Thundercrack! (Njuta Films) Review

Distributor: Njuta Films Edition Details: Standard DVD Movie Specs: Genres: Golden Age Classic, Feature Film, Comedy, Horror Also known as: Thunder Crack Run Time: 120 minutes Rated: X Release Year: 1975 Director: Curt McDowell Written by: George Kuchar (screenplay), Mark Ellinger (original story concept), Curt McDowell (original story concept) Cast: Marion Eaton, George Kuchar, Melinda McDowell, Phillip Heffernan (as Mookie Blodgett), Moira Benson, Rick Johnson, Maggie Pyle, Ken Scudder, Bernie Boyle, Mark Ellinger, Virginia Giritlian, Michele Gross, Laurie Hendricks, Margo O'Connor, Billy Paradise, Roy Ramsing, Gael Sikula, John Thomas, Curt McDowell (as Pamela Primate) Release Specs: Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono Subtitles: English, German, Swedish, Spanish, French, Dutch Video: Full Frame, 1.33:1 Video Format: PAL Format: DVD Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): 0 (All) Number of discs: 1

An old house occupied by a mentally deranged woman who masturbates with cucumbers, penis pumps, jars filled with with dildos and K-Y jelly, a copulating gorilla, and a human head in a jar. All of this and more is awaiting you in Thundercrack! Thundercrack! is truly an oddity in the world of adult films and is likely to only appeal to a very limited audience.

A motley crew of travellers end up taking refuge in Prairie Blossom, the remote estate of Gert Hammond (Marion Eaton) and her husband, the late Simon Cassidy (John Thomas), from a thunderstorm. There the group finds that the rooms are decorated in sex toys that were obtained by their son, who no longer exists, and that Gert, after years of living alone has gone insane. Over the course of the night, the refugees engage in all sorts of sexual encounters with each other.

The best way to describe Thundercrack! would be to imagine what would happen if Woody Allen, John Waters, and Carlos Tobalina all worked together to make one film with a little assistance from David Lynch; that film would be Thundercrack! The dialog is thick, doesn't always relate to the narrative, and is in far more abundance than the sex. Buried in all the dialog, there isn't actually much of a story in terms of anything overly happening or an arch that one can follow. The story more lies in the character development of the various denizens of the storm that have taken refuge in Prairie Blossom along with the eccentric Gert herself.

The sex scenes are short and range from odd — like the odd homeowner, Gert, pleasured by a Christian woman Willene (Maggie Pyle) in the bathtub, Roo (Moira Benson) masturbating with a vibrator, and Sash (Melinda McDowell) removing Bond's (Ken Scudder) condom for their sex scene — to the straight out bizarre — like Chandler (Phillip Heffernan) gets off using a penis pump, Gert gets off with a cucumber (which later is eaten by Willene), Toydy McNeill (Rich Johnson) has sex with a blow up doll while pushing a butt plug up his ass, and Bing (George Kuchar) having sex with and being jerked off by Medusa (Curt McDowell), a gorilla — leaving very few of them that could be considered erotic at all.

Out of all of the sex scenes in the film, the only one that one might actually call sensual, especially from how it is shot, is the final sex scene in the film, which is also a gay scene with Rich Johnson and Ken Scudder, which given Curt McDowell's sexuality, probably makes sense. The music by Mark Ellinger is an odd score for an adult film, consisting of olde tyme sounding piano music, which honestly fits in perfectly with the film.

Njuta Films has done a poor job with this release. Thundercrack! is presented in the full screen aspect ratio of approximately 1.33:1. The print used isn't in great shape and seems to have been from a video master not a film master. There is print damage, artifacts, jumps, and glitches in the video. Thundercrack! is a black and white film but on this release it looks more like a black and gray film with a soft murky picture that can be hard to see at times. The disc contains the producer's cut of the film, which runs for 120 minutes and was edited down from the original 150 minute run time by Charles and John Thomas, the producers.

Thundercrack! is presented with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 monaural track. The sound for the film is grubby, with a tinny sound and pops throughout. The dialog can be hard to hear at some times, which was a problem with the original masters, not due to Njuta Films. There are English, Swedish, German, Spanish, French, and Dutch subtitles included.

Njuta Films has only included one extra on the release. The essay “In Praise of Gorgeous Dialog: The Marion Eaton Story” by Jack Stevenson has been included on the disc. Consisting of text over more than 30 screens, this feature would have been better off as a booklet instead of being on the DVD itself.

Thundercrack! is a one-of-a-kind adult film from director Curt McDowell. It doesn't make for very erotic material but is still a fun viewing experience for the right person. Your standard viewer looking for the standard adult fare will hate this film though. Njuta has done a poor job with this release with a sub-par transfer and a lack of extras.

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