A gloriously cheesy relic of the Swinging Seventies- emphasis on the "swinging" part- The Single Girls, aka Bloody Friday, as it was more commonly known on VHS back in the day (see cover below), or Private School (not to be confused with the 80's teen comedy with Matthew Modine and Phoebe Cates), is set against the backdrop of a beachfront "encounter group" that meet up to explore themselves... and others, but of course.
Unfortunately for them, someone along for the ride doesn't appreciate their ways, and sets about killing some of them off, one by one. As the film was released pre-Halloween, it's not quite a slasher, but it certainly qualifies as a proto-slasher, at the very least, with many of the tropes already present and accounted for. (Note how it was retrofitted for the slasher generation after the fact for the VHS version- who even are those people on the cover? Though the synopsis is fairly dead-on, to be fair.)
We've got the mysterious killer, with a hidden agenda that fuels their fire that isn't revealed until the very end. We've got the group of archetypes that include: the smart, resourceful one, Allison (Claudia Jennings); the virginal type, Lola (Joan Prather), who's looking to finally give it up- but at what cost?; the tease, Phyllis (Jean Marie Ingels) looking to use her feminine wiles to score a husband; and the bad girl, Shannon (Cheri Howell), looking to score with whomever she can.
And, of course, we've got the clueless men, some of which have hidden agendas of their own, such as Bud (Edward Blessington), Allison's ex, who came to spy on her and isn't too keen on the company she's keeping; the seemingly nerdy- and possibly pervy- George (Greg Mullavey), who packs a surprising punch when cornered; the aging, shy eternal bachelor, Andrew (Victor Izay), looking to settle down; the player type, Blue (Jason Ledger), who's open to kinky suggestions; and the dubious Doctor Stevens (Wayne C. Dvorak), who is in charge of the shady festivities.
For good measure, there's also the token cool-as-a-cucumber soul brother, Morris (Albert Popwell), and his ditzy, wanna-be actress girlfriend, Denise (Robyn Hilton), who seem to be down for anything, with anyone, especially if it benefits them in some way, shape or form; and the token hottie, Cathy (former Playboy Playmate Merci Montello) that bites it early on, setting off the murder spree.
We've also got a fairly isolated locale- an exclusive private resort in the Caribbean- and other nooks and crannies, like an even more remote cave and some out-of-the-way walking trails, to give the killer some room to move around in, and hide the occasional body so that people don't catch on to what they're doing... until it's too late. It's basically a variation of Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians, aka And Then There Were None... but with an exploitation twist.
By today's standards, this is all a bit tame, the whole "swinger" angle notwithstanding. Yes, there's a fair amount of T&A- after all, the film is populated by former Playmates and models used to such things, and it does revolve around swingers- but the violence is more implied than shown, and what is shown is pretty primitive: Blood Feast this ain't.
But if you're a fan of that unique 70's vibe, complete with the inappropriately funky score, and a recurring "theme song"- in this case, the catchy "Ms. America," by Bobby Hart (who was dating star Jennings at the time, and is best-known for writing over 30 songs for The Monkees with partner Tommy Boyce) and Danny Janssen- then this flick is a lot fun, with imminently quotable bad, oft-politically incorrect dialogue.
For instance:
After encountering the trampy Shannon, who promptly gets naked in front of him, Bud quips to Allison: "All Shannon needs to do is to find herself a football team."
After Andrew gets a little too handsy with Phyllis, she promptly balks: "How dare you even suggest such a thing! I'm a nice Jewish girl! My brother is a rabbi!"
Andrew: "Yeah, well, it's not your brother's body I want to look at, it's yours!"
And perhaps my favorite line, after an overeager someone literally bites poor aspiring actress Denise in a certain place- somewhat understandable, once you've seen her- in the dark during a "group exercise," she later laments to her boyfriend: "Just wait until my agent sees what they did to my boob!" LOL. Was this the same perv that took a bite out of Beyoncé? 😂
Let's take a brief look at the fun cast, who are seemingly game for anything. The main drawing point for me was star Claudia Jennings, who was both a Playmate and a PMOY (that would be Playmate of the Year) in, respectively, November of 1969 and in 1970 as a whole. She made her motion picture debut in the Vietnam Vet drama Jud in 1971, which she followed with roles in The Love Machine and The Stepmother before hitting it big with the roller derby drama Unholy Rollers, which is like the exploitation version of Kansas City Bomber (with Raquel Welch) or, more recently, Whip It.
Lots of similar drive-in movie-type fare followed, notably Truck Stop Women, 'Gator Bait (the first film I saw her in), Sisters of Death, Moonshine County Express, The Great Texas Dynamite Chase and Deathsport, the pseudo-sequel to the classic Death Race 2000. She also did a fair amount of TV, including episodes of The Brady Bunch, The Streets of San Francisco, Barnaby Jones, The FBI and Cannon.
She came very close to nabbing the role of Kate Jackson's replacement on Charlie's Angels, which could have taken her career to the next level, but Shelley Hack got it instead. After a struggle with drug addiction, she finally got her life back on track, before sadly dying in a car wreck on the PCH in California, which was non-drug related, FYI.
Somewhat ironically, her last role was in the drag racing drama, 1979's Fast Company, an atypical effort from Canadian horror guru David Cronenberg. She was only 29 at the time. I stumbled upon her action flick 'Gator Bait as a kid at the video rental store and I've been a fan ever since. It didn't hurt that my uncle collected Playboys and she was one of the first girls I ever saw naked. 😏
I even dated a girl that was close to a dead ringer to her in high school, albeit with blonde hair- but her natural hair color was auburn, so if she had gone natural, it would have been an almost perfect match. But beyond all that obvious surface stuff, Jennings was also a surprisingly decent actress that could have been a contender, had she not died before her time.
Her career was trucking along nicely, and just because she didn't get Charlie's Angels, doesn't mean she might not have gotten something else soon after that. I guess we'll never know. Either way, her acting skills are a cut above most models-turned-actresses, that's for sure, much less by B-Movie standards, which accounts for why she was regularly landing more mainstream TV gigs. Regardless, any of the films I mentioned above are well worth a look, especially if you dig Drive-In friendly exploitation fare.
Beyond that, things get a little more dicey, but there are some fairly well-known faces here and there, especially for fans of 70's exploitation. Sheri Howell (aka Cherie Howell), who plays bad girl Shannon, also co-starred with Jennings in the slightly-better-known Sisters of Death, and had a brief role in the sci-fi classic Soylent Green as one of the "Furniture Girls."
Jean Marie Ingels, who played the "nice Jewish girl" Phyllis, did a fair amount of TV (episodes of I Dream of Jeannie, The Green Hornet, The Flying Nun, Get Smart) and was even a presenter at the 27th Annual Oscars. She also had small roles in the Elvis flick Spinout, the Jerry Lewis sci-fi comedy Way...Way Out and in The Picasso Summer, with the legendary Albert Finney and fellow cult fave Yvette Mimieux.
Her big screen break came in the biker flick Angel Unchained, alongside Drive-In faves Don Stroud and Larry Bishop and a young Tyne Daly (of TV's Cagney & Lacey fame). Alas, this film proved to be her last. It's too bad, as her flair for comedy landed her on the likes of Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show and in variety specials alongside Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett and Julie Andrews. She later turned to writing and art, with a fair amount of success.
If her last name sounds familiar, it's because she was once married to funnyman Marty Ingels- best known to my generation as the voice of "Pac-Man" in the animated cartoon series- who later married Shirley Jones, of The Partridge Family fame. Jean Marie and Marty were only together for a few tumultuous years, but she nonetheless kept his name moving forward, at least for the duration of her acting career.
Joan Prather, who played the slightly twisted Lola, she of the bondage and violent sex fantasies, was another TV regular, cropping up in Sanford and Son, Happy Days, The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, The Love Boat, CHiPs and Fantasy Island. Her best-known TV role was on Eight is Enough, which she had a recurring role on, which she reprised in several TV movie spin-offs.
She was also in the movies The Thing With Two Heads (a total hoot), Big Bad Mama (just fantastic), Smile (the 70's equivalent of Drop Dead Gorgeous or Darlin'), The Devil's Rain (face-melting Satanic fun with William Shatner and John Travolta), Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway (with Brady Bunch star Eve Plumb), Rabbit Test (about a pregnant Billy Crystal) and Take This Job and Shove It, every one of which is well-worth seeing.
And if sultry-but-squeaky Robyn Hilton, as wanna-be actress Denise, looks familiar, just picture her in a red wig standing next to Mel Brooks and you should be able to place her for her memorable, if brief, turn in the classic Blazing Saddles. She also crops up in the likes of Wonder Women, Video Vixens, Mean Mother, Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze and the semi-classic Skinemax staple Malibu Express, which I suspect many of you reading this will be familiar with.
As for the guys, Greg Mullavey, who played George, has a mile-long imdb resume, which you can check out here, which includes loads of TV and movies like another swinger fave, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, the biker flick C.C. & Company, the cult fave I Dismember Mama, The Love Machine (also with Jennings), The Hindenburg, My Friends Need Killing (that one sounds fun), Vultures, The Eleventh Commandment, Newsbreak and Cock & Bull Story.
Victor Izay, who played Andrew, Phyllis' would-be suitor, has lots of great cult flicks on his resume, in addition to the usual loads of TV. Check out some of these gems: Dr. Sex, One Shocking Moment, Girl in the Gold Boots, The Astro-Zombies, A Sweet Sickness, The Golden Box, Billy Jack (and several of its sequels), Premonition, Blood Orgy of the She-Devils (love that one), Sensual Encounters, Blood Song, Female Mercenaries, Young Guns, Employee of the Month and Wild Hogs. Ted V. Mikels fans will notice he worked with him a lot.
Albert Popwell, who played the smooth-as-silk Morris, was a regular in Drive-In fare in the 70's and 80's, and worked alongside Clint Eastwood in several movies, including Coogan's Bluff, Dirty Harry, Magnum Force, The Enforcer and Sudden Impact. Other faves include The Peace Killers, Glass Houses, Fuzz (with Burt Reynolds), Cleopatra Jones (and the sequel), Charley Varrick, Sleeper, Lost in the Stars, The Buddy Holly Story, Butterflies in Heat, Who's That Girl (yes, the one with Madonna), The Siege of Firebase Gloria, and Scissors (with a young Sharon Stone).
The rest mostly did TV, though a few have some decent credits here and there. But overall, a pretty solid cast of veteran actors and B-movie starlets that should satisfy fans of this sort of thing who know their stuff.
The movie itself is admittedly flawed- it was seemingly edited with a chainsaw (at one point, it cuts off a conversation in mid-dialogue, then, if you listen closely, you can hear the end of the exchange later on at the beginning of another scene!), which often muffles the suspense (especially the ending), and there's the usual blatant day-for-night location shooting that isn't fooling anyone.
But that sort of thing is part-and-parcel for regular B-Movie viewers, so I can't imagine it being that much of a turn-off for most of the people who like this sort of thing. If you're new to these sorts of films, know that, yes, there are some pretty un-PC shenanigans going down here, including brutish behavior from a lot of the male characters and some iffy dialogue to that end.
Like they say, it was a different time- but that doesn't make it right, either. As such, your mileage may vary, in terms of what you may or may not be offended by. But, like I said, if you watch this sort of thing regularly, I can't imagine this would be a major turn-off, and it really is pretty tame compared to other stuff I've seen in these movies, though Lola's rape fantasy is certainly pushing it. (Still, it is her fantasy, so it's not like the guy is trying to talk her into it- but yeah, girl's got issues if that's the way she wants to pop her "V" card!)
I don't know that slasher fans will love it, even though it has a lot of what would become standard tropes of the subgenre firmly in place. The gore is pretty mild- and very fake-looking- Tom Savini level, this is not- and the editing keeps it from being very suspenseful on the whole. But it does have a fairly clever twist at the end- the killer might not be who you think- that might have been even more effective if the filmmakers were a bit more capable.
Interestingly, the film was directed by a husband-wife team, Beverly and Ferd Sebastian. They also did the aforementioned 'Gator Bait- hence the involvement of Claudia Jennings, though she doesn't get nearly the showcase here that she did in that far superior film. They also did the inferior sequel, as well as the amusing Halloween-set slasher Rocktober Blood, which has its fans.
The two often also wrote, directed and produced their films together, and Ferd was typically the cinematographer on all of their films. Other credits include I Need a Man, The Love Clinic, The Hitchhikers, Delta Fox, On the Air Live With Captain Midnight (which sounds a bit like a proto-Pump Up the Volume), American Angels: Baptism of Blood (sounds fun) and Running Cool.
All in all, it has just enough laughs and a heavy enough cheese factor to recommend it for fans of this sort of thing, just know that the sleaze factor is mild at best- but on the plus side, at just shy of an hour and twenty minutes, it's a pretty low commitment. If you're a Jennings fan, it's a must, for sure, and it's always nice to see a film of hers I haven't ever seen, as a big fan.
The film is not available- nor is it likely to be- on Blu-Ray, but it is available on DVD via Desert Island Classics on Amazon and eBay and the like, and you can get it for relatively cheap. As of this writing, the film is available to stream on YouTube, but the quality isn't great- but then, neither is the DVD version, really, which looks to be a dub of the VHS. Sometimes, with these movies, you take what you can get.
I don't typically rate movies, per se, but if I did, this would be around a C+. The camp value saves it, what with all the swingin' dialogue and scenarios, as well as all the lovely ladies on display. The horror element, though, is clumsily handled, making it tough to recommend, as a hardcore horror fan. As such, it's a mild recommendation at best, and even then, mostly for fans of 70's-era B-movies and inept filmmaking.
So, check it out, I guess, if you like this sort of thing. All others, beware. 😈
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