Preacherman/Review

Hallelujah! Preacher Amos Huxley (Albert T. Viola) does the Lord's work and he does it well. Preacher Amos has a special talent to make the sinners believe: he bangs all the pretty girls! It turns out that in between preaching sermons at the local church, Preacher Amos is a conniving grifter. He has been using his persona as a servant of God as a front to rob people and mess with the pretty local girls. At the opening of the film, Deputy Leon (Garland Atkins) discovers Preacher Amos having barn sex with a farm girl. Later when Amos arrives back at his church to spread the good word to the unnknowing congregation, Deputy Leon and Sheriff Zero Bull (Bill Simpson) arrive with the farm girl Amos was getting it on with. They ask her if Amos is the man who spread his holy seed on her and she says yes. They throw Amos in their squad car and bring him to the stateline. They tell him not to come back and the Sheriff knocks his ass out cold. Later on, a local farmer drives by and finds Amos sprawled out and brings him back to his home to get fixed up. When Amos awakes he finds out that the old farmer has a beautiful daughter named Mary Lou (Ilene Kristen). Since Preacher Amos loves the girls, its not long before he puts a scam on both the farmer and his daughter by convincing them that an angel named Leroy is coming to visit them. This is an old flim flam Amos uses to have sex with Mary Lou.

After getting what he can from the farmer and Mary Lou, Amos decides to move on to keep spreading the good word, but when he hears that the cops are out looking for him, he pretends the bump on his head is making him woozy and he decides to stay awhile longer. One day, the farmer shows his secret moonshine still to Amos. He explains that since his beloved wife died, they needed to make extra money to keep their home. Amos is surprised to see this, hes also thrilled. Amos explains to the farmer that the devil loves money and that this moonshine is the devil's vessel that creeps into good souls and corrupts em! Therefore his only way to make the Lord happy in this situation is to sell the evil shine and make money to put into a "new church". With Amos helping the farmer and Mary Lou sell the white lightning, they start really raking in the cash. Its not until one of Mary Lou's boyfriends (shes got five) goes to town and sees Preacher Amos' Wanted poster on the wall that he realizes something's rotten in Denmark. He tries to convince Mary Lou that Preacher Amos is playing her for a fool but she doesn't listen. In one of my favorite scenes in the film, Preacher Amos holds a sermon on the farm and and tells the people that they should come up and empty their pockets of the devil's money and give it to help build God's church. This guy is extremely good at spinning a story to get these hicks to cough up the green stuff!!

While Preacherman is another small regional hixploitation film, it is really well made. Theres plenty of screwy backwoods comedy in it and the actors all do a great job by playing their roles as sincerely as possible. Albert T. Viola is excellent as the smooth talking Amos Huxley. His con man character is truly a wolf in sheep's clothing. He plays it to the hilt. This role actually gives viewers a very clear view into how all evangelists operate. It makes you think and gets you very suspicious of their true intentions. Recommended.

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Peter Roberts is the co-founder/editor-in-chief of the Grindhouse Cinema Database (GCDb) and contributor to the GCDb's sister site Furious Cinema. A Massachusetts native, he is an avid film fan that has been immersed in the world of entertainment and pop culture his entire life. He is a professional digital media designer and educator.