The Wild Pussycat

Yes, another obscure and sleazy gem from Mondo Macabro, and a Greek one too. Very welcome as i have only seen a handful of Greek genre
films through the years, to be exact 5 (Five) of them before watching these two, and they are:

1. Island of Death (1976) by Nico Mastorakos 2. The Wife Killer (1976) by Kostas Karagiannis - a Greek giallo 3. Singapore Sling (1990) by
Nikos Nikolaidis - a bizarre artdrama 4. Medousa (1998) by George Lazopoulos - a fine atmospherical horror (read more about it on my Horror
Films Page 1), and 5. To Kako (2005) by Yorgos Noussias - a trashy and crappy Zombie movie.
All these have been genre films, horror, thriller or deranged weirdo drama, and then there are all the respected Greek artmovie directors as
Theo Angelopoulos and Yorgos Lanthimos et al. hailed all over the world. But, naturally, i can't lower myself to watch any of their films.

A sleazy to the hilt revenge thriller in two different version 1. The Greek domestic version with sex scenes cut out and replaced with a boring
and to the main story unrelated crime story about the police going after some drug peddlers, and 2. the English audio export version with lots
and lots of extended and new sex scenes (softcore sex that is naturally, hey, this was 1968).
I watched the domestic version first with greek audio and english subtitles, and then the export sexier version with english audio. I was a bit
bored with both, sorry all fans of this film, but i didn't like it much as the acting was atrocious, especially from Kostas Prekas as Michali.
I didn't like the Italian 1975 re-make Emmanuelle and Francoise by Joe D'Amato very much either. Gisela Dali wasn't my type i guess.

A woman, Vera, surprises her boyfriend Michali (Kostas Prekas) having sex with another woman, and he dumps her cruelly whereafter she
dies after being run over by a car. Her older sister (Gisela Dali) gets hold of Vera's diary and reads about all the atrocities that the sadistic
shitbag Michali done to her, raping her, selling her to pay his gambling debt and tormenting her in other ways.
She takes revenge by seducing him, drugging him, chain him to a wall in a soundproof room and .... letting him watch her having sex with an
assortment of men and women through a two-way mirror .... Que? What? Why? Is that some new kind of torture ?
OK, but finally she castrates him with a scalpel, let him loose, and he dies after running away on the street .... foaming from his mouth .... ?

Minus: The bad acting - Plus: Lots of nudity and especially from Dali, nice lesbo sex, her cat was kind of cool too ( a beautiful animal).
The film is presented in 4:3 fullscreen, in black & white, with an english audio version or with a greek audio version with english subtitles,
both versions in DTS-HD MA 1.0 mono, region ALL bluray and a promo trailer as extra.

The Deserter 1970 Director: Christos Kefalas, Black & white

A dark drama of the artmovie type and with sexual situations as an important part of the story. And, i found it to be pretty good with a fine
story and with great acting from all, actually i liked it much more than the trashy "Wild Pussycat" .... and with more beautiful actresses too.
So, maybe i've some artmovie inclinings after all as i prefer the latter film. An erotic political drama perhaps.

There is War and we get to see a soldier running away from the front, he's Alexis (Hristos Politis) and he throws his gun and uniform, and
seeks shelter at a farm. The woman who hides him is Ermina (italian actress Franca Parisi) and her older dull husband ignores her, and hiding
up on the loft she soon visits him and they have sex when her husband's away. But, there's a younger woman living nearby, Liza (played by
Greek singer Alexandra Kyriakaki ( R.I.P. 1951-2015) Ermina's cousin, and she finds out about and falls in love with the deserter too.

It's a dangerous situation for Alexis as he can't resist having sex with both women, but he must humour both of them and what will happen if
one gets jealous and mad and gets vindictive ? That could mean his death. The emotional strain on the poor deserter is mounting.

Minus: Old WW2 stock footage used - Plus: Fine acting, good story, beautiful actresses Parisi and Kyriakaki and the latter one providing
the topless footage (she's so strangely charismatic and i could watch her for hours, wonder why she didn't made more films) and the great
magic scene where Liza visits the local Witch Esperanza (played by Gisela Dali).
The film is presented in 4:3 fullscreen, in black & white, with a greek audio LPCM mono and with english subtitles, no extras, region ALL.

I liked this film, far from any important film, but good and with fine cinematography from Dimitris Papakonstadis (and with editing by
Bruno Mattei ...) and would've loved to see an interview with someone involved with the film. Kyriakaki died in 2015.
Thanks to Mondo Macabro for finding forgotten diamonds like these