After a bit of William Castle showmanship inviting us to determine which sequences within Mondo Keyhole are real and which are just fantasy (featuring a blazing cocktail of burning skulls, come-hither dancing, and other assorted anatomical model fuck-around) we dive right into the seedy storyline at hand… well after a quote from Freud greases the wheels…
Howard Thorne (Nick Moriarty): husband, businessman, success… and serial rapist…
In true American Psycho fashion, Howard turns his assault activities into vivid dreams (which involve the word “Okinawa” more than you’d think, since none of the film is set anywhere other than Los Angelis)… so much so that he is unsure of what is real and what is the product of his imagination mixed with rampant horniness.
One thing that is for real, is that Thorne’s dishy wife, Vicki (Adele Rein) is perpetually turned-on, has a Halloween mask fetish, possesses a constant first-person narrative running through her head, and is strung-out on heroine all of the time… and you’d think that, along with the fact he’s the head of a thriving pornography empire where women practically throw themselves at him, would keep him busy… but as stated rape is his bag (even though he sweats getting caught on the regular).
This goes on, and Thorne drops his business card at the scene of an attack… which causes the victim to enlist some Karate assistance to attempt to even the score.
Will Howard get away with his crimes with everything intact? Will Vicki get clean? And what of the Dionysian orgy/buffet/costume party… just think of the stains and unsafe food-handling going on there… not to mention what that poor pool filter will be forced to endure…
Coming from writer/director Jack Hill (Spider Baby, Foxy Brown, Switchblade Sisters) and co-director John Lamb (Zodiac Killer, Delinquent School Girls… the latter of which was the first release in VCI’s Psychotronica Collection), Mondo Keyhole is more arty than you may imagine… but it’s still jam-packed with large amounts of naked female flesh, kinky/ridiculous sex, and good ol’ sleaze!
While crotch focused, the presentation shows this one can think with it’s bigger brain as well.
Sure people eat salad off of titties (no mention is given as to where the croutons are kept)… but we also get a fever-dream examination of then current kink trends, a fixation on grotesque masks (surely an allegory for the demons haunting our demented duo), psychological ponderings… hell we even get a peek into printed and recorded porno production methods of the day… it’s a lot more than you’d imagine the rough material would have going for it, and ends up in a fascinating picture if you can get past the main subject of the narrative.
Extra features accompanying/attempting to explain Mondo Keyhole include two audio commentaries; one featuring Hill and documentarian Elijah Drenner that takes us through the film’s production with plenty of detail and self-effacing humor, and the other from writer/podcaster Rob Kelly that examines the flick from the fan’s perspective.
Also included is a photo gallery focusing on other psychotronic films.
Sleazy, perverse, trashy, and full of imaginative artistry and allegory in a genre not known for such things; Mondo Keyhole is sexploitation gold!
