Incredible Torture Show, The (1976)

Joel M. Reed's torture show was up for a hardcore feminist flamewar back in the days. The dvd (released by Troma) almost proudly proclaims to have been banned by ''Women Against Pornography''. Why not ''Females Against Pornography''? Oh wait... that'd be F.A.P. Striking the seventies with unnessecary nudity and sadistic violence...but has it kept its edge throughout the years?


Nudity never gets old and that's part of the charm ''The Incredible Torture Show'' comes with. It has comedy lurking behind all of the sexual and graphic content, turning it into a worthy Troma release. I also love how the dvd is trying to sell itself by advertising naked and caged girls. Don't you just love the 21st century?

We've gotten rid of most of the prudish judgements on films and it allows us to enjoy them whenever we want to. I couldn't help but to feel at least a little sceptic, the nudity had to be of great quality or quantity. Maybe even both. In any other case it would feel antiquated. Thank god there haven't been any asshole-dartboard games or braincoctails since the seventies... This truly has some remarkable moments to spare.

The plot is as follows. Mr Sardu owns a small theatre in New York where he presents bloody shows for a small audience. It's all about torturing naked women on stage. He gets away with it by calling it art and ''true drama''. There might be 5 people in the world who'd actually visit such a show so the income isn't large enough to maintain everything he has worked for. But with the help of some white slavery (here's the naked women in a cage part) and an evil plan to get a famous ballerina to star in his play, the money starts piling up.

It's a crazy and unbelievable plot, but utterly entertaining and it will get you into countless laughable situations. It will keep you hooked by introducing more and more sick and crooked characters along the way. Sardu is played by Seamus O'Brien and he does it with great succes. Offering some sympathy but also humor within his sadistic games and deadly torture. He's not someone to forget anytime soon.

It's not thát explicit to modern day standards, but the ideas remain as fun as they ever were. I've only named a small chunk of them, so trust me when I say there's lots more to come. Herschell Gordon Lewis broke some boundries with his gore in the sixties, but ''The Incredible Torture Show'' (or Bloodsucking Freaks) took it a couple of steps further in the seventies. Don't miss out on this one! It's pure and shameless fun.

Score: 85/100