Blacksnake (3 Stars)

"Blacksnake" is the most common name of the film also released as "Slaves" and "Sweet Suzy". The poster above has little to do with the film itself, I just used it because it's a nice picture.

I'm a big fan of Russ Meyer's films. I wrote about his body of work in my post about "Mondo Topless". "Blacksnake" is the film of his that I like the least, but I thought I'd watch it again. My opinion of the film hasn't changed. It's not a bad film, but it's not really a "Russ Meyer film". It has no similarity with any of his other films before or after it.

It takes place in 1836. An English nobleman travels in disguise to the Caribbean island of Saint Christobel to search for his brother who had gone missing after marrying the island's ruler, Lady Susan Walker. When he gets there he finds a cruel regime in place where the white rulers, including Lady Susan, mercilessly whip, torture and crucify the black slaves. Maybe the subject matter was too serious for Meyer to make a comedy out of it like he did with his other films. Even the leading lady, Anouska Hempel who played Lady Susan, does not have the usual qualities of actresses in Meyer's films: extremely large breasts. And because the film took place in the 19th Century women didn't wear hot pants like the poster for "Sweet Suzy" suggests.

No comedy, no big breasts. This film only deserves 3 stars.

On a side note, this film also features Dave Prowse in one of his many non-speaking roles.