Secret Key | Buy at Amazon | Review by Doug Waltz
If you mention the name Jerry Gross, the first thing that comes to mind for most cinephiles would be his infamous double feature I EAT YOUR SKIN/I DRINK YOUR BLOOD. Though he directed neither film, he managed to couple the two into a high grossing drive-in double bill.
But Jerry started out as a director and the fine folks at Retro-Seduction Cinema have given us the best double feature to appear on DVD in quite some time. I am speaking of the one-two punch of FEMALE ANIMAL & TEENAGE MOTHER – produced and directed by Gross, these films are the epitome of low-budget exploitation of their time.
FEMALE ANIMAL tells us the touching story of Angelique who gets a job as a maid for Count Medici. But, with her looks there is very little work that she is required to do. Unfortunately, the introduction of Angelique to the Medici household starts a bizarre love triangle featuring father, son and the Count's mistress Francesca thrown in for good measure.
FEMALE ANIMAL is unique in that it tries to pawn itself off as a European feature. No one uses their own names and they try to convince you that it was shot in an exotic locale. Lead Arlene Tiger (aka Arlene Sue Farber, a longtime Gross collaborator) is gorgeous as the penniless Angelique. Gross makes sure to show her living in poverty with her family in a one room shack before transporting her to the sumptuous estate of the Medicis. While this is nothing more than a pretty thin drama, Gross knew what would sell: sex and lots of it. People in various state of undress roam throughout the entire picture. In 1970 this was probably a spicy little number.
The second feature – TEENAGE MOTHER – was actually the more fun of the two. Lots of teenagers with rampaging hormones and fast cars. Throw in a sex ed teacher from Sweden who almost gets raped by one of the students and a girl who wants to keep her guy by telling him that she's pregnant and you have a spectacular juvenile delinquent flick that never bothers with lengthy plot points. Don't need to. We've got hot chicks and fast cars!
This is one of those flicks where they have actual childbirth footage. And speaking of which there's something I'd like to address. I have seen five children born. That's a lot. For the most part they all follow a similar pattern. Nothing too weird or out of left field and they were all natural birth. On the other hand the footage employed by TEENAGE MOTHER features some weird ass hardware that I have never seen before in my life. Most bizarre.
Retro-Seduction Cinema doesn't skimp on the extras on this disc. In addition to the two films there is an interview with Sam Sherman who, while having nothing to do with these films, is quite knowledgeable about the career of the late Jerry Gross. They even have him do a commentary on FEMALE ANIMAL, and although he admits upfront to knowing very little about the production of the film, he gives a nice commentary. The only downside is that he finishes up about halfway through the flick so there is half of a film with no commentary, but what can you expect? It wasn't his film to begin with.
There are also original trailers of the films as well as the library of films from Retro-Seduction Cinema.
Remastered from the original 35mm film elements, this is a great pair of pictures with a really nice quality of the prints to make it the best version of either of these films to see daylight.
