WANDA THE SADISTIC HYPNOTIST (1969)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *uncanny*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *irony*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *psychological*

Even by the late 1960s, apparently the grindhouse audience was still so starved for female nudity that the patrons would sit through any kind of pseudo-artsy stuff as long as it had T&A. Writer-director Gregory Corarito, though he only worked on four feature films in his career, certainly didn't render anything resembling genuine art. But WANDA THE SADISTIC HYPNOTIST is a engaging, albeit simultaneously confusing, sex romp that merges T&A with S&M.

A guy wearing sunglasses (whom I'll call Sunglasses) takes some dope and then wanders down a city-street, glancing at mannequins in a store window and imagining that they're live nude girls. Sunglasses-- according to one review, played by the director-- then stops in a grindhouse to see a movie. The movie he watches-- whose title claims that it stars a "Miss Dikey Diketon"-- ends up providing most of WANDA's narrative, though occasionally the focus shifts back to the grindhouse theater, just to remind the viewer that Sunglasses is still there, watching, just like one of the intended filmgoers.

In the film proper, an ordinary fellow, Sylvester, is driving down a country road in his car, when he blows a tire and crashes. As if anticipating his advent, two hot women appear and transport Sylvester to their mansion. Once the injured man awakens, they introduce themselves as Wanda and Greta (Katharine Shubeck, Janine Sweet). At least one of those names seems to be an in-joke, for in VENUS IN FURS, Sacher-Masoch's best known celebration of the paraphilia named after him, the woman who torments the pain-loving POV character is named-- Wanda. I'm not sure the name "Greta" has similar significance. Still, I thought it interesting that the original title for the 1977 torture-happy sleaze opus ILSA THE WICKED WARDEN was "Greta the Mad Butcher."

Of the two probably lesbian ladies, Greta's the nice one, showing some degree of concern for Sylvester's condition. Wanda, however, clearly nurtures some grudge against the male of the species. Not only does she maintain the mansion, where Sylvester's the only male amid numerous often-nude females, she's apparently learned hypnosis, in that she can mesmerize her male captive into doing anything she desires. She establishes his lowly status by whipping him with a riding-crop, and then forces him to wander about the estate while the women mock him. Not that Wanda's entirely averse to messing with her acolytes. She hypnotizes one Zelda, explicitly said to be lesbian, and tells her that she's a nympho, which leads to Zelda raping the bound Sylvester.

So far, WANDA sounds like it's made for viewers who were not content with simple ogling and who were into at least light sadomasochism. However, there's a small "revolt of the male," for a "funeee farm" escapee shows up at the mansion and intimidates the women with displays of masculine temper. He releases Sylvester, but the two men don't really take any major revenge, even for a softcore film, except that the guys force the women to raid Wanda's supply of LSD. After some very boring psychedelic visuals, mostly just repeating scenes already shown, Wanda manages to place both men under her hypnotic sway. The girls then send the maniac back to the asylum and cause Sylvester to forget everything that happened. He gets in his presumably repaired car and drives away.

Then, just to show that Corarito didn't forget his self-insert back in the grindhouse, Sunglasses leaves the theater, gets in a car, and drives down a country road. His tires hit a nail-trap, his car crashes, and up pop Wanda and Greta, ready for more fun.

It's because of this "film turns into reality" schtick that I label WANDA an "irony," since this term best describes stories in which all logic and morality has vanished from the world. Of Corarito's other three films, I have seen his 80s T&A-fest, DELINQUENT SCHOOL GIRLS. This is more of a straight comedy with similar elements, wherein three fugitives from a nuthouse take over a girls' school. These demented fellows terrorize the ladies in a very comical manner, until the ending. Then there's a "revolt of the female," in which a class of judo-girls rebels and kicks all the guys' asses. Say what you like about this writer-director, at least he was consistent.