Nick Cato's Blog, page 5

Appearances and New Anthology

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I will be a guest at the 4th annual KRALLCON, this time moving over to Summit, NJ at the Grand Summit Hotel. While Friday's festivities will be held in East Brunswick (see website for details), this is the first time this small con will be in a ritzy hotel. If you're a fan of weird fiction, art, music, and people, KRALLCON is a best bet. I'll have copies of my titles available and there are always lots of surprises for attendees. On Saturday I'll be doing a reading as my Antibacterial Pope persona, and also doing an acoustic death metal cover with Christopher Ropes. For more info visit the official site at Krallcon 2016
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Above is the full wrap around cover (by the great Matthew Revert) for a new anthology I have edited titled THE GRUESOME TENSOME: A SHORT STORY TRIBUTE TO THE FILMS OF HERSCHELL GORDON LEWS. I've hand-picked a bunch of HG Lewis fanatics who have contributed some great stuff to this wonderful homage to everyone's favorite exploitation film director. Should be available at all online booksellers by mid February, 2016.
More news to follow ...
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WORKS IN PROGRESS: I'm currently just over 30,000 words into my second novel titled LOVERS. Also planning a 4th exploitation novella for Dynatox Ministries (this one with a rape-revenge theme) and working on stories for two anthologies.

Writing / Publishing Updates

My latest novella, UPTOWN DEATH SQUAD, is now available on Amazon as well as on the publisher's site, Dynatox Ministries Store.
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I have edited an anthology titled THE GRUESOME TENSOME: A SHORT STORY TRIBUTE TO THE FILMS OF HERSCHELL GORDON LEWIS. The book is now at the formatter and I'm hoping for a late December, early January release. The book features 10 tales that pay tribute to the great exploitation film director. I have hand-picked each author, who I knew to be a fan of Lewis. The official Table of Contents is as follows:
(Introduction by Nick Cato)
SECTION ONE:
SELLING THE SLICER by MP JohnsonINSANITY A GO-GO by Jordan KrallRODE HARD, PUT AWAY WET by David C. HayesPHANTOM OF THE NUDIST COLONY by William D. CarlNOBODY GOES TO PAW PAW TOWN ANYMORE by Mark Mclaughlin & Michael Sheenan, Jr.THE MAGIC ABATTOIR OF MOTHER GOOSE by L.L. SoaresDISMEMBERMENT FRAUD by Jeff StrandTHAT GRUESOME GORE GUY by Gregory Lamberson

SECTION TWO: THE LOST YEARS
BEACH GIRLS AND THE SURGEON by Garrett CookTHE MISSING YEARS by Adam Cesare

The book will be released through my small press, Novello Publishers. More news soon.


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I'm currently working on my second novel titled LOVERS. Above is a mock cover, something I do to "psych myself up" about my current works in progress. The story deals with an EMT worker named Dan who has been on the job for 10 years. After losing a patient he and his partner Jack brought to an emergency room, Dan's life begins to spiral into a series of unusual desires and issues. As of this writing, the novel's first section is complete (over 23K). The rest of the novel has been loosely outlined, and I'm hoping to have the first draft done sometime in Spring, 2016.


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My short story 'Anarchy Cafe' has been published in the new anthology BLOOD FOR YOU: A LITERARY TRIBUTE TO GG ALLIN. If you don't know who GG ALLIN was, Google him and get ready for a real eye-full. You can grab a copy here: BLOOD FOR YOU. The book also features a bunch of great tales by authors such as Jeff Burke, Kevin Strange, and Sam Richard. BLOOD FOR YOU is published by a cool new press, Weird Punk Books. Check them out as they're currently accepting submissions for their second anthology of stories inspired by the legendary punk band THE MISFITS.

UPTOWN DEATH SQUAD now avaiable

My latest novella, UPTOWN DEATH SQUAD, is now available through DYNATOX MINISTRIES:
Uptown Death Squad

UPTOWN DEATH SQUAD up for pre-order

My latest novella, UPTOWN DEATH SQUAD, is now up for pre-order HERE and will ship in October.
This is my loving homage to 1970s blaxploitation / soul cinema, one of my favorite film genres. Amazing cover art by Justin T Coons. Click link above for full story details.

KILLER RACK review

Check out my review of the new horror comedy KILLER RACK over at CINEMA KNIFE FIGHT

Cover Reveal

Artist Justin T Coons created this killer image for my forthcoming novella titled UPTOWN DEATH SQUAD, my tribute to 70s Soul Cinema (or "blaxploitation"). I've been a fan of this genre since I was a kid and was thrilled to finally write my own story set in 1975 Harlem, NY. More news and ordering info to follow...

The HERSCHELL CHRONICLES (part 2)

NOTE: This second installment in my series looking back at the films of director Herschell Gordon Lewis originally appeared on my old blog on January 21, 2013, but went widely unread. It is presented here in its original version).





For those of us who devoured and basically memorized Daniel Krogh’s 1983 book The Amazing Herschell Gordon Lewis and his World of Exploitation Films, this DVD/blu-ray combo from new company Vinegar Syndrome is somewhat of a miracle. THE LOST FILMS OF HERSCHELL GORDON LEWIS features three Lewis films that haven’t seen the light of day since the glory days of drive-ins and inner-city grindhouses, and as the liner notes claim, “We can safely say that more hours were spent restoring each film than the combined production time of all three.” These film transfers are taken from the original 35mm negatives, and the quality of each film as presented here are simply beautiful.
While the only extras are trailers, an informative booklet and a set of film production cards, just having these films alone are worth the inexpensive price tag...that is, if you’re a serious fan of the director.


First up is THE ECSTASIES OF WOMEN, a1969 soft-X comedy about Harry, a swinging stud hanging with his buddies at a strip club the night before his wedding. He drinks and chain smokes with the guys as he thinks back on his past hook ups, beginning with one pretty brunette he meets at a bar. He takes her (and all others) back to his houseboat, where there’s a large bed, full bar, and a bathroom named “Brothel” in rope lettering (he’s played by Walter Camp in his only credited film role). Each time Harry begins to get busy with the ladies the score goes from dinner music mellow to upbeat funky jazz.
After this first awkward, funny, and terribly overdubbed sex scene, we’re back at the strip club where Harry and company are becoming drunker. One of the strippers joins the men at their stage-front table in what’s possibly a precursor to lap dances (was Herschell some sort of sleaze-prophet?). Then Harry drifts off again and remembers the time he met a pretty girl at the beach named—get this—Sandy. All she wants to do is shag, but Harry keeps on talking, making her say, “Life is short and shouldn’t be spent with diplomatic formalities.” He takes her to his houseboat and they fool around, but when Harry asks Sandy when he’ll see her again, she makes it abundantly clear this was a one-time thing; let’s hear it for hippie-era woman’s lib!
(Harry (Walter Camp) daydreams about a past love during his bachelor party in THE ECSTASIES OF WOMEN)
Then we’re back to the bar for more binge drinking, chain smoking, and topless waitress hi-jinks. Harry soon drifts off for a third recollection: he picks up a younger-looking girl in his convertible 1969 Plymouth Rebel (houseboat, cool car . . . this guy is The Man). He’s a bit concerned this one isn’t of age, and she teases that she has just escaped from juvenile detention. But she quickly convinces him she’s over 20 and the fun is on…back in the houseboat for more soft-X horsing around.
Back at the club, the party boys are now drunker than ever, and they manage to get four strippers to go back to Harry’s houseboat for a private party, which includes more drinking, nude dancing, and an orgy of sorts…although Harry and his new girl don’t fool around until everyone else has passed out.
In the “twist” ending, Harry decides to ditch his wedding and run off with the stripper who he has quickly fallen for.
While full of talk, much of it is funny, and unlike a lot of Lewis’ sex pictures, most of the women here are quite attractive, although, of course, could have used some serious acting lessons. Too bad this was Walter Camp’s only film…the guy is a riot and a half.


Next up is Lewis’ long sought-after lesbian western, LINDA & ABILENE (1969). Well, at least over the years it has been known as a lesbian western, but an incest westernis a better moniker. Herschell directed this one under the pseudonym Mark Hansen.
The film begins like a standard western with the image of a woman riding a horse, but before the credits are half over she’s being raped by some cowboy under a tree. We’re then at the burial of Todd and Abilene Carter’s parents (talk about a juxtaposition). They now have to run the family ranch by themselves, and for the first half of the film Todd (Kip Marsh) and Abilene (Sharon Matt) prove to be two of the finer actors ever to grace a Lewis film (and that’s saying something).
The day after their parent’s funeral, Todd spies on Abilene washing herself in an isolated stream. Before long he walks around the house fighting feelings he now has for her, and Abilene also starts to wonder about Todd in ways she never thought of before. Some really silly dialogue comes into play during a sequence where Todd and Abilene—in their own beds—think about what the other person might be thinking about them.
One night, while checking herself out naked in the mirror, a coyote howl causes her to scream, and Todd runs in to make sure she’s okay. Realizing she’s naked, he finally puts the moves on her and they proceed to have sex…twice.
The next day Abilene jumps her brother in the barn! Later that day Todd takes her in the kitchen! Then Abilene starts another quickie in the barn!
Once the brother/sister shag scenes begin, all dialogue stops for a good thirty minutes.The next day Todd does Abilene in the stream he had first saw her naked in, then they go home for another roll in Ab’s bedroom, then yet another session on the kitchen floor.
Todd finally starts to feel guilty over the incest and decides he needs a woman he can “really love.” He heads into town and meets a woman (Linda) at the saloon…unaware a shady-looking cowboy overheard him tell Linda his sister was back home by herself.
Todd goes upstairs with Linda and the cowboy mounts his horse. As Todd has his way with Linda, the cowboy cons a meal from Abilene then rapes her on the kitchen floor (he turns out to be the same rapist we saw during the opening credits). Way out of place action-movie music takes over the soundtrack here and gives the scene a feel that’s anything but dreadful.
(Abilene (Sharon Matt) and her brother Todd (Kip Marsh) "churn butter" in LINDA & ABILENE)
Todd returns home the next morning to discover what happened to his sister, who is furious he wasn’t home to help her. She kicks him out, and he pledges to kill her rapist.As Todd is out seeking Abilene’s assailant, Linda comes to the house looking for Todd. Abilene explains that he’s gone, and it doesn’t take long for Linda to figure out she was lovers with her brother. Linda then gets Abilene to tell her about her rape, and as she does she puts the moves on her. This Linda turns out to be a REAL sleaze ball! She seduces Abilene in a gratuitous lesbian scene while Todd manages to find out the rapist’s name is Rawhide (!) and the two duke it out in front of the saloon, eventually shooting each other.
Abilene and Linda bury Todd, and then ride off together as amazing grace plays on the soundtrack.
My first question is just why this film is called Linda & Abilene? If anything, it should be called Todd & Abilene, or, at the very least, Abilene & Linda. But this is a 1969 sexploitation film shot on the infamous Spahn Movie Ranch, which makes one wonder if Manson himself wasn’t somehow inspired by this festering chunk of celluloid obscurity. Abilene (Sharon Matt) is an attractive, younger-looking woman who spends the majority of her screen time in the buff. Todd and Rawhide are featured still wearing pants in most of their sex scenes (a staple of soft core films of the time), and the older-looking Linda (Roxanne Jones) brings that black widow-vibe into the picture. While there have been stranger and wilder westerns, LINDA & ABILENE is a real off-the-wall offering from our favorite trash film director, and is arguably his most polished-looking feature.

The Lost Films collection concludes with BLACK LOVE (1971), a film I had read was Lewis’ entry into the 70s blaxploitation subgenre, and although it features an all black cast, it isn’t a blaxploitation picture despite the fact it greatly exploits blacks. While it can be considered a celebration of “black culture,” others may see it as a blatantly racist film, especially in light of the way the ever-present narrator speaks about blacks as if he’s hosting a National Geographic special…as if they’re a non-human species. In fact, the entire film is narrated with no dialogue between the un-credited characters, and the opening monologue attempts to explain the film as a “scientific experiment” using black people who the film makers went into black neighborhoods to interview and consult with. Umm…yeah, I bet!
As the opening credits roll, we’re told BLACK LOVE “is not an erotic sex film but a study of an important aspect of the black experience.” Who comes up with this stuff?!
Under yet another name, Lewis directs this one as “R.L. Smith” and begins things with an older teenage male sliding and riding swings in an urban playground. A couple begin to have sex in a nearby car, and the teen watches as the narrator explains this is one way black kids learn about “Black Love.” This sequence also features close ups of penetration, which would easily earn the film an XXX rating today. And trust me…none of it is a turn on.
The next two sequences are among the most disturbing in Lewis’ entire catalog: First we find a young girl (who looks to be about 12) waking up late one night to use the bathroom when she hears her parents making noise. She peeks through their bedroom door and watches them do the horizontal mambo. The looks on the girl’s face are hilarious, but I hope this young actress didn’t have to watch the actual sex footage. Secondly we see an even younger girl returning from a store when she hears her neighbors having sex. She watches them through their bedroom window, and again we’re shown hardcore penetration in the style of a sex-education film. At this point I wondered just what on earth Lewis was thinking here, but thankfully the DVD’s enclosed booklet sheds some much needed light on the background of the project. Either way, these two scenes are quite uncomfortable and I hope to forget them ASAP.
(Un-credited dancers get funky in a tamer scene from BLACK LOVE)
Suddenly, BLACK LOVE switches to an artistic shot of a man and a woman posing nude as the narrator tells us what black people symbolize. This sequence becomes as tedious as it is ridiculous and almost feels like we’re watching a different film.
Then things begin to look like a typical Lewis nudie flick, as we’re taken into a black night club as a gratuitous dance scene ensues. The narrator goes on psychobabbling about the “black experience” and eventually the dancers are bopping around the stage in their birthday suits.
Next we’re inside a woman’s apartment as a young man comes for a visit. The narrator continues his National Geographic-documentary tone as they get busy on the couch with more hardcore close-ups. In a funny conclusion, the girl’s mother walks in on them and makes the guy scram…after she watches for a few moments.
BLACK LOVE’s final scene features the oldest-looking couple who are also painfully unattractive. At this point the narrator has either made your mind numb or caused you to hit the mute button. What follows is a typical XXX sequence, complete with the most un-erotic oral sex scene ever filmed (next to PINK FLAMINGOS) and more hideous-looking penetration footage. Thank goodness for the FF feature, which theater patrons weren’t fortunate enough to have the option of using.
Of the three films, THE ECSTASIES OF WOMEN is the most enjoyable, a perfect film for when the guys come over and you just want to kick back and have some corny laughs and a few cold ones. LINDA & ABILENE is easily the highest quality of the lot, with some nice settings and acting superior to anything Lewis had done before (or since). BLACK LOVE is a curious piece for hardcore (full pun intended) fans of the director, but I doubt many will last through even half of its running time without skipping through it.
I don’t see anyone who isn’t a fan of Herschell Gordon Lewis wanting to see these films, and even then only serious fans need bother. These aren’t the gore films that gained Lewis his large fan base during the 80s home video explosion. They’re nudie features, created for the sole purpose of making money (and according to the enclosed booklet by Casey Scott, Lewis cleaned up quite nicely with BLACK LOVE). Granted, all of Lewis’ pictures were made with the sole intention of making money, but at least his horror films had an ounce of redeeming value, and some have stood the test of time.
As far as the DVD itself, Vinegar Syndrome has done an incredible job of restoring these films from their presumed lost 35mm negatives. The DVD looks nearly as good as the blu-ray, and both are part of this combo pack for you to decide. The aforementioned booklet by Casey Scott is quite informative, and as mentioned earlier, one company-provided liner note had me in stitches (“We can safely say that more hours were spent restoring each film than the combined production time of all three.” ) Ha!
This here’s a company with a lot of promise for grindhouse movie fans. Their future catalog looks interesting and their past releases are quite impressive, so if this is your bag check ‘em out at Vinegar Syndrome
As for The Lost Films of Herschell Gordon Lewis, all I can say is I felt like I’ve been bashed over the head with a time capsule that was never meant to be rediscovered. And that’s a good thing.

The HERSCHELL CHRONICLES (part 1)

As I get ready to release the fiction anthology, THE GRUESOME TENSOME: A SHORT STORY TRIBUTE TO THE FILMS OF HERSCHELL GORDON LEWIS this fall through my small press, Novello Publishers, I've been revisiting some of the legendary director's films. Many horror fans may not know that Lewis directed all kinds of exploitation films, not just horror. Two I recently watched were both released in 1968. and they're as different from each other as can be.


HOW TO MAKE A DOLL tells the story of a goofy 32 year-old college professor named Percy who lives with his charismatic mother (she looks like she could've been a character in any early John Waters film). Being shy around girls, he gets the help of a senior professor in the science lab and WHAMMO! They feed a few details into their cardboard-box looking computer and begin creating robot girls for their own enjoyment. While I don't want to say the 1985 comedy WEIRD SCIENCE ripped Herschell off, it is kind of weird Lewis' film predates the big budget hit by 17 years. So I won't say it ripped it off...
Professor Percy (Robert Wood) with his crackpot mother (Elizabeth Davis)
This was Herschell's attempt at a scifi comedy, and while most Lewis fans found this dull and silly, I found it incredibly entertaining for what it is, mainly in part due to the character of professor Percy, who drives around in a silly Isetta (an Italian made mini car). He acts dumber than a junior high student, and when the women begin to come out of the computer fast and furious, he doesn't know what to do. THANK GOODNESS his pal, Dr. Hamilcar West is there to show him how its done.
Dr. Hamilcar West (Jim Vance) and Professor Percy party with their computer-generated babes
Despite being the director of several nudist camp films, Lewis keeps the nudity here almost non existent, and in one sex scene substitutes stop motion footage of a bolt sliding into a nut instead of showing his actors in the actual act. Yep, this here is some goofy stuff, but it's lighthearted fun and as mentioned earlier, quite a different idea that was later explored by Hollywood (much like Lewis' gore films).


Next up is JUST FOR THE HELL OF IT, which was released just 7 months after Lewis' SHE DEVILS ON WHEELS. Apparently Lewis had a gang-thing going on in 1968, and while SHE DEVILS is a better film, JUST FOR THE HELL OF IT is hilarious regardless of some very nasty moments.
Ray Sager (who played Montag in the 1970 Lewis classic THE WIZARD OF GORE) stars as Dexter, the head of a gang of delinquents who seemingly do nothing but hang out at a soda shop and run around the neighborhood destroying property, picking on young kids, and in one scene that you won't know whether to laugh or cry at, they take a toddler out of a stroller and place him in a garbage can.
A neighborhood good guy named Doug (who is a former member of the gang) and his girlfriend become the targets of the destructive clan, and even the cops blame everything on Doug.
Aside from all the fights and vandalism, my favorite scene is early on when the gang watches an upbeat psychadelic acid rock band perform in some shady night club. The song is fantastic and the band gets major kudos for really getting into their role. I'm not sure if this was a real band or not, but if so I'll buy anything they might have released!
One of the better rock bands to grace an HG Lewis film...or any film from the 60s for that matter!
After an hour of the gang destroying everything from baby strollers to laundry lines to fishing boats to coffee shops, they decide to go after Doug's girl. I'm assuming she was not only killed, but raped too (nothing is shown be we see her corpse with blood dripping from her midsection). Enraged, Doug decides to go after them, and at this point JUST FOR THE HELL OF IT becomes like DEATH WISH only without the gun play or Charles Bronson-quality acting. In fact, as Doug chases the gang who flee in a car and motorcycle, the cops pull the gang's car over and the motorcycle crashes, killing two gang members, one being the only female of the bunch. Doug has his revenge, but he really didn't do anything to get it.
This whole pointless mess ends with Dexter laughing that he wasn't caught.
I seriously don't know what the point of this film was, but shoot me if it isn't the ultimate film to throw on at a keg party. Ray Sager's acting is horrible, but so much better than his stint as Montag in the aforementioned WIZARD OF GORE.
Gang film completists take note.
Doug (Rodney Bedell, he's the guy in the blue shirt and brown pants) tries to stop his former gang from beating some poor sap to death in JUST FOR THE HELL OF IT

HOW TO MAKE A DOLL is available here: Something Weird Video / DOLL *
JUST FOR THE HELL OF IT is available here: Something Weird Video / JUST FOR **


*-DOLL is also featured as an extra on the Something Weird DVD release of DOCTOR GORE, which was directed by Lewis' friend and sometimes working partner J.G. Patterson.
**-you may have to sign in to the Something Weird website before viewing these links

SGM no. 73

The 73rd installment of my SUBURBAN GRINDHOUSE MEMORIES column is now live over at CINEMA KNIFE FIGHT. This time I look back at a 1981 screening of PICK UP SUMMER, a teen sex comedy that's all over the place. See it right here: Pick Up Summer (1981)

WITHOUT A STITCH hits NYC

Released in 1968 in Denmark under its original title, UDEN EN TRAEVL, softcore sex comedy WITHOUT A STITCH came to America in December, 1969, and played on Broadway in NYC, then seedier theaters and drive-ins until 1975. As far as I can find, it hasn't played American theaters since then. But on Friday, July 3, 2015, the wonderful Nitehawk Cinema in Brooklyn, NY hosted a rare 35mm screening of this once controversial film*, which was based on the 1966 novel by Jens Bjorneboe.
The beautiful Anne Grete Nissen stars as Lillian, a teenager ("I'm 17 and a half!") who fears she might be frigid. Her sort-of boyfriend Henry can't please her (even after they go to his parent-free house) and a lesbian encounter (of sorts) with her friend Lise has her questioning everything. Lise suggests she go see a sex therapist, and the opening section of the film takes place in the office of Dr. Petersen, a gynecologist with some very unusual methods (especially for a 1968 film).
Dr. Petersen at work. What a rough job...
It takes a bit, but Petersen manages to bring Lillian to orgasm (there's plenty of hilarious dialogue here, most of which had the Nitehawk Cinema, ironically, in stitches), and suggests that she "doesn't rely on him" for future fulfillment: "You can't keep experiencing pleasure at the expense of Blue Cross!". He recommends she travel around Europe and keep a diary of her experiences. I had to laugh at this point because:

a) it seems 90% of all "erotic foreign cinema" has this same plot andb) I couldn't stop thinking about the episode of SEINFELD where George Costanza rented a film titled RACHELLE, RACHELLE, that had this same story line.
But moving along ...
Lillian's now satisfied, but is told to take a little journey...
Lillian soon finds herself hitchhiking across Sweden, where she meets a cameraman. They have sex in his small truck then he convinces her to star in one of the porno films he's shooting. In these scenes, and most scenes after, Lillian hears the teachings of Dr. Petersen in her head whenever she doubts trying something new. I have a feeling this slap in the face of traditional morals made the film more controversial than the nudity and sex scenes themselves.Just about everything Dr. Petersen says to Lillian in the opening office sequences goes against every Puritanical teaching known to man!
Lillian enjoying a ride (and some hooch) by a Swede cameraman

When Lillian hits Germany, she enters a huge restaurant/beer hall. As she sits and listens to the conversation going on around her, a large Oom-pah band takes the stage to wild applause from the audience. I don't know what it is about this scene but it had me laughing my ass off, and wanting to drink a mug of Dinkleacker. Lillian meets a man who invites her over to his home, and it turns out he's rich. A butler serves them dinner, and when they go to his bedroom he breaks out a whip. Again, Lillian hears the words of Dr. Petersen, and endures the beating (although it's more playful than brutal). And just when you thought this guy was a complete prick, he offers the whip to Lillian. Let's hear it for equal opportunity sadists! I haven't seen FIFTY SHADES OF GREY, but I'll bet anything this brief sequence is more entertaining than the entire film (and book series).

Germans NEVER skimp on the brew
Lillian endures lashes thanks to Dr. Petersen's brainwashing--err---suggestions...
Lillian working on her diary as she bops across Europe...
For some reason, the Danish language, subtitled film becomes English when Lillian arrives in Italy. She meets a handsome gent who we eventually learn is gay, but to be kind to tourists, he invites Lillian to join himself and his boyfriend in one of the strangest (and shortest) threesomes ever committed to celluloid. In fact, this quick scene is hilarious as it attempts to show the tryst artistically (see pic below). And in another threesome (sorry, can't recall what country this takes place in), Lillian and a lady friend first partake in an incredibly strange yet traditional dance number before they get down to business.
Yep. Scandinavian smut is slightly unbalanced
Lillian dancing in yet another threesome. I'm starting to think Dr. Petersen also spiked her drink...
As funny as WITHOUT A STITCH is at times, I found it a more bizarre offering than a sexual one. Besides the overall anarchist/hedonistic tone, who knew there was mud wrestling in 1968? And the mud wrestling sequence here (at a club, I believe, while we're still in Germany) is simply off the wall, as the two competitors both look like wardens from a women's prison film. Lillian and the crowd are splashed with mud as they cheer them on.

It's a fine decade for a mud wrestle...
There are a couple of truly disturbing scenes throughout the film, one being where boyfriend Henry, frustrated over Lillian's teasing and inability to be pleased, comes after her with a fireplace poker! But thankfully he tosses it aside and tries once again to satisfy her.
Lillian likes to tease Henry. But she should've hid the fire poker first.
After her sexual odyssey, Lillian returns to Dr. Petersen, and he's thrilled to hear his suggestion worked. She's now cured and ready for action, although she really needs to do something about that gigantic, overgrown ... you get the picture.
WITHOUT A STITCH is a real time capsule of a film. While it was surely a let down for moviegoers seeking more of the nasty stuff, this soft core outing is hilarious and strange as it breaks taboos few other films did at the time ... at least films that could be seen in major theaters. There are so many funny lines, you'd be wise to watch with a pad in hand to remember half of them, and kudos to director Annelise Meineche for actually shooting the film in Sweden, Germany, Denmark, and Italy (and probably a couple more).

In 1973 a sequel titled BETWEEN THE SHEETS hit foreign theaters, but didn't come to the U.S. until the video days. No one from the original was involved, although it was shot in Denmark.
Star Anne Grete Nissen was only in two more films (1970's BEDROOM MAZURKA and 1971's DAGMAR'S HOT PANTS, INC.), but judging from this slice of vintage euro trash her acting abilities wouldn't have carried her much further.

As the film's tagline proclaimed, "You've never seen anything like this before!" And for 1968, you pretty much didn't.
 Lillian (Anne Grete Nissen) lets her gold locks shine

 Lillian's travels land her in all kinds of odd situations...

Danish ad art




* WITHOUT A STITCH was actually a popular international hit, and one of the first films to feature a young woman enjoying sexual adventures, hence the controversy.