She Devils on Wheels

Tartan Terror's 'Herschell Gordon Lewis Collection' takes a break from the low budget horror fun with Lewis's wild biker exploitation movie 'She Devils On Wheels'. A very welcome addition to the collection and one that for a change will appeal very much to more than the usual horror fans.

As the film begins we meet the pretty Karen as she is waved off by her mother from their tranquil home, but what her mother doesn't realise that as soon as Karen id out of sight she changes out of her floral dress into her biker gear and speeds off on her motorcycle to meet up with her colleagues in the 'Man Eaters' biker gang!

This is a gang with a difference though as they are entirely made up of female members, each one of them tougher than the other and none of them are messing around when it comes to their biker pride. Led by the sexy but rough Queen and her henchwoman Whitey (a woman you wouldn't want to mess with!) the gang go about their roughneck business. On the main this seems to involve racing each other to arrange pecking order for selection of men ('studs') at their regular orgies! These orgies though seem to be more akin to a game of 'Twister' or a human pile-on (both fun none the less) but the gang get wary of our heroine Karen when they realise that she is continually selecting the same guy again and again. The bloke in question being Bill, a rather dumb ass biker chap that Karen is blindly smitten with. The girls decide to test Karen's loyalty to the team and force her to drag Bill's body across a stretch off road leaving him maimed but Karen's trust reinforced.

While this is all happening we also are introduced to the young biker wannabe Honeypot who is desperate to join in with the gangs orgy sessions but must wait until she has been initiated into the team...and we soon get to see her go through just that (the initiation it seems basically involves getting soaked in gook then gang banged by the willing studs!)

Also hanging around the scene is Karen's ex-boyfriend Ted, a clean living nice boy who is keen to get Karen back on the straight and narrow path and he will do pretty much anything to persuade her to do just that (even going as far as submitting to the gangs stud orgy line up!)

As Karen gets more heavily involved in the gangs antics things start to come to a head when they have a run in with a rival gang led by the hot head Joe-Boy. Violence and trouble escalates very quickly and it is only a matter of time before someone gets seriously hurt or killed. Will Karen fall victim to the gang lifestyle or will Ted manage to persuade her to break free?

'She Devils on Wheels' is a cracker of an exploitation movie that will no doubt have a very wide fan base. As well as being ultimately appealing to fans of H G Lewis's work, the film will also be a B-movie treat to fans of exploitation biker movies, Riot Girlz and biker chicks alike. The film has a real feel of vitality that is perhaps not so present in other Lewis works, this is likely down to the casting of real biker women in the gang roles who give a very laid back and refreshingly fun delivery to their roles. The movies main theme (a track called 'Get Off the Road') is an absolute blinder too that you will be humming forages after viewing, this cracking wee song could easily be added to the set list of bands like the Lunachicks or L7 easily (please do?!) and in fact seemingly has already appeared some years ago in the set list of Garage Goths 'The Cramps'. Lewis's direction is also some of his best work to date also with some lovely extended shots of the biker chicks cruising around the expressways that adds to the atmosphere nicely and the plot/script is solidly entertaining also.

The disc is on par with the rest of the Tartan H G Lewis Collection with the film print being pretty much faultless considering its age and obscurity, there are the odd print speckle but outside of that it looks great, colourful and sharp. The sound is clear and audible too and exactly as it likely would have sounded when first released. And contained within the groovy animated menu screens (which are backed by that kick ass tune) you'll find all the usual expected H G Lewis Collection special features - the films Theatrical (sorry Drive-In) trailer's there, there's some nice detailed 'Bio' pages and Chris Campion gives us some fascinating Film Notes that covers not only some nice titbits about the film itself but the biker movie scene. There's yet another marketing lesson for aspiring business folk in the form of Lewis's 'Copy Class' (I still don't get it!), a short stills gallery and the now expected H G Lewis Teaser Trailer and the Tartan Terror trailer gallery.

If you fancy a ride off the beaten track in exploitation viewing then you really can't go wrong with this wee gem. Ideal viewing to introduce your friends to the genre, so get some beers in and get ready to rock out! A cracking film and a cool disc from Tartan - check it out or the Man-Eaters will be coming to get ya!

Review by Alan Simpson