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TEENAGE JAILBAIT

It's hard to avoid the name Rene Bond if you're a fan of 1970's sex flicks. Chances are, if you're the kind of filmgoer who craves skin and sin, you've seen at least one of her films during your lifetime. Working nearly nonstop for a decade, Bond starred dozens of films during the late 60s and 70s, some softcore, most not. She was one of the true sweethearts of the grindhouse era, small and perky with big eyes and a sweet, girl-next-door demeanor. Unfortunately, her innocent charm was ruined by a disastrous boob-job - paid for by Harry Novaks, the king of the cheapie market, who regularly employed Bond for his films - and image make-over, turning one of the most undeniably sexy porno stars into something gaudy and trashy

Bond doesn't play a pivotal role in TEENAGE JAILBAIT but her presence - at least for fans of this sort of sex flick - pays dividends in the long run. Bond and Kriss Kross - yes, that is the name the actress used - star as Sue and Amanda, two wealthy girls out on a joyride when their car gets a flat. Along come two scuzballs named Joey and Garth. They offer to give the girls a ride back to their camp. Once there, they will grab some stuff needed to fix their flat tire. Well, instead of grabbing the air pump and heading back, they pair off for a little "getting to know ya" time. Joey and Amanda make unconvincing love and get to talking. Seems Amanda's dad is a rich broker who launders money on the side. She also has major issues with her stepmother, a whorish leech who treats her like dirt. Amanda offers Joey a business proposition. In exchange for a way out, she will give Joey the key to her house and the location of two safes which contain a supposedly large amount of cash.

Meanwhile, Sue tries to fend off an attack from Garth, a muscled, lunkhead, but escapes being raped when Garth can't get it up. A little conversation paints Garth as one of those idiot follower types, desperately clinging to Joey because, well, he's all that he has. Soon, all four pack up and make their way to Amanda's house. Joey pulls a gun and holds the whole family hostage. He takes the stepmother upstairs and falls prey to her whorish charms. Joey grabs the cash from the safe and takes off to buy a car. He returns later with a busted face screaming that the money is counterfeit. He takes the family downstairs, strips Amanda's sister naked and tries to persuade Garth to rape the girl. When Garth refuses, Joey storms off to find something, anything, to sell from the home, giving Amanda an opportunity to lead her stepmother into another room at knife point. Sue, realizing the gravity of the situation, pleads with Garth to stop the madness. They finally consummate their relationship - this is where Bind comes in handy; no one fake fucks like Rene Bond - and Garth decides he's had enough of Joey. From there? Well, it's kinda obvious, isn't it?

This is a short film. It barely clocks over an hour and one third of the running time is given to the faked sex scenes. It's competently acted by a bunch of people whose names I've never heard before and shot in that detached, amateurish way all of these films seem to be shot - TEENAGE JAILBAIT was directed by Stu Segall, the man behind the entertaining, if tragically flawed, slasher DRIVE-IN MASSACRE. It feels like a condensed version of a longer film and one can't help but get the impression that whatever version was first written contained more than the budget would allow for. It's not a bad little film. It just feels crippled, like it needed a few additional scenes and few thousand more in the production budget.

I'm a fan of these kinds of films. I genuinely enjoy them. The reason why I enjoy them is the same reason I enjoy slasher films, I suppose. They provide me with a specific kind of story told in a specific kind of way. These kinds of films are generally referred to as "roughies", low-budgets sex-and-violence films that usually contain simplistic moral messages and very little in the way of narrative. They're a guilty pleasure of mine. Everything from the campy OLGA films to the more extreme and unpleasant films of Zebedy Colt, I find them entertaining in their own trashy way. TEENAGE JAILBAIT doesn't quite have the punch of, say, OLGA'S HOUSE OF SHAME or THE ULTIMATE DEGENERATE but it does have Rene Bond.

And that goes a long way.

Recommended.