xREL.v3

8bit lookalike blocky lineart
Terminal font size 6
Made with notepad
dZ!<iND>
01/08/03

RELEASE NAME         : The.Gruesome.Twosome.1967.DVDRIP.XviD-SiCK
IMDB                : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061733/
VIDEO FORMAT        : XVID, ~1240 br (23.98 fps)
ASPECT RATIO        : FS (576x432)
AUDIO FORMAT        : ~96 VBR Mono (2 audio streams)
LANGUAGE(S)        : English
SUB(S)
FILES                : 1XCD
COMMENT LINE        : The most barbaric humor since the guillotine went
out of style!

The 2nd audio stream is the director's commentary by H.G. Lewis.
"The Gruesome Twosome" has a simple plot. Old Mrs Pringle (Elizabeth Davies)
lives in a lovely little house just outside a Miami University Campus and
runs a high quality wig shop from within it. Her son, Rodney (Chris Martell),
who's a little simple in the head, helps her out. His speciality is procuring
the real human hair that goes into making these wonderful wigs. Unfortunately
for the local students, this involves the brutal killing and scalping of
every beautiful young girl who is lured into the house under the pretense of
finding a room to rent. But hey, don't blame Rodney, it's not his fault -
he's a child trapped in a man's body and his domineering Mother dearest
(accompanied at all times by her stuffed bobcat, Napoleon) continually
threatens him with the prospect of being sent to "the place where bad boys
go" if he doesn't carry out her murderous desires.

Sounds from that like it could be one of a million naff exploitation movies
churned out by the late 60's but this one has the distinction of being directed
by the undisputed king of the genre, Herschell Gordon Lewis. As a result the
film is loaded with the same kind of screwball, absurdist humour as found in
his "She Devils On Wheels" opus (shot virtually back to back with this'un),
mixed in with the trademarked ultraviolence of his earlier splatterfests.
Hilariously, as revealed in the commentary on the recent DVD release of this,
much of the humour was derived unintentionally from the fact that they shot far
too little footage on the set and were forced to pad out the 75 minute running
time with lingering scenes of very bizarre activity that was never in the
original script. For example, the film opens with a camp 7 minute conversation
between two wig blocks painted to look like garish pink Mr Potato Heads. We also
have an outlandish, almost dadaist "film within a film" sequence at the Drive-In
in which a young female tries to seduce a gluttonous Ray Sagar ("The Wizard Of
Gore") who is more concerned with squashing peaches and stuffing his face with
potato chips than he is with her wily charms. However, even discounting the
unintentional comedy resulting from the timing mix-ups, Lewis still manages to
cram in plenty of deliberate gags from his cast of kooky, colourful characters.
We have a quirky heroine, Cathy Baker (played by the delicious model/actress
Gretchen Welles), who is an overzealous and fairly inept Nancy Drew type
attending the local university and is forever trying and failing to solve
mini-mysteries, such as the whereabouts of her friend's pet parrot (she
believes they ate it the previous day in a pot pie!). We have a creepy
caretaker on campus who happens to be a bone smuggler (!) when he leaves work.
We have extended scenes of pseudo-go-go dancing from the female students
(including one where they all bop around waving legs of Kentucky Fried Chicken,
as part of a product placement agreement Lewis scored with the fast food chain
who, in turn, fed the entire cast and crew!). To cap it all off, we're even
treated to a bikini beach party scene *AND* a stock car demolition derby!
Anyone seeking prime 60's trash will be in Heaven here!

But it's not all fruitcake comedy. Gorefiends will delight in the extended
sequences of scalpings, decapitations, disembowellings and eyeball gougings,
shot in squishy, sickening close-up and rich with Lewis' beloved "red glop".
It's strange that even over 30 years on from the Godfather Of Gore's heyday,
no one has, in my mind, been able to out-gross him on the slippery viscera
scale. The violence in "The Gruesome Twosome" is as stomach-wrenching today
as it was in 1967.

Whilst not as seminal as "Blood Feast", as shocking as "2000 Maniacs" nor as
trashy as "She Devils On Wheels", "The Gruesome Twosome" is nonetheless
probably Lewis' weirdest finished product and, as a result, an essential
part of his oeuvre. It's obvious from the DVD commentary that he still views
the film with great affection and you should too. It's a gem.

SiCK activities are based on cheap lager, having fun and friendship.
SiCK does not have members,suppliers or such, we tend to call them friends.
SiCK will ignore all bitching on our releases, dont like it, just ignore it.
SiCK let rippers choose what to rip. Only Disney and childporn are banned.
SiCK does not limit rippers to TDX or SVCDC or such, use your own brain.
SiCK rippers need to : get it, rip it, check it, pack it, nfo it and up it.
SiCK rippers are trusted and that means responsibility, fuck up and get shot.
SiCK affils are free to deny any release format from being pred on a site.
SiCK affils are free to deny any release genre from being pred on a site.

Dont like these rules ? Fuck them. Make up your own, it's YOU doing it.