Sugar Cookies (1973/Troma)
Picture: C Sound: C Extras: C Film: C+
Between
her work with Andy Warhol and in genre films like the Roger Corman-produced Death Race 2000 (reviewed elsewhere on
this site), Mary Woronov did Sugar
Cookies, which falls between a murder mystery and sexploitation. It is more of the latter, but still an
interesting film coming from its counterculture time. This is also one of Lloyd Kaufman’s first
productions and Oliver Stone was a co-producer.
Lynn
Lowry, a hot indie actress of the time (George Romero’s The Crazies, Paul Schrader’s Cat
People, Radley Metzger’s Score;
reviewed elsewhere on this site) and somewhat cult icon, also stars as the
actress who gets killed and the look-alike made up to be in her image. That part of it is clearly a knock-off of
Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958),
but it is just stolen without pretense and is odder. The actress in the opening scene is having a
sex game with a demented producer/photographer (George Shannon) who wants her
to play with a real gun. It is loaded
and he puts it in her mouth as if it were a game. Then, she is killed.
Though
set up like it is an accident, anyone foolish enough to play with real bullets
means harm to someone. However, the
set-up is the beginning of the creepiness factor and when the look-alike turns
up, lesbianism and other items intended to throw off the audience and narrative
are slowly introduced. Ultimately, the
film has problems with its mystery angle and the sex is nothing shocking, but
parts of the film have aged better than expected and the combination of Lowry
and Woronov works. Ondine and Monique
Van Vooren (Paul Morrissey’s Flesh For
Frankenstein) also star.
The 1.33
X 1 image shows its age and could use an upgrade, with this transfer likely a
mid-to-late analog master from the 35mm film source. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono also shows its age
and has its sonic limits, though the original recording does not seem bad for
an independent production. Besides the
repetitive Troma propaganda, you get the original theatrical trailer and new
on-camera interviews by Kaufman with Lowry and Woronov.
- Nicholas Sheffo
