Search - Evil Come Evil Go/Terror at Orgy Castle/The Hand of Pleasure on DVD

Definitely collectible, but falls short...

Gray Lensman | 03/09/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This dvd comprises three movies, no special features, but at least chapters selections--fairly standard.

1) "Evil Come Evil Go" (1972) (4 Stars) Tame as a horror movie, and fairly conservative concerning exploitation, it almost warrants only 3 stars. Still, it has a certain interesting appeal for its genre, and comes with a mostly intact original sound track, and probably original video. Comprising seven separate nude scense, the movie tells the story of a crazy religious woman, Sara Jane, bent on ridding "this world of pleasurable sex and evil men". She recuits a disciple Penelope to assist her in this quest, finally resulting in a three body count by the movie's end. Though possibly from the original release, two scenes, each with Penelope and a victim, obviously possess editing sound overlays. Lastly, a surpising edit seems to appear when Sara Jane is denied her free meal at a local hot dog stand, and replies with "F... You, Bas....". Did they edit this, or was the mike not turned on? Who knows. Commentaries can somtimes clear up such little questions. :)

2) "The Hand Of Pleasure" (1971) (3 Stars) Frankly, this movie had a lot of potential, but with extensive usage of sound overlays during many soft core exploition scenes, it just leaves the viewer wishing they could have seen the original deal. Using a fairly simplistic plot, it involves the standard mad scientist converting women to animalist slaves to ferret out information from spies and diplomats. Our hero Joe gets involved and of course finally saves the day along with the local American "sex research student". Apparently made for the British market, it spouts an amazing 13 scenes of absent clothing. However, eight of those scenes, including all soft core love scenes, use extensive sound overlays or sound track replacement. We find of interest Joe visiting a local London club and attending the strip tease scene of Roxanne Brewer, an attractive woman of amazing upper dimensions, and almost assuredly real to boot! Unfortunately, this scene appears edited when she starts to step into the on-stage tub. Don't know why. Amusingly, we find some of the props that appear in this movie, also appear in "Terror at Orgy Castle", another Satyr IX production. To recap, with an unedited sound track, this movie would definitely rate 4 stars at least in the exploitation arena, but I can only give this version three.

3) "Terror at Orgy Castle" (1971) (2 Stars) It really takes a lot of effort to degrade a movie gem like this one, but they did it! Possessing the common but enjoyable story line of a young couple's visit to a mideaval castle, this movie tells the story of their ensorclement by the countess into the depravity of her succubus, and cult orgies. And, surely a movie that sports 5 nude scenes would satisfy even the most critical exploitation reviewer? Well, normally, true. But, for some unknown reason they decided to eliminate the entire original sound track and replace it was a banal voiced narrator! It reminds one of watching a silent movie from the 1920s with a guy in the seat next to you explaining the obvious events! Frankly, I am surprised Something Weird released it like this. They should have found an earlier version of the movie, and if in a foreign language, then give us an optional English subtitles! Or, not! We can figure out what's going on! But give us the original sound! Ok, enough harping, but what a waste.

So, considering the three movies involved, I must give the dvd a 3 star rating. Definitely worth collecting, but could have been so much more."

Sexploitation, the early days

R. Schaffer | NY, NY | 01/31/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Although these are all low budget, with cardboard sets, flat lighting, and bad sound, they are fun to watch in a retro kinda way. More interesting is that Hand and Orgy are both produced by the same company, and feature the same plot twist, involving men being drained of energy through oral sex. Reminded of the mad general in Strangelove, warning of "losing our precious bodily fluids." Somebody behind both these films obviously shared this terror. I see the other reviewer here claims the soundtracks on these two are redone, but I can't imagine a different soundtrack would improve these. I like the clumsiness, and somewhat inept filming, being a fan of early sex films (for one thing, no silicone), but these are not for everyone."