-Grindhouse Fest spotlights the cult gems, sleaze classics, and deranged wonders that defined exploitation cinema’s golden run. Proceed with delight and caution-
Directed by Russ Meyer
Written by Leonard Neubauer and Russ Meyer
Starring:
- Anouska Hempel as Lady Susan Walker
- David Warbeck as Sir Charles Walker
- Percy Herbert as Joxer Tierney
- Thomas Baptiste as Isaiah
- Milton McCollin as Joshua
- Bernard Boston as Captain Raymond Daladier
- Vikki Richards as Cleone
- David Prowse as Jonathan Walker
Rating: 
Only Russ Meyer could turn colonial slavery into a cartoonish grinder of kitsch, cleavage, and bad behavior. This is the guy who turned buxom bodies into a cinematic nation-state, so Black Snake was never going to be a history lesson. Hate his kitschy hedonism and this’ll feel like psychological warfare; love it and you get a wild blaxploitation comedy soaked in sleaze and sunshine. David Warbeck cruises into St. Kitts looking for his missing brother Jonathan (David Prowse) and instead winds up in Lady Susan’s plantation of horrors. Anouska Hempel, anatomically out of sync with Meyer’s usual mythos, rules the place with a whip and a scowl. Percy Herbert goes nuclear as the violent overseer, delivering the kind of performance that belongs in a psych ward or a grindhouse, depending on your taste. The anti-colonial message isn’t subtle—Meyer sends the oppressed charging into revolt and hands every tyrant their ticket to hell. The editing is chaotic, the acting volcanic, and the Panavision widescreen feels like it wandered in from a classier film. Not Meyer’s sharpest work, but definitely one of his most deliriously hysterical spectacles.
