2/10
FOUR DIMENSIONS OF GRETA (Pete Walker, 1972) *1/2
12 August 2007
I decided to check out this British sexploitationer due to its director, who would soon forego this type of film entirely for a series of equally commercial horror efforts (which effectively broadened his range and, clearly, served his particular talents a good deal better!).

This one adds the gimmick of 3-D to the erotic formula: since I rented this, the 3-D glasses which were supplied with the DVD weren't made available to me – however, I did own a pair of such glasses (which came with New Line's HAROLD LLOYD COLLECTION of all things!)…but, still, the 3-D effect wasn't especially effective. Worse, even when watched without glasses, these sequences were given an unpleasant green/red hue which, coupled with the impossibly fuzzy images, would completely negate the intended effect!

Anyway, the plot is nothing to write home about – a young German journalist searches for a missing female compatriot amid Swinging London settings, willing au pair girls and a gang of would-be tough guys. The fact that the 'puzzle' is pieced together via four flashback sequences told by a variety of people (and which comprise the 3-D footage) doesn't make it any more engaging – though some of the girls do look good in and out of clothes, while the soundtrack features a Huckleberry Fynn(!!) singing the title tune.

If one wasn't aware that Walker had made this thing, he'd be hard-pressed to see any connection between it and his work in the horror genre; even the director's least such efforts that I've watched (DIE SCREAMING MARIANNE [1971] and THE COMEBACK [1978]) are far better. Besides, for all their low-brow nature, the contemporaneous Italian films made in this vein (which I remember were constant TV fodder during my childhood and which are still regularly revived late at night) display a lot more vitality than this static, quasi-amateurish and extremely boring outing.
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