Poor Pretty Eddie (1975) review

POOR PRETTY EDDIE 1975 aka HEARTBREAK MOTEL aka BLACK VENGEANCE aka REDNECK COUNTY

Leslie Uggams (Liz Wetherly), Shelley Winters (Bertha), Michael Christian (Eddie Collins), Ted Cassidy (Keno), Slim Pickens (Sheriff Orville), Dub Taylor (Floyd)

Directed by Richard Robinson

The Short Version: Rarely seen Hixploitation hidden gem is one of the sleaziest of its kind that's almost bereft of gore, but goes the extra mile with its deplorable characters, incredibly uncouth dialog and racial connotations. What really makes this Southern Fried obscurity rise above the muck are its performances, brilliant cinematography and ingenious avant garde approach that adds an air of respectability to its array of perversity.

***WARNING! This review contains language of a sensitive nature***

"You and me, we're tied together now. Once we man and wife, you gon' be decent again. You'll feel a whole lot betta' 'bout thangs...even me! You gon' do what I say...you unda'stand? What's yours is gon' be mine and what's mine is gon' be yours. That's the only way you gon' leave here...unda'stand that?"

Liz Wetherly, a famous singer, takes to the road on vacation till her car breaks down in an isolated, rural Georgia location. Looking for help, Liz ends up at Bertha's Oasis, an out of the way motel populated by several bizarre characters including the owner, Bertha and her country crooning, Elvis impersonating lover, Eddie Collins. Desiring only to fix her car and continue with her vacation, Liz is not allowed to leave and suffers rape and humiliation not only at the hands of the depraved Eddie, but also the equally deranged townsfolk.


The 1970s was populated by hundreds of exploitation movies many garnering notoriety because of their violent subject matter and even more obscurities that were as good, or better than some of those that became staples of the decade. POOR PRETTY EDDIE is an Hixploitation conundrum among the plethora of backwoods sleaze epics. It's spotty release history (shot in 1973 and released in 1975), innate quirkiness, unusually artistic flourishes and a collection of kooky characters make it a shining example of 70s scummy cinema.

"Bertha, I don't want no goddamn vulgar talkin' in here."

Aside from some massive blood squibs, there's very little gore, but where this film excels is in its local flavor and locales that expertly capture the seedy boondocks setting. Rarely had a Southern Fried sleaze flick embraced such a seethingly believable aura of frightening isolation and entrapment as is seen here. While they were both filming in 1973, the insanity of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (1974) is clearly in evidence only where that film had three crazy brothers, the whole damn town in POOR PRETTY EDDIE (1975) are demented, employing the most disturbing form of 'Southern Hospitality'.


The drive in style of Southern Gothic hadn't been cemented yet by the runaway success of MACON COUNTY LINE (1974). Despite garnering a release two years after its completion, POOR PRETTY EDDIE pioneered the 'Danger In Dixie' aesthetic as well as expounding on the crumbling family unit personified in Hooper's TCM, which could also be traced back as early as Jack Hill's SPIDER BABY (1964). While both SPIDER BABY and Hooper's film featured a small family unit that stayed and slayed together, POOR PRETTY EDDIE features an entire hamlet that is seemingly unhinged living on the fringes of civilization. Virtually no one behaves in a normal fashion. The closest to normalcy is Bertha and the towering Keno. Everyone else entertains the "finer side" of sociopathy. The character of Liz, while not the most friendliest "stranger in a strange land", attempts to keep the inmates running "the asylum" from breaking her. She's largely successful till the end. The scripting conceit of an outsider lost, or trapped in an unknown and or desolate setting is a prolific and powerfully primal concept that has come back in vogue in a big way and not only in American cinema, but many foreign pictures as well.

"That little ol' high yeller, she could hardly take her eyes off a' you! It sure would be a shame to let that little thang go to bed all by herself..."

Robinson's film is thoroughly unsettling and overly gratuitous even though there's no major gore sequences nor any nudity outside of several cut out photos of busty centerfold models. The characters, the situations and the dialog immerse the viewer into the backwoods hellhole Liz inadvertently finds herself in. It achieves a similar atmosphere that makes TEXAS CHAINSAW so memorable and this extends to both the cinematography and the editing, the latter of which is guilty of creating some of the more queasily offensive moments in the picture. One such scene is the rape scene. Alternating between normal speed and slow motion, the rape is intercut with an incredibly bizarro scene of two dogs mating surrounded by a number of creepy rednecks looking on as a country tune 'You Won't Have To Say You Love Me In the Mornin' plays on the soundtrack. It's one of the most gasp worthy moments in this movie.

"I aint got nothin' against niggers, it's them goddamn Yankees they just like hemorrhoids! If they come down and go back that's alright. But if they come down and stay down they a pain in the ass!"

It's difficult to watch a movie like this and not encounter racism in its most primitive form. The 'N' word is uttered twice here and Liz is referred to as "High Yeller" on a few occasions. The aura of racism may be ambiguous at times, but it permeates the picture relentlessly. One of the most dangerously racist moments occurs towards the end when Liz is in "court" after accusing the lunatic Eddie of raping her twice. The "hearing" takes place in what looks like a Bingo Hall surrounded by chicken pickin' banjo players and horny onlookers including both the sheriff and the warped Justice of the Peace. Liz is forced to strip so the "jury" can see the "suck marks on her titties". Liz is conveniently placed in the middle of the frame while both an American flag and a Confederate flag are positioned behind her one on each side. The seemingly neverending enmity between the North and South also rears its ugly head here. It's one of the most uncomfortable moments in the entire movie almost assuming the guise of an Antebellum Era slave auction with Liz as the "meat" on sale and a roomful of slobbering, soulless lunatics giddily awaiting to feel up the "prize".

"Well come on, now, that's rabbit stew! I mean I caught a cotton tail last night just runnin' along in the woods and then WAM! Fresh bunny...just for you!"

To call POOR PRETTY EDDIE perverse is an apt description for the overall tone of this production. As the film goes deeper and deeper into its disturbing little world, the extreme nature of the script becomes more omnipresent. Among some of the other depraved delights include Liz being forced to give oral sex to a traveling salesman who promises to help her escape only to have Eddie hiding in the backseat culminating in him beating her with a belt for attempting to get away; a TEXAS CHAINSAW worthy shock moment when the cast discovers what's really for breakfast, and a bloody downer ending wherein Liz is being forced to marry Eddie in what ends up being some kind of homage to Peckinpah.

"Does it make you feel hot to sit where her ass has been, huh?"

This unique film, like so many less than tasteful 70s drive-in fare, contains a surprising stock of well known faces and accomplished performers. Lead actress, Leslie Uggams was a Tony Award winning singer who also dabbled in acting. She's quite good here as the somewhat cold, not altogether friendly Liz Wetherly. She's a strong character and considering the time the film was made, is far more realistic than the more familiar, larger than life Pam Grier type tough girl persona that was popular at the time. Ted Cassidy, Lurch from THE ADDAMS FAMILY essays a similar role here as Keno, the caretaker of a deranged "family" not all that dissimilar from the Addams household.

"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?! 'I don't need a drink, lady'."

Multi award winning actress Shelley Winters was just coming off of an Oscar nomination for her role in THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (1972). Around this time, it wasn't unusual to see this big Hollywood star appearing in low budget drive in movies. Winters is, like everyone else in the cast, memorable as Bertha and is the least loony of the rest of the cast. Bertha is an aging starlet who finds solace in both a bottle and Eddie's arms. With her much younger lover having lustful eyes for Liz, this pushes big Bertha further into alcoholism and leads to some shining moments for Winters to flex her range.

"Would ya' like to suck on a tomato?"

Slim Pickens is hilarious as the slimy sheriff Orville. His dialog, along with that of jovial character actor Dub Taylor entail some of the more memorable moments throughout this muddy, porcine populated production. Pickens is a major highlight during the scene wherein Liz is taken down to the police station to report her being raped twice at the hands of Eddie. Orville's line of questioning is offensive and the entire time he's asking, instead of writing down Liz's responses, he's drawing crude pictures of various sexual positions!


POOR PRETTY EDDIE finally making its way to legit DVD in a restored version, but as good as this restoration is, there's a few spots where damage has resulted in some missing frames including the films title! The 'in POOR PRETTY EDDIE' moniker appears right after Slim Pickens credit, but on the new DVD, it skips immediately to the screenplay credit. Speaking of the opening credits, a particular atmosphere is captured as we see the passing of the early morning hours. David Worth's photography oozes Gothic resembling something Hammer might have shot had they ever filmed in deepest, darkest Alabama.


The editing by Frank Mazzola is also infectious and incredibly experimental for a film of this nature. A multitude of dissolves, slow motion and bizarre inter-cutting techniques combine with Worth's worthwhile cinematography to fashion a surreal experience for such a sleazy endeavor. The unsettling sound design is also commendable affording an additional layer of unease. The music from Grant Boatwright is also key to the creaky, eerie aura that looms heavily over 'Bertha's Oasis' and the surrounding locales. Twangy Country and chicken pickin' tunes imbue an even deeper local flavor. All these elements add so much realism, you'd swear the likes of Winters, Cassidy, Pickins and Taylor really lived in this far flung forest encroached land that time forgot.


Unjustly neglected since its original theatrical release (and numerous re-releases), this curious oddity has survived on the bootleg market amidst a circle of loyal fans for years. The film was recently saved from the bowels of obscurity and restored even managing a showing on Turner Classic Movies as part of their Turner Underground late night series. The DVD/Blu Ray combo release from earlier in the year is cause for celebration for hardcore fans of 70s exploitation cinema and those seeking something well off the beaten path. Among the extras is an insightful, completely thorough 21 page essay from Chris Poggiali from the essential blog, The Temple of Schlock that covers the entire production from gestation to release. Arguably the most surreal exponent of the Hixploitation sub genre, POOR PRETTY EDDIE deserves rediscovery and holds its own alongside other more well known Southern Gothic's and Deep South hixploitation pictures. If you enjoyed vacationing at MACON COUNTY LINE (1974), then staying at 'Bertha's Oasis' yields a similar experience.

This review is representative of the CULTRA/HD Cinema Classics DVD/Blu Ray combo

Ebola Syndrome (1996) review

EBOLA SYNDROME 1996

Anthony Wong (Kai San), Angel Wong (Lily Chow), Lo Mang (Boss Kei), Vincent Wan (Sgt. Yeung Guo Lap), Marianne Chan (Ha), Shing Fu On (Boss Kwan)

Directed by Herman Yau

The Short Version: Disgusting and extremely offensive HK Cate-gory III nuttiness goes overboard with its gruesome subject matter mixing a filthy, wholly unlikable slob cum mass murderer with the deadly body dissolving disease that is the Ebola Virus of Africa. A veritable checklist of gore and unsavory torture is trotted out in this wonderfully revolting, blackly comical Hong Kong horror film starring the islands resident cinema psycho, Anthony Wong. Quite possibly the ultimate vomit, bile and viscous fluid spewing movie champion. Recommended for those with strong stomachs and those not easily offended.

***WARNING! This review contains images of nudity and graphic violence***


After being caught having sex with his boss's wife, Kai San massacres them all and escapes Hong Kong. Ten years later, Kai is working at a restaurant in Johannesburg South Africa. Lily Chow, the little girl who survived the massacre is now a stewardess and senses the savage man is nearby upon meeting some friends in a local restaurant. Later, Kai and his boss journey to an out of the way African village beset by the Ebola virus to buy some inexpensive pork meat. After purchasing their pigs, Kai rapes a local African woman and contracts the deadly disease. Becoming one of a rare few who become carriers, Kai snaps embarking on a mass murder spree that includes raping, killing and dismembering his boss and his wife and serving them as hamburgers to patrons passing the Ebola virus to the numerous customers. Kai soon returns to Hong Kong where he continues to spread the deadly contagion.


This uncompromisingly tasteless Hong Kong production from Herman Yau is one of the most hilariously repugnant films ever regurgitated onto a viewing audience. Depending on ones personality, EBOLA SYNDROME will either thoroughly disgust you, or evoke guffaws of utter astonishment at the sheer audacity of what transpires onscreen. Released a year prior to the exchange of Hong Kong back to China, it's as if the filmmakers were giving the middle finger to the imminent takeover in what amounts to a gore and bodily fluid saturated version of Wolfgang Petersen's OUTBREAK from 1995. Something of a 'Greatest Hits' package of the most sadistic and vile acts ever devised for a motion picture, Yau's movie is so gleefully over the top, it fluctuates between the most sordid of American exploitation and the equivalent of a live action and 'X' rated Warner Bros. cartoon.


For EBOLA SYNDROME, Director Yau attempts making a social statement, but any underlying themes are lost among the catalog of carnage and outrageous mayhem. To make a comparison, Yau is the closest to a Kuei Chi Hung modern HK cinema has seen in relation to capturing a gritty atmosphere populated by the most unsavory of characters. In the 1970s, Kuei directed several modern day HK horror-crime thrillers that did something EBOLA SYNDROME doesn't fully accomplish and that's successfully capture the squalor of the poor and the pestilent underbelly of drug addicts and prostitution rings while delivering a high quotient of exploitational delights. Yau's film touches on these subjects, but focuses far more on the sleazy aspects for maximum shock value.


Yau had already been well known for his notorious work on the trendsetting HK pseudo comical sleaze of the absolutely nasty THE UNTOLD STORY (1993) and his work here retains that films major plot device as well as its manic star, Anthony Wong. Yau also directed THE UNTOLD STORY 3 in 1999. He also hearkened back to the glorious days of the Shaw Brothers Malay lensed BLACK MAGIC series with GONG TAU (BLACK MAGIC) in 2007. Some of Yau's work is extremely dire such as the ridiculous, low level CGI shit wagon, THE LETHAL NINJA from 2006.


Anthony Wong owns the film and as morally corrupt and disgusting as his character is, you miss his presence when he isn't within camera range. Everything from his mannerisms to his dialog borders on slapstick of the revolting kind. The level of oozingly black, tar like humor reaches its zenith once Kai begins taking bites out of himself running around the city spitting blood on everyone he comes across while frantically yelling "Ebola! Ebola!" Kai is the very embodiment of the modern neanderthal and the script occasionally slips in a moment or two that reminds us that we should sympathize with this social outcast. Scenes of him spitting in someone's tea, or the sight of him carving a slit in a piece of pork to slide his penis into while listening to his boss fuck his wife "enhance" Kai's "colorful" personality. His throwback status is assured when he serves said piece of semen saturated meat to a customer thereby erasing whatever audience connection might have existed tossing Kai straight back to the stone age where he belongs.


It's difficult to imagine anyone else but Wong in this role. It's doubtful if even Simon Yam, highly proficient in essaying big screen psycho's himself could have brought the same level of rancid dishevelment Wong brings to the table. Wong is so cartoonishly believable here you can almost smell the sweaty funk emanating off of his sloppy, unkempt appearance. Even when he's dressed up, a stink of viscous putrescence is in the air.

Before....

In nearly every scene of his, Kai is either spitting, snorting, making bizarre facial expressions or grabbing himself. He is perpetually horny and in one of the more tasteless scenes, he rapes a sick African woman and as he reaches orgasm, the Ebola infected woman begins convulsing prior to erupting her own white, milky vomit all over Kai. The madman then repeatedly smashes the woman's cranium with a rock. Anthony Wong made a name for himself playing slimy villains in such films as HARD BOILED (1992), THE UNTOLD STORY (1993) and TAXI HUNTER (1993). EBOLA SYNDROME is all of Wong's oppressed "errand boys" and maniacs all rolled up into one.

.....and after. Notice the squashed head. Kai enjoys mashed noggins. The sound effects are bone crunchingly loud and suitably nasty, too.

Insert image is a cut shot from the film

Considering the ADD level of tonal shift in dozens of HK movies throughout the 90s, EBOLA SYNDROME never attempts to be serious, nor does it go from a drama to a horror picture to a comedy and back again--it remains sickeningly chucklesome from start to finish. Even during its most depraved moments, Wong's onscreen antics are so abhorrently over the top, genre fans can't help but shake their heads in amusement, or disbelief. During its 98 minute running time you'll see Kai indulge in, among other things--rape, torture, dismemberment, cutting out a tongue, murdering children, sucking out an eyeball, serving human meat to unsuspecting customers (in an homage to THE UNTOLD STORY), all around uncouth behavior and a predilection for squashing heads into a bloody pulp.


At its blackly comical core, EBOLA SYNDROME is the flip side of Yau's earlier TAXI HUNTER (1993). In that film, Anthony Wong portrayed an embittered man who lost his pregnant wife to an insensitive taxi driver (reportedly a problem in HK at that time) resulting in his murderous assault on HK cabbies. His character of Kai on the other hand, is a mental midget and societal castaway to be used, abused, chewed up and spit back out again. The wild butchering of his boss, his promiscuous wife and a co-worker at the beginning spells out that Kai is most definitely unstable. This goes further when he takes his now dead boss's little girl, douses her with gasoline and prepares to set her ablaze. A neighbor enters and asks what's going on to which Kai proclaims--"I'm killing them! What's wrong?!" The little girl grows up traumatized by the incident and becomes the films sub plot that, while cropping up intermittently, goes largely unexplored.


Going back to Wong's character, Kai seems to return to "normal"--to a child like state so long as he isn't being threatened, bullied or severely insulted. Towards the end of the movie, he goes completely batshit crazy in one of the zaniest finales of any film, period. The coda ventures into "it's not over yet" territory leaving a beacon for a sequel that never arrived and if one had, it's doubtful it would have ever been able to attain the sheer level of caveman creativity of Herman Yau's nutty production.


Fans of Shaw Brothers and Chang Cheh venom era films will grow a smile on their face upon seeing 'The Toad' of the FIVE VENOMS (1978) playing the Johannesburg restauranteur married to a hot tempered and hot bodied wife. Lo Mang also played a supporting role in HARD BOILED (co-starring Anthony Wong as the main heavy [1992]) alongside his former venoms alum, Kuo Chui. Lo is right humorous here as the bespectacled restaurant owner unaware of the ticking time bomb he has employed. Lo speaks English in some scenes and also partakes in a humorous sex scene with Cheung Lau (SEX & ZEN 2). Lo Mang also took a pivotal role in SEX & ZEN 3 from 1998. Recently, Lo can be seen in both IP MAN 2 and GALLANTS (both 2010).

The image above was cut from the finished movie

The HK censors removed approximately 2 minutes of gore and extreme nastiness for its brief theatrical run back in July of 1996. Even missing some of its gruesomeness, EBOLA SYNDROME is still a riotously nauseating experience. Having been released on VCD and DVD multiple times, this truncated footage has never made it back into the finished film. However, the US special edition DVD has all of the cut footage included as an extra. Reportedly, the director himself didn't want the excised grue put back into the film.

Another cut gore shot

Among the many scenes of offensiveness are some shots that are all too real. Those who dislike animal violence will want to skip one scene in an African village where a witch doctor both rips apart and cuts in half several chickens during a ritual for dying victims of the Ebola virus. He proceeds to spit blood on the dying as well as wipe the red fluid across his chest as it escapes the bloody stump. This Golden Harvest production afforded a weeks worth of shooting in South Africa and these location scenes, including numerous shots of the animal life, elevate the production values far more than the average Category III quickie.


If all that weren't enough, an element of racism is blatantly in your face for over half the films running time and reflects the casual mindset Asians have for "outsiders". The music by Mak Chun Hung suits the film perfectly offsetting the wackiness of the extreme violence with some throbbingly doom laden cues and some somewhat tribal echoes that resonate the title disease. While it's one of the most well known and infamous Category III HK movies among fans of oriental cinema, horror fans might have a good time getting some take out with Herman Yau's fast chow that is the insanely offensive EBOLA SYNDROME.

This review is representative of the Discotek DVD