Las Sicodélicas (The Psychedelic Girls) (1968)
Giles Clark
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.
Where we can buy it. Can you please help?
Regards