12 Badass Exploitation Films You Need To See Before You Die
4. The Centerfold Girls (1974)
The first portmanteau softcore slasher movie, The Centerfold Girls exists because of a questionnaire sent to Drive-in operators that enquired about their willingness to show a picture with nudity and horror. They responded enthusiastically, says director John Peyser. So we made the picture. Comprising of three segments linked only by a killer (Andrew Prine) who stalks the eponymous starlets, The Centerfold Girls kicks off with Prines pursuit of nurse Jackie (Jaime Lynn Bauer), whose home is invaded by a sinister hippy and her druggy friends. Jackie escapes and seeks help at a nearby hotel, but not only is the owner a scumbag (hes played by Aldo Ray, after all), Prine just happens to be his latest guest, showing up when all seems safe. Peyser whisks us to a deserted island for the second section, where a trio of models, a male actor, a female agent and (of course) a sleazy photographer gather for a shoot. This results in the movies highest body count when black-garbed Prine appears, razor in hand, to spoil their good time. Whether making unwanted advances or spiking a girls drink, the menfolk dont come off too well here, so come the third story its time for Prine to come unstuck courtesy of real-life Playmate Tiffany Bolling.
Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'
