~ VCR classics: "Ladies of the Night" ~
Double Feature
SCARRED
&
DRYING UP THE STREETS
(1983 / 1978)
Special Two DVD Disc set!
DIRECTOR: Scarred: Rosemarie Turko / Drying Up the Streets: Robin Spry (Keeping Track)
STARS: Scarred: Jennifer Mayo, Jackie Berryman, Alex Cox / Drying Up the Streets: Don Francks (My Bloody Valentine, Terminal Choice), Len Cariou (Lady in White), Sarah Torgov (Meatballs), August Schellenberg (Free Willy, Best Revenge), Frank Moore (Rabid, Food of the Gods Part II)
SYNOPSIS: Two low budget sleaze films dealing with teen prostitution
Scarred: A teenage girl starts working the streets of Hollywood circa 1983 in this forgotten sleaze winner. Star Jennifer Mayo only appeared in about three feature films. Her rawness reminds me a lot of Linda Manz in Dennis Hopper's Out of the Blue. She plays "Ruby" a young girl struggling to get by and raise her mixed race baby. There's a hard learning curve as she navigates night life on the strip. Pimps, dangerous johns and competing hookers all cross her path. An older prostitute befriends her and tries to give her some advice and her boyfriend / pimp has sex with Ruby. At one point Ruby is hired for a porn film parody of Star Wars called "Sex Wars". She plays the Princess Leia character and runs screaming when her 300 pound co-star tries to screw her! Late in the film she gives herself a punk makeover with a leather jacket and studs, skin tight pants, extreme eye make-up and a splash of color in her hair. This is a character study and even though this plays out as a drama there's plenty of sleaze, nudity, drug use and violence for exploitation film lovers. There's also great footage of Hollywood in the early 80's including the "Pussycat Theater" play Deep Throat ('7th Smash Year') and The Devil in Miss Jones as well as various sex shops and late night dives. This film has more in common with the documentary Streetwise and Barbara Loden's Wanda than it does with the cartoonish world of the Angel films. Director Alex Cox (Repo Man) was the assistant director and appears in the porn shoot sequence. Recommended.
Drying Up the Streets: Solid Canadian exploitation sleaze with unlikely hero Don Francks. He's a recovering heroin addict first seen overdosing in a dirty public bathroom. After getting arrested he cleans up his act and gets tapped by no-nonsense cop Cariou to work undercover. He easily slides into the sleazy underworld of drugs, sex workers, pimps, pornography and illegal activity. His goal is to inform Cariou when a large shipment of drugs will be arriving. Complicating matters is a teen prostitute (a memorable Torgov) that Francks takes under his wing. His own daughter fell victim to drugs and violence and he wants to save cute Torgrov from a similar fate. All the acting is first rate with big August Schellenberg (from Free Willy) in a small role as a scary killer. There's lots of location footage of porn theaters, strip joints and dive bars to give seedy authenticity to the story.
*For more see: Operation Julie, Train Station Pickups, The Tender Age, Close to Home and Stoned
Fullscreen / Color (both films)
Region Free NTSC dvd-R
BLACK dvd case (above image is the front cover art)
Buy "Scarred / Drying Up the Streets" : $30.00
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