Amazing Transplant, The (1970)

Amazing Transplant, The (1970)

“I’m afraid our Arthur wasn’t quite the sweet boy we thought he was.”

Synopsis:
When a “nice young man” (Joao Fernendes) is accused of murdering his former girlfriend (Sandy Evan), his detective uncle (Larry Hunter) contacts everyone in his nephew’s address book — and soon learns that Arthur (Fernendes) has recently turned into a deranged rapist.

Genres:

  • Criminal Investigation
  • Detectives and Private Eyes
  • Rape

Review:
As perhaps the best-known film made by female sleaze director Doris Wishman (under the pseudonym of “Louis Silverman”), The Amazing Transplant will likely be of interest to fans of trash cinema, but its general appeal is limited. Wishman is notorious for her tendency to aim her camera anywhere (feet, furniture, statues) but at the characters’ faces when they’re speaking — which is actually a good thing, given that they’re all distractingly dubbed. The actors are uniformly awful (most are simply porn stars in the making), but special kudos must go to Uncle Bill (Hunter) for his hilariously bad extended reaction shots while listening to each rape victim tell her sordid tale.

The film’s plot (a criminal investigation) is basically an excuse for Wishman to show multiple flashback scenes of women being raped; while all resist at first, the majority eventually “give in” and appear to be enjoying themselves, thus disturbingly feeding any rape fetishist’s wildest fantasies. The “surprise twist” at the end of the film is anything but, with most reviews giving away the fact that this X-rated film owes thematic allegiance to such horror-film predecessors as Mad Love (1935) and The Hands of Orloc (1960).

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

  • Not much

Must See?
No, though truly dedicated film fanatics may be morbidly curious to check out Wishman’s directorial “style”. Listed as Trash in the back of Peary’s book (and even he acknowledges that such films aren’t necessary viewing for ALL film fanatics).

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