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Sex Psycho (1970)

Dir: Walt Davis

Nick (Mike Haven with a really funny 70's bob haircut) is married to a woman (Sandy Dempsey, actually an attractive actress made up with a bad wig and geeky milk bottle glasses) he can no longer stand, "Who wants to stay home with a wife that looks like you do…why do you always have to be so sloppy"?

Nick is having an affair with a married woman named Eva Blue, but it turns out his put-upon wife is also having an affair with a guy (Rick Cassidy).

Eva and Nick plot to kill Eva's Husband, Jerry Blue (director Walt Davis), and get Eva's unsuspecting Brother, Marshall, to seduce him and while Jerry 'otherwise engaged' Nick slams a cleaver into his neck.
To make matters more complicated a couple of 'swinging' friends (including the legendary John Holmes) then pop around to Eva's for a bit of fun.
All this murderous activity leads to many psychotic couplings and more spilt blood…….

 

Pre-dating the 'Porn Chic' boom that kick started hardcore pornography into the mainstream with titles like "Deep Throat" in 1972, "Sex Psycho" deserves more credit for its mix of hardcore sex and bloody violence than fate allows it.

It is also not trying for the more intentionally comedic (sometimes) and/or sophisticated (sometimes) elements that would appear later as the mini porn boom took hold.
It is far more along the lines of 1974's horror/sex opus "Hardgore" or even '72's infamous "Forced Entry" (though it has to be said does have far more camp value and trash elements than the deadly serious and rough "Forced Entry"). But of course it pre-dates both of those as well!

Sadly an almost non-existent release anywhere, in any medium (the only real source was a deleted 'Something Weird Video' VHS release in the days when they dabbled in hardcore features, now DVD-R's are the only way to catch this at the moment) has seen to it that not only is the film hard to find, but that it never even had a chance of claiming it's place in Exploitation history.
Walt Davis would later go back to the blood and sex, to wider success, with "Evil Come Evil Go"…but "Sex Psycho" was the miscarriage before the successful birth.

Looking as wonderfully cheap and ratty as you hope it would (there is no place here for THX style gleaming footage), "Sex Psycho" looks like it SHOULD look given the content and there is something just wonderful about this cheap and dirty looking image...it just feels right somehow.

Starting with a Homosexual sex scene (with a suitably tacky saxophone and piano jazz soundtrack accompaniment) involving oral and penetration the viewer instantly knows this is not something that aims to pander to mainstream sensibilities. Let's all give thanks for that.

The film can come across as very badly made though, past the point of being 'bad in a fun way' at times.
The best example is during a sex scene between Nick's Wife and her lover you hear the director suddenly tells them to act like they heard a noise, the actors even stop and look at him as he speaks to them!
They then carry on the scene with Dempsey asking…"What was that noise"? Oh dear!

The gore is sparse (only 2 scenes) and cheap but messily effective. The cleaver to the neck is delightfully bloody and would not be out of place in a straight horror film and the other gore scene is a real blood-drenched gem.

There is in fact much warped fun to be had here. After Hubby is sliced a blood smeared Eva gets turned on and seduces Nick into having sex on the bed where the body is lying (hysterically scored to "The Sorcerer's Apprentice"! Another filmmaker called Walt would not have been pleased!), even going so far as sucking the corpse's penis…"Poor old prick! If he couldn't get up when he was alive I guess he won't now either".

We are also treated to a spot of incest between Eva and her Brother as Nick pushes them into having sex, before joining in with them of course.
"Come on bitch keep sucking, don't speak with your mouth full".
"My own Sister man"?
"Oh come on, you love it, you love it"!
This is a pretty effective sequence as well due to the weird minimalist library music it's scored with and the quick flashes back to the murder with Nick raising up the cleaver.

The other major sex sequence is a five-way orgy when Holmes and his girl appear. And it's full of varied positions, and acts ("somebody suck my toe"), ending in a great oral/penetration five person coupling.

Humour of the blackest kind is rampant. Quite where Eva's Brother got a huge black coffin from is anyone's guess but after the murder he wanders into the room with it and moans at Nick and Eva for screwing next to the corpse. It's absurd in the extreme but this whole portion of the film has been so off-the-wall it seems perfectly in keeping.

The sex is pretty much your normal 70's hardcore with thankfully normal and natural bodies (and pubic hair in abundance) on display. The camera never gets up that close and not very often when it does, but the odd close-up and cum shot is thankfully provided.
The plot does tend to stop dead for most of the sex, but the damage is minimal because the sex is suitably varied and fun.
It's not exactly erotic, but it has its moments and benefits from coming across as very natural, with the actors seeming to have a good time.

"Sex Psycho" is about as cheap as any film hoping to have any chance of cinematic distribution can be…and sometimes it shows to it's detriment. But the low budget also adds to the whole scummy vibe that such films thrive on.
It's tacky, crass, silly, outrageous, camp and most importantly, fun…and even with it's many obvious faults it's still a lost Exploitation treat that any Trash freak will get a big kick out of.
You either embrace this type of film or you don't…but for those that do it's a mini-groundbreaker that you should give a welcome hug to.