Revenge of the Virgins

Director - Peter Perry Jr. (Honeymoon of Terror, Cycle Vixens)
Starring - Charles Veltmann Jr. (The Alamo), Jodean Lawrence (The Outsider, The Six Million Dollar Man), and Stanton Pritchard (Mystic Prophecies and Nostradamus, Like Wow!)
Release Date - 1959
Genre - Western
Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     What better way to follow up a cheesy 80s action film like Mankillers than with a Vinegar Syndrome double feature but picking one was not an easy task.  I have so many of the Drive-In and Peekarama double features to choose from.  I went through every DVD in those sets until I came across I honestly don't remember receiving.   The DVD one of the Drive-In series and had Revenge of the Virgins and Teenage Zombies.  This seemed like an odd pairing.  A sleazy western involving topless Indians and a mad monster movie.  The only connection I could see was that both films were from the 50s but I would later see the actual connection after watching both films.
     The film follows a young business man and his wife as they put together an expedition after they hear tales of gold deep in the heart of Indian country.  What they don't know is that the area they are venturing into is the home of an all female tribe of Native Americans who kill anyone that enters their territory.  When they strike gold they not only have to worry about the topless Indians but their own who will also shoot them in the back to claim the gold for themselves.
     I'm not a big fan of westerns but there has been a few that I really enjoy.  Personally, I don't think I will ever see a western as good as Tombstone though Django Unchained is pretty damn close.  With that being said, I'm always open to new experiences especially if Vinegar Syndrome is behind the wheel.  The acting in this one is not bad by any means but I have seen a lot better especially from films released around the same time.  The cast looks like their are having fun and enjoying themselves on camera but some of the scenes are awkward where the wrong expression is used and the cast makes light of certain situations.  The story for this one is more than your average western.  We get an early exploitation film that could be one of the first sexploitation flicks.  Before 1959 there was not many westerns that incorporated nudity into the story like this film does.  Most of the raunchy, realistic westerns would not appear until the 60s.  So it was pretty cool to see a western like this one.  With that being said, the story does not fit the film's run time.  The story itself could have fit a 30 minute block but not an hour.  The film has a lot of filler scenes that do nothing for the film's story and are rather boring.  Finally, the film does have a couple death scenes but nothing a horror fan would enjoy.  We get some gunshots and arrow kills but no blood or gore.  The effects, as you can imagine, are very minimal.  Overall, Revenge of the Virgins is a very unique western that could be the inspiration for the sexploitation sub-genre of exploitation.  This is a cheap production which does affect the quality of the film but it has it's moments.