Released by: After Hours Cinema
Released on: 9/28/2010
Director: Carter Stevens
Cast: various (see reviews)
Year: various
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The Movie:

After Hours Cinema delivers the second Carter Stevens set featuring three New York City films made right around the United States bicentennial period in this two-disc DVD set. Here they are in the order they appear.




Teenage Twins (1976)
The Young sisters, twins Brooke and Taylor, make everyone watching this film confused and dirty feeling while performing actual real-live incest on film as they go down on each other in glorious detail. One of the girls (not sure which one) is a prissy, the other is a slut. They live with their mother and stepfather with the smallest refrigerator ever to support a family of four. The stepfather (Leo Lovemore) is a college teacher who just so happens to have obtained the most powerful magic book of all, The Necronomicon. He got it for his witchcraft class. See, that's what you do with the most power book of magic in the known universe: show it to a bunch of college pricks. He invites his colleague (Eric Edwards) to help with translations and the two geniuses decide to perform a ritual for eternal life.





Early on it is revealed that the twins can feel it when each other is experiencing sexual pleasure. The Necronomicon is so powerful that it negates the bond, freeing the girls from such a burden. But not before we get see them go down on each other plus switch identities and mess with the heads of those who think they're screwing the other one. Mom (Tia von Davis) gets in on the action as well, screwing her husband's colleague along with one of her daughters (and eating her out as well). Then all five of them, plus one girl's boyfriend, get together to perform the spell of eternal life, naked of course, and an orgy breaks out. More sloppy and hairy sex ensues and ends with the liquid finale. No one knows just what happened, but then the stepfather realizes the translation was wrong. They spell wasn't for eternal life…it was for eternal potency! Groan…



Stevens admits this was not his best film, but it earned more money than all of his other movies combined. The gimmick of the identical twins having sex with each other paid off big time. Watching the twins in action with each other is weird. There's definitely a freak show quality about it, as it's tough to turn away, but at the same time it's pretty gross. The non-twin sex really isn't very interesting, and the players are not really all that attractive or enthusiastic. The whole movie is really riding on the fact that twins perform lesbian sex on one another and it doesn't seem have much else going for it. Still, the movie has at least one interesting element, namely the use of H.P. Lovecraft's creation The Necronomicon years before Sam Raimi made his famous movies about. There's also a female masturbation scene using The Bible as a sex toy which must have really offended some sensibilities (even the raincoat crowd has its limits). Reportedly it was cut out of the film during its run in the states, but it's here in this version. Hallelujah!




Rollerbabies (1976)
In the future, the population got to critical mass, so the government made sex illegal. A person needed permission to procreate and everyone took some sort of anti-aphrodisiac to keep the libidos down. Masturbation became the only way to get off and pornography became the main form of entertainment. We learn all this from one Fuller Shite, director of WSEX-TV, which features Sherman Forbish's program “The Fuck and Suck Show”, who lays it all down in an informative monologue at the beginning. He pops up here and there throughout the movie. Sherman Forbish (Alan Marlow) learns his program, which is a live sex show, is in jeopardy and so looks for another moneymaking venture.



He finds it courtesy of a scientist he knows: sex androids. Feels like the real thing, doesn't break the law…he'll be rich. Well, turns out the androids will cost six million bucks a piece, and who wants to pay that to get laid? So that's a bust. In the meantime he meets (and meats) a double agent, Miss Vice Squad (Susan McBain) and she helps get rid of the CIA whom are trying to bust him for illegal sex activities. And just how does she do that? By enlisting the help of the exotic looking runway model Yolanda Savalas (named Alice Kojak, cuz she's got a shaved head) and fucking the bejesus out of the agent. Finally Forbish gets an idea for a new fad, sex on roller skates as a competitive sport. Finally the movie title makes sense…sort of.



Plainly put, Rollerbabies is fantastic. Anyone who calls themselves a fan of exploitation movies from the grindhouse days who does NOT own this movie should rethink their claim. This flick is so packed with visual awesomeness that it simply has to be required viewing. Look for such greatness as an ice cream blowjob, telekinetic oral sex (a mindjob…years before Cronenberg made Scanners or Videodrome…maybe he saw this movie), a mad scientist on roller skates, sex on roller skates, and some weird angles. Oh and a piece of 70s style living room paneling that acts as a Star Trek-like sliding door (swoosh!). The music is funky and indicative of the era, and listen carefully for the theme from Debbie Does Dallas, made two years after this movie. Interesting, no? Despite the fact that no roller babies appear in the movie until the last ten minutes, the movie delivers the goods from start to finish and is easily the crí¨me de la crí¨me in this set. It's just a fun movie. You could take the hardcore portions out and it would still be a fun watch, but why would you want to do that?





Punk Rock (1977)
The late Wade Nichols plays Jimmy Dillinger, an ex-cop turned private investigator. His latest case was to find a teen runaway for her father and bring her home. He finds her, saves her from drugs and prostitution (she repays him by boinking him), but then she is kidnapped from his apartment, even though he left her with a dildo to defend herself. His partner in the p.i. business is murdered as well and Dillinger is going to get to the bottom of the two crimes.



Enter his nemesis, Detective Giovanni (Richard Bolla), and the two have a few words. Dillinger is to not cross the line with his investigation and stay out of the way of the police. Dillinger doesn't listen and his search takes him into the NYC punk scene of the mid-70s, specifically to a band Elda and the Stilettos (which Debbie Harry was a member of before Blondie, at least according to the commentary). Punk with a saxophone? Really?? Dillinger gets himself deeper into the mystery of whodunnit and whereisshe, until he gets to the very top of the criminal heap, with an ending that is actually quite unexpected.





This movie has three great male performers, but great for the acting ability, not they're acting virility. Seriously, Wade Nichols, Robert Bolla, and Bobby Astyr are all really good in this and other than the sex stuff it plays like a decent low budget crime drama. They really carry the movie to a plain higher than simple 70s porn. The music by the Stilettos isn't much to get excited over, but listen carefully and you'll hear music from a couple of other places. The People's Court theme plays during one sex scene, the same music also used in Barbara Broadcast. Another interesting music piece is during some of the scene changes. The same music was used in scene changes in Black Dynamite more than 30 years later. It turns out both pieces of music were written by the same guy, Alan Tews, and used in other projects as well. Anyway, it's a good movie and certainly worth watching. The commentary mentions an R version but that is not on this release as an extra. According to the track, three other bands performed and was used in place of the sex. It can be found on the 2009 double feature from After Hours paired with Pleasure Palace, another film from Stevens.





Video/Audio/Extras:

All three films are in an aspect of 16:9 anamorphic widescreen. Taken from the only surviving film elements of each movie, they are as good as they will ever be seen. There's print damage a-plenty, but that can't be helped and it adds to the sleazy vibe and overall viewing experience. Aside from the dirt and debris, the picture looks fine, and considering this is as good as it gets, there is absolutely nothing to complain about. The movies are all 2.0 Dolby Digital but were recorded in mono sound so the same noise comes out of both speakers. Anyone care? Doubtful. The sound is great and easy to understand with no technical issues noticed. It's obvious care was put into the transfers to make them the best they could for the collectors.



There are a couple of items here to look into. Aside from trailers for other After Hours releases there is a recent interview with Stevens (12:16) where he talks about all three movies. All that can be said about it is MORE please. A great listen and he relays some interesting pieces of info. Some of it is repeated on the commentary track, which leads to the other item of interest on this release, the commentary for Rollerbabies. Michael Bowen moderates/hosts the track and keeps the show rolling with lots of questions for the director. Bowen likes to say “terrific” a lot, but he does a great job. Also on the track is Michael Rasso (sorry if that is spelled that wrong), the producer for the After Hours Grindhouse Director's Series. And of course Carter Stevens shares great stories and facts with the listener about all three movies in the set, but mainly about Rollerbabies. It's an excellent commentary and it's too bad one couldn't have accompanied the other two movies. The packaging mentions commentary tracks so it is uncertain why they excluded the other movies from having one. Although the 2009 version of Punk Rock that After Hours put out has a commentary on it, so it's a good question to ask why wasn't it ported over to this version? Maybe to keep the selling value of the other release? Probably that's it. At any rate, if you have even a passing interest in Rollerbabies, this is a must listen to track. Of note is also an 8-page booklet with an essay by Michael Bowen along with photos and advertising material.

The Final Word:

This is an outstanding disc release that should be in every 70s grindhouse fan's collection. One can only hope there will be at least a third volume in the series, with more being most welcomed. Carter Stevens knew how to make a porno interesting and was pretty damn creative in doing so.