Review of The Gore Gore Girls (1972) by Jukka H — 22 Jan 2014

Filmmaker Herschell Gordon Lewis is held in high regard by a lot of horror fans for being a pioneer in the world of early gore films, and on that basis and that basis alone, he deserves the acclaim. The sad thing is that most of his films are pretty terrible, and that is definitely true of "The Gore Gore Girls". The film is certainly gory enough, and the special effects are revolutionary when you consider that this was filmed in 1972 and no one but Lewis was making movies like this.

The problem is that every other aspect of the picture is sub-par, and that is painfully obvious in every single frame. The acting is cheezy, and not only are the go-go girls bad actors and horrible dancers, most of them aren't very attractive either. They simply don't have a lot going for them. The script plays like a whodunit, but there's no real suspense and I was never involved enough in the movie to really care who did it. The script just isn't that smart or involved, but it does feature a lot of lame jokes that all fall with a thud.

The killings are sometimes hard to watch, but most of them are so out there that it's impossible to take them seriously. Look to, for example, the meat tenderizer to the girl's ass and the girl who gives milk when her nipples are cut off. Those make the murders on "C.S.I." look realistic by comparison.

The odd and sort of effeminate performance by Frank Kress, the male lead, is the closest thing to funny that the movie has to offer. It's clear that H.G. Lewis paved the way for Tom Savini and the like with films like "The Gore Gore Girls", but it has nothing else to offer but the gross-out factor.