John Flynn's post Vietnam War revenge epic, Rolling Thunder. Penned by Paul Schrader, hot off his hugely successful screenplays for Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976) and De Palma's Obsession (1976), and a couple of years away from writing and directing the bold neo-noir drama Hardcore (1979). The original treatment for Rolling Thunder received several re-writes by Heywood Gould, years later in the book Schrader On Schrader, Paul Schrader would state how the studio twisted his original version of the story, recanting how he wrote a film about fascism, and the studio made a fascist film.

Though Rolling Thunder shares themes with Taxi Driver and Hardcore, its plot bares a few similarities with an even more unseen film from 1977, The Farmer, directed by David Berlatsky.
The two would make for a fine double bill.

A large portion of Rolling Thunder's notoriety is heavily indebted to Quentin Tarantino and his short-lived film distribution company named Rolling Thunder Pictures, which specialised in releasing independent, cult, or foreign films to theatres. The other portion of notoriety stems from the films availability, or lack of, becoming something of legend, much like the aforementioned The Farmer, more talked about than actually seen. After a theatrical run, Rolling Thunder made its way onto VHS, but didn't get a DVD release until MGM offered a manufactured on demand disc in 2011, a year later in the UK it was released on Blu-ray/DVD. That aside, the film is a cut above many of its contemporary vigilante/revenge ilk due to stellar performances from the cast, an engaging and memorable dialogue, and brisk pacing. The film is an unflinching look at the long-lasting effects of war on the human psyche; PTSD, loneliness, pain, loss, vigilantism, and a meaning of justice.

Starring: William Devane, Tommy Lee Jones, and Linda Haynes.



The plot revolves around U.S.A.F. Major Charles Rane (William Devane), who returns home to San Antonio, Texas with Master sergeant Johnny Vohden (Tommy Lee Jones) and two other soliders, after being detained in a POW camp for seven years in Hanoi. The film follows Charles' struggle trying to return to civilian life. He moves into the woodshed and continues to exercise his military discipline and regime from his time in captivity; routine physical exercise, repeatedly making and remaking his camp bed until it is immaculate, and suffering PTSD from the horrific events from the last seven years. He's come home to an unfamiliar world; learning that women no longer wear bras, mini skirts are in, that his son doesn't recognise him, and during his absence his wife has become engaged to local deputy, Cliff (Lawrason Driscoll). He tries in earnest to build a fatherly relationship with his son, Mark (Jordan Gerler) and begins to visit a (military) therapist.

At a homecoming ceremony, Rane is presented with a red Cadillac and 2,555 silver dollars, one for every day he was held captive, plus one for good luck, by Linda Forchet (Linda Haynes) the Texas belle who wore his ID bracelet every day he was in Vietnam. Shortly thereafter Linda meets Rane and acts very flirtatiously towards him, he struggles to reciprocate her advances.
There's a tensely played scene between Rane and Cliff that takes place in the woodshed, it's the first time we, the audience, get a glimpse at the impact the experiences in Vietnam have had on Rane's mental state. He gets Cliff to perform a Vietnamese torture technique on him with a rope, further psyching him out by shouting "Higher man, till you hear the bones startin' to crack!"



In a slightly uncanny scene, Charles watches his son play baseball, but when his son looks at him like a stranger he gets into the red Caddy and leaves in a cloud of dust. Charles arrives home and is ambushed by a small gang of outlaws. They saw Charles being awarded the silver dollars on television and decided that they want the $2,555 for themselves. The gang leader begins a gruelling interrogation where we get another glimpse at Rane's irreparably war-damaged psyche. He's tough and uncooperative, the only information he offers them is his military ID, as a consequence he's brutally worked over by different members of the gang. They tire of his silence and drag him into to the kitchen and force his hand into the garbage disposal unit in the sink, the scene is surprisingly devoid of blood and is arguably stronger for the lack of it. At this moment his wife and son return home and are taken hostage, in order to save his dad's life Mark tells the gang where the silver dollars are hidden. The gang, getting what they want split, but not before they shoot all three members of the Rane family. Charles, the tough old boy survives, his wife and son do not.

While recuperating in hospital Rane is visited by Johnny Vohden, where the first inkling of what's to come begins to germinate. He's also visited by Linda Forchet and by Cliff, from whom he withholds information about his attackers, and becomes adept at using his prosthetic hook that now replaces his right hand. Released from hospital Rane returns home, he takes the double-barrelled shotgun Mark gifted him as a present and saws down the barrel, before sharpening his prosthetic hook. Ready to embark on his vengeful mission, he finds Linda, who being a little more than infatuated with Major Charles Rane happily agrees to leave town with him, unaware of his true intentions...



"Can't just let it slide Major, they don't have any right to live" - Johnny Vohden (Tommy Lee Jones)

Akin to other vigilante (and rape-revenge) films, Rolling Thunder follows a 3 act structure; a provocative introductory act of violence, a period of convalescence, followed by an act of justified revenge. These kind of films almost exist in their own universe; cops are often dubious, no-use, lied to, or better yet avoided altogether. Revenge is the only truth, not that these statements undersell or oversimplify the film, there's a lot more going on with the narrative besides the three acts.

The time that Rane spends with Linda Forchet is as fascinating, as it is tragic. She's more than just a mere love interest for Rane; it's character building and presents a greater insight to his state of mind to the audience. Her character could be seen as a commentary on the phenomenon of "groupies". She blindly follows him and is very obviously smitten with the man, even though he acts somewhat cold and non-committal with her, she's undeterred. He's a man incapable of warmth, she's effectively throwing herself at him, offering him another chance at a happy life, at some semblance of normality or future, Rane is a nihilist and after the death of his son, he's solely focussed on one thing. There is a scene between the two, Devane has the line: "It's like my eyes are open and I'm looking at you but I'm dead. They've pulled out whatever it was inside of me. It never hurt at all after that and it never will". He's dead inside and he's now on a suicide mission; violence and conflict is all he knows. This extends to the character of Johnny Vohden too.

Johnny Vohden, maniacally portrayed by a young Tommy Lee Jones, is a character that I find so interesting and one I like to watch intensely. I believe he only truly comes alive at the prospect of conflict during the third and final act. There's three very telling and memorable moments with Johnny's character. The first, when he visits Rane in the hospital, the two are discussing the attack and he utters the quote above ("Can't just let it slide Major..."), an insight into the way his character thinks; ultra-conservative and with extreme prejudice. The second moment is a memorable exchange between Rane and Johnny; when the former, dressed in full military attire, visits Johnny at his family home.

Charles: "I found them."
Johnny: "Who?"
Charles: "The men who killed my son."
Johnny: "I'll just get my gear."

Immediately and without consideration for anything else, Johnny begins to pack a bag with firearms while Rane fills him in on the details of where and how many of them there are. The scene closes with a grinning Johnny saying "Lets go clean 'em up". Further emphasising the character's readiness and desire for conflict. The two, dressed in their full military regalia, leave for the Juarez battlefield.
The third moment is during the build-up to the finale, where Johnny takes Candy (Cassie Yates); a prostitute, upstairs in a Mexican whorehouse. While awaiting a pre-arranged signal from Rane to start shooting. Johnny is entirely focussed on his "mission" and barely pays any mind at all to the girl, even when she's trying to perform oral sex. He's undeterred by her from removing component parts of his shotgun from his bag, there's only one thing on his mind, and it's definitely not sex. Hearing Rane already shooting, Johnny truly comes to life, sitting bolt upright and beginning to assemble the shotgun, Candy asks "What the fuck are you doing?" Johnny replies with a calm "I'm gonna kill a bunch of people." It's business like, casual, this is what he lives for.



"It's your time, boy!" - Major Charles Rane (William Devane)

At its heart the film is a scathing commentary on the US involvement in the Vietnam War, even with the rewrites one can draw a critical comparison between Rane's vengeful crusade into Mexico and the US deployment in Southeast Asia. It also offers a grim exposé on the tribulations of servicemen and military families; not knowing if a loved one is a prisoner, dead, or if they even want to return home, and if they do are they the same person who left? Through the character of Charles we experience the living hell of being a POW. The routine physical and psychological torture, the distress and coping mechanisms, the lasting damage of those experiences on the mind, and if all that were survived, returning home to try and live a normal life, but finding the home you return to different to the one you left.

The Texan; the leader of the outlaws, portrayed by James Best, is right to call Major Charles Rane "One macho motherfucker" he really is, but he's far from a hero. He's got nothing to lose and has intimately known pain for the last seven years. I can't help but feel as though Rane is a man who's been wanting to strike-out at somebody for a very long time; it's unlikely he ever saw combat overseas, and now unable to get back at his Vietnamese captors, he unleashes all hell against those who killed his boy. Rane catches up with the The Texan in the whorehouse; I love Devane's delivery, it's so fucking cold as he commands "It's your time, boy!" He's the Grim Reaper who's come to collect.

The finale is a tense ten minute action sequence with Charles & Johnny looking, perhaps ironically, more alive than you've seen them in the last hour and a half. It's as blood-soaked and bullet-ridden as the final minutes of Pekinpah's The Wild Bunch (1969).

"Let's go home John."

Fourth edition of the Film Diary; covering films I've watched within the span of a week, accompanied with a short review and rating. I will try to churn these out as quickly as possible, but there's never enough hours in the day. These reviews won't appear under the index of reviews as I prefer to keep that reserved for more lengthier entries.

Films watched between Monday 21/11/2022 and Sunday 27/11/2022.

Monday 21/11/2022
Haute Tension / High Tension / Switchblade Romance (2003)

Director: Alexandre Aja

I've long believed this to be Aja's best work, followed closely by his updating of The Hills Have Eyes (2006). I can distinctly remember becoming obsessed with this film as a teenager, so I suppose I'm bringing a lot of personal bias to my rating. The plot sees two best friends, Marie and Alex, planning to spend a weekend with Alex's parents at their country, however events take a grisly turn when a boiler suit-clad maniac shows up on the night they arrive, and begins to systematically murder Alex's family. Overflowing with the red stuff, Haute Tension offers copious amounts of bloody bodily destruction and a veneer of psychological horror. Philippe Nahon brings an unstoppable and menacing energy to his role, and the sound design is unforgettable. A key ingredient in the New French Extremity. Check it out.



Monday 21/11/2022
Sissy (2022)

Director: Kane Senes, Hannah Barlow

Sat down to check this one out with Emily; we checked out the trailer, gave it a shot, and ended up having a real good time with it. Two girls who were best friends as teenagers, Cecelia (don't call her Sissy!) and Emma, have a chance meeting after a decade, an encounter that results in Emma inviting Cecelia to her bachelorette weekend in a remote, but luxurious cabin in the woods. Silly, bloody, oddly endearing and surprisingly dark; this is certainly one of the better Shudder originals. Nicely paced and not too predictable, give Sissy a chance.



Tuesday 22/11/2022
Knock Knock (2015)

Director: Eli Roth

I'd been waiting to see this for sometime and unfortunately I found it to be a relatively dull affair, and a really poor effort from Eli Roth, who's last semblances of creativity seem to have thoroughly dried up. Knock Knock is effectively a remake of a remake; for those unaware, this is based on the gripping psychosexual thriller Death Game (1977), which in turn was heavily influenced by the earlier Little Miss Innocence (1973). Performances are decent; perhaps it's just me, but this seemed like a really strange role for Keanu Reeves, he plays it very well, albeit for a hammy screaming during the in the closing moments. Lorenza Izzo (who's married to Eli) and Ana de Armas (who's not married to Eli) are entertaining, spunky, and convincingly cracked as the deux femme fatales terrorising poor Keanu.



Tuesday 22/11/2022
Night of the Creeps (1986)

Director: Fred Dekker

Another favourite from my teenage years. The film offers further evidence that Tom Atkins is a blessing for genre film. I watched this one alongside Emily who at first was a little thrown off as the film opens aboard a spaceship, with dwarfish aliens scampering around, firing laser rifles, before cutting to a black and white sequence. The fact character names are based on (mostly) horror filmmakers shouldn't be lost on any bonafide fan. I remember when I copped one of the first trailers for James Gunn's Slither (2006) and crying foul about the similarities; space slugs entering people's bodies and turning people into zombies. Essential; check it out.



Friday 25/11/2022
Slash/Back (2022)

Director: Nyla Innuksuk

Odd little film I checked out via Shudder. I started watching this with Emily, who after about 35 minutes could no longer withstand the wooden acting from literally everyone on-screen. I watched the rest by myself a day later and she was right, there's some terribly wooden performances, but I enjoyed the Inuit take on genre film. It reminded me of the recent and excellent Canadian zombie horror, Blood Quantum (2019); a film that revolves around a First Nations reserve during a zombie outbreak, who's residents are immune to the plague because of their indigenous heritage. If you could imagine John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) set within an isolated Inuit community, and instead of testosterone-heavy Arctic researchers, they're bored adolescent girls, then you're on the right track. Not all bad, but not enough to shout about.



Saturday 26/11/2022
Centipede Horror (1982)

Director: Keith Li

Hong Kong lensed black magic shocker, infamous for featuring scenes of people vomiting live centipedes. The film manages to tap into a primal and hereditary fear of creepy crawlies. There's something so utterly grotesque and repulsive about centipedes that the sight of them alone is enough to make your stomach flip and your skin crawl. The worst part about this movie is its pacing, after a strong opening it feels like an eternity before there's any follow-up centipede action, and admittedly, it does get a little silly in the last act with a duel between two mages, but overall is a satisfyingly unpleasant flick. Check it out.



Sunday 27/11/2022
Crash (1996)

Director: David Cronenberg

Decided to watch this as it was my birthday and I was given carte blanche of choice by Emily. I opted for something relatively "normal", instead of choosing an edgy or provocative title like Passolini's Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975) or Shaun Costello's Water Power (1977), I settled on the somewhat controversial adaptation of J.G. Ballard's Crash. Hot off reading the novel, I thought it would be a great idea to tackle Cronenberg's screen adaptation. Strange. Strange may be the best word to describe how I feel about it. I felt like a few liberties had been taken with the source material, as if Cronenberg blindly assumes everyone has read the novel prior and is familiar with the story, because a few plot points are barely fleshed out, or are entirely glossed over. As it stands, I quite liked it; Emily loathed it and after a recent viewing of Videodrome (1983), she's subsequently banned all Cronenberg from our filmic choices. We'll see how long that lasts.

Third entry for the Film Diary; covering films I've watched within the span of a week, accompanied with a short review and rating. I will try to churn these out as quickly as possible, evidently there's never enough hours in the day to watch, write, and then format this for the blog. These reviews won't appear under the index of reviews as I prefer to keep that reserved for more lengthier entries.

Films watched between Monday 07/11/2022 and Sunday 13/11/2022.

Monday 07/11/2022
The Birds II: Land's End (1994)

Director: Rick Rosenthal credited as Alan Smithee

Attempting to make a sequel to a Hitchcock feature is always going to be unenviable or daring, but producing a made-for-TV sequel to a Hitchcock picture is almost unthinkable. To be completely honest, The Birds II: Land's End isn't an entirely terrible affair. It is when compared to its predecessor, but truthfully no worse than any more recent b movie schlock that you might find on the Sci-Fi Channel. It has some cool scenes, great explosions and cringeworthy, yet entertaining bird-attack sequences, but is hampered by abysmal pacing and vapid characters.



Tuesday 08/11/2022
A Haunted Turkish Bathhouse (1975)

Director: Kazuhiko Yamaguchi

Of all the films I watched this year, this is one of my favourites. Totally wild and bonkers with an indescribable plot that's sort of like a Kaibyō (supernatural/ghost cat) take on Edgar Allen Poe's The Black Cat. Beautifully shot; it's as colourful as an Argento flick, and thoroughly entertaining. It's not perfect, but if you dig zany movies with plenty of sleaze and feline absurdities, particularly those that originate from East Asia, do yourself a favour and check this one out.



Friday 11/11/2022
The Shiver of the Vampires / Le Frisson des Vampires (1971)

Director: Jean Rollin

Beautiful and dreamy in the way that Rollin's work often is, but I must confess that I didn't quite enjoy this much as I wanted to, nor as much as some of his other vampire themed work. It feels as though it's missing a crucial ingredient, only I can't discern what it is. It's full of the resplendent photography and lulling qualities you can expect from Rollin; I must revisit this again at a later date, and see if my opinion changes because I really wanted to love this. Also, the Acanthus soundtrack is outstanding; unique and memorable, a work unto itself.



Saturday 12/11/2022
Hostel (2005)

Director: Eli Roth

The first of two Roth films in this weeks diary. I sat down to watch this with Emily at her request. Instrumental in spawning and canonising the term "torture porn", fathering two sequels, and inspiring many imitators, yet surprisingly Hostel isn't near as visceral as one would imagine. It still packs a wallop and Roth could have easily gone much further with the content in certain scenes. Filled to the brim with badly-aged lowbrow bro humour, reprehensible characters, and a commentary on the thrills, ills, and spills of sex tourism. I can distinctly remember when this came out, it was the same year as Rob Zombie's The Devil's Rejects (2005) and a younger gore-hungry me thoroughly enjoyed both.



Sunday 13/11/2022
Blue Ice (1985)

Director: Phillip Marshak

Emily and I have started something that we like to call "Sex film Sunday", it's as self-explanatory as one could imagine. Not the first X film we've watched together; that would be Bob Chinn's comical Hot & Saucy Pizza Girls (1978). Blue Ice sees a Private investigator hired to locate and procure an ancient book, unbeknownst to him a group of escaped Nazis are also out to find the artefact, as it holds the power to turn any woman into a nymphomaniac. Nicely shot and edited; it features a Lynchian "blue light " sequence that appears during the finale that appears to take place outside of the films reality. I dug it; driven in equal measure by the plot and the sex scenes, its brisk 86 minute runtime moves along at a steady pace. Featuring minor roles from 42nd Street Cinema fave Jamie Gillis and a young, but recently disgraced, Ron Jeremy. If peepin' is your thing, peep this.



Sunday 13/11/2022
Cabin Fever (2002)

Director: Eli Roth

Following up our small foray into Roth-territory, Emily and I checked out his first feature film. It's a well-paced, slickly edited and stomach churning-ly gruesome effort about a highly contagious flesh eating disease and a group of obnoxious youths. Unfortunately some of the bro-humour and dialogue choices haven't aged too well; this is also evident in Hostel (2005), but don't be deterred, if for whatever reason you've never seen Cabin Fever check it out. There's plenty of wince-inducing scenes, brought on by queasy effects and character lines like:

Karen: Bert, what the hell is that?
Bert: Huh? Oh, I'm gonna go shoot some squirrels.
Paul: Why would you wanna kill squirrels?
Bert: 'cause they're gay.
Karen: Bert, don't be a fucking retard.
Bert: I'm kidding. I don't care if they're gay or straight, I'll kill 'em either way..

I remember being so confused when a remake was announced and actually came out in 2016, watch it if you like, but it doesn't get a glowing recommendation here, and the less said the better about the sequels, perhaps save for Ti West's Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever (2009), I have a bit of a soft spot for that one.

Since I talked about Forced Entry (1973), it's a no-brainer that I cover Shaun Costello's other outrageous 70s filth fest, the enema-centric XXX oddity, Water Power.

Inspired in part by Scorsese's immensely successful Taxi Driver (1976), and by real-life criminal Michael H. Kenyon who was nicknamed "The Illinois Enema Bandit". Kenyon would commit armed robberies against women, where they would be tied up with rope and given an enema. After being arrested, he pleaded guilty to six counts of armed robbery and was sentenced to six to twelve years in prison for each count, but was never charged for the enema assaults. Kenyon was paroled in 1981 after serving six years.

The film has quite an interesting production history, it was financed by Star Distributors; the porno outfit of the DeCavalcante crime family, the real-life inspiration for the DiMeo family from HBO hit, The Sopranos. Director Shaun Costello was reluctantly tasked by Sid Levine at Star to produce an "enema movie" for Robert DiBernardo, a Capo in the DeCavalcante family. An alleged attempt to make a quick buck off the back of the "Illnois Enema Bandit" story featured in a magazine. DiBernardo later caught up with Costello to back-peddle somewhat; claiming he didn't want to see it, know anything about it, or to have anyone know he was involved with it.

Costello's speedy production effort; rolls of 16mm, four days, and a total budget of $16,000 went down the drain. Water Power opened to "empty houses wherever it played". It was shelved after two years of distribution, until someone at Star got the idea to re-release the picture under a different directors name.
Attaining a huge degree of success with the likes of Deep Throat (1972) and The Devil in Miss Jones (1973), along with helping to usher in the era of "porn chic", Gerard Damiano's name was "acquired" through Gambino ties. DiBernardo made a request to the Columbo family to borrow it; this seems to be the start of the confusion as to why Gerard Damiano's name is attached to promotional materials and appears on certain prints of Water Power.

Re-released with 15 minutes of cutting room floor footage now reinserted to buff up the runtime, Water Power hit theatres again with an 86 minute version. The film ran unsuccessfully for another year before eventually being pulled and shelved. It was later released again this time in Europe and Japan through DiBernardo's connection to "The Walt Disney of Porn" - Ruben Sturman, where it incredibly reached some height of success.

In 1986, Robert DiBernardo was the target of a federal investigation for selling child pornography, and was shot in the back of the head by Gambino hitman Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano at the behest of John Gotti.

Starring the inimitable Jamie Gillis; and a supporting cast of some of the greatest names from the Golden Age of Porn; Eric Edwards is cast as a fellow kink-freak, decked out in a doctors garb who's eager to perform an enema on Jeanne Silver in a sex club. Water Power also marks the adult film debut of Jeanne, who in the same year would star in her own movie/quasi-documentary Long Jeanne Silver (1977), directed by porno progenitor Alex de Renzy. Marlene Willoughby portrays a faux-nurse who assists Edwards in his procedure. C.J. Laing is a tough female cop, unenviably tasked with baiting the bandit. Gloria Leonard and Sharon Mitchell both have minor roles as a hostess and prostitute (respectively) in the kink club, the Garden of Eden.



The plot is relatively simple, but worthy of discussion; Burt (Jamie Gillis) is a New Yorker with a proclivity for kink. No longer satisfied by his regular stroke books or whatever is on TV, he grabs his telescope to check-in on the object of his desire, and soon-to-be primary victim, his Air Stewardess neighbour (Clea Carson).
Burt descends from his squalid loft apartment to the seedy streets of NYC in search of a new kick. He visits a sex club; the Garden of Eden, there he's easily persuaded by the hostess (Gloria Leonard) and her low introductory offer: $10 for 15 minutes with Eve (Sharon Mitchell). Though visibly bored with Eve, Burt spurts and Eve leaves after his incessant questioning over the club's "specials". Burt returns to the hostess to further inquire about the "specials", quickly learning that they provide everything from B&D, S&M, infantilism, to showers; "both golden and brown", crossdressing, and high colonics. The latter being the one to pique Burt's interest. The following scene is pivotal, as we learn how far Costello and crew are willing to go and the character of Burt is forever changed by this experience. He's allowed to sit in on an enema being performed by The Doctor (Eric Edwards), aided by The Nurse (Marlene Willoughby) on a disobedient patient named Pamela (Jeanne Silver).

"Pamela is an uncommon girl, therefore I think she needs an uncommon enema." - The Doctor (Eric Edwards)

Edwards' intonation during this scene is marvellous and there's some really choice lines of dialogue with Edwards' character passionately divulging a grandiose history and explanation of the enema. He states hilarious and memorable phrases like "Bardex inflatable nozzle" and "cleanse the body of all vile humours" with such sincerity and so matter of factly it's impossible to suppress laughter.



Burt leaves the club in a dizzied state, irrevocably changed by experiencing the ultimate orgasm brought on by only witnessing the procedure. He arrives home with a changed outlook, aggressively shoving his older spank mags onto the floor, and some new "reading" material taking pride of place, a magazine dedicated to enemas; Water & Power, proclaiming "now we're talking, fuckin' enemas that's where it's at," He checks in on the object of his desire again, only to see her bonking her troglodyte fella (Leo Lovemore). Overpowered by his new-found pathology, Burt's opinion of his love interest is dramatically changed, deeming her to be dirty, but Burt knows how to make her clean again. He breaks into her apartment and rapes her at gunpoint, before forcibly administering her with an enema. Ordering her to get in the bathtub on her "fours like a dog", Gillis begins masturbating to completion over her buttocks as she starts to eject a chunky brown liquid. The effect is obviously faked as it doesn't come from her anus, but it still makes a messy spectacle.

This kind of crime doesn't go unnoticed and before long we're introduced to the cop who's put in charge of the case, Detectcive Jack Gallagher (John Buco). Incredibly he's pulled from the homicide squad by his captain (Philip Marlowe), specifically to catch the enema bandit. Gallagher is none too pleased and sees this as something of a demotion, so the captain partners him with Detective Irene Murray (C.J. Laing), who's taken a personal interest in the case.

In the next scene, Burt's apartment buzzer begins to blare, he rushes around attempting to find a suitable hiding place to stash the enema kit, finding the perfect place to be in the toilet, no less. Unbelievably we learn that Burt has a girlfriend, Barbara (Crystal Sync), with whom he has a short argument before screaming at her to get out of the apartment. This is a character detail that raises so many questions, given his mental stability and sexual "interests". Does she know about his stalking and predatory nature?, as there's black and white pictures of his neighbour plastered to his apartment walls.
From here on out, Burt packs a rucksack with a six shooter and an enema kit and embarks on a crusade against these "dirty bitches" with plans to "clean them out."



"What started as a simple act of vengeance has mushroomed into an addiction." - Burt (Jamie Gillis)

Like Forced Entry, the film is remarkably well put together; there are some skilfully framed shots, you can really see Costello put thought and effort into his work. It also features a sidesplittingly demented Taxi Driver-influenced diary voice-over by Gillis.

Burt is something of a corrupt and vengeful Travis Bickle of the colon; sans taxicab, avec enema kit. Costello playfully screws with the audience by juxtaposing a scene where sisters, Candy (Barbara Belkin) and Ginger (Susaye London) are dabbling in lesbian incest get caught in the act and brutalised by the bandit, with a consensual "love" scene between the two cops. The editing flicks back and forth between the two acts seemingly occurring at the same time, in different parts of the city, and I don't think including an act of anilingus was lost on anyone, nor is the fact that Gillis appears to be suffering from pink eye, something which can be seen clearly in the stalk sequence of the sisters.

During the film's climax there's a scene with C.J. Laing and Gillis that goes for broke, and proves why Jamie was one of the best performers in the biz. With C.J. gagged and restrained in a bathtub, Gillis administers an enema and begins to masturbate, as the water begins to jettison from Laing's puckered hole directly onto the head of Jamie's cock he ejaculates. A true professional.



I told a chap at work about this movie fairly recently and I don't think he immediately caught on that it was a hardcore flick. Anyhow, I later found out from a colleague that he had watched it, and he'd said to her that he didn't think it was going to be like "that". My other colleague told me she had made it clear to him "in future do not watch any of the films James suggests or talks about". I suppose it's fair advice for the less adventurous moviegoer.

You may be right calling me crazy (among other adjectives) for giving this 5 stars, but I fucking love this, and I've watched it more times than I like to admit. It's such an filmic oddity chock-full of absurdities, and despite the subject matter this doesn't come across anywhere as near as heavy as Forced Entry, since nobody is murdered, but the scenes of Gillis menacing women are still unpleasant, but isn't that the point? Performances across the board are great, and given the production, plot, and themes covered, the entire cast looks as though they're having a great time making one of the silliest and smuttiest films ever committed to celluloid. Water Power is proof they sure don't make 'em like this anymore.



For further reading, more information, and where I quoted Costello, click here.