The Taming of Rebecca Review!
For anybody who is new to Severed Cinema, aside from indie horrors, gore epics, and general nasties, I like to cover down ‘n’ dirty filth coated pornography from time to time. Ironically, these kind of reviews garner a lot of attention.
The cheaper and the more real the better for me. No fake men or women, no plush lit studios, no modern hotel rooms with a one person camera crew. I look for the rough-edged and sometimes violent flicks probably put together by a couple of blokes operating from a small hired office which smelled of sweat and old alcohol, buried down an alley in NYC, or wherever. I have no shame, Forced Entry (read review here) resides on my top 20 movies of all-time list, whilst Hot Summer in the City (read review here) and Wet Wilderness (on the Rapist Rampage set) are both simply demented and so much fun to watch.
The Taming of Rebecca is as subtle as a sledgehammer smashing a kitten’s skull. It, like the others mentioned, doesn’t give a fuck. Filmed in Queens, and created by a company called Avon Productions, by a man called Phil Prince (who has a story worthy of ten films alone — more of him later) this is the movie which allegedly influenced Steven Pennell (aka The Corridor Killer).
Spunky shorthaired ‘80s schoolgirl chick, Rebecca (played by the mature looking Sharon Mitchell) calls a stern woman called Miss Zorda, on the payphone. She tearfully informs the woman that her Dad has raped and beaten her. Rebecca makes her way over to the lady and her academy of ‘children’, in a cab. As we journey along, we see almost epilepsy inducing flash moments of the abuse she has suffered and… and… John Carpenter’s Halloween theme kicks in! I’m serious here, note by bloody note! This is wonderful, I love this trash flick all the more now!
“Rebecca!” yells her moustached porn stud Father as he sits naked on the toilet. “You horny lil’ bitch, get here!” Yep, we are in full on flashback mode to what has transpired. “Your Daddy needs you!” all the while he’s pulling his pudding. “Oh yeah, she can put her mouth right on my cock, lil’ bitch!” he snarls as he waits for her. “That’s what all Daddies should have lil’ girls for. Oh yeah.”
She appears from around the door, hesitating upon seeing her Pops having a frantic old wank on the pot. He likes the mad outfit she’s randomly wearing too. Made to kneel down she has to suck him off a while, and in very close-up detail. “Suck on your Daddy’s cock, that’s why me and your Momma made you, oh yeah.” This fella is the King of lower level verbal pornography! Rebecca gets quite into things with her; “Oh, Daddy.” She moans as she’s made to ride him, then he slurps her out.
Next thing she knows, he’s pushed her over the bath and he’s giving her a good hard spanking before he mounts her and brutally fucks her from behind. To conclude this Father and Daughter bonding session, he stands like a teapot as she sucks him again, and then finally he tells her to piss all over him.
Rebecca is allowed to stay at the school. She meets the other ‘children’ all of whom look in their early 20s, and meets the ‘Dean of Discipline’ played by skin-flick dude, George Payne, who looks coked outta his head and wearing the most ridiculous grey wig I’ve ever seen! His workload consists of having blowjobs given by his secretary, Lisa, then sex (the Halloween theme plays again) and having the pupils to his office. Meanwhile, Rebecca asks around and there are rumours that the Dean has a cave below the school where he ties girls up in. “Why don’t we get down to some serious action.” states one of the lads. As funky music hits, all the gang strip, including Rebecca, now fully recovered from her ordeal at the hands of her Pops. Seriously, it doesn’t get more damn ‘80s than a man wearing aviator shades and a vest getting it on whilst he scrunches his face. Ten minutes worth of arms ‘n’ legs, socks, t-shirts, and orgy. At one point it’s like a zombie gut munch as two lads and Rebecca open another girl wide with their fists.
Rebecca and a lad called John go first to the Dean when caught by Zorda. John goes off with Miss and Rebecca is left with the Dean. He whips her and molests her, as expected. George Payne is an absolute revelation in this role, by the way. Mugging, eyes popping, laughing like a maniac, and grinding his teeth. One hundred and sixty two credits on his CV, mainly porn material, both heterosexual and homosexual. Twenty eight films alone in 1985 (c’mon, really??!!).
Soon afterwards comes the infamous breasts piercing scene, made known courtesy of Steven Pennell. Whilst many porns showing stuff like this hold back on the blood so as to not make the ol’ audience penis field limp, this certainly doesn’t. The poor girl bleeds and cries (obviously this is done through an already pierced hole, but, wow, it makes your eyes water. Oh, and there is a cave down below. It’s rather fake looking, but it’s meant to be a cave. There are lots of things happens in that cave.
Avon Productions, well, what can I say? They were the kind of folks who made violent and unapologetically brutal hardcore porn films with titles like Pain Mania, Angel in Distress, and Dr. Bizarro. Specialised images of S&M, rape, molestation, these roughies had a right bulging bag of nasties under their belts. Avon were raided and put out of business in 1983, just in time to avoid the fallout from the crimes of the before mentioned Corridor Killer.
Phil Prince was a rollercoaster of a man. A Bronx born Irish American who, in a nutshell, was a fucked up junkie who had his wife used in live sex shows before she was murdered with two friends – all very badly mutilated says some accounts, and Phil happened to be a prime suspect. Finally cleared, but when Avon Productions were raided, Phil left his new family and went on the run with a methadone addicted mate. They held up a store and killed the assistant. Phil served time, released in 1990, only to stroll to 42nd Street and murder a theatre owner who owed him from back in the day. Back in prison he went, 25 ta life, muthafucka! He passed away in 2018.
One thing can be said about Phil Prince though, he sure knew how to make a roughie raincoat flick. He helmed just about all the vile creations under the Avon rooftop. And that sums up this movie. It’s unbelievably vile, and that’s what makes it totally brilliant. Most of the cast seem to be having a good time on screen, however, I doubt it was all great, due to Phil’s reputation as a guy who hated everyone and everything around him.
The Taming of Rebecca is a clumsy cheap affair and all the more better for it. You cannot put spit and polish on a dirty anus. The New York Grindhouse DVD by After Hours Cinema was released a few years back as part of a triple feature with other Avon epics. Unfortunately, my review is via a grubby sleazy ragged download, so ‘meh’!
An extra special mention goes to porn actor and director, David Christopher who plays Rebecca’s smooth talking Dad. This man has directed over two hundred porns and acted in around one hundred and eighty of ‘em since the late ‘70s. Workhorse isn’t the word for him! He is, however, pipped to the post by Sharon Mitchell — Rebecca herself. Over five hundred acting credits up to the year 2000. She must have parts of her worn out, poor thing. She was the founder of the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation. (Sharon also had a small role in William Lustig’s Maniac).
AKA: Rebecca, Taming of Rebecca
Directed by: Phil Prince | Written by: Phil Prince | Produced by: Stella Stevens, Phil Prince, Murray Offen | Cinematography by: Sal Sodano | Editing by: Sal Sodano | Cast: Sharon Mitchell, George Payne, Stella Stevens, Velvet Summers, David Christopher, Niko, Cheri Champagne | Year: 1982 | Country: USA | Language: English | Runtime: 1hr 8mins
Studio: Avon Productions
Distributor: After Hours Cinema
