WILDCAT
WOMEN (1975)Director: Stephen Gibson
Pathfinder
WILDCAT
WOMEN (1975)From the director of the abysmal
M 3-D comes BLACK LOLITA, a hardcore blaxploitation 3-D porno flick released
in a softcore version under the title WILDCAT WOMEN, the film preserved here.
Yolanda Love (Miss Black Galaxy, if you can believe that) is Lolita, a pretty awful lounge singer whose uncle is gunned down by an Asian gangster called the Buddha, with David Cassidy hair and a sadistic streak. The Buddha not only runs drugs and muscles in on local store owners, but apparently runs a prostitution ring and one of his henchmen knifes Karen, a hooker who tries to keep some cash from the Big Man. Karen's best friend Paula (sexploitation favorite Sandi Carey) and their health nut neighbor Robbie (pixie-like blonde Suzi Adams, the lesbian Liberation Army member in Harry Novak's TANYA) entice Lolita into taking on Buddha's gang, but they underestimate the body count that will result.
BLACK
LOLITA plays as a blaxploitation film with porno inserts created after the fact
to make more money. WILDCAT WOMEN is an even more bizarre edit, including the
porno inserts without penetration. If you want ludicrous dialogue, hilarious
gunfights and car chases, and random sex scenes thrown in for good measure,
this flick is for you. Yolanda Love only made this one film, and I've never
heard of Miss Black Galaxy, so she seems a one-shot wonder. She's no Pam Grier,
not even a Jeanne Bell or a Carol Speed, which is probably why her career ended
here. Her lounge tunes are AWFUL! Sandi Carey needs no introduction. Like her
fellow "Sandy," Sandy Dempsey, Carey floated from softcore to hardcore
with ease and was always a lovely vision in her films. She even made appearances
in films like I SPIT ON YOUR CORPSE and THE NAUGHTY STEWARDESSES, considerably
more mainstream than her usual fare. Serena has a bit appearance as a delivery
girl for the Buddha who has sex with a frizzy-haired bespectacled scientist
(played by William Margold); her scene was indefinitely hardcore, but is sliced
down to a softcore cameo here. The box says there is a Playboy Playmate
named Susan Ayers in the film, but there was no Playmate by that name and I
can't imagine it's another Sandi Carey pseudonym, so it remains a mystery. There's
lots of violence, and most of it delivers well in 3-D: a black store owner is
pushed through a glass window (repeated thrice) and shot 
multiple
times as he spurts up blood; Lolita kicks the shit out of a biker gang trying
to rape her (REALLY good 3-D effects here!); during a car chase, the bad guys
sideswipe an old black woman and back over here again to ensure no witnesses
(!); poor little Robbie is spread-eagled, beaten, burnt with cigarettes, and
has her wrists slit; and the shoot-out finale at a deserted amusement park must
be seen to be believed! It ranks up there with TRUCK TURNER as the best eye-popping
action sequence of a blaxploitation film I've ever seen! Bloody squibs exaggerate
gunshot wounds, plenty of gunfire and girls being blown away, and Sandi Carey
delivers the final blow, after disappearing from the film for an eternity! The
film ends on a silly note, with a montage of all the sex scenes from the film
before a pink title card pops up to let you know it's over. The 3-D effects
on this disc are better represented than on M 3-D/THE PLAYMATES, with some sequences
(a 2x4 during a fight, pouring garbage onto the camera, throwing a vase into
the audience) really adding some kick to the proceedings. It's not exploitation
gold, but WILDCAT WOMEN is a great example of ultra low-budget drive-in flicks
delivering the goods in one way or another.
As
with the M 3-D/PLAYMATES double feature disc, Pathfinder presents the film in
a red-and-green 3-D presentation that is more successful in the delivery than
the previous DVD but is still not a definitive presentation of the format. I
recommend watching the film sans glasses for the most part; some sequences even
seem to have been shot in 2-D (due to budget constraints perhaps?). The mono
audio highlights the awesome library music score, with a fantastic soul tune
grooving during the opening credits and a familiar piece heard over the outtakes
on the BASKET CASE DVD.
The meager extras include a widescreen trailer for WILDCAT WOMEN (with some graphic lovemaking not included in the final softcore edit), which is quite entertaining (the film is presented full frame). A stills gallery gathers production stills and a few posters. Nothing too impressive.
If you can find this disc cheap, I would recommend picking up WILDCAT WOMEN for some cheap thrills. The flick is an entertaining excursion for cult film fanatics (newcomers will not be impressed), but if the DVD provided a better presentation I would feel stronger about it. Proceed with caution. (Casey Scott)