THE
HOOKED GENERATION (1968)/THE PSYCHEDELIC PRIEST
(1971)Director: William Grefe
Something Weird Video/Image Entertainment
THE
HOOKED GENERATION (1968)/THE PSYCHEDELIC PRIEST
(1971)Following the unexpected DVD release of DEATH CURSE OF TARTU and STING OF DEATH on a double feature, Something Weird Video digs back into their William Grefe archives and releases another double feature from this underrated Florida-based director. Combine one passable, dated relic with one obscure gem and you have THE HOOKED GENERATION/THE PSYCHEDELIC PRIEST!
Daisey (Jeremy Slate), Acid (John Davis Chandler), and Dum-Dum (former boxer Willie Pastrano) are three street pushers who aspire to make it big on their own as dealers. Slaughtering their conniving Cuban suppliers and killing Coast Guard members who happen upon the scene, the three moronic potheads find themselves saddled with two eyewitnesses (Steve Alaimo of "Where the Action Is!" and his ditzy girlfriend) whom they abuse and rape (umm...they only rape the girl). Unfortunately, their stash of heroin, cocaine, and pot can't be sold to even the lowest dealers: it's too hot! So they retreat to the Everglades, where they humiliate the Seminole inhabitants and end up in a shoot-out with a swarm of cops!
Believe me, HOOKED GENERATION isn't as exciting as the plot synopsis would leave you to believe. The characters are all so stupid you could care less what happens to anyone, including the musclehead hero. The majority of the film is talk, talk, talk, and not even GOOD talk. "Where the Action Is" is right, the film moves at a snail's pace, except a snail leaves behind residue where it treads. You won't remember much about GENERATION. It's disposable and badly dated.
Many of the actors would continue with Grefe, appearing in THE NAKED ZOO, STANLEY, and WHISKEY MOUNTAIN. John Davis Chandler and Jeremy Slate have had lengthy careers in supporting roles in Hollywood. Chandler even played the lead heavy in ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING!! The film also has its roots in H.G. Lewis films: William Kerwin (BLOOD FEAST) plays a policeman and the musical soundtrack is by Chris Martell and his group The Odyssey (Martell was the incredible Rodney in THE GRUESOME TWOSOME!).
The transfer for HOOKED GENERATION is nothing to cheer about, either. Most of the colors are incredibly dull, the grain is unending, and detail is slim to none. A few scenes look quite nice (the encounter with the fat black drug dealer, Acid stumbling on a hippie house), but the final result is less than pleasing. Likewise for the audio.
With the disappointment of HOOKED GENERATION still lingering, prepare yourself for PSYCHEDELIC PRIEST, a film that has been undeservedly hidden in a vault somewhere for over 30 years! A no-name cast, zero production values, and a marvelous time capsule quality makes this film the star of the disc, and worth more than the price of admission.
Following the opening credits (with the original title of ELECTRIC SHADES OF GREY), meet Father John, a young priest who accidentally drinks a Coke laced with acid. One particularly whacked-out hallucination later, John's dropped the priest habit, goes without shaving for two days, and is driving cross country to get in touch with America and its modern ideals. He picks up a blonde hitchhiker, Sunny, who he bonds with almost immediately. They help a hippie chick give birth, witness a black hippie doctor be killed by a group of rednecks, and eventually part ways when John doesn't take her proclamation of "I love you" the right way. Sunny hitches a ride with another stranger, leaving John to spend the rest of his days searching for her. Needless to say, the film becomes more senselessly tragic before the expected revelatory twist ending.
Grefe shot PSYCHEDELIC PRIEST completely on-the-fly, improvising the script, picking up cast members off the street and throwing them in front of the camera. I can't say the film overcomes its ragged upbringing, but there is something special about this film. The musical soundtrack, by a variety of regional rock bands, is very good, the hand-held cinematography gritty and realistic, and street hippies essentially playing themselves are just some of the elements that make PRIEST such an interesting viewing experience. Even with the soap opera shenanigans in the third reel, Grefe manages to keep the film soaked in signs of the times that have dated with kitschy brilliance.
Surprisingly, for a film that never saw a movie theater or a home video release, PSYCHEDELIC PRIEST's transfer is quite good. There is a lot of grain, to be sure, but there is good detail during many of the key sequences. The audio is an adequate mono.
The extras aren't nearly as overwhelming as other Something Weird discs, but they're still entertaining. No trailers for HOOKED GENERATION (hmmmm) or PSYCHEDELIC PRIEST (obviously), but some interesting previews are included. ACID DREAMS and HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ON A TRIP? have no IMDB entries; ACID is a series of trippy sequences edited together with no rhyme or reason, TRIP looks like a borderline hardcore sex film with a hilarious opening line from an old geezer. HALLUCINATION GENERATION starts off looking like your standard "teens take drugs" expose circa 1966, but the final third of the trailer has some pretty horrific imagery, including a man covered in blood screaming!! Yikes! THE HARD ROAD is the 1970 exploitation film to end all exploitation films. Directed by frequent Al Adamson cinematographer (and future pornographer) Gary Graver, there's high school pregnancy, drugs, sex, prostitution, beatings, and much, much more!! Gotta see this! THE HIPPIE REVOLT is the mediocre hippie documentary which Something Weird released on disc earlier this year. The accompanying Johnny Legend/Eric Caiden commentary is ten times more interesting than the film. MUSICAL MUTINY is another time capsule from Barry Mahon. Iron Butterfly performs onstage in-between a bunch of regional bands from Florida. You wanna know the plot? The trailer's narrator says it best: "Shut up, kid, you're giving me a headache." Something Weird just found a print of this rarity, and based on the trailer, it seems to be a worth a look.
23 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage of THE HOOKED GENERATION is about as interesting as the film: not very. But it's still nice to have and to see how Grefe braved the monstrous Everglades swamps to film his vision. An extra not advertised on the packaging or anywhere else, for that matter, is a short promotional featurette for Grefe's MAKO: JAWS OF DEATH starring Richard Jaeckel and Jennifer Bishop (THE FEMALE BUNCH). The trailer accents the amazing stunts performed with the sharks and the many attack sequences; who wouldn't want to see this movie?! The requisite gallery of exploitation art delivers the goods, with familiar radio spots over the brand-spanking-new posters.
William Grefe provides two audio commentaries, moderated by Frank Henenlotter. Frankly, neither commentary is near as interesting as his previous two for TARTU/STING, but he does discuss his relationship with Allied Artists in distributing one of his films, the penny-pinching shooting methods on PRIEST, and generally doesn't run out of things to say. Whether the stories are all that illuminating is up to the individual listener.
It's no TARTU/STING, but GENERATION/PRIEST is still worth a purchase. Like the recent MONSTER A GO GO/PSYCHED BY THE 4-D WITCH double feature, the second film on the bill is most definitely worth the price of the disc, and any chance to witness guerilla filmmaking in the swamps of Florida is one you should take. (Casey Scott)