SLEAZY PRESS REVIEW

No Sleaze, Please September 22, 1990 | By Dan Webster, Staff Writer for The Spokesman Review | Original Source Joe Bob Briggs says ‘check it out,’ but maybe you’d be better off to chuck it out Truth in advertising is a curious concept. The purpose of advertising is to present a product in its best light, presumably so that people will buy or rent it. That means overlooking any shortcomings the product might have. Which means being less than honest. Which, essentially, is lying. Truth in advertising, then, is a contradiction of terms. Until now, that is. For there is one series of video releases that lives up to its name in every possible sense. It’s called “The Sleaziest Movies in the History of the World.” Presented by that arbiter of offbeat aesthetics, drive-in movie critic Joe Bob Briggs, three of the “Sleaziest Movies” will be available Thursday. And, yes, they may feature violence, nudity and trashy plots -- but that’s the good news. Two of the films -- “Bad Girl’s Go to Hell” (1965) and “Deadly Weapons” (1970) -- were directed by Doris Wishman, one of the few women directors to make a name in the male-dominated field of exploitation films. “Deadly Weapons” star Isreali burlesque queen Zsa Zsa -- also known, appropriately enough , as Chesty Morgan and/or Rusty Russell -- who uses her biggest assets to defeat a gang of mobsters. The other, “She-Devils on Wheels” (1968), was directed by Hershell Gordon Lewis, the infamous maker of such gore classics as “2,000 Maniacs” and “Blood Feast” and other exploitation shockers as “Suburban Roulette” and “This Stuff’ll Kill Ya.” Come to think about it, that last title is pretty appropriate. This stuff may not kill ya, but it might cause you to go blind. Or at least wish that you were. Not only are the films’ themes in questionable taste, but the production values fail to display a single scintilla of talent by anyone involved -- not by directors, screenwriters, cinematographers nor actors. But, then, that’s the draw. It’s entertaining, in a sick sort of way, to watch something this bad. And it’s educational too. Next time you start waxing nostalgic about the dear, departed drive-in, just remember that these were the kinds of films that helped kill it.

POWER RECORDS: Batman 8155

I've been on the hunt for DC and Marvel Power Records for a long time now. They aren't so easy to happen upon. I mean sure, I can scour eBay looking for every one that was ever printed but that's not as much fun. There is something rewarding about the search, about finding a highly sought after collectable, a rare edition of some vinyl, or a hard to find silver age, or golden age comic at a swap meet or yard sale. You never know what you're going to find if you're willing to look hard enough. For instance, this Power Records classic was found at my local Salvation Army. I picked it up new, still wrapped in it's cellophane snuggie for a mere five or six bucks. Batman [8155] is a compilation of four previously released stories that were originally sold separately and accompanied with a comic book. In typical Power Records fashion, the comic was to be read as the record played. These stories are "Stacked Cards", "The Scarecrow's Mirage", The Challenge Of The Catwoman", and "If Music Be The Food Of Death". More often than not, the comic book artists, writers, and voice actors were never credited. However the fine people at Peter Pan Records did supply the writers of the four Batman [8155] stories. Joey Lapidos wrote "Stacked Cards" Joan Wile wrote "If Music Be The Food of Death" E.Nelson Bridwell wrote "The Scarecrow's Mirage" E.Nelson Bridwell wrote "Challenge of the Catwoman." For your consideration, I have included below each of Batman [8155] stories, complete with Intro and Outro theme music.

SLEAZY RELEASE ADVERTISEMENT

Preorder "Joe Bob Briggs Presents" May 10, 1990 | Video Software Magazine | The advertisement below I found on eBay a while back. It came form the May 1990 issue of Video Software Magazine, which from what I can tell, was a periodical that was somehow tied-into a video distributor. It promoted the video releases of the upcoming month. Each film was accompanied by a brief description, the date it would be made available and an ordering number. I couldn't find any info online about Video Software Magazine other than it was published by Chilton Publications and marketed toward film nerds and retailers. I payed twenty bucks for this damn thing which is nothing more than a single page carefully removed from the magazine, so I hope you enjoy it! Also recently purchased from the bowels of eBay is an entire issue of Video Software Magazine from October 1995. I'm excited to see whether or not it's full of goodies or a waste of dough.

SLEAZY RELEASE PRESS ARTICLE

A Treasury Of Films In Bad Taste, From Drive-in King Joe Bob Briggs May 17, 1990 | By Andy Wickstrom, Special to The Inquirer | Original Source "Two thumbs up." "A perfect 10." "Five stars." One glance at these superlatives and you know you're going to see a movie that's someone's idea of good entertainment. But there's one critic who has no patience with conventional ideas of good entertainment: Joe Bob Briggs, the syndicated humorist who has achieved notoriety as the connoisseur of drive-in movies. Now he's lending his name to a video-collection series known forthrightly as "The Sleaziest Movies in the History of the World." Briggs seems the perfect man for the job. His critical prose reflects the good-old-boy twang of his native Texas as he savors the latest kung-fu epic or slasher saga, taking special care to point out the number of bared female breasts. He has dwelled so lovingly on this subject that his columns (now available in book form, in two volumes yet) have aroused feminist protests. On the other hand, his supporters are so numerous that he has his own show on The Movie Channel - Joe Bob's Drive-In Theater - and he's even won an award - from the Hell's Angels. Occasionally, he has appeared with Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show. As Briggs puts it in the news release heralding "Sleaziest Movies," the tapes represent "an ambitious attempt to tell the history of bad taste in one multi-volume, easy-to-collect home video series. I always tell parents, 'Don't let your children go to college without the complete set!' " The bad taste begins June 7 with the release of the first four titles in a projected series of 20 films, most from the '60s and '70s. Briggs categorizes them into three genres: blood, breasts and beasts. The initial titles are Blood Feast, Nude on the Moon, Suburban Roulette and Let Me Die a Woman. Fans will no doubt regard the $19.95 price as a bargain. Blood Feast (1963) and Suburban Roulette (1967) were made by Herschell Gordon Lewis, whose cultish fans identify him as the first to use the explicitly gory effects popularized by today's slasher films. Briggs describes Blood Feast as "a romantic comedy." Other Lewis films planned for the series include 2,000 Maniacs and The Gore-Gore Girls. Nude on the Moon (1961) and Let Me Die a Woman (1978) were directed by Doris Wishman, perhaps the only female director to work in the "nudist camp" genre, which thwarted censors by presenting female nudity in the guise of nature films. Briggs, in a preview tape sent to video dealers, promises that among his future releases will be Wishman's Deadly Weapons, featuring the aptly named Chesty Morgan, a woman who has "two space aliens on her chest." Some of these films (none of them MPAA rated) have been available on video before, but it's the first time they've had the benefit of such marketing panache. The company behind "Sleaziest Movies" is Strand VCI, the recently launched U.S. arm of a large British video company. VCI's marketing manager, Suzanne McFarlin, says, "We're selling Joe Bob. He's featured on the cover of each cassette, and he's doing the introductions and closing segments. The emphasis is always on humor."