The Body Shop (1972)

The Body Shop (1972). 1h 15m | X

“The lines in the title of this review are the first lines in this filmu0026#39;s theme song, a wonderfully demented parody of the (in my opinion horrible) song u0026quot;My favorite thingsu0026quot; from u0026quot;The Sound of Musicu0026quot;. And this fun little detail isnu0026#39;t the only aspect that makes u0026quot;The Body Shopu0026quot; aka. u0026quot;Doctor Goreu0026quot; (1973) recommendable to my fellow Gore/Trash fans. The film, which was created almost entirely by J.G. Patterson Jr., who served as producer, writer, director and leading man as the eponymous Dr. Gore, is crap, no doubt, but it is also beyond doubt that it is amusing, and that everyone involved, probably Patterson especially, was aware that they were not exactly making a masterpiece.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDr. Brandon (Patterson) a famous but totally insane plastic surgeon, looses his beloved wife Anitra, a model, in an accident. Along with his hunchbacked assistant Greg (Roy Mehaffey), he henceforth kidnaps beautiful young women in order to build himself a new, perfect wife out of their body-parts…u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Doctor Goreu0026quot; is doubtlessly a film of the u0026#39;so bad itu0026#39;s good kindu0026#39;, but it is also has qualities beyond the usual ridiculous trashiness. Mad science has always been one of my absolute favorite Horror topics, and, as a matter of fact, it is also one of the coolest topics for ridiculous Gore Trash flicks. Obviously shot on a minimal budget, u0026quot;Doctor Goreu0026quot; pays some homage to the u0026quot;Frankensteinu0026quot; films, especially James Whaleu0026#39;s masterpiece u0026quot;Bride of Frankensteinu0026quot; (1935), and resembles the look of the early Troma / Herschell Gordon Lewis Gore flicks such as u0026quot;Blood Feastu0026quot; (1963) – only that this looks a lot cheaper and crappier. Obviously J.G. Pattersonu0026#39;s motive was not merely to make a fun gore flick: Being a rather ugly, weird-looking fellow, his role of Dr. Brandon gave Patterson the opportunity to make out with a couple of hot, scarcely dressed young women (who would later end up as body-part donors in Dr. Brandonu0026#39;s laboratory).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMost of the gore is actually pretty well-made regarding the obviously tiny budget. The dialogue includes some extremely hilarious lines (u0026quot;Get that, it might be the door… and put a coat on so they donu0026#39;t see youu0026#39;re a hunchback.u0026quot;). Besides the aforementioned theme song, u0026quot;Doctor Goreu0026quot; also includes a wonderfully crappy appearance by a country band called u0026#39;Bill Hicks and the Rainbowsu0026#39; – my new favorite band, NOT. For the rest of the film, I kept wondering whether Bill Hicks and Roy Mehaffey, who plays the hunchbacked assistant, are twins or even the same person – the two look exactly the same, and having two unrelated obese, red-bearded guys looking this weird in one film would be a huge coincidence. Other than J.G. Patterson, most of the cast members never did any other films. This is the first film Iu0026#39;ve seen out of the few by Patterson. Sadly, the man died of cancer in 1975.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOverall, u0026quot;Doctor Goreu0026quot; is a film that certainly isnu0026#39;t for everyone. As a matter of fact, it is total crap. But it is also amusing, and recommendable to my fellow fans of weirdness and cheap camp stuff. Dictionaries should show a screenshot from this film under u0026#39;trash flicku0026#39;.”