The Gore Gore Girls

Herschell Gordon Lewis
1972
Second Viewing

This was the first Herschell Gordon Lewis picture I've seen, and though I've only seen a few others since, it remains head and shoulders above the rest. A return to the picture finds it less gratuitously glorious than I remember, but still an eminently enjoyable viewing. A goofy blonde-bombshell reporter hires pimp-like private-eye extraordinaire Abraham Gentry to solve a spate of stripper killings in order to get the scoop. Gentry, a mustachioed sephardic chap with an arsenal of stinging barbs laced throughout his eloquent locution is worth the price of admission alone. The humorous interaction between a dizzy femme partner growing increasingly attracted to this weenie's dubious charms, and his complete lack of interest is an almost Russ Meyer-like cornball side-plot, much appreciated. "The Gore Gore Girls" initially amazed me with it's extreme depictions of violence, and amateurish, but no less effective, use of makeup effects. It's the director's sense of tone that really elevates this above the standard grindhouse fare: silly jokes and cheesecake sexuality combined with an almost cartoonish sense of graphic murder (one unfortunate gal has her face burned on the stove range, and then scraped off hamburger-style with a spatula). My initial viewing took place freshman year of college. I stayed behind in the dorm during a holiday sans roommates. While watching, an extremely liberal and politically active fellow film-student knocked on my door and began watching with me. After a few minutes he asked "so this is basically a movie about killing women?" I confirmed that it was (what else was I going to say?). Offended, he soon left. I thought it was pretty hilarious.