For fans of HG Lewis, Vinegar Syndrome’s newest DVD/BD release of three of his rare films is one of the most interesting jewels in the collection of folks who fancy themselves Lewis fanatics. While the trio of films do not feature the gonzo and hysterical anarchy and grue Lewis mastered and transformed in to artistic expression, the trio of films do have marks from director Lewis who adds his own sense of lunacy on occasion, while worshipping the female form in the process.
Ecstasies of Women from 1969 has a real fancy free Russ Meyer vibe to it, and is a sixties sex comedy in every sense of the word. Lewis opens the film on a strip club where busty naked dancers bounce around on stage, with one of the dancers familiarizing herself with a group of male drinkers enjoying the show.
When Harry, a traveling lingerie salesman ponders sex with one of the strippers, he thinks back to his exploits with various women. “Ecstacies of Women” is a fun and silly little sex film that shows Harry meeting various gorgeous women, sauntering around with them, and eventually having some good old fashioned sex with them. The film is very resonant with sixties pop and funk and comes across like a pornographic Rock Hudson romance more times than not. Linda and Abilene from 1969 is an erotic western about two incestuous lovers in the old West whom find one another and end up falling in love. And getting naked and having sex for most of the time they’re on screen. Abilene and Tod inherit their family’s farm when they’re left alone to tend to the property. When the gorgeous Abilene is discovered skinny dipping by Tod, the brother and sister form a scandalous sexual relationship that’s chronicled in the short duration of the film.
When Tod seeks escape from the potentially harmful affair, Tod and Abilene find their own paths in life, the latter ends in violence. Tod comes back to seek revenge for his sister, and Lewis basically frames the film in the essence of a basic erotic novella, where in spite of the second half of the film becoming a low budget revenge western, is still just a love story between a brother and a sister that devolved in to sex and love making. Lewis leaves nothing to the imagination and often depicts Abilene and Tod thinking to themselves about one another and how they could initiate sex and what making love must feel like. It’s quite disturbing, but typical for a late sixties flesh flick of this ilk.
Black Love from 1971 is directed by Lewis under the pseudonym of R.L. Smith. The film dismisses any notions that it’s an erotic film, but instead purports to be an unflinching and merciless depiction of love making between African Americans and what they do during love making. Like many films, it’s pure exploitation posturing as something deeper and more complex. With Lewis denying his involvement with the film over the years, “Black Love” is merely just a series of hardcore sex scenes between Blacks and how they bond with one another sexually. There’s frequent shots of penetration, and much erotic music with overbearing narration as if to relinquish this idea we’re just watching Black hardcore porn.
No it’s not hardcore porn, it’s a sociological study on Black sex. Okay, I can buy that, I guess. There’s even a scene where two black individuals are having sex outdoors only for a young black man to walk in on their love making and watching as the narrator drones on “He sees the black woman’s vagina open like a hollow chamber!” This is a lot of goofy sex and nonsense, but one that completionists will enjoy if only for Lewis’ attempts to distance himself from being involved with this blatant hardcore film. I’m not sure why a kid would watch their parents have sex, black skinned, white skinned, or green skinned. “The Lost Films of Herschell Gordon Lewis” comes with a booklet featuring an essay about Lewis’ past and famous work, as well as Lab Cards for each of the films for collector’s to ogle for hours. The three films featured are mainly erotic skin flicks for the folks who enjoy this sub-genre, so anyone expecting hacked limbs or mutilations will be very disappointed.