BLOOD ORGY OF THE SHE-DEVILS

The opening sequence to writer-director Ted V Mikels' 1973 cheapie promises more than the unfurling film can deliver, buxom brunette Queen Mara (Lila Zaborin) presiding over a bunch of scantily clad gals prone to gyrating to bongo music while a semi-naked man lies tied to an altar at the centre of their festivities.

Mara approaches the unfortunate captive, dagger in hand. Indeed, he is a sacrifice to Satan. But as the blade plunges into his chest, everything becomes strangely bloodless and anticlimactic.

From there, the film ambles along from scene to scene with little in the way of a cohesive plot. Mara is clearly some kind of medium, who offers her services to the curious in the form of conducting overlong séances, offering regression sessions where clients can experience flashbacks to former lives where they are tortured with medieval devices on grounds of suspected witchery, and - in one bizarre episode - assassinates a Rhodesian politician at a swanky dinner party for the benefit of her shady acquaintances.

Somewhere in the midst of all this mess fall Lorraine (Lesley McRay) and her fella Frank (Tom Pace). They become intrigued by beehive-mopped Mara's influence after attending one of her séances, subsequently approaching their college professor (Victor Izay) with their suspicions that she is something supernatural. Cue a lengthy foray into talky explanations about witchcraft through the ages, the professor clearly lumbered with having to convey everything Mikels knows on the subject to us, the bewildered audience.

Where does all of this lead? To a showdown between science and sorcery, of course, complete with puff of luminous green smoke, ludicrous dialogue ("so mote it be" and the like) and more clumsy dancing for your delectation.

Some ambience is afforded to proceedings, thanks to many scenes being shot in Mikel's actual Glendale castle which he owned at the time. Without this timeless, Gothic setting I'm confident in saying Mikels wouldn't have mustered any atmosphere at all.

Performances are, of course, crappy throughout. Zaborin is at least committed to her role, but the script is so hammy at one moment and deathly dull the next that even a cast of Hollywood A-listers would have struggled to breathe life into it. This cast - a lot of whom are returning from an earlier Mikels film, THE GIRL IN GOLD BOOTS - don't stand a chance.

Still, Mikels does have fun with a lot of witchcraft motifs - he apparently spent two years researching the subject - ensuring he crowbars in Mara's ability to shape-shift into a black cat, details her love of voodoo dolls, focuses on the aforementioned witch-hunter inquisitions of yore, and much more. It’s all crudely executed, yes, but curiously charming nevertheless.

Padded-out scenes of go-go dancing and hip bright fashions give away the film's age, while settings tend to either be the castle, its main garden or barely disguised living rooms and the like. Imagine something aesthetically akin to Herschell Gordon Lewis-meets-Russ Meyer, but without the gore and much less upfront with the boobies, and you won't be far off.

OVC previously released SHE-DEVILS onto UK DVD, but this new disc from 88 Films easily trounces that earlier effort.

Firstly, we get the film uncut and pillar-boxed in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio. The Internet Movie Database states the correct ratio as being 1.85:1 but everything looks nicely framed here - I don't see any noticeable lack of information.

Colours are stronger and images are generally brighter than before. Although print damage exists, everything looks true and pretty clean overall.

English 2.0 mono audio is similarly problem-free.

The region-free DVD opens to a static main menu page. There is no scene selection menu.

Bonus features begin with an audio commentary track from Mikels. He speaks a lot about locations (boy, he really loved that castle ...), his cast and the research he put into the film's subject. He's not the most engaging host but this makes for a credible listen anyhow.

The film's original 2-and-a-half-minute theatrical trailer is pillar-boxed and noticeably rougher looking than the main feature. It's salacious like all trailers of its era were, cramming in all the juiciest - and corniest - bits of the film and there’s 19 pages of text "viewing notes".

Next we get the usual plethora of trailers for other titles available from 88 Films. On this occasion, they include THE CORPSE GRINDERS, THE GIRL IN GOLD BOOTS, HIDEOUS!, THE TOXIC AVENGER, TWO MOON JUNCTION, ROBOT WARS, DOLLMAN, CASTLE FREAK, THE DOLL SQUAD and SLICE AND DICE.

Finally, though not available for the purposes of my review, this release comes with reversible cover art.

Cheap and trashy, though perhaps too tame to appeal to those with the highest tolerance for those ingredients so long as the grindhouse element is met, BLOOD ORGY OF THE SHE-DEVILS promises much with its provocative title and opening salvo. Alas, it's not a great film by any stretch - but, like most Mikels films, is as oddly endearing as it is inept.

88 Films' DVD is the best release its enjoyed so far.

Review by Stuart Willis