Drive-in Double Feature: Bad Girls Go To Hell/Another Day, Another Man

Doris Wishman's film noir masterpiece? It's a stretch, but there's a certain grungy edge to the slapdash, shot-on-the-streets aesthetic of Bad Girls Go to Hell. This brilliant title belongs to the bizarre tale of a giddy young newlywed (Gigi Darlene) who changes her name and flees for New York after killing her building superintendent, a sleazy rapist with bad teeth. She seeks refuge with a sadistic drunk who lashes her with his belt, a predatory lesbian, and a pleasant landlady with a sex maniac husband. The feature was shot silent with sound dubbed in, and the odd, alienating quality actually makes her torrid ordeal more nightmarish, and it's got a doozy of an ending. Another Day, Another Man, the story of another newlywed who becomes a hooker to pay for her husband's sudden medical bills, is less lurid but has moments of sheer weirdness. Her pimp dreams of seducing twins and a fresh-faced farm girl into his fold ("My day at the bus terminal had really paid off!"), and the film climaxes with a strange, shocking ending. Known in the trade as "roughies," these films lean to the violent side of Wishman but are more suggestive than literal (especially when she forgets to dub in the sound effects) and feature very little actual nudity. There is, however, plenty of lounging around in underwear and even some headstands. The prints are in nice condition and the DVD also features trailers, stills, and ad art for Doris Wishman films, and kitschy drive-in intermission shorts. --Sean Axmaker

A demented drive-in double feature from director Doris Wishman! Gigi Darlene learns that Bad Girls Go to Hell (1965, 64 min.) when she's attacked by a janitor with bad teeth, accidentally kills the guy, then flees to New York--where her troubles really begin! With its crazed plot, rampant nudity, and predatory sex maniacs, "Bad Girls Go to Hell" is one of director Wishman's wildest "roughies" which, amazingly, was theatrically re-released in 1998! In the second feature, Another Day, Another Man (1966, 70 min.), Ann, a "Miss Prim" with a giant hairdo, doesn't approve of her friend Tess' occupation as a prostitute, nor of Tess' employer, Bert the pimp. But when Ann's husband suddenly gets a mysterious illness, she has to find some way to pay the bills and, yup, quickly becomes one of Bert's girls. With a hilariously tragic ending and Wishman's trademark camerawork that seems to be constantly distracted by inanimate objects, Another Day, Another Man also stars Gigi Darlene as a hooker whose hayseed boyfriend gets manhandled by sexy twins Rita and Darlene Bennett. Two lunatic masterpieces from the woman who gave the world "Deadly Weapons" and "Double Agent 73."