FILLMORE DISCOS 67 - '70s RARITIES 6

You'll be coming with me to hell for watching this sleazy trash...

Coming Apart, 1969 (*****)
from behind the couch of a New York apartment, we get to see a psychiatrist's hidden camera footage of himself uncomfortably liaising with various women - and while that's about the extent of it, this is as compelling and original a study of mental breakdown as you'll ever see

Groupies, 1970 (***)
fly-on-the-wall documentary about female and male groupies from the late 60s rock music scene - whilst the extended live music footage is as dire as it is possible to get, the rest gives you many fascinating glimpses into a world that already seems ancient; it also exposes the complicity of the groupies and the musicians in perpetuating myths of their sexual degeneracy, the truth is far more prosaic: all-night drink, drugs, and talkin' bullshit; one particularly hilarious scene features some dreadful English band in their hotel room giggling uncomfortably with some groupies about not wanting to have plastercasts made of their, quite obviously, undersized weenies

Shogun's Sadism, 1976 (**)
not nearly as hardcore as others would have you believe, much of the torture element loses its potential for impact due to a cartoonish approach to the characters and historical themes of the movie's two featured stories

Van Nuys Blvd., 1979 (****)
classic Crown International drive-in flick featuring the adventures of an engaging bunch of teens cruising Van Nuys in search of sex and thrills with whoever comes along; as with the best examples of this genre, VNB is unencumbered with much plot thus allowing it the time and space for indulging in extended bouts of unadulterated fun; awesome vintage disco soundtrack too

The Beast In Heat, 1977 (***)
of the four or five films which appear to have been randomly chopped up to make La Bestia In Calore, the one that features the breathtakingly beautiful Macha Magall as the sadistic SS officer is Italo-exploitation heaven as victims are shoved into a cage inhabited by an ogre fed on industrial strength aphrodisiacs

The Gestapo's Last Orgy, 1977 (*****)
easily the best of 70s nazisploitation with qualities surely overlooked for belonging to such a reviled genre, Last Orgy is like a sleazy fusion of Godard, Fellini, and even Peter Greenaway - relentlessly explicit yet curiously arty, it manages to pack an incredible amount of content and ideas into its 90-odd minutes, comfortably outdoing Pasolini's more celebrated Salò for authentic Sadean content - as a side note, blonde bombshell lead Daniela Poggi would go on from here to have a long illustrious career in Italian cinema

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