Mondo Freudo/Review

The Bob Cresse/Lee Frost team is at it again continuing their Mondo pictures! Only this time, the fellas seem a bit more concerned with ditching some of the more famous worldwide ingredients found in other Mondo films from this era (such as shockworthy rituals, strange delicacies, animal cruelty, odd performance acts, etc.) and are more interested in showcasing nudity....with a "Freudian touch". The proof is evident as a hefty chunk of the movie takes place inside plenty of topless venues and strip joints. The locations for these strip clubs (According to the narrator) range from California (featuring rampant, topless go-go-dancing seen in San Francisco and in the nearby clubs of "The Sunset Strip") to a more reserved Gentlemen's Club in London. We then take a trip across the border down south and into Tijuana, Mexico to observe, yet another, strip joint. But also to catch a glimpse of a slave auction in process--"Guerilla style"!

Oops! Remember when I said earlier not to expect to see any shockworthy rituals or practices? I find myself corrected when we venture into "New York" to witness a devil mass involving the most striking-looking temptress seen in the entire movie. And depending on your tastes, you'll either be entranced or revolted by her dance acts while she praises Satan and gets her hands dirty in chicken blood. This sequence ends with a virgin sacrifice (Off camera). Next up is a trip to Japan (but it's still safe to say that we're still actually somewhere near the Olympic International offices) to witness a grand guignol-type of show where a masked, S&M freak whips, beats and scratches a pair of show participants! Last, but certainly not least, we conclude the movie in "Germany" with a nice sight of a good ol' mud-wrestling match! Now as with other Mondo movies that I've watched, there always tends to be sections of the movie the slow the film down. You'll certainly run into a few of these moments in this film. Take for instance, the voyeuristic infrared camera peeping on "Unsuspecting love-making couples". Or the dialogue-exchange sequences while the narrator (did I mention that it's Cresse?) is interviewing a group of prostitutes and swingers on different occasions. But it's too bad that the conversations leave the viewer hanging as to what the conversations lead to. Yet, despite the bland, monotonous nature of Mondo Freudo, it still ranks respectively high on the scale for the more exploitive mondo movies. And any movie that ends with a mud-wrestling fight can't be all that bad, correct?

Reviewed by Laydback