Shock jock Eli Roth's recent KNOCK KNOCK was ostensibly a remake slash rehabilitation of Pete Traynor's notorious 1977 DEATH GAME, the one time skeleton in the adjoining closets of cult actresses Sondra Locke and Colleen Camp, with the original's director acting as producer no less, but in all fairness it was the late adult "auteur" Chris Warfield who got there first with his 1973 directorial debut LITTLE MISS INNOCENCE. A contract player over at MGM in the studio system's twilight years, Warfield would rack up an impressive roster of '60s TV credits on shows like PERRY MASON and MY THREE SONS prior to entering the burgeoning adults only arena as a Jack of all trades, producing Bill Rotsler's mock documentary LIKE IT IS, penning Corey Allen's EROTIC ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO and donning the customary white coat to portray the sensitive shrink on Ted Roter's peekaboo case history NORMA. Founding Lima Productions to sustain soft-core's viability in the face of increasingly intimate exploits starting to hog US skin cinema screens, he finally took the reigns, resulting in this labor of love he was to write as well as direct which - barring its infrequent use of "contemporary" and therefore instantly outdated lingo - has held up surprisingly well over the four intervening decades.
Easily the most accomplished thespian in exploitation and Dave Friedman's go to guy on a sizable slew of projects that include STARLET! and TRADER HORNEE, John Alderman headlines as middle-aged composer Rick Engels whose "neato" LA pad becomes the stage for the manipulative mind games played upon him by a pair of perky hitchhikers he had unwittingly picked up earlier that day. Fancying himself as something of a Lothario, he had innocently flirted with them as he drove them up to the beach, thinking no more of it until they turn up on his doorstep refusing to leave. Charming their way inside innocuously enough, their plans are soon revealed as more sinister than their host could reasonably assess. The character referred to by film's title, toothsome blonde Judy (busy starlet Terri Johnson, billed as "Judy Medford" and a regular for Friedman and Harry Novak, here on the brink of early retirement as hardcore was closing in) shows up in Rick's bedroom only to be revealed as a virgin at the painful moment of penetration ! Prior to their coupling, there's an amusing bit of dialog with Judy playfully slapping Rick's face for his being so bold as to steal a kiss which she explains as "fulfillment" of his expectations as to how a young lady should behave under the circumstances. Clearly, the term "fulfillment" served as Warfield's thesaurus treasure as it would feature prominently in the titles of two of his early explicit endeavors FULFILLMENT and BEYOND FULFILLMENT, which he customarily signed under the alias of "Billy Thornberg".
With Judy's maidenhead a thing of the past, it's time for her older and bolder best friend Carol (cult carnal queen Sandy Dempsey who successfully straddled the fence separating simulated from real sex until her untimely death in a freak boating accident in the Gulf of Mexico in 1975) to do a number on Rick. Apparently asleep on his couch, albeit in the nude, as he stumbles from his bedroom in the wake of Judy's unanticipated deflowering, she soothes his frayed nerves at the thought of a repeat performance that "virgins are only one per customer" ! It's snappy, well-delivered dialog such as this that sustains audience interest as well as sympathy for all three characters throughout the film's brief but exceptionally employed running time. Soon Carol and Judy are either taking turns or teaming up to exhaust "poor" Rick, alienating him from both social life and professional obligations. Although Carol seems completely in control, she will ultimately prove quite unhinged as the result of having been sexually abused by several family members as a child and is now attempting revenge on all men. While this was already something of a cliché even then in overheated melodramas such as this, not to mention more than a tad moralizing, Dempsey's shattering delivery of her big shrieking speech to Judy - whose guilt pangs have brought about a change of heart - and a now nearly comatose Rick never fails to impress, especially as there was otherwise little in the actress's body of work to suggest such an ability.
Recalling Mark Haggard's prior THE LOVE GARDEN in its focus on a very small group of characters intimately interacting to supply earnest drama, Warfield's admittedly less explicit endeavor (staying well within the confines of its R rating whereas Haggard brushed dangerously close against the dreaded X) has the edge in at least two important areas. It wisely leavens its heavy-handed histrionics with snide sarcasm and production-wise it looks and sounds as good as any small scale American movie made at the time. The brightly colored and surprisingly agile camera work of the otherwise notorious Ray Dennis Steckler (whose reflection can be spotted for a split second in the shiny side of a bus driving by during the opening scene) easily surpasses all of his achievements in any capacity he has attempted over the years. Oh, and just try to get that infernally catchy theme tune out of your head after-wards, a pay the rent if properly accredited assignment for composer Richard Loring (guilty of the equally indelible "Biddle-Dee-Dee" ditty for Disney's TOBY TYLER) and lyricist Guy Hemric, a veteran of Frankie and Annette's Beach Party movies. Warfield's superior script, whipped into shape by E.E. Patchen who wrote Richard Robinson's early 'core classic ADULTERY FOR FUN & PROFIT, was dusted off for a faithful fornication flick update fifteen years down the line by future bottom of the barrel gore guru Dave DeCoteau of all people which brings this review back full circle to the Roth reference from the first paragraph.
Easily the most accomplished thespian in exploitation and Dave Friedman's go to guy on a sizable slew of projects that include STARLET! and TRADER HORNEE, John Alderman headlines as middle-aged composer Rick Engels whose "neato" LA pad becomes the stage for the manipulative mind games played upon him by a pair of perky hitchhikers he had unwittingly picked up earlier that day. Fancying himself as something of a Lothario, he had innocently flirted with them as he drove them up to the beach, thinking no more of it until they turn up on his doorstep refusing to leave. Charming their way inside innocuously enough, their plans are soon revealed as more sinister than their host could reasonably assess. The character referred to by film's title, toothsome blonde Judy (busy starlet Terri Johnson, billed as "Judy Medford" and a regular for Friedman and Harry Novak, here on the brink of early retirement as hardcore was closing in) shows up in Rick's bedroom only to be revealed as a virgin at the painful moment of penetration ! Prior to their coupling, there's an amusing bit of dialog with Judy playfully slapping Rick's face for his being so bold as to steal a kiss which she explains as "fulfillment" of his expectations as to how a young lady should behave under the circumstances. Clearly, the term "fulfillment" served as Warfield's thesaurus treasure as it would feature prominently in the titles of two of his early explicit endeavors FULFILLMENT and BEYOND FULFILLMENT, which he customarily signed under the alias of "Billy Thornberg".
With Judy's maidenhead a thing of the past, it's time for her older and bolder best friend Carol (cult carnal queen Sandy Dempsey who successfully straddled the fence separating simulated from real sex until her untimely death in a freak boating accident in the Gulf of Mexico in 1975) to do a number on Rick. Apparently asleep on his couch, albeit in the nude, as he stumbles from his bedroom in the wake of Judy's unanticipated deflowering, she soothes his frayed nerves at the thought of a repeat performance that "virgins are only one per customer" ! It's snappy, well-delivered dialog such as this that sustains audience interest as well as sympathy for all three characters throughout the film's brief but exceptionally employed running time. Soon Carol and Judy are either taking turns or teaming up to exhaust "poor" Rick, alienating him from both social life and professional obligations. Although Carol seems completely in control, she will ultimately prove quite unhinged as the result of having been sexually abused by several family members as a child and is now attempting revenge on all men. While this was already something of a cliché even then in overheated melodramas such as this, not to mention more than a tad moralizing, Dempsey's shattering delivery of her big shrieking speech to Judy - whose guilt pangs have brought about a change of heart - and a now nearly comatose Rick never fails to impress, especially as there was otherwise little in the actress's body of work to suggest such an ability.
Recalling Mark Haggard's prior THE LOVE GARDEN in its focus on a very small group of characters intimately interacting to supply earnest drama, Warfield's admittedly less explicit endeavor (staying well within the confines of its R rating whereas Haggard brushed dangerously close against the dreaded X) has the edge in at least two important areas. It wisely leavens its heavy-handed histrionics with snide sarcasm and production-wise it looks and sounds as good as any small scale American movie made at the time. The brightly colored and surprisingly agile camera work of the otherwise notorious Ray Dennis Steckler (whose reflection can be spotted for a split second in the shiny side of a bus driving by during the opening scene) easily surpasses all of his achievements in any capacity he has attempted over the years. Oh, and just try to get that infernally catchy theme tune out of your head after-wards, a pay the rent if properly accredited assignment for composer Richard Loring (guilty of the equally indelible "Biddle-Dee-Dee" ditty for Disney's TOBY TYLER) and lyricist Guy Hemric, a veteran of Frankie and Annette's Beach Party movies. Warfield's superior script, whipped into shape by E.E. Patchen who wrote Richard Robinson's early 'core classic ADULTERY FOR FUN & PROFIT, was dusted off for a faithful fornication flick update fifteen years down the line by future bottom of the barrel gore guru Dave DeCoteau of all people which brings this review back full circle to the Roth reference from the first paragraph.