Review of Bad Girls Go to Hell (1965) by John M — 14 Jun 2016

Doris Wishman is an under appreciated American institution. In a time when hipster culture rushes to embrace all forms of kitsch and irony, it's a mystery that Bad Girls Go to Hell and the rest of Wishman's catalog aren't more universally recognized as trash classics.

Emphasizing period lingerie and decor and hilariously sending up 1960's social mores, Bad Girls is more a time capsule smashed with a whacko hammer than what most viewers expect from an exploitation movie.

Wishman's overdubbing is certainly an acquired taste, but the flat, clipped dialogue spoken in voices that may or not be the actors' plays an integral part in the enjoyment of the film. Instead of psychedelic dance parties or drug trips, Wishman focuses instead in an almost instructional manner on "natural" looking women constantly taking on and off every garment imaginable.

Controversial in its ambivalent, matter-of-fact depictions of sexual assault and abuse, Bad Girls Go to Hell is a master class on women's roles in society and is ripe for re-discovery.