Despite founding one of the earliest independent home video companies, Charles Band wasn’t a part of it for long. After starting Meda Home Entertainment, he started taking on more and more partners, including producer Irwin Yablans. Eventually, Yablans and his associates owned more of the company, so Band forcibly sold off his shares. The company was rebranded to Media Home Entertainment and continued for the next decade until 1993. Meanwhile, Band still wanted in on the home video market, so he formed a new label called Wizard Video. Charles started acquiring the rights to all kinds of crazy exploitation films to release under his new brand. After getting the licenses for so many bizarre movies, Band created a compilation tape of the trailers. He hired Ken Dixon to put together the first Wizard Video release titled The Best of Sex and Violence.
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Synopsis
Veteran actor John Carradine hosts this cavalcade of cinematic oddities, delivering snide comments with a dry wit. The compilation begins with two violent exploitation films, Bury Me an Angel and The Doberman Gang. Things get steamy with trailers for The Sin of Adam and Eve and the adult version of Alice in Wonderland. Charles Band also sneaks in trailers for his movies, like Cinderella, Fairy Tales, and Tourist Trap. For more extreme thrills, we get trailers for video nasties like I Spit on Your Grave, The Boogeyman, and Zombie. There’s a bevy of buxom beauties, either being sacrificed to Satan or shooting their way out of prison. We end with some blaxploitation, including Ebony, Ivory, & Jade, Dr. Black & Mr. Hyde, and some Rudy Ray Moore. Also, look for an appearance by John’s sons, David “Bill” Carradine and Keith “Tom Frank” Carradine.
Review
The Best of Sex and Violence is a hard movie to review since it barely counts as one. In terms of being a movie, this has very little production value, essentially just one actor sitting in a room. That said, John Carradine does his best to deliver his comebacks, even if he looks confused about why he’s there. It’s funny hearing him talk about working on the classic Universal horror films and working with Cecil B. Demille. It’s also nice seeing him with his sons making family jokes about borrowing the car or asking for money. Ken Dixon, who later directed Slave Girls from Beyond Infinity, put a lot of care into making this compilation. He makes the trailers flow together, dividing them into segments depending on genre and selecting the best trailers. They even sneak in clips from Last Foxtrot in Burbank and End of the World.
Of course, the main reason to see this movie is the collection of trailers for all these obscure exploitation flicks. You get tons of action, horror, nudity, harmful stereotypes, dated humor, and exaggerated acting to make any B-movie fan happy. With many of these older movies, the trailers are far better than the movies, though there are some exceptions. For instance, Tourist Trap, I Spit on Your Grave, Zombie, and any of Rudy Ray Moore’s films are worth watching. It also gives you a glimpse of the kinds of movies coming out around that time. This movie would be great for putting on in the background during a party, especially for cult movie fans. Admittedly, some of the trailers go a little too long, and they’re poor quality, but it’s still a fun watch. Overall, The Best of Sex and Violence is a treat for fans of obscure exploitation movies.
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