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The Mermaids Of Tiburon (Nude Version)
[Psychotronica]
1962; color
Directed by John Lamb
Starring: George Rowe, Timothy Carey, Gaby Martone & Diane Weber
Yambao - Cry Of The Bewitched
[Psychotronica]
1957; color
Directed by Alfredo B. Crevenna
Starring: Ninon Sevilla, Ramon Gay, Rosa Elena Durgel, Ricardo Roman, Luis Lopez Puente & Fedora Capdevilla
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At the risk of getting derailed from today's film subject(s) before I even get started, a lot of times after watching a double feature I find myself wondering how movies end up getting paired together. (Are there hidden connections between certain films that can only be seen by DVD distributors? Or do they not even look for connections, grab the two newest acquisitions off the shelf and pair 'em up?) Although I'm too young to have experienced the drive-in / grindhouse era in full swing, from what I've read, been told and seen on movie posters, a bit more attention was paid to film couplings back in the day. Based on my reviewing experience these days, I'd say it's more likely any given double feature DVD will feature two films that are more dissimilar than they are alike. Like, for example - this is the part where we get back on track; temporarily at least - today's double feature. Adding to the confusement, this double feature DVD is the third in a three disc set of double features. (See here and here.) Since we just got back on track a sentence or two ago, I won't spend time Kevin Bacon-ing all six movies to each other. Feature #1, The Mermaids Of Tiburon, is kind of like an artsier Doris Wishman nudie cutie crossed with one of Roger Corman's earlier, sparser, sea-centric works. It's light on plot but heavy on topless mermaids, which is exactly the way director and noted underwater cinematographer wanted it. Literally; there's a whole story behind this film - it was originally filmed in 1962, then a couple years later some scenes were added, some were deleted and it was released as The Aqua Sex before being re-edited again by Lamb in the '80s with yet additional toplessness courtesy pin-up model Diane Webber. I gather the first and third versions on that list are what we get on this DVD. I only watched the newer, nuder, version and honestly, it was kind of boring. Or maybe there was just something hypnotic about all the underwater stuff that was lulling me to sleep. I do tend to doze off at the beach. Speaking of the beach, the dude who plays South Dakota Slim in the Frankie and Annette Beach Party movies, Timothy Carey, is the villain in this. (Love him!) And, for our final bit of Mermaids Of Tiburon trivia, according to the DVD's intro to the film, one of the mermaid costumes from this film was used in Beach Blanket Bingo. Next up we have Yambao, Cry Of The Bewitched, a melodramatic tale of hoodoo and voodoo, love and lust, revenge and animal sacrifice that, by my estimation at least, is the preferable of the two films. For one thing, the woman who plays Yambao, Ninon Sevilla, is awesome! The other thing that really stood out about this one to me was the soundtrack. It's totally like some obscure 50 year old exotica record the Kommandant would buy at the flea market. (And, actually, if the Kommandant had bought this soundtrack at the flea market, I bet we would listen to it a lot.) In some ways, this reminded me a bit if a mid-period Santo film, and a part of me was expecting the plantation owner to call for masked assistance at any time. But that did not happen. Still, this was a very entertaining and fun movie I would watch again.
—Bunny
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