Booby Hatch, The

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2.5/5The Film

Alternately known as The Dirty Book Store and The Liberation Of Cherry Jankowski, the 1971 sex comedy is an odd footnote in the career of John Russo, best known for writing Night Of The Living Dead and making a bunch of bad movies like Flesheater, Heartstopper and Santa Claws and running some of those filmmaking seminars that you sometimes still see advertised in the back of Fangoria. He's penned a bunch of novelizations of his various film projects and written some Night of the Living Dead comic books over the years. While some of his horror efforts have dabbled in comedy here and there, The Booby Hatch is really his only true non-horror credit, so it stands out in his filmography for that reason.

A collaboration with Rudy Ricci, who did some un-credited writing along with Russo on Return Of The Living Dead, the film follows a sweet and naïve young woman named Cherry Jankowski (Sharon Joy Miller) who makes a living as a product tester for the Joyful Novelties company. What do they make? Sex toys. Yep. It's Cherry's job to test out sex toys and to make sure that they do what they're supposed to do before they're unleashed on the public. While this job does indeed have its perks, Sharon isn't all that fulfilled. Making matters worse, her boyfriend is a pre-op transsexual, so Cherry isn't getting the kind of loving she needs at home.

On the other hand, Sharon's co-worker, Marcello Fettucini (Rudy Ricci) is about to get canned from Joyful Novelties because no matter how hard he tries, he can't get it up. If he can't get it up, he's not going to be a very good sex toy tester, right? After what seems like an endless amount of woeful soul searching and a botched suicide attempt, Marcello realizes the cure for his boner blues has been working alongside him this entire time - Cherry's got a healthy sexual appetite and a body to match, so it only makes sense that he try and make it with her to get his wang back in working order.

Let there be no doubt about it, The Booby Hatch is pretty goofy stuff. The comedy is crass and borderline retarded and the acting and writing isn't a whole lot better. That said, fans of Night Of The Living Dead and its various follow ups should find some amusement here. In appropriate opening and closing segments we're treated to some faux-industrial films that taut the merits of gainful employment with the Joyful Novelty company, which given Romero and Russo's industrial filmmaking background, seems to make sense. It's also fun to pick out some of the notable faces that pop up in small roles in this movie. David Emge from Dawn of the Dead plays Marcello's brother Angelo, a tough as nails private investigator who for some unknown reason seems to have lost the stereotypical Italian accent that the rest of his family members speak with. George Kosana from Night Of The Living Dead also pops up in a supporting part as a cop.

Synapse has included two versions of the film on this DVD. The Booby Hatch cut of the film is played completely for laughs while the alternate version, The Liberation Of Cherry Jankowski, has some slightly more serious overtones to it and a notably different ending. The opening credits sequence is also different and it features a strange title theme which plays over top of it. Neither version is essentially viewing but the film definitely has some cult appeal thanks to the Romero connections and some head scratchingly odd moments such as a a rape played for laughs by a penis nosed man wielding a rifle, a cameo from Satan himself, and some enjoyably politically incorrect dialogue. The movie isn't all that funny or particularly well made, but as a bizarre footnote in the annals of Night Of The Living Dead and it's alumni, it's definitely worth a watch just out of sheer curiosity.

3.5/5Video

3/5Audio

4/5Extras

Aside from the two cuts of the movie, Synapse has also provided an audio commentary that comes courtesy of John Russo, Rudy Rucci and John Steiner that is available over the Booby Hatch version of the movie. This is a pretty interesting talk that gives more historical information about this film than any one could probably hope for. They talk about how the project originated and where they were all at, career wise, during this time. They talk about when and where they shot the picture, and about casting the film and how a certain actor with an effeminate voice wouldn't leave the audition and through a fit when he was told he couldn't have the part for that reason. They talk about the film's distribution, the alternate version of the film and how it came to be, and what it's like crawling around on the floor with a bunch of naked girls looking for your contact lens. They mention how the letters sections of various men's magazines of the era inspired a few scenes in the film and generally give us a really interesting and entertaining look back at the making of this strange little movie.

David Emge pops up in a featurette entitled A Flyboy In Earth Shoes (10:23) from Red Shirt Pictures. He starts the featurette of by noting how bizarre the movie is before moving on to talking about talking about how he's unsure why he was attracted to acting and to this role. Emge has obviously got a sense of humor about his work on this picture, taking none of it all too seriously. He talks about his early acting career as well as how he wound up in this and other pictures. It's an interesting talk and it's nice to see Emge get some time to talk about his career.

Rounding out the extras are trailers for The Booby Hatch (1:49) and The Liberation of Cherry Jankowski (2:43), animated menus and chapter selection.

3/5Overall

A true cult oddity if ever there was one, The Booby Hatch is about as goofy as it gets but Synapse has never the less rolled out the red carpet for this one and given it quite a nice treatment on its DVD debut.

Want more information? Hit the Synapse website by clicking here!

Film Rating		DVD Rating
Director:	John Russo, Rudy Ricci	Film:
Writer:	John Russo, Rudy Ricci	Video:
Released:	1976	Audio:
Cast:	Sharon Joy Miller, Rudy Ricci, Doug Sortino, David Emge	Extras:
		Overall: