The Gruesome Twosome (1967) (Blu-ray Review)

The Gruesome Twosome (1967) (Blu-ray Review)
Directed By: Herschell Gordon Lewis
Starring: Chris Martell, Rodney Bedell, Gretchen Wells
Rated: UR/Region O/1:33/1080p/Number of Discs 1
Available from Arrow Video

The young women of a small-town American college have more than just split-ends to worry about… Down at the Little Wig Shop, the batty Mrs. Pringle and her socially-inept son Rodney are procuring only the finest heads of hair – by scalping the local co-eds! Can they be stopped before they clear the entire campus of luxuriant-haired ladies?

The Gruesome Twosome is H.G. Lewis in his splatter filled prime with some more crazy and bloody fun for anyone who likes old splatter films. With this type of stuff here it basically means you’ll get plenty of women and plenty of badly done but still extremely bloody effects. This is the type of stuff that made Herschell Gordon Lewis famous, or should I say infamous. The story here is simple but effective. After a longer than it probably should have been intro with some dummy heads, we get to the point of this one and get to the gore. We get a highlight of our crazy wig maker and her son. It’s a nice combo and earns the title of the film, Gruesome Twosome. Like most stuff of this nature around this time, you won’t find a whole lot of stuff to get behind from a leading lady or final girl side of things, but the chaos and gore are what brought people to this and everything you see is basically an excuse for more of that.

If you are a fan of Herschell Gordon Lewis then you know what you are getting here with this and that isn’t a bad thing per say. If you just want to see lots of red stuff tossed on hot women as we watch them be “scalped”, then you’ve got what you came for here. If you are looking for anything more you’ll probably be a bit letdown. The movie is damaged a bit as far as the transfer goes, but outside the grindhouse scratches, it looks pretty good. Making this one even better is the fact that just like the limited box set you get the bonus movie, 1967’s A Taste of Blood. Adding the extras into account and we have a great release for a movie that probably isn’t what I’d call “great” but fun regardless.

Extras

– High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
– English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
– Bonus Feature! 1967’s A Taste of Blood
– Introductions to the films by HG Lewis
– Archive audio commentaries for both films by HG Lewis
– Peaches Christ Flips Her Wig! – San Francisco performer Peaches Christ on The Gruesome Twosome
– It Came from Florida – filmmaker Fred Olen Ray (Scalps, The Alien Dead) on Florida Filmmaking
– HG Lewis vs. the Censors – HG Lewis discusses some of the pitfalls of the blood-and-guts business including local censorship and angry moviegoers
– Trailers and radio spot
– Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly-commissioned artwork by The Twins of Evil

Quality of Transfer: 81%