THE
WILD WORLD OF BATWOMAN (1966)Director: Jerry Warren
Rhino
THE
WILD WORLD OF BATWOMAN (1966)I must preface this review in stating that it pertains only to the "uncut" version of the film presented on this "Mystery Science Theater 3000" DVD from Rhino. I've never been a big fan of MST and always prefer watching bad movies and judging them for myself. In the same breath, I must say that if it were not for MST, most of these chestnuts probably wouldn't see the light of day on DVD!!
The film itself is the epitome of bad moviemaking all the way around! Other than the unintentional humor, this film has nothing going for it: bad writing, poor editing, terrible costumes, high school dramatics, stock footage, and nonexistent special effects! The story itself is a bit convoluted to say the least. I'll do my best to condense it.
The Protagonists:
Batwoman (Katherine Victor) is evidently some type of "superhero."
Her costume consists of a party mask, black feathers in her hair, a black teddy,
long black gloves, dark hose, and high heels. Her most distinguishing feature
is a bat tattooed above her breasts! In addition, she cannot act (surprise!).
Batwoman has a bevy of "bat girls," who assist her in fighting crime
when they're not having fun with boys. The bat girls are almost always clad
only in bikinis.
The Bad Guys:
Rat Fink has apparently tangled with Batwoman many times in the past. His assistants
include Dr. Neon who has to be the most useless "mad scientist" in
all of moviedom. Dr. Neon, in turn, has a hunchbacked idiot assistant named
"Heathcliff"(I kid you not!). Rat Fink lives in a cave somewhere off
the coast and communicates with his thugs via large viewscreen. For no specific
reason given in the photoplay, Dr. Neon created some "monsters" that
also live in the cave with Rat Fink. He keeps referring to them in the story,
and on at least one occasion, we are treated to stock footage of THE MOLE PEOPLE
to give them a face. They otherwise have no reference to the "plot"
of the film and are one of many examples of idiotic loose threads in the storyline!
The "Plot"
Rat Fink steals a hearing aid that when combined with "Cobalt 52"
will result in a nuclear explosion. The hearing aid inventor contacts Batwoman
to help him recover said item. Along the way there are many perils for Batwoman
and the bat girls as they repeatedly have to face off against Dr. Neon's "Happy
Pills," which when ingested make you want to go-go dance! Finally, we are
treated to a heart pounding climax in Rat Fink's cave where the hearing aid
is recovered just in the nick of time!!
There is really MUCH more to the story, and you have to see it to believe it! So many things are included that just don't make sense or have anything to do with the larger story; the result will simply amaze you. The direction is nonexistent, with people doing all sorts of "business" in the background that detracts from the foreground action. Technical glitches abound, especially in reference to microphone pickup: at several points in the film, a character will turn in a certain direction and his/her dialogue just fades away! In short, this is one of those films that is a perverse pleasure to watch and chuckle over. Its 70 minute running time can seem like three hours, but with some patience and an open mind, it is definitely a bad movie lover's dream.
As to the disc, Rhino has done a nice job. The single sided dual layer disc includes both the MST version of the film (with a short subject on "Cheating" included) and the unadulterated version reviewed here. The print used is in fairly decent shape given the nature of the material. Some mild wear is present on the print, but it is quite viewable. Ten chapter stops are encoded. The soundtrack is audible, but has some recurring noise present that can be a little irritating.
As a brief historical note, although THE WILD WORLD OF BATWOMAN was the original title of the film, it was actually released as SHE WAS A HIPPIE VAMPIRE for legal reasons. Apparently DC Comics sued Warren because of the similarity with BATMAN, hence the title change. For this presentation, a new title still is inserted with the BATWOMAN title as the credits begin. (Jason R. Casey)