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.