BLOODSUCKING FREAKS (1976)

  I first saw this grimy, gruesome New York City sleazefest when I was around 12 or 13 years old back in the VHS days. It was a pretty scarring experience that left an indelible impression on my young mind. This film exists in a 70s porn-aesthetic world of gruesome misogynistic horror. At the time I thought the inclusion of jokes while horrific scenes involving brain-drilling, decapitations, eyeball-chomping cannibalism and all kinds of various tortures were going on only served to make things even more off-putting. Watching now, as an adult, there's obviously a great deal of black humour and I find the whole thing to be a riot. Director Joel M. Reed takes the basic outline of H.G. Lewis' classic THE WIZARD OF GORE and injects so much debauchery that he created a 42nd Street classic of his own. Unfortunately Reed would never reach these disgusting heights again and would follow this with only one crappy zombie movie  5 years later. Midget star Louie DeJesus, whose Ralphus character is the standout performance here, would go on to appear in a bunch of porn films. 

 This was originally titled THE INCREDIBLE TORTURE SHOW and wasn't given the FREAKS moniker until it was re-released in the 80s. Othjer AKA's include SARDU, MASTER OF THE SCREAMING VIRGINS and THE HERITAGE OF CALIGULA: AN ORGY OF SICK MINDS(video title)

 There are some alternate scenes involving Sardu & Ralphus in some homosexual antics that are included on the blu-ray release. 

"We dare you to keep your eyes open!":

NIGHT OF THE ZOMBIES II (1981)

 I guess this title is supposed to make people think this is a sequel to Bruno Mattei's NIGHT OF THE ZOMBIES which came out a year earlier. In reality it has nothing to do with that film. This one is a weird sorta zombie flick by director Joel M. Reed who is known mainly for his sickie exploitation classic BLOODSUCKING FREAKS. I say sorta because for a long time it plays like a detective film starring porn legend Jamie Gillis looking for deserters from World War II. Finally some zombies do show up but it turns out they are just acting like zombies to scare people and they're really just old people that have been kept alive and fresh since the 40's by drinking some chemicals. At least I think that's what's going on because the plot is a pretty muddled confusing mess. Add to that a dreadfully plodding dull pace, no gore at all(and very little blood even) and you get what a lot of people call the worst zombie movie ever. I wouldn't go that far because I've unfortunately viewed some more modern-day worthless garbage that makes this one look like a masterpiece in comparison. On the one plus side you do get to see Mr. Alphonso(Alphonso De Noble), the insanely large gentleman from ALICE, SWEET ALICE, in one of his very few film roles. This time he sports a weird mustache and ends up getting stabbed in his bulbous belly for his troubles. Sadly his appearance is far too brief. AKA NIGHT OF THE ZOMBIES and SISTER OF DEATH

Known on German DVD as ZOMBIE WAR GAMES!:

CAREER BED (1968)

 Way before he blessed the world with his magnum opus BLOODSUCKING FREAKS director Joel M. Reed made a couple of sleazy 60s sexploitation epics. This one features a young Jennifer Welles, before she became a big star in 70s hardcore porn, in the softcore story of a young gal with a very monstrous stage mom(Honey Hunter, sadly this is her only appearance) who knows the way to get ahead is to use your sexy feminine charms on anyone and everyone who can make you a big Hollywood star. There's a very John Waters-esque stilted acting style going on which gives everything a super campy feel and the movie takes some odd turns. The assorted characters are quite the scummy menagerie including a photographer who practices shooting pictures of a blow-up Easter Bunny, a bald scumbag director and Georgina Spelvin(before she became infamous in THE DEVIL IN MISS JONES) as a lesbian talent agent which leads to the expected girl-on-girl scene. Reed himself also shows up in a small role. The main downside to this is it all ends on an unsatisfying note after a fairly powerful buildup but hey ya gotta start somewhere.