Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Hippy, trippy acid sleaze, March 2, 2001
This little gem is one of the first key films to combine gore with sleaze. Groovy 60s psychedelia, go-go dancers, sexploitation and horror all beautifully photographed by Laszlo Kovacs (Easy Rider)collide in a kaleidoscope of color and LSD laden sensibilities.The plot concerns a topless dancer, Lila (Susan Stewart)who has taken one too many acid trips. The result leaves her a murderous, psychotic sexual freak who, after making love, slaughters her lovers with two handy weapons of choice - a screwdriver and meatcleaver. The image quality and sound are nothing short of stunning for a film of this ilk. Evidently the transfer used was from the original negative and it certainly shows. The extras on this Something Weird disc are quite amazing. We get an alternative Mantis murder sequence, the wonderful color trip sequence to Alice In Acidland, a go-go loop called Lady in a Cage,a poster gallery with radio spots, and 100 minutes of outtakes filled with gore, sex and ultra groovy LSD visuals. To top it off there are previews for The Mad Butcher, The Curious Dr Humpp and Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks. Something Weird have certainly delivered a wonderful release of a film that defined the underground Grindhouse movement of the 60s.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Freak out baby!!!! Yeah!!!!!, February 28, 2001
Slow, repetitive, bland, uninteresting - I would use these words to discribe this film, but when you include Technicolor pcyhadelic LSD flip-outs where the "tripee" imagines the heads of men are watermelons and then promtly lops them off, we've got to be onto some kind of a winner!!!! This is the coolest LSD film ever made, bar maybe PSYCHED BY THE 4D WITCH, for the sheer fact that it could actually induce acid flashbacks, even for those who have never partaken of said substance. However, I wouldn't like to be on any form of Lysergic whilst viewing this monstrosity!! Also, some rather excellent frugging is in evidence throughout, also in said glaring Technicolor, as well as some pretty hideous sex scenes. Oh, and then there's that annoying theme song!!!
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Sex & LSD a Go Go, August 9, 2004
"Mantis in Lace" asks the question: Can a movie have too much topless go go dancing? In the case of this late `60s sexploitation epic, the answer is a resounding yes! To be fair, "Mantis in Lace" was made before the cinematic barriers came crashing down in the 1970s, so I guess jiggling mammaries were still considered pretty risqué. Yet I'm sure even the members of the raincoat crowd of 1968 had to be checking their watches halfway into this leaden mix of sex, LSD and murder.
As the go go dancer Lila ("Lila" was this movie's alternate title), Susan Stewart has a vague English (maybe Dutch?) accent, à la Dolly Read from "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls," and an acting style akin to John Waters' late star Edith Massey. After dancing her set, she picks up a "hippie" (you can tell he's a hippie because he's wearing a dorky earring that resembles a homemade Christmas ornament) and takes him back to a warehouse owned by her father. They drop acid and have tepid sex on a mattress, while Lila sees all the swirling colors that signify all cinematic acid trips of this time period. But when she thinks she's being force-fed bananas (?) she freaks and stabs her faux-hippie one-night-stand in the back with a screwdriver, then hacks him to bits with a meat cleaver that happens to be handy. Then it's time for more topless go go dancing! The whole movie follows this pattern: Lila dances, picks up a man, does acid, freaks during sex and kills him. In between the go go dancing and LSD carnage are scenes of two "Dragnet"-style cops investigating (poorly) the murders. There's also one "casting couch" scene, apropos of nothing, in which an aspiring stripper--who looks like Kate Mulgrew--has sex with a bar owner (the only scene to give a flash of female full-frontal nudity and a bare male backside). Through it all we repeatedly hear the theme song, "Lila," so hypnotically awful you'll remember it long after you've forgotten the movie.
Despite its problems, "Mantis in Lace" does have its charm. The camera work by Lazslo Kovacs is excellent, giving this cheap movie a more polished look than it deserves. Pat Barrington has a small part as a belly-dancing stripper, and while she's not a much better actress than Stewart, she's certainly a more interesting one. The movie's concept is a pretty inspired mix for its time, if only director William Rotsler had used the premise to its fullest potential, starting with a real script. The Something Weird DVD release features an alternate "LSD murder scene" that's a lot more interesting than the one in the final film. There also are 100 minutes of outtakes, and while their inclusion seems like a good idea, I defy anyone to sit and watch these scenes--which, other than featuring a bit more blood and yet another go go dancer, differ little from what's in the final cut--without hitting fast forward. Rounding out the extras are an LSD scare film, a tedious LSD-themed nudie loop/morality tale, and a short featuring a crazed-looking stripper writhing about in a bamboo cage.
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