Things to Come

Director - Derek Todd (Jaws of Death)

Starring - Jim Curtis, Barbara Fisk (The Pyramid), and Neil Fletcher (Creature of Destruction, Deadly Blessing)

Release Date - 1976

Genre - Sci-Fi

Tagline - "Soon...there will be machines that can do anything"

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection)

Rating (out of 5):

     As long as I'm alive I'll always be drawn to the sleazy side of cinema.  There is just something fun about watching movies that is overflowing with profanities, nudity, and outcasts.  In some of my reviews I referred to exploitation as Outlaw Cinema and to an extent it is.  These films went against the norm all while "exploiting" trends to make a quick buck.  When I heard that AGFA and Something Weird was teaming up for another release I was beside myself.  When I heard that release was being called Smut Without Smut I was even more excited.  This particular release features two films, Things to Come and The Dirty Dolls.  Both films come in an edited, or smut without smut cut, and the original hardcore release.  Things to Come was the first on the menu so it was the first I went with.  

     The film is set in a dystopian future where people work just a few months out of the year and spend the rest of their time in their homes watching television.  One woman longs for something else in life and wants the freedom to do as she wishes.  When she wins a trip to the Pleasure Dome she is met by a friend and tasked with destroying a super computer in order to bring down the authority.  However, once she infiltrates the Pleasure Dome she discovers things are not as they appear.

    I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I was really excited to check this one.  I went with the smut without smut cut because that was the point of this release and I found myself bored.  I doubt the sex scenes was adding that much enjoyment to the film to begin with but this one was very underwhelming.  The acting in this one was pretty dull.  The entire cast came across as if they were bored to be there and a good portion of the cast that I looked up had no prior credits to their name.  What we have is a very amateur and unenthused cast just standing around while they spit out their dialogue like some half-chewed steak.  The story for this one really pulled me in for the first half of the film but failed to gain any traction.  The boring dystopian future with a pleasure dome was a pretty great set up for a sci-fi hardcore flick.  However, the film was more focused on the scenery and sets that it forgets to develop the story beyond that point.  If the movie was able to actually progress beyond the woman in the Pleasure Dome then it would have been something truly enjoyable.  However, the way the film is we follow her in, watch her as she tries to complete her mission before she's captured...and then nothing.  Finally, this one does have a few death scenes that are pretty fun.  One part of the story, my favorite part actually, follows motorcyclists as they hunt down the "androids."  The kills were fun with some blood but they are nothing that special.  Overall, Things to Come has an interesting premise and brilliant sets but the acting and ending was unable to pull everything together.  At first I thought the acting was intentional but that quickly proved wrong.  The transfer looks fantastic and the film has some fun moments but not one I could recommend.