SUCKULA (1973) THE PICK-UP (1968)

I also managed to squeeze in a viewing of PIECES yesterday, but I'm going to pass on reviewing that one. It's been done to death. Great, fun flick, but enough about that one.

The girl in the horrid fangs is Antoinette Maynard.

First up we have SUCKULA. It deals with a reporter telling us of footage they have of Dracula rampaging through the countryside. When I spotted the reporter I'm saying to myself, 'Isn't that George Buck Flower?' No! No way!
Yeah, it was him. He even plays the female, out in the field reporter, but doesn't shave the mustache. Awesome! The movie is like a poverty row version of THE GROOVE TUBE or KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE. There are goofy commercials interspersed throughout them tracking down Dracula.I did think it odd that the Dracula scenes were done with silent film title cards. Made it a little surreal.
A quick watch that deserves rediscovery. I  watched it for Antoinette Maynard, who I fell for the first time I saw BLOOD HUNGER, which is actually a redubbed version of Gary Graver's THE KILL. Incidentally, if anyone out there knows where I might be able to get a copy of THE KILL or THE AFFAIRS OF APHRODITE, please contact me at this blog.
Oh, and it was weird watching her do hardcore. There was one point where I thought that George was going to partake, but it never happened, Thank God!
I will have to upload a clip of this myself as I can find nothing online. I'll get that done later today.

Next up is the believed, Lee Frost classic THE PICK-UP. This gives us the tale of Frankie and Tony, two bag men making a pick up of cold, hard cash in Las Vegas and getting it to Los Angeles post haste. Then they run across two damsels in distress, Dana and Marcia. After Frankie and Dana get it on in the back seat they decide it's time to hit a little motel for some party fun.
Until Marcia pulls a gun on Tony and ties him up. Frankie follows suit and soon the ladies have stashed the cash and left the men handcuffed in the seedy motel room.
But, Tony is the resourceful type and soon they are free and on the run after the girls. They have to get the money back before the mob decides they have bugged out with a million dollars  and put out a hit on them.
It takes no time to catch up to the girls, but they aren't talking.
What do you do to women when your life is on the line?
THE PICK-UP might be considered a roughie for no other reason than they whip and beat the girls, apply nipple electrocution and throw them in a bathtub of scalding water.
But, it's more than that. It comes across as one of those dime store hard crime novels. No one in this flick is a good guy. Tony and Frankie are in this for themselves. Their bosses are the worst kind of humanity. This is actually funny as the Vegas Boss, Charlie, is played by a young David F. Friedman.
In the end there are double crosses, triple crosses and a hail of bullets with bodies flying everywhere.
At a clip of 90 minutes, this flick actually propels itself forward at a manic pace.
Director Frost is in his element like other films of his like THE DEFILERS, DIXIE DYNAMITE and A CLIMAX OF BLUE POWER. During the torture scenes he uses some freeze frames that jar you and put you into the scene better than if he had just filmed it.

This was a good time and a well made film that any fan of the roughies would want to add to their collection.
And, yes, Antoinette Maynard is in it. She is trying to convince Charlie that he needs to put her in his next show. Charlie takes her in the bedroom for an 'audition' and then I was torn between seeing Antoinette ad David F. Friedman in a steamy sex scene. I was also not a fan of her wig. Normally she has long, flowing hair. This put it up and made it short. Not a good look for her.