15. The Gore Gore Girls - A Squashed Ass and a Squashed Face (1972)
The Gore Gore Girls is one mean and nasty film. Directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis - Godfather of Gore - the man behind Blood Feast - this film represents Lewis at his goriest, his most violent - the apex of everything he stood for in motion picture making. The plot basically concerns a serial killer on the loose, knocking off dancers in a seedy strip joint. Trust me, watching these strippers dance is as erotic as getting your wisdom teeth pulled out without anesthetic. A cool cat of a detective is investigating with the help of a drunken tart of a journalist. They find the killer in the end but not before some outrageous, controversial kill sequences. My favourite is the stripper who is walking about her kitchen topless. She takes a phallic looking cucumber out of the fridge, looks up and says "What the Hell do you want!". a black gloved hand slits her throat, turns her over on the table, takes down her knickers with a fork and starts smacking her ass with a tenderiser. When it resembles Steak Tartare, the killer throws different spices all over her derriere! And all this to the tune of the Radetzky march! After her bum is botched, the killer moves onto her face and rips it to shreds with sadistic glee - poking out her eyeballs with a fork, then squashing them in his hand. It is quite traumatic to watch this. On the one hand it's very funny and on the other hand it is seedy, nasty and misogynist. It is also disgusting and nauseating to watch as the camera lingers longer than necessary. Ooooh Controversial!