Bad Girls Go to Hell

Anyone who thinks that sleazy movies are solely the province of male directors ought to take a look at the ouevre of Doris Wishman. Right up until her death in 2002 at age 82, Wishman was still making movies like Satan Was a Lady and Dildo Heaven. This movie, her tenth as director, is perhaps her best-known, maybe because it can be read as a proto-feminist drama, or maybe just because of its title. Gigi Darlene is Meg, a housewife who endures a catalog of abuses from aggressive men and even a lesbian. Like many “roughies” of its day, it has its share of laughably staged violence perpetrated on its scantily clad (and sometimes unclad) heroine. The dubbing is usually so bad that Wishman most often gets around it by cutting away from whoever’s talking or filming them from the back. The music is stock jazz and lite “rock” that jabbers over scenes regardless of what’s going on. The movie is pretty monotonous but of some historical/sociological interest. Something Weird Video has it on a DVD with Wishman’s next movie (Another Day, Another Man) and various amusing extras.