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
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
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Mark
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Aug 15, 2015 07:34AM
Great article! HG Lewis was ahead of his time, despite the weensie budgets he often had to work with.
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