Mike
Kuchar's Sins of the Fleshapoids
OtherCinema
R0
DVD
Web:
http://www.othercinemadvd.com/
Along with Anger's Scorprio
and Warhol's Chelsea Girls, Mike Kuchar's Sins of the
Fleshapoids still remains one of the most influential
films of the '60s American Underground. Hailed by John Waters as a defining
influence on his cinema, it is film of some significance. Mike and his brother
George pioneered what we today would understand to be “low budget” cinema
producing a classic which is lurid as well as camp and still holds its own for
strangeness today. Indeed many believe it has a strong influence on the later
development of Barbarella.
The DVD release of Sins of the Fleshapoids is great to see, it is one of the many benefits
of DVD that we can get to see those hard to find cult classics which were
usually only available on 100th generation video tapes with damaged
sound and washed out colour ! In this release from Other Cinema we also get two other
“classics” (and I use the term carefully!) from the Kuchar
catalog, The Secret of Wendel Samson and The Craven Sluck, good value I say !
So let’s consider the story line of these
strange and quirky excursions into underground cinema…
In Fleshapoids
we enter the world of zero budget science fiction. The stage is set a million
years in the future after “the final great war” has scourged the planet and mankind
has forsaken science. But all is not lost, the
technological generation has not been replaced with warring factions or gangs
but with a quest for self-indulgence! All possible desires and pleasures are afforded
in food, sex and the arts by androids. (A bit strange for the generation that
has neglected science, using androids, well, umm !
This is a Kulchar film)
One Android finds himself in an unusual
situation, he has fallen in love with another android and wants to escape and
live “happily ever after”, sick of constantly working for his bored and rather
degenerate masters, he rebels and the story unfolds….
The second entry, "The Secret Life of
Wendell Samson" is an unusual early exploration of a gay man (pop star Red
Grooms) who is trapped in a straight relationship. It is certainly a poetic
production with very stylized sequences and some powerful moments.
In the final film, "The Craven Sluck" , Floraine
Connors is locked in a loveless marriage and she only survives through fantasies of becoming a star in
A great collection of
cult cinema on one DVD.
Special Features include:
Director’s
Commentary
Booklet
featuring Jack Stevenson’s Interview with Kuchar
Upcoming
Releases from Other Cinema DVD