Is Mondo Freudo / Mondo Bizarro Trash or Treasure?

Blu Ray Distributed By: Severin Films / January 29, 2019

In 1966, the notorious producer/director/distributor team of Lee Frost and Bob Cresse (HOT SPUR, THE SCAVENGERS) combined the extremes of the Mondo genre with their own depraved aesthetic to create two shockumentaries that put Olympic International on the map and changed the face of exploitation forever. Cresse himself narrates MONDO FREUDO, “a world of sex and the strange & unusual laws that govern it” featuring Hollywood strippers, Tijuana hookers, London lesbians, Times Square Satanists and topless Watusi clubs. In MONDO BIZARRO, the team’s “hidden cameras” go “beyond the beyond” to expose Bahamian voodoo rites, Japanese massage parlors, Nazi theater, and an Arab sex slave auction that looks suspiciously like LA.’s Bronson Canyon. Both films have been scanned in 4k from the original Something Weird 35mm vault negatives.

Jamie’s Take  (1 / 5)

Severin Films second disc of two Mondo films, both from 1966 is pretty much on par with their other disc, Echo / The Forbidden. In my last review I did briefly explain a little on what a “mondo” film is so I really don’t need to get into what these films are about or their history. Just know these are pseudo-documentaries where most of the footage that appears to be real is not, with both films meant to titulate the viewer.

The first film is Mondo Freudo and we start with a narrator (these films always have a narrator) speaking about the filmmakers’ using certain cameras and long lenses to capture unsuspecting people on the beach in Malibu, CA. Odd way to start the movie but it gives the audience an idea that what we are the voyeurs, we are the peeping tom’s for the next 75 minutes. We seeing families, lovers, kids, having a day at the beach…whoopie do. If anything the only strange moment is seeing a Mom breastfeed her child while smoking a cigarette. But being this is 1966 and a different time, viewers shocked over this may find it funny that this wasn’t even meant to shock or surprise anyone upon its release.

Mondo Freudo (taken from the name of Sigmund Freud for those that may not be able to add two plus two) focuses on sex even though our next segment just shows teens cruising up and down Hollywood Blvd ala American Graffiti style.

After that dull sequence we see various burlesque shows and one that…oh my Lord…shows “total nudity”. The narrator who exclaims this caused me to chuckle as if what we may see will be the most shocking thing ever. Guess what? The entire movie does not show any pubic hairs or ding dongs so aside from non stop tits and female fannies, you are not going to get “total nudity”. Sorry pervs.

It’s apparent these sequences are mostly re-enactments especially when we see an interview with two English prostitutes that speak with American accents and try their best to not show their bermuda triangle to the camera. They claim to be lesbiens but sit on the couch far apart from one another. There is no way these ladies eat mondo pusso.

We get more boring segments like a topless bikini black tie event and teenagers dancing in clubs in California. My finger hurts from pressing the fast forward button at this point.

The movie peaks a tad when we watch a beatnik painter in San Francisco finger painting on a canvas although his canvas is a naked woman. He takes cardboard and pushes it up against the woman’s painted floppies and her droopy fanny and gives these works of art out to audience members for $10.

The film then jumps to Mexico where we see prostitutes being sold on the street who are told to get completely nude (again their pubic hairs are scratched out. You are not allowed to see that lower hair!) as well as sex clubs in Tijuana where prostitution is solicited. No pink tacos are on display though.

The “best” moment of the film is the black mass sequence as this moment tried to change the tone from being light-hearted to something dark as we see witches and a female dancer in a circle, meant to entertain and turn on the Devil himself. With upside down black crosses hanging about, this moment was a tad creepy and gets even more bizarre when a chicken is sacrificed and blood is poured on a topless 17 year old who we are told will be raped later.

It would have been better to end the film at this point but we the viewer must suffer through re-enactments of a NYC John picking up hookers (language is censored here, annoying me even more) and Japanese burlesque shows that deal with S&M and finally we see…German mud wrestling! Ohhhhhhh! Muddy milkers!

The second film is Mondo Bizarro and I guess if I had to choose this was a little better than Mondo Freudo but that’s like saying, “The homeless man didn’t blast poop on me but he peed all over me.” Small victories I guess.

The film opens with a cheesy looking globe of the world spinning as the narrator discusses what we are going to see is “beyond the beyond.” Like the globe, my eyes start to roll. As credits start, we are subjected to seeing women at a dress shop in Chicago in changing rooms getting undressed. After the 4th or 5th set of jugs, I was already reaching for the remote with my finger resting on that FF button.

Next up we are in the Bahamas where the cameras are hidden and a voodoo worship ceremony takes place with some boobies bouncing about.

We travel to Japan where there are massage parlors with men getting rubbed down by topless women as they crack raw eggs onto their chest. Very strange and stupid but at least it wasn’t another fucking burlesque sequences.

We go back to the U.S. where a Hollywood underwear salesman designs see-thru bras. Bored out of my mind, the sequence only saving grace was having quick zooms on boobs and nipples that had me cracking up as it lasted for a good three or four minutes at least. One nip even flips out by accident which of course is funny.

The movie then turns weird where in Australia doctors and medical staff meet at a college campus where a man lays down on a rusty bed of nails whose wounds heal in 30 minutes and never bleeds. He starts putting needles through his arms and mouth as well. If you hate needles, this moment will make you want to ralph and run out of the room.

Guy at a restaurant eats glass, two gay prostitutes pick up another man, art gallery of nude women, Vietnam protests, and middle age women in a painting class – this is what is shown next…ugh. Thankfully I had laundry to do while all this was happening. Who the fuck thought this was entertaining and paid money to sit in a theater to watch this?

A re-enactment of a play in Germany that is quite anti-semetic of a Jewish girl being beaten by Nazi soldiers is next. This would have been disturbing however the acting is so phony and it is apparent that the girl is actually in her 20’s or 30’s playing a child.

The final segment takes place in Lebanon although Lebanon surprisingly looks like California to me…anyways the narrator tells us what we are going to see is a slave auction with naked women and men being sold to Arabs. The vagitation is scratched out on this as well. I’d love to hear from the person whose job it was to find any bits of film with the forbidden forrest and sit there with his / her finger nail, scratching out any bits of whisker biscuit.

The blu ray looks nice I guess as both films have some bits of print damage but otherwise looks nice and clear. Both films have audio commentaries by rockabilly musician Johnny Legend and film collector Eric Caidin. Caidin died in 2015 so I am unsure when these commentaries were recorded.

I do not get the fascination with these old Mondo films. They are boring as hell and leaves the viewer feeling depressed. I just don’t get it.

Hidden Treasure/Dumpster Fire?

Jamie's Take:	(1 / 5)
Blu-ray Extras:	(3 / 5)
Average:	(2 / 5)

Special Features:

• Audio Commentary with Johnny Legend and Eric Caidin
• The Cadaver Is Infinity: Bob Cresse, Lee Frost and the Birth of American Mondo – Interview With Chris Poggiali
• Mondo Bizarro Trailer
• Mondo Freudo Trailer