back into time and space – back to when the skull was used for a religious ceremony"

Shatner with an expert on extraterrestrial life forms

As a side note, paranormal phenomenon guru William Dennis Hauck, who is one of the leaders of the Modern Alchemy movement, served as a technical consultant and is also interviewed by Shatner, wrote up a sort of memoir of his experiences working with Shatner in his 1989 trash expose "Captain Quirk", which paints an unflattering portrait of the actor as a raving narcissist who actually believed he was an alien contactee at one point.

The final person interviewed by Shatner is a woman who has the ability to predict the future and who had previously predicted the deaths of Marilyn Monroe and John and Robert Kennedy. Now her latest prediction concerning aliens is going to change the world. Will it happen?

A NASA photo of a UFO orbiting the Earth

Mysteries of the Gods is a West German production directed by Charles Romine and Harald Reinl. Harald Reinl directed the earlier Chariots of the Gods (1970) which was also based on a Erich Von Daniken  book of the same name.

If you want a good laugh, you can’t go wrong with William Shatner's Mysteries of the Gods.

The DVD can be found here.

Mysteries of the Gods (1976)

Genre: Japanese Science Fiction

This film has it all! - a group of Japanese Word War II soldiers who can't except that the war has finished, a lost civilization, a giant sea serpent, a flying submarine and apocalyptic destruction.

After two engineers mysteriously disappear, there is an attempted kidnap of Admiral Kosumi (Ken Uehara) and his niece, Makoto Jinguji (Yôko Fujiyama). Luckily they are saved just in the nick of time by a photographer (Tadao Takashima) and his assistant.

Back at Admiral Kosumi’s shipping company, he is told by a reporter that his brother, Captain Jinguji, who was believed killed at the end of the war, is in fact alive. Captain Jinguji is also Makoto’s father who she hasn’t seen since she was aged two.

Admiral Kosumi receives a package containing a roll of movie film and when projected finds out it has been sent from the long lost Mu Empire, which had disappeared 12,000 years ago.

The Mu Empire says that it will conquer the world and that it has a captured a Japanese World War II submarine which had belonged to Captain Jinguji. They say they also have the plans to a super submarine called the Atragon, which they had found in the captured submarine.

Meanwhile, Admiral Kosumi is approached by a strange man who they believe is from the Mu Empire, but when he’s confronted he admits to everyone’s surprise that Captain Jinguji is still alive and he is part of Captain Jinguji's missing military unit. Eventually the man agrees to lead Admiral Kosumi, Makoto, the photographer and his assistant, and a reporter to meet the missing Captain.

It turns out Captain Jinguji (Jun Tazaki) and his soldiers are living on a deserted island and they can’t except that World War II has finished. During there time there they have been building the Atragon submarine.

In the meantime, the Mu Empire begins attacking shipping around the world and Admiral Kosumi begs Captain Jinguji to use his new submarine to save the world, but Captain Jinguji stubbornly refuses saying that the Atragon will only be used for the benefit of Japan.

The Mu Empire begins to inflict mass destruction upon the world and in the meantime Captain Jinguji’s daughter, Makoto, who he had been shunning, is kidnapped by the Mu Empire and unbeknown to him is about to be fed to a giant sea serpent. Now Captain Jinguji is left with the dilemma to rescue his daughter and to save the world using the Atragon.

Death and destruction

This is a great adventure/science fiction movie and has everything.

The Mu Empire has the appearance of an ancient Egyptian civilization and they are situated in a submerged kingdom beneath the Pacific Ocean. When ever the film cuts to them, they are taking part in elaborate rituals in giant temples full of chanting and women wailing and singing. Even though the Mu Empire looks primitive, they actually have sophisticated technology including giant submarines that can shoot destructive laser beams.

The Atragon is a giant flying submarine which has a revolving drill like front allowing it to burrow deep into the ground as well as travelling through the sea and air.

The destruction of the world is what you would expect from a Japanese movie of this type, with model sets exploding, burning and cities collapsing due to earthquakes.

The Atragon

Directed by Ishirô Honda who was one of the driving forces behind Godzilla. His trademark was to frequently show scenes of people being overwhelmed by an ambush of crowds, human or inhuman, based on a fear he had while stationed in China during World War II.

The movies of his I have enjoyed are The H-Man (1958), Attack of the Mushroom People (1963) and Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964), but he has also been involved many more of which many may be familiar to you. One notable film is Latitude Zero (1969), which again features a civilization living beneath the sea and involves a super flying submarine. Latitude Zero was notable for having an American cast sharing the lead roles and was one of the first roles for beautiful actress Patricia Medina.

Ishirô Honda is one of the leaders in Japanese Monster/Fantastic cinema and because of this, I've kept meaning to buy a copy of the first English language book on his remarkable career, Mushroom Clouds and Mushroom Men: The Fantastic Cinema of Ishiro Honda. Now I'll probably finally get around to buying it.

In the meantime, if you want to enjoy some great family viewing, you can't go too wrong with Atragon.

There's more information about the DVD here.

Atragon (1963)

Genre: Mexican Comedy Crime Caper

Four sisters who had been taken out of reform school and adopted by an evil aunt, Aunt Ermentrudis (Tamara Garina), run a protection racquet focusing on millionaires. If the millionaires don’t pay up, they are murdered. These four girls also like to enjoy a spot of bank robbery.

When not involved in extortion or robbery, these girls relax in their luxury villa and run a funeral business as a facade to their criminal activities. And yes, you know where the stiffs will be coming from.

One day whilst at a masked wrestling match, one of the girls flirts with Arsenio Junker Tres Alas (Rogelio Guerra), who is a budding Austin Powers clone, but the flirting has to be cut short when the girls suddenly disappear and secretly kidnap one of the wrestlers.

With the kidnapped wrestler held prisoner in their own private jet, they demand their protection money. The wrestler stupidly refuses and this results him being thrown out over the sea with a concrete block tied to his feet.

It just happens that Junker is a private detective, but a bumbling one at that. He’s trying to work on the case of the missing wrestler, but his attention is distracted by the short mini-skirt his very pretty assistant wears.

Junker is invited for a game of golf with a rich friend and just happens by chance to meet the four girls on the same golf course. The girls have meanwhile been asking Junker’s rich friend to pay them his protection money which he too refuses. This results in him being killed by an exploding golf ball.

Still Junker doesn’t seem to notice the coincidence of these four girls always being present when these high profile crimes take place.

After meeting the four girls again on the beach, it isn’t long before Junker falls in love with one of them and a relationship begins to blossom.

Meanwhile, one of the other girls enjoys to party. When the four girls are sent to their bedroom at night, which happens to be a giant bedroom with four beds in a row, the party girl likes to sneak out of her bed and put on her gold go-go boots and make her way to the local nightclub. Here she dances wildly on the table to her boyfriend’s band - her boyfriend being Ringo Peniche (Jack Gilbert).

The four girls must follow a strict code of never falling in love with men, but this code has now been broken with Junker and Ringo. Aunt Ermentrudis gives the order that these two men must die.

Directed by prolific Mexican director Gilberto Martínez Solares, this film was shot in Mexico and Peru and is by no means a great movie, but what would probably appeal to most people is its completely over the top 60’s kitsch style. Most notably the girls' outfits which are either matching black leather catsuites or a mod/espanic hybrid you would only ever see on a catwalk.

Some of the girls in this movie are very pretty and spend a lot of their time also in bikinis or short mini skirts. The four sisters are Maura Monti, who played the buxom bikini clad Batwoman in the Mexican Batgirl rip-off La Mujer Murciélago (1968), Amadee Chabot, who appeared on a couple of US TV shows and movies before continuing her career south of the border, Isela Vega, who is still busy today, and American Elizabeth Campbell, who had a successful career south of the border, including a reoccurring role in the Rock 'N Roll Wrestling Women movies.

So far this film only seems to have been released in Spanish language, but hopefully someone will one day release it subtitled. In the meantime, if you want to see a film which is fun and easy on the brain cells, but has a sexy 60’s style and beat music, then Las Sicodélicas could be the one for you.

Las Sicodélicas (The Psychedelic Girls) (1968)