you thought the widely 
abused gimmick of slapping the word "grindhouse" on a package of multiple scratched-up '70s movies was long gone, Code Red is bringing it back into circulation with this Blu-ray triple feature of unrelated drive-in programmers from the Me Decade. First up is Mama's Dirty Girls, an above-average crime/T&A films obviously meant to cash in on such recent films as Bloody Mama, Big Bad Mama, and Bonnie's Kids. Here the obligatory Hollywood star is Gloria Grahame, the scandal-ridden Oscar winner whose career had suffered major hits the previous decade. She was still enough of a recognizable name to market the film though, and she's perfectly cast here as Mama, a cold-blooded matriarch obsessed with owning property who has a sweet scam set up. We see it in action right at the beginning as her seductive daughter, Becky (Pets' Rialson), seduces Mama's current husband only for Mama to burst in and accuse him of statutory rape. He's contrite right away and agrees to write out a sobbing confession letter that also doubles as a suicide note when Mama and company bump him off. 
suspicious of her motives. However, she has no idea that Harold's being blackmailed for drowning his previous wife and plans to do the same to her... but that's just one complication as Becky and Mama's other two daughters, Addie (Class of '74's Currie) and Cindy (Stoddard), become romantically involved with local men who will play a role in the violence that soon explodes. 
this film was penned by Gil Lasky (also behind the wonderfully perverse Blood and Lace with Grahame) and directed by John Hayes, the modest but fascinating helmer of such films as Grave of the Vampire, Garden of the Dead, The Hang Up, and Sweet Trash. It even has Rialson disrobing over the opening credits to make sure butts stay in the seats, and while the rival murderer scenario loses a bit of steam in the second half, it's plenty of pulpy fun. There's even a small role here for Anneka Di Lorenzo, the ill-fated Penthouse Pet who appeared in Caligula and Dressed to Kill! The film first turned up on VHS from Trans World back in '86, running 79 mins. 39 secs., a bit short compared to the announced theatrical running time of 82 minutes. (If anyone has a 35mm print handy, maybe they can verify whether that's accurate.) The Code Red version is faded and features a lot of damage, with some heavy splices hacking out several lines of dialogue throughout. As a result, it runs about a minute shorter than the VHS. The DTS-HD MA English mono track is, like its co-features, listenable but in less than prime condition; this film fares the roughest of the three since it has a nasty patch in the second reel with a loud buzz overwhelming the soundtrack for a few minutes. 
The gimmick here is a solar-powered van rejected by the auto industry that aspiring Clint (Schneider) wants to enter in a tournament called the Invitational Freak Out. His first van (called the Sea Witch) got demolished while he was saving a rich runaway named Karen (Saylor) from some aggressive 
bikers, and Karen's dad who runs the tournament isn't prepared for the souped-up, cop-defying, laser-quipped Vandora that's about to change history. 
obvious upgrade in detail, but it's also a different transfer with more muted colors. (Here's a sample grab from the DVD.) is Piranha! Piranha!, also shown as Piranha, Piranha and even just plain old Piranha as it's suckered in paying viewers since 1972. A seemingly endless slog through the jungle disguised as a violent adventure film, it only delivers on its promised thrills in tiny short bursts scattered throughout the tedium. On top of that it stars exploitation stalwarts William Smith and Peter Brown, whose presence promises far more, in the story of a photographer named Terry (Capri) who ropes her brother, Art (Simcox), into heading into the wilds of South America for a down and dirty photo shoot of diamond mining in the midst of nature at its most savage. They hire a guide named Jim (Brown) to keep them safe along the way, but along the way they run afoul of ruthless hunter Caribe (Smith), whose name happens to mean "piranha," and who has a tendency to hunt more than just big game. 
on the two-season TV show Laredo, but this is a nastier piece of work with some stock footage of animals dying in their natural habitat. That's gotten this one labeled as an early forerunner to the whole Italian cannibal craze, but that really makes this sound a lot more extreme and fascinating than it actually plays out. Huge stretches of the film consist of characters wandering from one place to another, all accompanied by ambient nature sounds and occasionally swapping a few lines of dialogue or being attacked by our title character. However...
