Well, this was an odd one!
The Lickerish Quartet (1970)
Directed By: Radley Metzger
Where to get it: Cult Epics
The Prologue
Keeping with director, Radley Metzger. We now have The Lickerish Quartet. This is another erotic film, coming from the year 1970 and following the very good, Camille 2000. While this time around I would say that the erotic ways of the director are much more out there and on display than his last film, we at least still have some stylish stuff and a very weird plot going on to boot! So if you are in to some trippy stuff, nudity, and a whole cast of weird characters, then this movie here might be just what the doctor has ordered for you! And the fact that it’s presented in blu-ray doesn’t hurt anything either.
The Movie
An aristocratic family becomes obsessed with a striking young blond actress (Silvano Venturelli “Camille 2000″) while watching her in what appears to be a crude, silent stag film. After a visit to a local carnival they meet the girl in person and invite her back to their lavish mansion (the Castle of Balsorano in Italy’s Abruzzi Mountains.) The blonde visitor takes turns seducing the family members, where she unlocks each of their fantasies, family secrets and hidden desires.
Well the sex scenes (while not X rated by any means) are on the rise with this one. There is a lot of erotic stuff going down and this film is a whole lot more sexually driven. And that’s because sex is pretty much the bottom line and story driver in this one. So, while it’s not anything you’d have to go into a backroom to get and rent today, for it’s time it was more outlandish. And also, it’s nothing you’d have to be ashamed of or wear a disguise to rent today. But if you like a little more than sexually related stuff, you may want to take note that that’s pretty much what you get here.
But the stylish stuff is still here, like in Radley Metzger’s last film. The film takes place in a castle of a building that looks straight from the renaissance days. But the cool stuff doesn’t stop there. We also have a set filled with books and a bit of big bold dictionary pages as the floor tile. And of course some rather odd words are on display on that very floor, and we get a good look at it as two people roll around on it nude. It’s stuff like that that makes this one stand out, for better or for worse. Overall, you may either love this one or hate it, but you will at least give credit and a nod of the hat to the way the film looks.
When this one wraps up, it gets really weird and a bit out of left field. While that could rub someone the wrong way, you have to admit that it’s at least different and not typical at all. I was scratching my head a little bit at the end, but I think I kinda dug the ending in a way as well. The film has a hot naked women and it has a lot of weird stuff going on and usually that’s all it takes to make me happy. Then again, I’m sure there is another point to it all that one might pickup on if you look a little deeper than just the erotic surface of this one.
The Conclusion
I think it may be a bit of an acquired taste, but this movie does bring a lot more to the table than one might like to think. It’s really sex driven and all that, but in this case that’s a lot of the point it’s trying to make. If you dig naked chicks and some odd stuff on screen, then you may like this one a whole lot.
The Rating (6.5/10)
Chucks website
