These two short, hippie-themed no-budgeters made the rounds on the sexploitation circuit in the late-'60s and promised curious cinematic pervs an uncensored, supposedly-genuine glimpse into the scandalous world of free love and drugs they had only previously read about. Though both films are minimal in terms of eroticism, they max out on groovy counterculture trappings -- crudely capturing that era's trippiness, as well as its self-indulgent tedium... In the 50-minute PSYCHEDELICSEX KICKS, an opportunistic hippie dude (long hair, paisley shirt, octagonal eyeglasses, receding hairline) searches for chicks in Golden Gate Park and, using a handy pan flute, lures a couple of gullible, mini-skirted girls into his van. Back at his pad, his nubile pick-ups -- one blonde, the other brunette -- toke on a joint to loosen up, drop a little "mind-bending" LSD and, within minutes, are lounging about naked while we're privy to their insipid thoughts ("Teach me love, enlightenment, pleasure... Dig it, dig it"). As crude images are superimposed over our dosed threesome, additional nude female castmates then inexplicably appear. Where the hell did they come from? I can only assume it's the "Dance Sexualis" sequence, courtesy of Ariel Meredith and The Happy Hippies, as listed in the opening credits, which soon leads to balloons, messy nude bodypainting, a snake, kaleidoscopic visuals, and a possible bad trip. In addition to its grating sitar soundtrack and copious nudity from some seriously mediocre-looking women, varied-viewpoint narration guides us through this meandering mess (regarding LSD: "No two trips are alike. Even if you can't fly now and pay later, you don't need to book a round-trip fare... because you never come back the same way." Wow, that's some deep bullshit, man.) Oddly enough, the film's barely-furnished, shithole apartment is probably closer to 'hippie' reality than most counterculture films of that time... Its co-feature, WILD HIPPIE ORGY, is precisely what the title promises, as an assortment of unphotogenic partygoers arrive at an apartment, drinks are poured, pills are strewn, and soon people begin peeling off their clothes (including some immense panties). This 28-minute, stoned-age slice of life is straight from the Warhol school of ambivalent filmmaking -- simply hanging out at a party full of naked stoners as they play the drums, dance, flaunt their dimpled derrieres, and eventually partake in a full-blown, badly-lit orgy. It's all fairly dull if you aren't as obviously-high as its cast and crew.

© 2012 by Steven Puchalski.