Jackass Critics

Pervert!

Ah, god bless sleazy movies. Back in the sixties and seventies there was a sort of art to it, to gently glazing your films with breasts, bullets, and blood, while attempting to give you a story as well. Things sorta changed with the eighties where some films just became straight up porn, and others ditched the story altogether and fought to see how many ex-Playboy playmates they could jam into the film. Along comes Pervert, a modern homage to the late Russ Meyer films of the seventies and a rare sleaze epic that lays on the boobs and the laughs in equal measures.

James is a hapless sort – no luck with the ladies, and unsure what it means to be a man. A chronic, uh, self-lover, he has decided it’s time to head for the desert home of his estranged father in order to learn what it is to be a man. To dear old Hezekiah it means shacking up with a buxom young thing long on legs and short on brains, but then, old dad is more interested in the sex part of the fairer sex, don’t you know? James finds life at dad’s difficult with all the hard work and having to hear his dad’s sexcapades, but worse are the bad dreams the plague him. Dreams of a medicine man doing a strange ritual. The sexual chemistry between James and Cheryl is too much to deny and the two end up in the sack together, again, and again, and again which leads to the wrath and rage of his father, an accomplished artist with various meats. That night Cheryl disappears mysteriously, Hezekiah insisting that she just ran away and to not pay her any more mind. The very next day dad has another beautiful young woman moving into the homestead and this one is far less kind to James. Fearing the worst, James begins searching for clues as to what became of Cheryl and happens upon her just before she dies horribly before him. It would seem that pops is a mad-crazy killer and now, with the second woman having been murdered terribly as well, it seems that he’s killed at least two women. James calls to have his father taken away but is told a nurse must investigate first to see if he’s a candidate for ‘the home’. The nurse that arrives though seems to have some secret about her and, even in her distrust and then conviction that Hezekiah did murder those women, there seems to be something more to her. James though, ever leading with his pants, believes he has finally found the woman that can make him feel like a man, but only if they can find out the truth of why and how these women were murdered and whether or not it was truly dad that did it or something far, far worse.

A surprisingly beautiful film, this is no mere homage but a genuine channeling of Meyer. The use of color, humor, sex, and ultra-violence really reminded me of Russ Meyer’s Up! There is a feeling of the absurd that you cannot shake but which works. Yes, it’s absurd, but it’s not (usually) overly clever. It plays the movie with as few nods to the audience as possible. Too often you’ll get filmmakers that make movies like this but try to tell the viewer – oh, see, this is all a joke, this isn’t me making this, this is just a parody of that sort of movie. Pervert! is as it appears. It’s a funny, sleazy, weird movie, and that’s what it was meant to be. And trust me, if you’re watching for the sex and naked girls, well, you came to the right place.

Being what it is though doesn’t make it a great film. It’s a fun film, for sure, but it’s a silly movie. The end is absolutely ridiculous, even in this sort of film, and things just seem to fall apart at the close of the film. I love the energy, the look, the acting, heck, I love a lot of this film, but the ending really takes the wind from the sails.

The DVD looks beautiful and really shows off the fantastic use of colors and cinematography here. For such a low budget production you really see what can be done if you try. The extras are fun, the big draw being an extended lesbian scene that will be the first thing many viewers check out, I’d wager. The deleted scenes aren’t bad, but are nothing spectacular – though there is a tip to more weirdness going on with our nurse. Overall, another nice package from TLA, who really gives fans a lot of value for their buck.

A very fun movie, Pervert is not apt to find mass appeal. For those of us who remember movies from the seventies, when sleaze was still fun, this is a gem of a film. If you love Russ Meyer you’ll adore this movie.

…c…