Purely Joyful Movie!

Powerful

Absolutely the worst movie.

A Masterpiece!

THE TOUCH OF HER FLESH is a typical cheap and sleazy sexploitation film from the US of A. This one's black and white, like the rest, and very cheap in terms of staging. However, it's also better-plotted than expected, with a storyline involving a guy who finds his wife in bed with another man, causing him to have a car accident and then become a psycho and going on a murder spree. This film reminded me of the work of H.G. Mikels in places but the genuine plotting is outweighed by the endless strip routines and bedroom small-talk. As ever, the version available on Amazon Prime is heavily censored.

Michael Findlay and his wife Roberta were responsible for quite a few cult classics of sleaze in the 60s and 70s, and "The Touch Of Her Flesh" is one of the films that earned the couple their cult-status amongst lovers of sleazy Grindhouse cinema. This is a film that is recommendable to my fellow fans of cult-sleaze for a pioneering character. As probably many other Exploitation fans out there, however, I must say that my admiration of this film, and my acknowledgment of its pioneering cult character exceeds the actual fun that I had watching it. It is definitely entertaining to watch, but then again, the long scenes of women dancing seductively etc. may have been sleazy and exciting then, but they are quite dated and overlong for today's standards, especially due to the fact that these sequences are very tame compared to what was to come in the 70s. This is also what is to acknowledge about this film however as it is pioneering in its sleaze and weirdness. There is little talking, or, more precisely, dubbing, as people never look at the camera when they talk, which is quite annoying at times. I know this from a bunch of older films, but this is definitely the only film from the late 60s I've seen, that still uses this form of dubbing, which really needs getting used to. Nothing but the low budget can take the blame for that, however.After catching his catching his exotic dancer girlfriend with another man, a troubled arms dealer gets involved in an accident. Reciovering from his heavy injuries, the man has become a psychopath on the hunt for sexy women to murder...This is the first part in a trilogy of "Flesh" films. I have yet to see the sequels "The Kiss Of Her Flesh" and "The Curse Of Her Flesh", and Ia am exited to do so, as I have big respect for this little cult flick, and I highly recommend any lover of Exploitation cinema to see it. People who are not as familiar with exploitation cinema will probably find it crappy, since one has to perceive this film's pioneering character in order to acknowledge it adequately. The film has more than just a sentimental value of originality, however. Director Michael Findlay also stars in the role of psycho Richard Jennings, and the guy's craziness is very entertaining to watch. Female eye candy is also omnipresent throughout the film. It is interesting to see how beauty trends change, as "The Touch Of Her Flesh" concentrates on the display of big breasts and buxom curves. This is not a movie I'd recommend to everybody, but I strongly advise my fellow fans of sleazy Grindhouse cult not to miss it. This is pure cult cinema, and for Exploitation fans like myself it has a certain value as a pioneering classic of weird sleaze. Be warned though: it tends to bore.

Possible minor spoilers.First came the nudies--harmless fluff flicks with the cast bouncing around in various stages of undress. Then came the roughies--rape, dominations, whippings, BD/SM. And then...there were the ghoulies. And no one did the ghoulies better than Michael and Roberta Findlay, the all-time king and queen of the New York grindhouse circuit. I must say that this Flesh surprised me. I expected some shaky, cheap-thrill blood-guts-and-boobs epic...and I got a surprisingly professional, highly personal endeavor that comes dangerously close to the realm of Art. I am not kidding!Michael is Richard Jennings, a middle-class man with the archetypal Madonna-whore complex. When his wife turns out to be the latter, crippled Richard seeks vengeance against the sex industry and the women who populate it; viewed today, it eerily predicts how Bully Boy would destroy much of the vibrant, seedy world that allowed for the creation of this film. In a fantastic psychedelic discotheque sequence, a cute black go-go girl receives a poison rose and after some lengthy topless gyrations (go-go fans take note), drops dead in mid-freakout. A stripper slithers around in what turns out to be her last show. But the ultimate target is unfaithful wife Claudia (Claudia Jennings? Is this where the drive-in queen got her inspiration?), a busty blonde dubbed in Roberta's distinctive New Yawk tones.This is a steamy, seamy walk on the wild side from the people who did it best. Michael (as Robert West) turns in an excellent performance as the star psycho. The dialogue is minimal and dubbed (quite well in Richard's case); some of it is very funny--"My dear Claudia! Let me see those breasts of yours! Those breasts that he was fondling!" With a little gore, plenty of female skin, and an atmosphere thick with gritty vitality. Sadly, the film is a time capsule of a by-gone era. The Findlays are gone now (Michael has passed on, may he rest in peace; Roberta has disappeared from sight); the seedy vitality of Times Square has been replaced by soulless corporate fiberglass. If your mindset is outside the mainstream...if you think that sleaze is not necessarily a bad thing...you owe it to yourself to see this hour of monochrome madness. We miss you, Mike.

Roberta and Mike Findlay made over a dozen nudie/sickie/roughies in the 60s and early 70s, culminating with SNUFF in the late 70s. Of all those films, the FLESH trilogy is the most memorable. TOUCH OF HER FLESH, CURSE OF HER FLESH, and KISS OF HER FLESH were three sickie classics starring Robert West as Richard Jennings, a one-eyed psycho who kills strippers in sadistic ways. This was his beginning and is a tad boring, but pays off.Richard Jennings witnesses his wife having sex with another man and runs into traffic. Losing one eye and temporarily paralyzed from the waist down, Richard vows his vengeance and vents his frustration while searching for his wife by killing strippers in inventive ways. He sends one a rose with thorns dipped in poison, shoots a poison dart into the stomach of another, and by the finale, a dagger, a buzzsaw, and a crossbow fit into the whole mess.TOUCH OF HER FLESH is really sick. First the audience is treated to coy sex scenes and stripping/go-go scenes, followed immediately by scenes of death and gore. I guess that's why they call them sickies. All the acting is bad, but most of the women would fit right in a Russ Meyer film! Top-heavy tarts make up most of the nudity here, which is pleasing to the eye and sort of differentiates this from other films of its kind. There are some good instances of cinematography and editing that are above par in an exploitation film as well.TOUCH OF HER FLESH is not for everyone and will probably offend those looking for a softcore sex film from the 60s. The version I saw was cut, as the film only ran an hour (original running time is 70 minutes), but the sex was not graphic; it's the gore that should draw audiences. Sadistic viewers should enjoy it, but I'm surprised cries of misogyny haven't plagued this film from its release! Not heartily recommended, but is worth a look if you're curious. And you should be if you're reading a review of this!