ROBERTA FINDLAY DOUBLE-FEATURE

Surprisingly polished, psychologically penetrative (sorry, couldn't help it!) filmic filth, the scintillating sinema of Roberta Findley is both a celebration of hardcore explicitness as well as a refurbishment of genre tropes.

Making adult films with a brutally honest voice, raunchy feminine perspective, and bona-fide directorial skill, Findlay's smut is limited to neither the raincoat crowd nor the devotee of exploitation; her work showcases both the perspective and style to occupy her own distinct territory of titillation and terror. Crafting unapologetic hardcore films delighting in oral gratification and steamily captured penetration, her sensibilities as an underground artist pay as much attention to plot as the best angle to frame rough sex scenes. Rough is the key word here, as both Findlay's themes and approach are entrenched in an almost noir-like sensibility in conception if not photography.

Exposing similar lacks of polish and low film stock quality as other adult features (often the result of limited budgets and the minimal nature of the industry and its purposes) Findlay's unique approach is more noticeable in her plots and emphasis than in her technological expertise. While proficient in basic craftsmanship, occasionally exposing a distinct and lovingly eccentric aesthetic style by her ability to capture the sleaze, hunger, and fear of characters in rowdily captured surface action and the empathetic arrangement of the camera, her devotion to storytelling in a field primarily concerned with nothing but flesh makes The Tiffany Minx and A Woman's Torment excellent examples of unchained pornography not afraid to boast legitimate horrific/erotic storytelling.

A director who interwove her hardcore chores with more recognized exploitation and horror outings, Roberta Findlay's works all exhibit an undeniable flex of creative muscle, blending the outré with the erotic in varying degrees. While claiming to dislike her straight horror pictures, and less than serious when reflecting about her career in general, the quality of her movies speak for themselves - often in gasps and moans. Screams of terror and delight, her celluloid attacks against banality, social norms, and taboo are as adventurous as they are well filmed. While serving heaping helpings of tit, ass, penetration, and an impressively amoral aura of decadent sleaze, Findlay in Tiffany Minx (1979) also presents drooling deviants a story to sink their teeth into (chances are their hands will be busy!) in a plot equal parts personal discovery, murder, conspiracy, and lust.

Approaching its subject matter maturely, demanding a believable premise and - gasp! - real acting from adult stars who can screw and read lines convincingly, this film is as unique for its artistic quality as for the sexual acrobatics accompanying the suspense. The first feature on this Alpha Blue Archives disc, The Tiffany Minx is a horrifying hybrid of giallo, mystery, 'who-done-it?' and smut, interweaving hardcore action with ambiguous, even occasionally thoughtful subtext.

Focusing on characterization, Findley also evokes a genuine atmosphere of guilt, crime, and fear as thick and sordid as the claustrophobic sex scenes, making the parts fit into a cohesive whole as mystifying to the mind as its luscious surface imagery of sweaty conjoined bodies is pleasing to the eye. Raising erections and expectations simultaneously, this cheaply shot if stylized looking film focuses on a plot whose scenes are organic, responding to character's actions and reactions rather than simply languishing in the all-too-common mediocrity of standard pornography, wherein poor excuses of 'plot' are simply slapped together haphazardly to justify the sex (as if it needs justification!).

In a plot as complex (for a porno) as it is involving, Ben (Carter Stevens), an assassin, is obtained to murder Jessica (Crystal Sync), a wealthy woman by her less than loving husband (Hurst) who will then be able to inherit the fortune and be able to solidify his lust with the hot secretary Anne (Marlene Willoughby) he's been seeing. In a wonderfully nasty performance, Ben decides to sample Jessica's flesh before ruining it. Attempting to rape her he is himself killed by our heroine, who gets happy with a pair of scissors. Traumatized, Jessica flees to Fire Island, renting a cottage from Pinky (Jennifer Jordan), a gal who appears to have Matt (R. Bolla), a stud-for-hire, on the pay-role. Jennifer's illusions of safety are shattered by the appearance of bloodstained scissors in her bed. The bulk of the suspense derives from her attempt to decipher who is tormenting her as she struggles between distrust of her neighbors and mistrust of her own sickly mind.

Moody, well paced, and filled with enthusiastic sex and commendable performances, The Tiffany Minx is equal parts suspense pot-boiler and temperature riser, maintaining tension and eroticism alongside a plot that invites participation in its unravelling. Offering generic surprise and artistry in its composition, the film focuses on Jennifer as a character rather than simply as meat. This not only makes the sexual situations more enticing but the entire story appear more personal, an intimacy reflected in the atmosphere established in the cottage.

Contrary to the experience (and history) of adult film directors turned legitimate, Findlay's pornography is often more polished and refreshingly opinionated than her horror films. While both are entertaining and creative if brashly achieved, the smut is actually more successful on both a literal and emotional level, better reflecting the woman's sense of honesty and brazenness. This certainly seems to be the case in A Woman's Torment (1976), which is the stronger in terms of style and emotional vivisection. A scathing attack on culpability and hypocrisy, this fevered slice of sleaze features Jennifer Jordan in bed with her man, unable to climax, and expecting an attempt at either satisfaction or sympathy from her lover; it doesn't come. Returning from a party, the couples who were just verbally attacking one another are soon getting it on. This sense of normalcy is subverted by Findlay's emphasis on Karen (Tara Chung), walking home along the beach as something within her demands she commit atrocious crimes. Her torment continues as he imagines a man slashing her vulnerable skin. When a local boy shows up, she seduces and murders him. When the unresponsive lover of the beginning finds his destiny entangled with hers, it doesn't take much effort to imagine the dark depths the story is going to take.

Findlay manages to create a rabid thriller without forgetting her duty to please lovers of flesh-fondling. That this is accomplished with harsh poetry and attention to detail as well as stylistic verve is a testimony to her ability to lend a brutal sense of dark beauty to exploitative story patterns for those who want it, not forcing subtext down the throats of those who came only for the sex. Karen is both a victim and victimizer, her psyche as fragmented as her conscience is shattered. Believably acted, this character gives off a contradictory, complex air of vulnerability and viciousness; by the time the movie ends, we are as much in need of a bath as she. Simplistic and to the point, the sex and violence are married perfectly by Findlay's stylistic roughness and honest approach.

Presented in their original full frame incarnations, both titles on one disc are scratchy, marred as should be expected from such cheaply made, obscure titles. Still, the quality is good enough to suggest that the films were taken from a nicer than average print, compositions are satisfactory, and while far from flawless, the image quality actually lends something of nostalgia to the rough edged subject matter and 'naughtiness' of the proceedings. Audio is competent if not pristine, including funky, ass-thumping sound tracks and dialogue. While extras are scarce, we're lucky to have them at all for titles as on-the-cheap as this. The porno pleasantness begins with a short if concise text interview with Findlay, wherein she discusses adult filmmaking and her intentions. This is followed by trailers for other Alpha Blue releases. Rough and raunchy, this is suspenseful sexy sleaze guaranteed to thrill!

Review by William P Simmons