Including reviews of Sacrilege (1971), Satan’s Lust
(1971) and The Devil Inside Her (1977)
Directors: Ray Dennis Steckler (Sacrilege); Zebedy
Colt (The Devil Inside Her)
Cast:
Sacrilege:
Jane Tsentas as Cassandra; Gerard Broulard as Jay; Ruthann
Lott as Maria; Charles Smith as Lucifer
Satan's Lust:
Judy Angel as Pamela Goodright; Ron Darby as Boris; George
'Buck' Flower as Manheim Jarkoff; James Mathers as Wayne
The Devil
Inside Her:
Jody Maxwell as Hope Hammond; Terri Hall as Faith
Hammond; Dean Tait as Joseph; Zebedy Colt as Ezekiel Hammond; Renee Sanz as Devil's
Crony; Chad Lambert as Nicodemus; Nancy Dare as Rebecca 'Becky' Hammond; Annie
Sprinkle as Orgy Girl; Rod DuMont as The Devil
A Night of a Thousand Horror (Movies)
I’ll buy you a dildo for Christmas.
Smut Without Smut, a
concept created by American Genre Film
Archive, works around the issue that erotic cinema would be off-putting for
some, but have their compelling aspects even if unintentional. This is
significant even in a serious way as, with the uncensored versions of three of
the films covered as they were included in the AGFA Blu Ray release, these films represent a side of filmmaking
for all their amateur and absurd tones which will be deeply problematic for
some. It is worth putting ahead of time as, especially as actual hardcore films,
some people will not feel comfortable (or want to) sit through work which have
openly non-consensual scenes even if all these films are truly ridiculous times
to witness, openly too silly (or frankly shambolic) to take seriously baring.
They are from a different time, even if sadly pornography has its sleazy edges
still to this day, so all these films have to be taken with a pinch of salt
even in their cut-down Smut Without Smut
versions, which will not be possible for all to stomach. Those who can,
like myself, will witness truly strange works.
To be blunt as
well, some people will not feel comfortable (or want to) sit through extended
scenes of real sex if with the artificiality that it is acted out sequences
which are prolonged and in gynecological detail. In mind the tone will end up
having to be lowered to review these, but wanting to take into seriousness the
content, even thought pornography has still a lot of distasteful content to it
in tone, these films have moments for all their goofiness you would prefer not
to have in them, as much as some people just do not want to watch a man’s hairy
testicles up close for a prolonged five to ten minutes. Satanic Horror Nite is closer to what the point on this concept was
as Smut Without Smut’s prequel. That
one was before AGFA started releasing
their mix-tape works to physical media, instead having a double bill of Things to Come (1976) and The Dirty Dolls (1973), two softcore
sex films where the removal of said sex scenes made little sense. That title
was only logical for outright porn, tackling the sordid world of hardcore that Something Weird Video accumulated
alongside their other exploitation film libraries, in this case centering on
the obsession in the seventies with Satan and the Devil throughout a lot of
these productions.
The compilation
version follows The AGFA Horror Trailer
Show (2020), another early mixtape from AGFA
in which it is initially set up as an actual cinema showing, starting with
trailers including in the intermission, not surprisingly going for the obvious
sex innuendo with the food trailers but with legitimately idiosyncratic
trailers which come some of the best parts of the production altogether.
Americana from a different country to mind, such as one for a Wizard of Oz Head
Shop, or the obsession between these mixtapes with finding as many trailers for
cinemas made for Toddy, a chocolate
drink that could be served cold or hot, are an obsession I am developing
through works like this. More popular in the likes of Brazil to Argentina, Toddy chocolate drinks were pushed in
the USA in these types of trailers, such as one here which is an animated
trailer like an old sixties cartoon
about firemen. There is even a Pac Man parody for another concessions stand
food advertisement which is also memorable.
This is not
about gluttony however, but the sin of lust, and trailers for other hardcore
films even if one or two does at least produce a Count-Erotica film which
immediately warns you of some of eye-popping content. Even if everything in the
Smut Without Smut cut is softcore,
the sight of a man humping into a rabbit hand puppet for what is a Count
Dracula parody immediately is memorable whether you want it to be or not. These
films, uncut versions as well, are weird for how they can straddle the line
between legitimately sleazy, progressive, deeply dated and problematic, but
also very quaint or weird, where “Englebert Humpsalot” for a pseudonym on the
credits time stamps the films to their era or even earlier into the sixties,
like a Carry On joke.
Sadly the first
film in the compilation, Hotter Than
Hell (1971), is not among those included in their full cut which is a shame
as it presents itself as a sitcom about demons, presided upon by a Satan who is
closer to a gregarious Saint Nick/Green Man figure, whose desire to corrupt the
folks up above is less eternal damnation but orgies and sex even in the
underworld. This feels like a sex romp comedy which just happened to end up
with real sex, boing sounds and all, between demons magically appearing for
women or being helpful to frustrated female psychologists. There is already
though an inherent issue with Smut
Without Smut in context too that, yes, splicing out all the hardcore
scenes, alongside making some of these barely over fifteen minutes each between
five films used, means that so much tonal context let alone story plotting is
lost, which becomes a significant issue with appreciating it as a work by
itself.
Sacrilege probably is not
a film you would gain a lot of from having all the sex back in, but it is the
most notorious of the trio as it is directed by Ray Dennis Steckler. Steckler,
infamous for the likes of Rat Pfink and
Boo Boo (1966), did make some porn films in his career, and starting with a
nude woman (barring gloves and a cape) gyrating to drones and string
instruments to the camera, we are absolutely in a strange territory even next
to the other films involved in this collection. This woman, in the form of a
more humble witchcraft enthusiast in more clothing, will temp a man reading a
book in the countryside for what is a played satanic sex ritual. There is not a
lot else to talk of, baring that he reads books on witchcraft, and that she has
a Siamese cat named Lucifer who is the aforementioned Devil and starts a nice
trend of cats in these films. There is also the weird decision to have our
witch make erotic cat wails, which is probably one of the strangest aspects of
any of the films as this happens even in the sex scenes.
The reason Smut Without Smut exists is that Sacrilege, bluntly, will force you to
look at the lead’s testicles in close up for a long period of shots, which is
not for everyone. The paradox with hardcore, which this mixtape has to work
around, is that porn drags because of its hardcore scenes of actual sex but
without them, not in terms of wanting to arose the viewer but for their tone,
you cannot really cut around them depending on the film used without
potentially losing so much of their tone, or feeling as here they abruptly
change scene. Again, and with the desire to not repeat this repeatedly, these
films do present a taboo nature when our male lead calls a female friend to
join over when possessed by sex, the playing to a non-consensual nature to
these scenes in all the films mentioned in this review something which is going
to offend people, more so because of the uncut versions having real sexual acts
transpire even if they are highly choreographed. Sacrilege out of the three full films I saw is the most
lacksidasical, but this would still be seen as a taboo for some still even if
that the film in context, the
repetitiveness of the sex scenes themselves, undercut the potential grimness
with monotony. The film by the ending also possesses a very squeaky table the
scene of the Satanic orgy plays out on top of, and jazz drumming on the
soundtrack mixed with soundtrack pieces for a silent adventure serial, which is
a realm of strangeness in itself, which cannot defend these to someone who
feels sexual fantasies like this are indefensible, but do undercut such a film
by reveal how absurd it is as a fictional piece, real sex or otherwise. For Ray Dennis Steckler, it definitely
becomes an idiosyncratic production to watch if an acquired taste even next to
the others in this. Its compilation version would probably suffice for most,
but uncut, the repetition and tone becomes its weird aura.
As mentioned,
there are films here which were not included as extras in their full feature
form, Sexual Awareness (1974) one of
these, about a religious sex cult. A lot
of clearly missing from its cut form, a fragment of curiosity that really does
not stand out, and again, about a cult that use hypnosis, this does emphasis
that with a childlike naivety in a lot of these films’ cases that they touch
upon fantasies which many may find completely unacceptable. It emphases sexual
fantasies as a complicated and at times difficult thing, notwithstanding the
fact that pornography even into the modern day has problematic aspects,
especially when it comes to fetishing race, where we do not willingly face
these with the complexity they need as much as rightly challenge them. None of
the films in this, though a few have some eyebrow raising and sleazy moments,
can be seen as anything but utterly ridiculous, entirely artificial and able to
dismiss as from another time in look, especially as Sexual
Awareness in the Satanic Horror Nite
cut is played for all its awkward pauses in acting and non-sequiturs, alongside
in the intermission afterwards subtly playing to the only innuendo in the
trailer choices, with a hotdog advert terms which are far more explicit then
one would presume.
Satan’s Lust, which
thankfully comes with another cameo by a cat also minding its own business,
tries to be a murder mystery with obvious culprits shown in their criminal act
from the get-go, a Satanic cult whose murder of a female victim has people
sniffing in on them. Those people are Pamela Goodnight and Wayne, who are investigating
the strange death of a woman named Carla who was working for Satanic Films, a
movie studio in Los Angeles who were not hiding their purpose in being an evil satanic
cult. This film, even in mind to The
Devil Inside Her really going for eyebrow raising moments, is arguably the
skuzziest of the lot as, baring a few romantic sex scenes, which involves their
leads shaking their heads in slow mo, this definitely is the one where any
concern for trigger warnings is appropriate, Pamela Goodnight probably as put
upon as anyone can get in terms of a secret sexual satanic cult. Even in mind
that, with legitimate suspicion on my behalf from all the cutaways, that faked
fluids were used to be polite about it for scenes, this does become even
sleazier the further along it goes, barely over an hour for a film reduced to
fifteen minutes or so without the scene. It manages to have a scene that is
problematic and twisted in capitals when someone is unconscious for the sex
scene, and the perpetrator is thinking of an eleven year old girl, which is
gross as that sounds in mind to how slapdash it also is, especially as said
scene is also pointless for plot reasons to ever have. The version in Smut Without Smut form is more
ridiculous for what it is, emphasis the non-sex scenes as being an ultra low
budget genre film with the lack of these off putting edges to deal with, like
one’s sex partner to one’s horror turning into a skeleton mid way through. If
you could not get the tone, that these films are incompetent for the most part
with actors just earnestly going through them, it is completely understandable
why those here would still be uncomfortable to experience. This is also in mind
that Satan’s Lust does have its own ridiculous moments which could only be
laughed at, the most inappropriate use of Yellow
Submarine by the Beatles, as an
instrumental piece, finding itself here of all places the most obvious example
of this.
Out of all the
films, whilst with some of the most shocking content, The Devil Inside Her is the most ambitious of the trio as well,
trying to be an actual film with a knowing transgressive streak at its heart.
Set in 1826, a normal puritan farming family is undercut by the fact that,
among the two daughters, one is romantically attracted to a young man, whilst
the other is jealous of this. The father neither helps, as even kissing in
broad daylight is enough for him to call one of these daughters a “harlot” and
punish her with naked whipping, but the pleas of both sisters invokes Satan to
appear, as depicted with KISS makeup, spike leather neck and wrist pieces, and
the horn. Obviously this is again a film where its attitude to sex has dated
extremely, but it is one that feels deliberately transgressive rather than
being sordid; even if Satan is depicted nude barring boots, using a backwards
talking masturbation ritual to turn into the love interest for both women,
there is a clear knowing sense of provocation here not just from the film’s
clear low views of this form of Christianity it depicts, even having Satan
having the last words with God in the finale that, as long as people are
sexually frustrated and he is the first on call, he will always get to the
mortals first. Tellingly, its director Zebedy
Colt has a compelling history which likely explains this, in that this was
someone who clearly was bringing a lot of provocation to the production
knowingly; birth name Edward Earle Marsh,
he had two parallel careers, a musical and acting career including in several
small Broadway roles, with his homosexuality something which he explicitly
showed in music about romance and love between men, contrast with his directing
and acting roles in hardcore porn, including having of all people a young Spalding Gray, famous for his acting and
monologue work among other things, in a role in Farmer's Daughters (1976)1.
With Satan able
to shape shift, this is where the film gets more over the top and memorable. The
film certainly has an imagination – where as the jealous sister goes to a witch
for a love potion, we bear witness to some vivid dialogue such as the concoction
using “the menstrual fluid of a Persian harlot” and Nicodemus the parrot who
transforms into a human being, needing to be "milked" to finish the
love potion. There is still a lot here which would be considered shocking for
people, playing to how Satan disguises himself as members of this family, brining
in some shocking concepts such as incest but two really out-there moments, one
more acceptable in certain areas of erotica, a golden shower, which takes place
at the Satanic orgy in the finale between consenting Satanists, but the other
involving consensual use of vegetables which is quite a surprise. This in the Satanic Nite Orgy loses all of this,
but also a lot of the tone, where this film which may be still indefensible for
its content and tone still possesses a lot more in its tiny budget in terms of
tone. It is telling that, even if it goes for the happy ending where the
religious win, clearly horny Satanists were the ones we were supposed to be
cheering.
The actual Smut Without Smut cut is a fascinating
and fun ride to witness, but honestly, it can be argued to be a failure. There
will be films people would prefer to have cut down into non-hardcore films to
be able to enjoy their cheesy natures, and these versions will be easier to
screen at cinema presentations, and more power to those both, but it really
gets into the difficulty with what one does with hardcore adult cinema as a
concept. There is still taboo some have with the concept of these films, let
alone if they have any artistic merit, contrasted by the dichotomy of how one
of their trademarks, emphasis on lengthy explicit depiction of the sexual act,
is not something that is meant to be experienced for many as an actual film,
rather than for titillation, but also is how their stories are structured
around them if they have actual stories, making it insanely difficult to not
undercut the tone and mood by splicing out the sex. Softcore cuts of these
films are still made, which is telling in terms of the market for them, but Satanic Horror Nite also emphasizes the
practical issues here that, wishing to re-edit these films for consumption,
what this is just is censored cuts in a compilation, with not anything which
could have emphasized the disjointed results on purpose and had for fun, such
as more Satanic porn film trailers or jokes based on old advertising for
drive-ins. I admire AGFA still
releasing this, but it is telling that, not films to just jump into as they
could be deeply off-putting for their content, the uncut versions are far more
fascinating for what strange and sordid productions they are, one in The Devil Inside Her managing to be
compelling for its clearly artistic goals among also being porn.
====
1) The Many Sides of
Zebedy Colt from Queer Music Heritage. This is NSFW for some of the
archive materials included in the page about Zebedy Colt's life.