Referring to "Thundercrack!" as simply being a weird cult flick would be a serious understatement and actually a direct insult, since certain people around this website already tend to call mainstream movies like "Memento" or "Pulp Fiction" weird and confusing. Weird? Not quite
A term to summarize "Thundercrack" in one simple word has yet to be invented. The closest we've got now is "extravagant", "demented" and maybe also "totally f***ed up". This movie can't even be categorized in one genre, as it's hardcore pornography as well as slick comedy as well as cheesy 70's horror. Let's just stick to the old cliché saying: it has to be seen to be believed! Imagine yourself a typical low-budget horror opening, in which random people gather around an old dark mansion during a nightly thunderstorm. They're all slightly eccentric characters with unusual backgrounds and/or odd personalities and, naturally, the female owner of the mansion is the queen of all madness. Mrs. Gert Hammond (excellent performance by Marion Eaton) is a mentally messed up widow in a permanent state of delirium, constantly babbling to her deceased husband AND extremely addicted to peeled cucumbers. Her guests soon begin to physically experiment with themselves and each other and these sexual outbursts become gradually odder. Masturbation and ordinary hetero-sex at first, but before you properly realize it; you're up to your neck in gay sex, voyeurism, sex with peculiar attributes and even bestiality. This may sound like devastating cult-cinema, but director Curt McDowell captures it all on film like it's the most common thing in the world and after a while you almost begin to wonder whether YOU aren't the abnormal one for not yet having experienced sexual intercourse with a horny gorilla! "Thundercrack!" is shot in black & white and features a handful of stylish moments, despite the trashy subject matter and the obvious lack of financial means. This movie is available in two versions, but I can safely say already that even the 'cut' version (120 minutes instead of 150) is more than weird enough for every avid fan of offbeat cinema on this planet. Watch it, and I assure you'll never eat a cucumber again in your life!
21 Reviews
Weird and perverse..err...film
The_Void9 April 2008
Generally I don't like to just regurgitate what everyone else is saying about any given film; but you can't write a review for Thundercrack without stating that the film is weird. The closest movie I've seen to this one in terms of style is probably the Greek oddity Singapore Sling in that both films combine a classic styling with some real sleazy sex. However, even Singapore Sling doesn't come close to the weirdness of this film; how and why this film ever got made is anyone's guess as on paper; a two and a half long black and white film about a bunch of people engaging in perverted sex inside a creaky old house cant have sounded all that good...but while the film is not for everyone, it certainly stands tall as a very interesting slice of cult cinema. The film doesn't exactly have a plot, and starts by focusing on an old mansion where we are introduced to its insane owner. From there, we move on to a group of strangers who end up stranded at the mansion. The rest of the film features all the involved parties as they engage in a whole host of sexual activity.
Curt McDowell's film almost seems to be a parody of classic haunted house horror; only instead of ghosts and ghouls, we get sex and sleaze. I cant say that the film works particularly well on the whole as a film; it's long and drawn out for a start and it can be hard to watch due to the fact that it's so weird. The copy I have looks like it was recorded with a video camera inside some grotty cinema so that didn't exactly help my viewing experience either. However, I didn't go into this film expecting easy viewing, and while I did have some idea of what the film might be like; this is a film that you really have to see to have any idea what it's like. The sex features often and it goes a bit further than just the usual - adding to that is the fact that it's all so casual too, which helps to increase the potency of the strangeness of the film. I have to say that at two and a half hours, the film really it too long and I did lose interest a bit at times so perhaps the shorter two hour version would be an overall better viewing experience. All in all, Thundercrack is a film that has to be seen to be believed and it comes recommended if only for that reason.
Curt McDowell's film almost seems to be a parody of classic haunted house horror; only instead of ghosts and ghouls, we get sex and sleaze. I cant say that the film works particularly well on the whole as a film; it's long and drawn out for a start and it can be hard to watch due to the fact that it's so weird. The copy I have looks like it was recorded with a video camera inside some grotty cinema so that didn't exactly help my viewing experience either. However, I didn't go into this film expecting easy viewing, and while I did have some idea of what the film might be like; this is a film that you really have to see to have any idea what it's like. The sex features often and it goes a bit further than just the usual - adding to that is the fact that it's all so casual too, which helps to increase the potency of the strangeness of the film. I have to say that at two and a half hours, the film really it too long and I did lose interest a bit at times so perhaps the shorter two hour version would be an overall better viewing experience. All in all, Thundercrack is a film that has to be seen to be believed and it comes recommended if only for that reason.
A Tacky, Elaborate Parody of Old Dark House Cliches
jfrentzen-942-2042111 February 2024
Six people converge on a Nebraska farm house, seeking shelter during a raging thunderstorm. The owner of the house, a deranged but harmless widow (Marion Eaton), keeps bits of her husband in pickle jars and hides a deformed son in a secret room. Her awkward hospitality is thwarted by her guests, who do nothing but bicker. One of them is a circus animal keeper on the run from a sex-starved gorilla, which eventually breaks into the home and carries him off to a bedroom. Meanwhile, an elephant and other escaped circus animals prowl around the yard.
Tailor-made for the midnight-movie crowd, THUNDERCRACK! Is the closest thing to a mainstream movie from iconoclastic filmmakers Curt McDowell and George Kuchar. Scriptwriter Kuchar, considered an innovator in the underground film circuit, frequently parodied old-style Hollywood melodramas; characteristically, THUNDERCRACK! Mimics gothic whodunits of the 1930s. Filmed in seven days for less than $10,000, this amusing take-off will be appreciated by some, bore some, and shock others.
Unfortunately -- or fortunately, depending on your perspective -- the movie was too notorious to gain a wide audience. The numerous hardcore sex scenes probably contributed to its "lunatic fringe" status.
Much of the movie centers how each character came to be in the house, where they are going, and why. For example, Chandler (Phil Hefernen) is a girdle factory heir whose wife recently burned to death in one of his father-in-law's supposedly fireproof brassieres. He is on his way to Waco, Texas to burn down the factory. The others include an earth mother type who pines for her country-and-western star husband, a nymphomaniac, an argumentative gay boy, and a beefy bisexual.
If these people have anything in common, it's sex. THUNDERCRACK! Offers straight and gay sex, sex with a rubber doll and a hydraulic pump, and several food-related sex jokes (including a woman who masturbates with a cucumber). It's an elaborate put-on intended to shock middle-class sensibilities and resonate with in-the-know cinema aficionados who remember classic Gothics like THE OLD DARK HOUSE (1932).
The general tone is summed up when a drunken Gert (Eaton), wearing a wig that she puked on, greets one of her guests, Willeen (Moira Renson), by practically falling into a toilet, all the while babbling incessantly about the history of the house. Willeen finally subdues Gert in a bathtub, and diddles her as they both recite unrelated monologues.
The gorilla aside, the highlight of the movie is the son's belated appearance. Afflicted with a rare disease picked up in Borneo, he is shown for about five seconds with what looks like two melons in a sack dangling between two naked legs. As Gert explains, "The one thing that made his life worth living had been crushed by the weight of his own testicles."
Most of THUNDERCRACK! Is boring and cheap, buts its extreme tackiness is part of the joke. Throughout the two hours of non-stop talk, scenarist Kuchar inserted some funny non sequitur jokes; however, you may not be able to hear them above the ever-present thunderstorm racket and the actors' habit of blowing their lines.
Amid the caterwauling, Eaton delivers the only thing resembling a performance. It's clear most of the actors were hired for their ability to pontificate loudly while they boff one another.
Tailor-made for the midnight-movie crowd, THUNDERCRACK! Is the closest thing to a mainstream movie from iconoclastic filmmakers Curt McDowell and George Kuchar. Scriptwriter Kuchar, considered an innovator in the underground film circuit, frequently parodied old-style Hollywood melodramas; characteristically, THUNDERCRACK! Mimics gothic whodunits of the 1930s. Filmed in seven days for less than $10,000, this amusing take-off will be appreciated by some, bore some, and shock others.
Unfortunately -- or fortunately, depending on your perspective -- the movie was too notorious to gain a wide audience. The numerous hardcore sex scenes probably contributed to its "lunatic fringe" status.
Much of the movie centers how each character came to be in the house, where they are going, and why. For example, Chandler (Phil Hefernen) is a girdle factory heir whose wife recently burned to death in one of his father-in-law's supposedly fireproof brassieres. He is on his way to Waco, Texas to burn down the factory. The others include an earth mother type who pines for her country-and-western star husband, a nymphomaniac, an argumentative gay boy, and a beefy bisexual.
If these people have anything in common, it's sex. THUNDERCRACK! Offers straight and gay sex, sex with a rubber doll and a hydraulic pump, and several food-related sex jokes (including a woman who masturbates with a cucumber). It's an elaborate put-on intended to shock middle-class sensibilities and resonate with in-the-know cinema aficionados who remember classic Gothics like THE OLD DARK HOUSE (1932).
The general tone is summed up when a drunken Gert (Eaton), wearing a wig that she puked on, greets one of her guests, Willeen (Moira Renson), by practically falling into a toilet, all the while babbling incessantly about the history of the house. Willeen finally subdues Gert in a bathtub, and diddles her as they both recite unrelated monologues.
The gorilla aside, the highlight of the movie is the son's belated appearance. Afflicted with a rare disease picked up in Borneo, he is shown for about five seconds with what looks like two melons in a sack dangling between two naked legs. As Gert explains, "The one thing that made his life worth living had been crushed by the weight of his own testicles."
Most of THUNDERCRACK! Is boring and cheap, buts its extreme tackiness is part of the joke. Throughout the two hours of non-stop talk, scenarist Kuchar inserted some funny non sequitur jokes; however, you may not be able to hear them above the ever-present thunderstorm racket and the actors' habit of blowing their lines.
Amid the caterwauling, Eaton delivers the only thing resembling a performance. It's clear most of the actors were hired for their ability to pontificate loudly while they boff one another.
Whole lotta thunder. Whole lotta cracks.
SanFernandoCurt8 January 2003
It is uniquely impossible to comment on this film. It MUST be seen to be believed. Early on, when the guy jams his dick into a vacu-jack and cuts loose, you know you're in for a strange, strange ride. That scene could only be topped by the legendary "boinkin' the motorcycle" (yeah, right up the tail-pipe - but it's a Harley) sequence in Fred Halsted's "Sex Garage," another black-and-white gay porn West Coast masterpiece from the '70s. (Halsted, unfortunately, is also dead.) In "Thundercrack," McDowell takes the creaky "old dark house" motif and stands it on its head, its feet, its knees, buttocks... whatever. Every possible sexual combination is worked into the picture. I'm not the world's biggest fan of primate jack-off situations, but "Thundercrack!" has the best. A few weeks before his death in 1986, McDowell was feted at the Roxie Theater here in San Francisco for his contribution to American film and... well... San Francisco porn. Both industries have fallen on hard times. In Hollywood films, quality is practically nonexistent. San Francisco porn is nonexistent, period. We've come a long way from "Behind the Green Door" to "Burbank Sperm Bank." Ah, well. Everything changes. Everything ends.
Saw it MANY years ago...
preppy-36 July 2005
at a Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.
Porno black & white parody of horror films. On a dark and stormy night a bunch of people are stranded in a very strange house run by a very strange woman. During the night various (hardcore) sex occurs. And they throw in a gorilla too (!!!!) I saw an edited print (it only ran 90 minutes) but the hardcore sex was in there. There's a (mild) lesbian sequence and an explicit gay sex scene where Toydy (Rick Johnson) tops Bond (Ken Scudder). What's surprising is how casually it's all treated...but this was before AIDS hit. The gay scene has never left my mind. Johnson looks like a hippie but Scudder was handsome and had a nice body.
The acting sucks (no pun intended), the straight sex scenes are dull and the plot goes hilariously out of control at the end. Not good but the gay scene is nice. I'd like to know where to get a print of this.
Porno black & white parody of horror films. On a dark and stormy night a bunch of people are stranded in a very strange house run by a very strange woman. During the night various (hardcore) sex occurs. And they throw in a gorilla too (!!!!) I saw an edited print (it only ran 90 minutes) but the hardcore sex was in there. There's a (mild) lesbian sequence and an explicit gay sex scene where Toydy (Rick Johnson) tops Bond (Ken Scudder). What's surprising is how casually it's all treated...but this was before AIDS hit. The gay scene has never left my mind. Johnson looks like a hippie but Scudder was handsome and had a nice body.
The acting sucks (no pun intended), the straight sex scenes are dull and the plot goes hilariously out of control at the end. Not good but the gay scene is nice. I'd like to know where to get a print of this.
A cult classic for the seriously open minded
Chris_Docker17 March 2004
Imagine Rocky Horror in black and white and as serious perved-out schlock-horror. Now, let's soup up the story a little . . .
We have a big old mansion on the hill. Some strangers are caught in a thunderstorm as their truck breaks down and decide to shelter. They are shown to a room in which they can change into some dry clothes (this room just happens to contain a wide variety of sexual 'aids'). Maintain an atmosphere of menace.
Soup it up a bit more. One of the characters is love-sick for a sex-crazed gorilla whom he had an affair with back in the days when he used to work in the circus. The owner of the mansion has the remains of her husband pickled in various bottles in the kitchen. Her son contracted a weird condition in the Far East that made his balls so heavy that they crushed things and sent him crazy (so he's behind a locked door and trying to get out).
Into what is becoming an increasingly complicated story that involves clichéd situations treated and re-created with incredible vision, add the odd 'porno' scene (why have pretend ones??). The effect of this is equally unsettling. Just as you get into the comfort zone of camp horror, some carefree full frontals make you feel distinctly on edge - all the better to freak you out for the next scary plot development. I should add that a bountiful mix of hetero and gay sex ensures it is not a film for dirty old men unless they are exceedingly liberal and the sudden shifts between genuinely erotic and scarily weird make you feel involved with the characters rather than observing them from a superior height.
I saw this film for a second time in 2005 and it was apparent that a number of very explicit scenes had been previously deleted. As the graphic sexuality runs simultaneously with double and triple puns explaining the subplots, it makes much more sense with them in and makes the film more cerebral than the average psychotronic experience. The acting by lead character Marion Eaton is also outstanding, almost Shakespearean, and contrasts with the tongue in cheek hamminess of other cast members in a way that makes your jaw drop. One of the most unusual films you'll ever see, I can't imagine anything more weird if John Waters was abducted by aliens and then regurgitated all over someone making a psychotic horror spoof with political and psychological undertones.
If you like cult films this as a jewel. Go and see it with very open-minded friends, or people you know very well! Thundercrack! is a cult classic for the seriously open minded.
We have a big old mansion on the hill. Some strangers are caught in a thunderstorm as their truck breaks down and decide to shelter. They are shown to a room in which they can change into some dry clothes (this room just happens to contain a wide variety of sexual 'aids'). Maintain an atmosphere of menace.
Soup it up a bit more. One of the characters is love-sick for a sex-crazed gorilla whom he had an affair with back in the days when he used to work in the circus. The owner of the mansion has the remains of her husband pickled in various bottles in the kitchen. Her son contracted a weird condition in the Far East that made his balls so heavy that they crushed things and sent him crazy (so he's behind a locked door and trying to get out).
Into what is becoming an increasingly complicated story that involves clichéd situations treated and re-created with incredible vision, add the odd 'porno' scene (why have pretend ones??). The effect of this is equally unsettling. Just as you get into the comfort zone of camp horror, some carefree full frontals make you feel distinctly on edge - all the better to freak you out for the next scary plot development. I should add that a bountiful mix of hetero and gay sex ensures it is not a film for dirty old men unless they are exceedingly liberal and the sudden shifts between genuinely erotic and scarily weird make you feel involved with the characters rather than observing them from a superior height.
I saw this film for a second time in 2005 and it was apparent that a number of very explicit scenes had been previously deleted. As the graphic sexuality runs simultaneously with double and triple puns explaining the subplots, it makes much more sense with them in and makes the film more cerebral than the average psychotronic experience. The acting by lead character Marion Eaton is also outstanding, almost Shakespearean, and contrasts with the tongue in cheek hamminess of other cast members in a way that makes your jaw drop. One of the most unusual films you'll ever see, I can't imagine anything more weird if John Waters was abducted by aliens and then regurgitated all over someone making a psychotic horror spoof with political and psychological undertones.
If you like cult films this as a jewel. Go and see it with very open-minded friends, or people you know very well! Thundercrack! is a cult classic for the seriously open minded.
Sex and satire
Quinoa_Chris_Kirk24 September 2019
A true underground satire
Dave Godin11 October 1999
THUNDERCRACK! is, in a strange way, a scurrilous precursor of DEAD MEN DON'T WEAR PLAID, and with wicked wit and precision, subverts not only the entire `grammar' of film, but an endless succession of Hollywood images, situations and clichés in the process. It even manages to satirise pornography; no mean feat when such images still retain their power to shock and unsettle some people! Using the familiar "lonely-house on a storm-swept night acting as a safe haven for lost and confused travellers" scenario, (some chance!!), it explores the manners and mores of `normal' society with such wicked wit that only the most puritanical would not be capable of responding. Thankfully made in black-and-white, the entire cast and, it appears, crew, throw themselves into the venture without inhibition or qualm, and the result is Hollywood turned on it's head, and all those previously `hidden' and subliminal subplots exposed for what they really are. For broad-minded adults, a most amusing and entertaining tonic, showing perhaps, that even sex should not be taken TOO seriously.
Surreal and bizarre porno masterpiece.
HumanoidOfFlesh16 March 2006
"Thundercrack!" starts out as a horror flick with some people taking refuge in a ghostly mansion during a storm at the countryside.Their hostess is one of the weirdest female characters ever shown on screen.Dead drunk,horny,delirious:Marion Eaton plays the role with a vengeance.What is the secret with her dead husband?Where is her son? Why does she keep human body parts in the cellar?It really doesn't matter much.Very soon,everyone gets involved in something much more interesting:having sex in every which way possible and impossible.Curt McDowell's "Thundercrack!" is easily one of the most bizarre porno films I have ever seen.It's shot in a black and white and loaded with raunchy hard core homo/hetero sex.The script is supremely strange and the acting is fine.Marion Eaton is especially memorable as a creepy Mrs Gert Hammond.I can't wait to see a fully uncut 152-minutes long version of this film.9 out of 10.
Thundercrack
henry8-315 February 2024
A group of twentysomethings get caught in a storm and take shelter in the home of a deeply strange women who keeps her husband's remains in jars. The young folk all have sex with each other at regular intervals and another turns up later on the run from an escaped sex crazed gorilla.
I was intrigued to see this so called cult film after I watched the excellent documentary 'Scala' about the famous / infamous London cinema. It was claimed that seeing this film there, which was shown regularly, was some form of rite of passage. Anyway, whilst it is no doubt looked on with great affection by a certain fraternity, the film is in fact utter tripe.
Firstly it is hard to make out what's going on because the quality of the film itself is so dreadful (I understand BluRay is available) even if that is in some way intended, with everyone acting appallingly, out of synch and talking interminable rubbish (I did laugh once!) in a strong southern accent which is sometimes hard to follow. The story, such that it is, seems to be there to link together the considerable number of random sex scenes - which are graphic to be sure (this is unavailable in many countries) and is backed up by an annoying silent movie type piano score.
Obviously there are many cult films that are incredibly good and predominantly niche in some way and there are others which mean something to an certain audience and point to happier times - and these are frequently dross to those not caught up in the initial excitement of reading acres of twaddle into what is perceived to be a unique art experience at the time. This is one of those.
I was intrigued to see this so called cult film after I watched the excellent documentary 'Scala' about the famous / infamous London cinema. It was claimed that seeing this film there, which was shown regularly, was some form of rite of passage. Anyway, whilst it is no doubt looked on with great affection by a certain fraternity, the film is in fact utter tripe.
Firstly it is hard to make out what's going on because the quality of the film itself is so dreadful (I understand BluRay is available) even if that is in some way intended, with everyone acting appallingly, out of synch and talking interminable rubbish (I did laugh once!) in a strong southern accent which is sometimes hard to follow. The story, such that it is, seems to be there to link together the considerable number of random sex scenes - which are graphic to be sure (this is unavailable in many countries) and is backed up by an annoying silent movie type piano score.
Obviously there are many cult films that are incredibly good and predominantly niche in some way and there are others which mean something to an certain audience and point to happier times - and these are frequently dross to those not caught up in the initial excitement of reading acres of twaddle into what is perceived to be a unique art experience at the time. This is one of those.
If John Waters and Anthony Spinelli re-made THE OLD DARK HOUSE...
EYEboy3 November 1998
This celebrated oddity of underground art/porno filmmaking is at once a hysterical, insane, and strangely literate comedy. Director Curt McDowell makes good use of the great interiors and black-and-white format to lend an air of sleazy sophistication to the proceedings. As for the sex, it's too demented -- too lost among the chaotic proceedings -- to categorize this as just another "Golden Age" porno; the inclusion of a gay male scene only underscores that. Definitely one of the oddest cult films of its decade, perhaps of any decade. Students of the ultra-weird (who aren't put off by explicit sex) shouldn't miss the opportunity to see this.
Definitely Ranks Among The Strangest Films EVER...
EVOL66629 July 2006
Warning: Spoilers
It's hard to even know where to begin with this strange black-and-white, horror/comedy/satire/film-noir/porno film. There is so much weirdness packed into THUNDERCRACK! that it's hard to cover it all in a review. Suffice it to say, if you are a fan of porn and uber-weirdo cinema, this is DEFINITELY a must-see...
Several travelers end up at the estate of a drunken weirdo named Mrs. Gert Hammond on a drunk and stormy night. Mrs. Hammond shows her "hospitality" by offering the wayward travelers lodging, nourishment, and sex toys. Turns out that Mrs. Hammond is even more of a whackadoo than previously thought, as we find that she keeps the remains of her dead husband (killed by a swarm of locusts ?!?!?!) pickled in the basement, has a son with elephantitis of the bean-bag that she keeps locked in a room, and keeps an endless supply of cucumbers to masturbate with. Soon the travelers begin to "acquaint" themselves with each other in some very strange sexual encounters - including straight sex, homo-sex, blow-up doll sex, vegetable sex...you get the picture. Things get even more strange (if that's humanly possible) when a guy named Bing who works for a traveling circus is in an accident nearby, releasing the animals into the area surrounding the Hammond property. With some prodding from the already resident travelers - we learn that Bing has an odd "relationship" with his female gorilla, Medusa...at this point the bizarro-factor is in over-drive and there ain't no slowin' down...
Anything I could possibly say about THUNDERCRACK! won't really do it justice. It is definitely a see-it-for-yourself sort of film. The performances are actually quite good (especially from Marion Eaton as Mrs. Hammond) for the type of film it is, and the script is surprisingly smart and witty, with a ton of snappy one-liners. The tone of the film - shot in old-school, scratchy black-and-white just adds another layer to the overall weirdosity of the film. If you can handle graphic sex (both straight and homo), beastiality (though it's really just some jackass in a gorilla suit), and complete and utter strangeness in film, then this is DEFINITELY something you should check out - I gotta say I got one hell of a kick out of it. Be warned though - the uncut copy is two-and-a-half hours long, but honestly - it blows by pretty fast as this one will hold your interest pretty easily...8.5/10
Several travelers end up at the estate of a drunken weirdo named Mrs. Gert Hammond on a drunk and stormy night. Mrs. Hammond shows her "hospitality" by offering the wayward travelers lodging, nourishment, and sex toys. Turns out that Mrs. Hammond is even more of a whackadoo than previously thought, as we find that she keeps the remains of her dead husband (killed by a swarm of locusts ?!?!?!) pickled in the basement, has a son with elephantitis of the bean-bag that she keeps locked in a room, and keeps an endless supply of cucumbers to masturbate with. Soon the travelers begin to "acquaint" themselves with each other in some very strange sexual encounters - including straight sex, homo-sex, blow-up doll sex, vegetable sex...you get the picture. Things get even more strange (if that's humanly possible) when a guy named Bing who works for a traveling circus is in an accident nearby, releasing the animals into the area surrounding the Hammond property. With some prodding from the already resident travelers - we learn that Bing has an odd "relationship" with his female gorilla, Medusa...at this point the bizarro-factor is in over-drive and there ain't no slowin' down...
Anything I could possibly say about THUNDERCRACK! won't really do it justice. It is definitely a see-it-for-yourself sort of film. The performances are actually quite good (especially from Marion Eaton as Mrs. Hammond) for the type of film it is, and the script is surprisingly smart and witty, with a ton of snappy one-liners. The tone of the film - shot in old-school, scratchy black-and-white just adds another layer to the overall weirdosity of the film. If you can handle graphic sex (both straight and homo), beastiality (though it's really just some jackass in a gorilla suit), and complete and utter strangeness in film, then this is DEFINITELY something you should check out - I gotta say I got one hell of a kick out of it. Be warned though - the uncut copy is two-and-a-half hours long, but honestly - it blows by pretty fast as this one will hold your interest pretty easily...8.5/10
If You're Looking For Decency, Don't Come In This Room!
ElijahCSkuggs4 December 2006
Absurdly weird and funny porno flick you say? Count me in! So I just finished Thundercrack! a couple days ago. And it's taken me this long to collect my thoughts on this weird-ass film. All I knew going in is that it was weird, funny and full of sex. And that hits it right on the nose.
In the midst of a dark and stormy night, seven strangers find shelter at the residence of one Mrs. Gert Hammond. She's one character you have never come across in all of your film viewing. That's for sure. Mrs. Hammond takes them all in with open arms and is happy and proud to have company on this particular night. But she fails to realize that she's gone completely insane. And you will realize this in a matter of seconds when watching the movie. And the actress playing Hammond does a fantastic job pulling off one of the strangest performances to date. Most of the time you're watching her act with pure curiosity, the next moment you're laughing your ass off. The scene where she's getting ready for her first arrival had me really laughing. Anyways, her guests are four men and three women. A couple guests know one another and the rest "really" get to know one another. Thundercrack! is chock full of flashing lightning, pickled husbands, sex, horny gorillas, gay sex and one used up cucumber.
There are many upsides to this wonder of a porn flick, but there are a couple downsides also. For me, the flick was pretty difficult to hear. It's a rare movie that has not received the proper treatment it deserves. The music is too loud when people are talking. And sometimes when you're trying to read lips, the lightning from the Thundercracks! can't let you see what they're saying. This is a big problem, because the dialogue is where the movie shines. But if this problem is resolved, wowee, this could be one hell of a treat for the unsuspecting viewer. There's a rumor that a nicely packaged DVD is coming out....who knows when though.
Again, this movie is perversely strange and strangely perverse. For many a year I've yearned for a movie that could compete with my messed up dreams. And this is it. If you like porn, witty dialogue, funny acting, cucumbers, and just overall weirdass movies, you'll definitely get a kick out of Thundercrack! Right Chandler? 8.5 outta 10
In the midst of a dark and stormy night, seven strangers find shelter at the residence of one Mrs. Gert Hammond. She's one character you have never come across in all of your film viewing. That's for sure. Mrs. Hammond takes them all in with open arms and is happy and proud to have company on this particular night. But she fails to realize that she's gone completely insane. And you will realize this in a matter of seconds when watching the movie. And the actress playing Hammond does a fantastic job pulling off one of the strangest performances to date. Most of the time you're watching her act with pure curiosity, the next moment you're laughing your ass off. The scene where she's getting ready for her first arrival had me really laughing. Anyways, her guests are four men and three women. A couple guests know one another and the rest "really" get to know one another. Thundercrack! is chock full of flashing lightning, pickled husbands, sex, horny gorillas, gay sex and one used up cucumber.
There are many upsides to this wonder of a porn flick, but there are a couple downsides also. For me, the flick was pretty difficult to hear. It's a rare movie that has not received the proper treatment it deserves. The music is too loud when people are talking. And sometimes when you're trying to read lips, the lightning from the Thundercracks! can't let you see what they're saying. This is a big problem, because the dialogue is where the movie shines. But if this problem is resolved, wowee, this could be one hell of a treat for the unsuspecting viewer. There's a rumor that a nicely packaged DVD is coming out....who knows when though.
Again, this movie is perversely strange and strangely perverse. For many a year I've yearned for a movie that could compete with my messed up dreams. And this is it. If you like porn, witty dialogue, funny acting, cucumbers, and just overall weirdass movies, you'll definitely get a kick out of Thundercrack! Right Chandler? 8.5 outta 10
The Greatest Trash Porn Cinema Ever
maximumhong30 June 2006
Warning: Spoilers
After a grueling, chained-to-my-desk Monday at work, I was pleasantly surprised to see another Nicheflix envelope in my mailbox. My evening plans were immediately set; I would run out, grab some Taco Hell, then settle down behind the PC for a cinematic feast whilst relaxing the body and mind.
How much more wrong could a person be? Thundercrack! is an 'art porn' slash exploitation slash horror b-movie all rolled up into one unsettling, low low budget package. Marion Eaton, a strange, obscure but brilliant 'stage' actress, stars as a drunken, middle-aged widow living 'all alone' in a country cottage. She is charmingly insane, perverse, and her performance is over-the-top but exceedingly well done.
Back story: Her husband was eaten alive by a swarm of locusts years before. In her madness she pickled him and keeps his gristly remains in a couple of tall jars in the basement. Her son, a seeker of all things erotic, is kept in a locked closet because of his elephantitis of the scrotum, which enlarged his testicles to monstrous proportions. To her, 'he no longer exists,' and there is a little more than a hint at incest, though we never actually see her son (except for a brief flicker of his large testicles). Apparently he has a thing for enemas.
Add two groups of strangers looking for shelter from a horrible storm, a snack of peeled (used) cucumber ad nauseum, toss in a deranged, over-caffeinated carny in love with his big, mean gorilla mama (for real), throw in more than a few straight/bisexual explicit sex scenes, and the end result is over 2 hours of celluloid that would at once please and nauseate anyone from David Lynch to John Waters.
I won't go into a detailed review, because I'm saving that for the remastered, restored version that should be coming out sometime in the future (via the official site @ www.thundercrackthefilm.com. I will force myself again to sit through 150 minutes of restored Thundercrack! And I will live to tell about it.
Oh, did I mention that it was super cheap, and filmed entirely in black and white? I have never in my life sat through a film so stupefying and bizarre. This is a one-of-a-kind experience, I must say, and I recommend it wholeheartedly for any fan of the strange, the twisted, and the just plain f**ked up. Definitely not for the squeamish. No real gore, but there are a couple of gross-out scenes and several truly adult sex scenes (including some gay scenes).
I can't begin to describe the effect of this movie. It's like a love/hate relationship. Kind of like sitting through a painful tattoo, knowing that you will come out afterward a permanently changed person but having to undergo some rather intense pain in the process. Or wiggling a loose tooth for two hours. It was one part Eraserhead, two parts Manos: Hands of Fate, one part Pink Flamingos and two parts sleazy '70s 'shock' porn. Crazy crazy mess.
Sometime after I posted my original review of this film, I was contacted by one of the members of the cast who thanked me for the attention. Rest assured that I will give a more thorough review when the official DVD is released.
How much more wrong could a person be? Thundercrack! is an 'art porn' slash exploitation slash horror b-movie all rolled up into one unsettling, low low budget package. Marion Eaton, a strange, obscure but brilliant 'stage' actress, stars as a drunken, middle-aged widow living 'all alone' in a country cottage. She is charmingly insane, perverse, and her performance is over-the-top but exceedingly well done.
Back story: Her husband was eaten alive by a swarm of locusts years before. In her madness she pickled him and keeps his gristly remains in a couple of tall jars in the basement. Her son, a seeker of all things erotic, is kept in a locked closet because of his elephantitis of the scrotum, which enlarged his testicles to monstrous proportions. To her, 'he no longer exists,' and there is a little more than a hint at incest, though we never actually see her son (except for a brief flicker of his large testicles). Apparently he has a thing for enemas.
Add two groups of strangers looking for shelter from a horrible storm, a snack of peeled (used) cucumber ad nauseum, toss in a deranged, over-caffeinated carny in love with his big, mean gorilla mama (for real), throw in more than a few straight/bisexual explicit sex scenes, and the end result is over 2 hours of celluloid that would at once please and nauseate anyone from David Lynch to John Waters.
I won't go into a detailed review, because I'm saving that for the remastered, restored version that should be coming out sometime in the future (via the official site @ www.thundercrackthefilm.com. I will force myself again to sit through 150 minutes of restored Thundercrack! And I will live to tell about it.
Oh, did I mention that it was super cheap, and filmed entirely in black and white? I have never in my life sat through a film so stupefying and bizarre. This is a one-of-a-kind experience, I must say, and I recommend it wholeheartedly for any fan of the strange, the twisted, and the just plain f**ked up. Definitely not for the squeamish. No real gore, but there are a couple of gross-out scenes and several truly adult sex scenes (including some gay scenes).
I can't begin to describe the effect of this movie. It's like a love/hate relationship. Kind of like sitting through a painful tattoo, knowing that you will come out afterward a permanently changed person but having to undergo some rather intense pain in the process. Or wiggling a loose tooth for two hours. It was one part Eraserhead, two parts Manos: Hands of Fate, one part Pink Flamingos and two parts sleazy '70s 'shock' porn. Crazy crazy mess.
Sometime after I posted my original review of this film, I was contacted by one of the members of the cast who thanked me for the attention. Rest assured that I will give a more thorough review when the official DVD is released.
One of a kind film that should not be missed by students of the weird!
dogbowl27 May 1999
I had the pleasure of seeing this at a midnight screening of the Seattle International Film Festival. Wow. This may have been the strangest film ever produced. It is a comedy, a claustrophobic thriller, a love story (well, sort of), a monster movie, and a porno all at once. It would be not enough to simply describe as satire, it is far more than that. You should not pass up the opportunity to see it on the big screen if you have the chance. Any fan of the bizarre can't miss this one. Highly recommended!
As Peter Venkmann once said: "Now, there's something you don't see everyday." truly one-of-a-kind
Quinoa198411 October 2017
Thundercrack! is a true original in the world of cinema, one of those hybrids that defies one genre even as it dabbles and sticks its 160 minute (yes, *160 minute*) run-time in-to (ahem) every genre orifice it can. It's a dark comedy, and yet its also extremely campy (on purpose, like I imagine this was written and performed for a tiny off-off-off-off-off-OFF-off Broadway production in the early 70's, and certainly Marion Eaton plays to all the balconies); it's shot in a 16mm black and white style that evokes Romero with Night of the Living Dead and, more-so, Faces by Cassavetes, and while the cinematography is rich it doesn't stick long for either relationship drama or stark horror; it *does* have some horror elements, or rather some parts that mock the idea of what a horror movie is. I direct you in the immediate path of the gorilla and a character who may or may not be locked behind a door...
Oh, and did I mention it's a porno? Because that is what it primarily is. This is f***ing, but it's also 1970's people f***ing and it's hairy (one of the women, god bless her, I could tell didn't shave her legs) and sweaty and it's an equal-opportunity sex movie. Director Curt McDowell and writer George Kuchar have their scenario set simply as this: Eaton is a mad woman living by herself in her home (as she readily tells anyone who even half-listens, her husband is dead and kept... in places, and her son "does not exist), and due to some accidents and other mishaps on the road nearby while it's raining (ala, uh, Psycho I guess?) they all have to crash at her place for the night. She'll feed them, and (again, akin to Psycho) may have a peeping-tom set-up to look in on her non-existent son's bedroom which is lined with sex toys and images galore and... yeah, everyone ends up f***ing each other. A lot.
I saw someone else on Letterboxd describe this as being like a haunted house film where the ghosts are instead (gulp) stains that are left after the sex acts. That's not a bad way to go about it, but I think that undersells just how insane this whole production is. Kuchar's script is incredibly tasteless, but it knows it is and embraces it, and Eaton is digging so deep into this character's psychosis that you're not sure if she'll be genuinely-great at being like a Blanche Dubois crossed with the old lady from Hansel & Gretel, or so not great at it that it works a different way. And I should also mention there's an intermission - yes, a goddamn intermission - where one can settle for ten minutes and think about what has transpired just before. Indeed the filmmakers even give us a set-piece where Mrs. Gert Hammond describes what happens to her husband, in a long monologue we can only half hear due to the only halfway passable sound recording, and the way it's shot and edited is... mesmerizing.
... And then after the intermission, Bing shows up for the rest of the run time (he's introduced briefly early in the film but then disappears while everyone else shows up), and so does the gorilla. This is when the movie gets... really good.
I think Kuchar may be the best of the non-Eaton actors here - no wonder, likely, since he wrote it - but he actually has a lot to play. While he didn't write it originally for himself, he knows just what to do to make this, uh, ex-circus worker who somehow through one odd night got the attention of a female gorilla seem completely compelling. And through that, naturally, more laughs and crazy humor emerge. It seems even weirder for me to try and criticize any of these other performers since this is, I must stress again, an *adult film* in all that entails: this is graphic sex - straight and, eventually, gay - but it's also inventive right off the bat with some of the, uh, toys that get used. But how does one judge performers when they may not have been picked for their acting prowess but because they can keep "it" up or look good without a blouse on? It's fair to say some of the cast finds the crisp campiness in Kuchar's dialog, and some (the good-hearted wife of the country star character) are not.
I'm sure I could try to criticize the production quality either, but what good would that do except to make me look like a fool for trying? This is something that can't really be considered a typical porn film because there's much, much higher ambition to the filmmaking (at least on the whole) and even in simply shooting it in rough 16mm black and white; it can't be regular sexsploitation because it's too long (a legitimate flaw I think, though exactly where to cut is hard to say); it's not something that you could easily show an art-house crowd because of the sex since it goes beyond even the typical breaking-point limits like Romance or In the Realm of the Senses. It's basically a wild underground experiment that doesn't give two million hells what you think of it. It knows what it wants to do, and Curt McDowell and his team want to surprise the audience and, hopefully they think, their audience will be in on the joke. It may be a very long, over-sized joke, but you know what they say about long, over-sized things...
Thundercrack isn't great, but why carp? Like mother! (another movie with an exclamation point at the end), it exists in the world that it's in, and we can either take it or we can't. I did, for the most part.
Oh, and did I mention it's a porno? Because that is what it primarily is. This is f***ing, but it's also 1970's people f***ing and it's hairy (one of the women, god bless her, I could tell didn't shave her legs) and sweaty and it's an equal-opportunity sex movie. Director Curt McDowell and writer George Kuchar have their scenario set simply as this: Eaton is a mad woman living by herself in her home (as she readily tells anyone who even half-listens, her husband is dead and kept... in places, and her son "does not exist), and due to some accidents and other mishaps on the road nearby while it's raining (ala, uh, Psycho I guess?) they all have to crash at her place for the night. She'll feed them, and (again, akin to Psycho) may have a peeping-tom set-up to look in on her non-existent son's bedroom which is lined with sex toys and images galore and... yeah, everyone ends up f***ing each other. A lot.
I saw someone else on Letterboxd describe this as being like a haunted house film where the ghosts are instead (gulp) stains that are left after the sex acts. That's not a bad way to go about it, but I think that undersells just how insane this whole production is. Kuchar's script is incredibly tasteless, but it knows it is and embraces it, and Eaton is digging so deep into this character's psychosis that you're not sure if she'll be genuinely-great at being like a Blanche Dubois crossed with the old lady from Hansel & Gretel, or so not great at it that it works a different way. And I should also mention there's an intermission - yes, a goddamn intermission - where one can settle for ten minutes and think about what has transpired just before. Indeed the filmmakers even give us a set-piece where Mrs. Gert Hammond describes what happens to her husband, in a long monologue we can only half hear due to the only halfway passable sound recording, and the way it's shot and edited is... mesmerizing.
... And then after the intermission, Bing shows up for the rest of the run time (he's introduced briefly early in the film but then disappears while everyone else shows up), and so does the gorilla. This is when the movie gets... really good.
I think Kuchar may be the best of the non-Eaton actors here - no wonder, likely, since he wrote it - but he actually has a lot to play. While he didn't write it originally for himself, he knows just what to do to make this, uh, ex-circus worker who somehow through one odd night got the attention of a female gorilla seem completely compelling. And through that, naturally, more laughs and crazy humor emerge. It seems even weirder for me to try and criticize any of these other performers since this is, I must stress again, an *adult film* in all that entails: this is graphic sex - straight and, eventually, gay - but it's also inventive right off the bat with some of the, uh, toys that get used. But how does one judge performers when they may not have been picked for their acting prowess but because they can keep "it" up or look good without a blouse on? It's fair to say some of the cast finds the crisp campiness in Kuchar's dialog, and some (the good-hearted wife of the country star character) are not.
I'm sure I could try to criticize the production quality either, but what good would that do except to make me look like a fool for trying? This is something that can't really be considered a typical porn film because there's much, much higher ambition to the filmmaking (at least on the whole) and even in simply shooting it in rough 16mm black and white; it can't be regular sexsploitation because it's too long (a legitimate flaw I think, though exactly where to cut is hard to say); it's not something that you could easily show an art-house crowd because of the sex since it goes beyond even the typical breaking-point limits like Romance or In the Realm of the Senses. It's basically a wild underground experiment that doesn't give two million hells what you think of it. It knows what it wants to do, and Curt McDowell and his team want to surprise the audience and, hopefully they think, their audience will be in on the joke. It may be a very long, over-sized joke, but you know what they say about long, over-sized things...
Thundercrack isn't great, but why carp? Like mother! (another movie with an exclamation point at the end), it exists in the world that it's in, and we can either take it or we can't. I did, for the most part.
A True Art Film
Captain_Obviuos4 October 2012
The easiest way to describe "Thundercrack!" to another person is to say it is a work of art more than film. Naturally, art is all interpretation; about how well the artist(s) conveys his/her imaginings, and if their patrons understand them; but ultimately, art is about expanding boundaries, many of which not only cultural but mental, and creating controversy or any kind of emotional response. Great artists are able to manipulate their patrons' feelings, and direct them towards whatever points s/he is trying to make without seeming overbearing or insistent, allowing the patrons to internalize the experience and arrive at their own conclusions. Mediocre artists tend to go for shock or disgust or outrage to make their points, and the results are always mixed.
Which is how I perceive this movie: mediocre. It is interesting to note that this film was released the same year as another micro-budgeted horror send-up, the superior "Rocky Horror Picture Show," a campy, loopy, delirious romp of faux sexuality and outrageous characters. While "Thundercrack!" has the same ham and cheese as "Rocky Horror" does, the former adds plenty of mayonnaise too.
Bottom line: it is a really tawdry, weird, surreal exploitation movie, unforgettable in its uniqueness but ultimately more about being unorthodox than understood.
Which is how I perceive this movie: mediocre. It is interesting to note that this film was released the same year as another micro-budgeted horror send-up, the superior "Rocky Horror Picture Show," a campy, loopy, delirious romp of faux sexuality and outrageous characters. While "Thundercrack!" has the same ham and cheese as "Rocky Horror" does, the former adds plenty of mayonnaise too.
Bottom line: it is a really tawdry, weird, surreal exploitation movie, unforgettable in its uniqueness but ultimately more about being unorthodox than understood.
Possibly the strangest porn film ever made.
jsmog19 October 1998
You have NEVER seen anything like this!!
Infofreak8 July 2002
Three days after watching 'Thundercrack!' I still have to convince myself that I didn't dream the whole thing up. This is quite possibly THE loopiest movie ever made! In its own way as bizarre as anything Warhol, Waters, Jodorowsky, Lynch or Buttgereit have ever come up with. There's no way I can convey just how weird this is, but it's a bit like 'Chelsea Girls' meets 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' on acid, with a touch of 'La Bete' on the side. Part parody, part porno, part I don't know what, this movie is way out. Way, waaay out! Highly recommended for fans of strange movies, the campier and trashier the better. 'Thundercrack!' almost makes 'Pink Flamingos' look mundane...
Bad
Michael_Elliott29 February 2008
Thundercrack! (1975)
* 1/2 (out of 4)
Of all the sub-genres every created, I've probably seen the most from the "old dark house". I've seen countless of these types of films but never one quite like this infamous little film. Countless people show up at a dark castle on a stormy night where they're greeted by the owner, an old horny lady. Throughout the night the group has countless sex while the old woman gets off while watching them. Yep, here's another porno mixed with a horror film. As I've said countless times, I'm really not into the porn genre but these notorious titles keep pulling me in for some reason. This film runs just over two hours, which is at least an hour too long. The horror elements are all quite silly and the production value makes this look like an homage to Ed Wood. If I was a porn reviewer, I'd have to give two thumbs down to the sex scenes since most of the time the scenes are too dark to the point where you can't see what's going on. Nearly every type of sex happens in this film with some I really didn't care seeing. The highlight is certainly the escaped gorilla who shows up at the house and wants a piece of the action.
* 1/2 (out of 4)
Of all the sub-genres every created, I've probably seen the most from the "old dark house". I've seen countless of these types of films but never one quite like this infamous little film. Countless people show up at a dark castle on a stormy night where they're greeted by the owner, an old horny lady. Throughout the night the group has countless sex while the old woman gets off while watching them. Yep, here's another porno mixed with a horror film. As I've said countless times, I'm really not into the porn genre but these notorious titles keep pulling me in for some reason. This film runs just over two hours, which is at least an hour too long. The horror elements are all quite silly and the production value makes this look like an homage to Ed Wood. If I was a porn reviewer, I'd have to give two thumbs down to the sex scenes since most of the time the scenes are too dark to the point where you can't see what's going on. Nearly every type of sex happens in this film with some I really didn't care seeing. The highlight is certainly the escaped gorilla who shows up at the house and wants a piece of the action.
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