Sunday, June 22, 2014

A Night to Dismember (1983)

How bad is it? It's the film that finally stopped Doris Wishman from directing again.
Should you see it? Yes. It's probably the most entertainingly bad Wishman film.

First a word about titles. This title is a take-off of the unrelated 1958 Titanic disaster film "A Night to Remember" (or possibly the unrelated 1943 film of the same title). It's a clever enough title, but not unique; I wonder how many people who saw "I Dismember Mama" even knew of the existence of the classic family film "I Remember Mama?"

Doris Wishman, after decades of making softcore porn, decided to try to make a horror film (with softcore nudity). It was obviously filmed in bits and pieces over a period of years - even the film stock changes - and the editing causes people's clothes and hairstyles to change in the middle of scenes. To tie the pieces together, voice-over narration was added... and it had me in hysterics. It's the only film I can think of that I recommend for the narration. Though the gore effects are outdated by decades (and not good at that), the budget looks higher than in most Wishman films and she had a recognizable star in Samantha Fox (not the pop star), who was at the end of her porn career. Though dated 1983 and looking very much of 1983, I can find no record of this before the 1990's, so it must've sat on a shelf for a long time before being released.

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