| Let My Puppets Come (1976) approx 40 min |
| This short little oddity will probably be of particular interest to horror/exploitation fans (mostly the latter). First and foremost, it's well made and extremely funny, but it also has many notable players from various areas of the underbelly of the American film industry. It's directed by Gerard Damiano, who had previously given the world to of the most well known porno films ever, Deep Throat and The Devil in Miss Jones (Deep Throat is still the highest grossing XXX film of all time, exceeding $600 million since 1972). It features a cast made up almost entirely of puppets doing terrible, terrible things long before The Marquis and Meet the Feebles (which are both excellent films in their own right). To top it all off it features performances from the legendary publisher of Screw magaizine, Al Goldstein, and not one but three veterans of Bloodsucking Feaks - Lynnete Sheldon, Viju Krem, and the indelible Luis De Jesus! Really, these people aren't in it too much, most of the film is entirely puppets, who are given humorous 'porno' names themselves. One of the singing groups here is called The Kuntz. |
| Aside from the notable cast members though, there is still enough to make this film worth a peek. The plot is pretty thin, but genuinely amusing. A group of executives for a small company has recently blown all its money on a poor investment that has since gone belly up. The real problem though, is that the mafia investor, Mr. Big (played by De Jesus) wants his $500,000 back in twenty four hours, or he will blow thier fucking brains out! Well, before you know it they figure that a quick way to make the money is to make a fuck flick, as they call it. They begin brainstorming ideas for the film. The smutty skits beging to play out, some hit the mark, some miss. One involves a singing penis and a walking snatch, that gets a bit tiresome by the end. Another involves a 'head' nurse (the jokes are never especially subtle) giving a dying man the relief he so desperately need. Not only is this scene really funny, but it also contains what is possibly the first puppet pop shot in film history - a milestone if there ever was one! |
| After they finish with the movie, they realize they don't have a proper ending. As they literally kick around the hundreds of feet of film of the floor, they come up with a brilliant idea - to put commercials in the middle, and use the current middle as the end! Well, it sounds confusing, but somehow within the logic of the movie it makes perfect sense. The commercials are pure gold too! One has Goldstein getting some oral services from a puppet (not shown explicitly) which turns out to be an add for a mouthwash. The best of the commercials features the lovely Krem (who sadly passed away in 1983 when she was shot in a hunting accident) championing a crotch spray called Sweet Fish, which promises to keep that skunky cunt away! |
| As you can tell, this movie is not for the prudish, and certainly not for hardcore feminists - I could just imagine the reaction! The film is admittadly raunchy and offensive, but for the love of god - IT'S PUPPETS! The movie revels in stereotypes of just about everyone involved, and doesn't go any further out of its way to degrade women as sex objects as it does men as horny dimwits. The self reflexive trend of setting a movie inside the movie industry itself has gotten so tired lately, but Damiano uses it well here by avoiding a pretentious know-it-all attitude (he also uses this same technique in his hilarious 1989 porno Young Girls in Tight Jeans and Deep Trouble). He uses minimal film jargon, and doesn't alienate the rest of the world. When I was a film major in college, it seemed like the only people who really dug the 'I'm in the know, and the rest of the world doesn't get it' attitude were the people who never really seemed to have a passion for film. Instead, most of them had relatively recently decided that it was their lot in life and they were scrambling to see all the classics and laugh at all the right 'in' jokes so that they could be taken seriously. |
| Damiano, who was 48 when he made this, has one of the most interesting film careers of American adult film makers. He treats his movies with a tongue in cheek sort of respect, and has a very cynical attitude towards the adult film industry. What works so well here, and with Young Girls, is that he never pretends to be above all the silly cliches and codes that make up the majority of adult films. He doesn't have as much of a message, as a running theme. It never really comes off as preachy, and he always proves himself to be one of the most interesting American film makers on the market. Damiano also pops up from time to time in his movies, here he gives the first Oscar to a fuck film at the end! He can also be seen in The Devil in Miss Jones and All Women Are Bad. Unfortunately, the sad state of adult entertainment of late dictates that the highest performing porns are all about the amateur look of some yahoo with a camcorder zooming in about as close as possible. Not that I have an issue with video as opposed to film here, but the zero production values made a neat novelty but is wearing thin. Sure, it gave it that girl next door appeal, but now any sort of edge that it once had is gone. Vince Voyuer (originally from Lowell, MA - about 1/2 hour away from me...) has pretty much become the poster boy for this type of movie. Today it seems to be all about attractive girls, which Vince admittadly has his share of, and no sense of style. Damiano represents a better time for the industry, a good deal of his films can be found at cinebizarre (he's one the second page of the director's section). I urge everyone with an interest in this type of film to check out his work. |
| The DVD was released by Calabero. The release is acceptable, but nothing to really boast about. The features are all still advertisments for the company and a phone sex line. There is also a decent still gallery. One of the more confusing aspects though, is the way the film is broken up. There are two title sections with four chapters each. I don't really understand why this was done, all it accomplished is making the exact running difficult to determine. The imdb has 45 min listed, but I don't think that's entirely accurate. I think it runs a total of just under 40 minutes. All in all, the short running time probably works in to the film's advantage. I will say though, that I would gladly sit through more. |
| I give this one 4 and 1/2 cans of sweet fish crotch spray out of 5 |
| review by Joe Canistro 7/20/2002 |
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