The Amazing Transplant/DVD Review

The Amazing Transplant has been released as a special edition DVD through Image Entertainment and Something Weird Video. The film is presented in the full frame format and the transfer is decent for a film made almost thirty years ago that has been lying forgotten at the bottom of some dingy vault. The mono audio is as unspectacular as one would expect, but humor can be derived from the fact that Wishman's lip-synch actors can't seem to match up with the on-screen actors mouths very well (when actors can actually be seen speaking).

Even if the movie isn't that great, a wealth of supplements has been included that makes it somewhat worth checking out. First up are five trailers for other Wishman films (including the trailer for this film), with such great names as Double Agent 73 and The Immoral Three. In keeping with the creepy rape and sex slave theme, a trailer for the film The Love Toy, featuring principles from The Amazing Transplant (in a film about a man who bets his young daughter to another man in a card game), is also on tap.

Two short films have also been included on the disc. The first is a nearly twenty minute short entitled Sex Hygiene. This short, produced as a sex deterrent for the US Navy, features graphic depictions of sexually transmitted diseases and the treatment of such and will probably make more squeamish viewers run for the bathroom. For those interested in what gonorrhea and syphilis look like, though, this short may just be what you are looking for. The second short is a barely audible, heavily scratched segment entitled Penis Facts 1952. Running just over seven minutes, this short delves into the history of the penis and its role in society throughout the ages (besides procreation). Again, interest in this segment will be derived only from how much one really wants to know about things of a penile nature.

Rounding out the disc is a series of still photos depicting exploitation art from Doris Wishman films complete with a running audio track featuring rare radio spots from some of those films. This has always been one of my favorite features on Something Weird discs, mainly because I am not a fan of still galleries and enjoy having something interesting to listen to while watching the slides click by.

For curio value, Something Weird has once again produced a disc that gives some light to some long forgotten films and shorts from over the last fifty years or so and is certainly essential for any fan of really bad exploitation movies. Anyone else looking into getting this disc should consider themselves warned.