Satan in High Heels

If you like movies from the sixties with jazzclub, sexy pinups, american cars, sex maniac situations, and of course treason, "Satan in high heels" is for you. It's not a junk movie, direction and cinematography are competent, Meg Myles is so sexy (especially in her leather number), but it's not a masterpiece. Jerald Intrator is a perfect unkown director to me, and looking after his filmography, his few movies are all connected with sex : Striporama, Naughty New-York, Strip Poker, Caught in the act, the Sexperts, la Vengenza del sexo. Some kind of Joe Sarno? Don't miss Del Tenney and Sabrina.

Released by the "Something Weird Video" DVD label and promoted as a campy (s)exploitation flick, "Satan In High Heels" turns out to be, in reality, a slow, talky drama with touches of film noir (especially at the end) and a generally low-key tone apart from the musical numbers. Meg Myles is attractive (although she looks somewhat older than her age - 28 at the time) and has a throaty voice that makes her a good choice for the role of a cynical, sarcastic femme fatale: she clearly knows and enjoys her power over men, but when she meets one whom she is actually beginning to develop honest feelings for, will she be able to get him? All the performances are fair-to-good, and Sabrina, in a minor role, has a figure that will make your eyes pop out. The film has some lingerie shots and even some nudity, but it's very discreet and if you want more explicit stuff you can find it in the DVD extras! Not something I would watch twice in its entirety, but an interesting experiment nonetheless. (**)

Gritty, glum, moody, downbeat, depressing---all the elements that make black & white 60's sexploitation films based in New York City so much fun on a rainy afternoon. Superstacked sexbomb model and singer Meg Myles is perfect. Grayson Hall is great. Why Hollywood never utilized Myles' talents always puzzled me. Intrator lucked out casting her as a bitchy, cold-blooded user who gives an inch and takes a mile from everyone. He did a good job although his camera focuses more on Myles' feet than her famous 42-inches. Through sheer happenstance, she winds up at a Manhattan cabaret that's inhabited by a nest of spidery characters as jaded, rotten and nasty as she is. They try to mold her to their specifications. Her rebellion is futile because she wants to become the star of the club. Another 50's-60's bullet-bra icon, British blonde Sabrina, makes a rare film appearance as another club entertainer.

Petite, buxom Meg Myles is a hoot as carnival dancer Stacey Kane, a girl with ambition who ditches her drug addict husband and takes off for New York City, where a pick-up on the plane results in her getting a singing audition at an uptown club, Pepe's. Stacey boards with Pepe herself (Grayson Hall), a chic butch who puts her newest discovery in a leather get-up complete with riding crop! But trouble brews quickly for Stacey after she turns up the heat with both the club owner and his troubled son--unaware that her deranged husband has finally caught up with her. Competently-made B-movie was considered very risqué for 1962: it has fleeting nudity (very coy), gay and lesbian characters and a promiscuous protagonist. Still, it isn't all raunch. The plot is as top-heavy as most of the girls on display, and the score by Mundell Lowe is a delicious cinematic mix of cocktail lounge, bop and jazz. An entertaining dip into drive-in cinema's gutters. ** from ****