Review by Ben Bussey
Caution: the following review of this thoroughly naughty movie contains thoroughly naughty images from some thoroughly naughty scenes, which are almost certainly NSFW depending on how lenient your employers are (assuming Brutal As Hell isn’t already barred by their safe-search settings and whatnot).
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This charming little family-friendly flick is all about a wholesome salt-of-the-earth everyman type by the name of Rex Romanski (Michael Reed). This charming all-American boy’s favourite past times include fucking, snorting cocaine, fucking, visiting porno movie theatres, more fucking, and having a good old boogie on down on the dance floor at the discotheque – generally followed by a bit more fucking. Quite how he finances this hedonistic lifestyle is never made clear, but hey, let’s not nit-pick.
Rex’s disco ball is in full spin when he gets a new lady in his sights by the name of Rita Marie (Ruth Sullivan). A swinging time is had – but alas, it isn’t long until shit gets sour. When Rex tries his luck with porn star queen Amoreena Jones (Sarah Nicklin) the very next night, it becomes clear that Rita isn’t quite on the same page with Rex’s free-livin’, free-lovin’ ways – and sadly, it seems Rex just fucked-and-left the wrong disco chick, as Rita is a vengeful witch, with diabolic powers up the caboose and a burning jealousy to boot. Soon enough, blood will be gushing, along with all those other bodily fluids.
So what we’ve basically got here is 80-odd minutes of disco fever, garish clothing and day-glo wigs, peppered with black magic, zombie women, moments of horrific violence – and, just in case I hadn’t already made this clear, lots and lots of sex and nudity. All of it is dished up in very much the grindhouse/rewindhouse manner, with the requisite superimposed scratches, obviously overdubbed dialogue and blatant use of crudely-constructed miniatures for exterior shots.
But more than that – brace yourselves for this, now… The Disco Exorcist is also a genuinely well-written, well-made, well-acted film, which tells a compelling story and crafts compelling characters. Trust me, I was as surprised as you are.
Director Richard Griffin may have piled on the vintage contrivances in much the same manner as many of his microbudget contemporaries, but he’s clearly remembered a few key things that others have forgotten. Firstly, he’s managed a level of authenticity that goes way beyond most, almost to the extent that it really could be a lost movie from the era. As tongue in cheek as it all is, there are no pointed references, no clever-clever winks to the camera. Vitally, for all its absurdity, it never lapses into outright lampoon territory as, say, Black Dynamite unfortunately does in the final act. Quite the contrary, in fact: one of the real surprises of The Disco Exorcist is that it’s genuinely quite effective as a horror movie. There’s very real dramatic build-up from Rex and Rita’s first meeting up to her first violent outburst, as she gradually goes from seeming like a perfectly nice lady to being the scariest bitch around. Then there are the scenes which cut between Rex and Amoreena getting it on to Rita performing her black magic rituals, edited in such a way that we’re sometimes not sure what’s going on in which location. It’s a great midnight movie effect, giving it all a bad trip feel that’s entirely appropriate to the 70s era – but, as camp as it is, it’s still played to genuinely sinister effect.
Oh, did I mention sex again? I suppose I did. Yes, once again, there is a hell of a lot of sex in The Disco Exorcist. You may note the quote from Twitch’s Bryan White in the trailer below, remarking how dangerously close this is to a porno – and he’s not wrong. Now, I wasn’t keeping count or anything (honest), but there must be something sexual going on in at least every other scene, whether it’s the opening striptease, leading into Rex’s introductory three-way, to his night with Rita, to watching one of Amoreena’s pornos, to having sex with Amoreena, to starring in a porno with Amoreena and two other women… and so it goes until the literal orgy of death climax (hurhur). Prudes shouldn’t give this a rental, obviously. And yes, these are proper sex scenes. Remember how annoyed you were with the likes of Planet Terror, Machete and Bitch Slap, when none of the leads actually got naked and it always cut away before they got to business? No such worries with The Disco Exorcist. There are enough thrusting buttocks, bouncing boobies and grinding hips on show here to make you dizzy – and it’s fairly balanced in male/female ratio, given that Michael Reed’s Rex is balls deep in the bulk of the action. It does seem a little odd, then, that Sarah Nicklin must have gone into this with a no-nipples clause, given her jubblies are strategically covered in all her many scenes of rumpy-pumpy. But hey – her body, her business.
But once again, The Disco Exorcist doesn’t skimp on the horror either. We’ve got some good old fashioned witchcraft scenes – bit of Ruth Sullivan writhing around naked and covered in blood on top of a pentagram, and a nice spot of woodland necromancy, all of which is shot in a surprisingly beautiful way. Then, of course, there’s plenty of full-on gore too: decapitations, ripped out hearts – and, yes, a bit of mangled man-meat… (crosses legs). Sure, there’s no mistaking this is a low budget production, but it’s all pretty well realised nonetheless.
But above all else – The Disco Exorcist is really damn funny. Writer Tony Nunes piles on the corny 70-isms in the dialogue, all cool cats and hot chicks aplenty. The disco ensemble scenes are often reminiscent of the party sequences in Beyond the Valley of the Dolls; a constant barrage of absurd and exaggerated conversation which somehow falls just the right side of pastiche. It’s having fun with the tropes of the era without making fun of them, and thereby avoiding the air of smugness that films of this ilk often reek of. All The Disco Exorcist comes out reeking of is weed, incense, lubricant and Hai Karate. Yup, that’s one pungent cocktail, and just right for the witching hour. It’s raunchy, raucous, and a ridiculous amount of fun.
The Disco Exorcist is out now Region 2 DVD from Monster Pictures.