4 out of 5

Director: Herschell Gordon Lewis

Who knew this would be so much fun? Now, admittedly, I am new to Lewis – at least, sitting down and watching a full film anyway – and so my expectations were scatter-shot at best. Also, after reading, I understand that this was the initial end of Lewis gore career, and so this movie in particular mightve even been a slight parody of his previous over-the-top efforts. All the same… Gore Gore Girls was tons of fun, giving us the girls and the gore with the right elements of sleaze and respect for the audience that lets us watch it with smiles or gasps instead of shaking our heads. The plot: strippers are getting murdered. Whodunnit? Newspaper journalist Nancy Weston hires famous detective Abraham Gentry to figure it out. Which he does, after several visceral face mashings and groovy topless dance numbers set to go-go tunes. The acting is perfect for the environment – theatrical, but not bad – as is the low budget shooting style and simplified sets. The story is funny, but its an indication of something: that there was an attempt to put something watchable together. And it is incredibly, incredibly watchable, from start to finish. Is it trash? Sure, no ones giving this an oscar. But this is high quality trash.