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The Gruesome Twosome
USA 1967
produced by Herschell Gordon Lewis, Freddy M. Sandy (executive) for Mayflower Pictures
directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis
starring Elizabeth Davis, Gretchen Wells, Chris Martell, Rodney Bedell, Ronnie Cass, Karl Stoeber, Dianne Wilhite, Andrea Barr, Dianne Raymond, Sherry Robinson, Barrie Walton, Marcelle Bichette, Tom Brent, Mike Todd, C.A.Dukes, Barbara Kerwin, Kim Kerwin, Nat Warden, Irene Stoeber, Michael Lewis, Robert Lewis, Frank Slander, Donna Merrill, Irene Speel, Joseph Delino, Sherri Lane, Ray Sager, Herschell Gordon Lewis (voice)
written by Allison Louise Downe, music by Larry Wellington
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Herschell Gordon Lewis Feast: Blood Feast, Scum of the Earth, Two Thousand Maniacs!, Moonshine Mountain, Color Me Blood Red, Something Weird, The Gruesome Twosome, A Taste of Blood, She-Devils on Wheels, Just for the Hell of It, How to Make a Doll, The Wizard of Gore, The Gore Gore Girls, This Stuff ll Kill Ya! + documentary The Godfather of Gore Blu-ray + DVD combo
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Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
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Lovely Mrs Pringle (Elizabeth Davis) runs a wig shop with her retarded
son Rodney (Chris Martell), and their wigs are made of real human hair.
Now this wouldn't be too unusual, but since we are in a Herschell Gordon
Lewis film, Mrs Pringle and son have a rather original method of
getting fresh human hair: She rents out a room in their house to college
girls, then Rodney kills them and takes off their scalps - for recycling,
so to speak.
College girl Kathy (Gretchen Wells) gets a little worried about the
many disappeared girls, so she decides to do a little investigating on her
own - much to the dismay of her boyfriend Dave (Rodney Bedell). However,
the first man she suspects of the crime is caretaker Mr Spinsen (Karl
Stoeber) when she witnesses him burying bones ... but when it turns out he
has merely buried soup-bones as a surprise for his dog.
Dawn (Dianne Raymond), a close friend of Kathy's, wants to rent a room
at the wig shop - with the expected results. Worried about her friend,
Kathy follows every clue there is, even if that means breaking up with her
boyfriend Dave - and one of the clues leads her to the wig shop. Mrs
Pringle tries to get rid of the girl with some feeble excuses but Kathy is
determined to solve the mystery ... and soon comes face to face with
Rodney, who immediately attacks her ...
Now this is a nice one: Herschell Gordon Lewis taking on the girl
detective genre - but with his usual twist to it, meaning there is quite
some gore thrown into the mix (if not quite as excessive as in some of his
other films and the effects not terribly convincing). Quite probably though, The Gruesome Twosome is not
one of Lewis' best films, its direction seems rather impersonal and
functional and its black humour is not quite as biting as in his
masterpieces - but taken by its own terms and seen as a mindless crime and
gore comedy, the film is very entertaining and enjoyable indeed, and some
setpieces are simply priceless, like the movie Kathy and Dave watch in the
drive-in, or the two wigs talking at the beginning of the film - a scene
added only at a later date to pad out the running time.
In short, no classic by any stretch of imagination, but good lo-fi
drive-in fun indeed!
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