Tonight I saw a film directed by the heir apparent to Russ Meyer.
Tonight I saw PERVERT!.
While Russ Meyer may have passed on to the great beyond a little over a year ago his spirit certainly lives on in filmmaker Jonathan Yudis and his movie PERVERT!. With PERVERT! Yudis has made a film that Meyer would be proud of. Yudis has done what so many other filmmakers have failed to do in the past: he's captured the crazy spirit that filled many of Meyer's movies without losing any of their bite. Yudis has made what is as close as you can get to a Russ Meyer movie made for the 21st century and in today's politically correct climate I'm sure it wasn't easy for him to do.
In PERVERT! Yudis has created a style of film that, in most cases, has been dead for a long time. It's film that decides to go all the way and not hold anything back. It's a movie that's equal parts comedy, part horror/gore movie, and part sex film. It's a crazy and unbridled romp through Meyers land and it's made even better by the fact that Yudis has obviously studied the geography as his movie comes across almost as if it were made by the man himself. The music, the editing, the dialog
all of it is there. I've often wondered what Russ Meyer might be able to do with the advent of the digital film-making revolution and Yudis has provided the answer. Meyer'd make something almost exactly like PERVERT!.
And in some ways Yudis has made something better than a Meyer film. The director of this movie avoids a lot of the clunkiness of Meyer's films and the movie breezes along at a quick and humorous pace. The movie's actually funny and the lines and moments that are supposed to make you laugh are actually able to do so. While the dialog is just as guffaw-inducing as old-school Meyer there are actually jokes in this film that work. Not to mention that the delivery by many of the actors goes a long way. Specifically by the lead actor Sean Andrews and the actor who plays his father, Darrell Sandeen. Sandeen has some great lines in the flick which he delivers in a way that'd make Adam West envious. All in all Yudis has made an extremely enjoyable film. Special kudos for to animator Corky Quakenbush (Of Mad TV's Raging Rudolf and Davey and Goliath as Son of Sam fame,) for putting together some really great claymation sequences that occur towards the "ahem" climax of the movie. Yep, you read that last part right
PERVERT! even has claymation! It's claymation that definitely isn't for the kiddies but neither is the rest of the movie.
After all, it is a Russ Meyer style movie and yes, gentlemen, it's not for the sexually conservative among you. The film co-stars Skinemax adult star Marey Carey who's more than willing to display her, um, talents for the screen as are several of the other actresses in the film. There's plenty of skin to go around in this movie but then the movie is called PERVERT! after all. In true Russ Meyer fashion the buxom ladies are plenty in this movie and they're not shy. It's not overly explicit and by no means is it pornographic but for those of you that can't stand the sight of female nudity you might want to stay away from this one. For the rest of us, Yudis delivers the ladies in spades and I'm sure Russ Mayers and Marey Carey fans everywhere will be grateful in spades.
Let's just say that I don't think PERVERT! is going to be playing in the Bible Belt any time soon. Which is too bad for them as they'll be messing out on a great piece of cinematic fun. Yeah, a movie called PERVERT! isn't going to be for everyone but for those of you that it is for (and you know who you are) you should be guaranteed a pretty good time or at the very least some really good laughs.
