Here it is, folks: Monster and the Stripper — the Gone With the Wind of caveman-rampage stripper movies, and without question the raunchiest item ever shot (on the down-low) at the Methodist church’s Nashville production facility. Hailed by Psychotronic mastermind Michael Weldon as “one of the all-time classic exploitation movies,” Ron Ormond’s 1968 sleaze epic has a shady huckster (played by Ormond under the pseudonym Vic Naro) find just the ticket to juice up his rundown titty bar: a fearsome, bloodthirsty missing link! OK, it’s actually Ormond’s next-door neighbor, rockabilly giant Sleepy LaBeef, in a loincloth, fright-wig and ragged false teeth, growling in a Tullahoma swamp and — in the movie’s most notorious scene — clubbing Music Row promotion man Cecil Scaife to death with his own detached arm.
Also known as The Exotic Ones, this can’t-fail amalgam of burlesque acts interrupted by the odd head-crushing represents a rare chance to see Nashville’s entire “First Family of Exploitation,” featuring the inimitable June Carr Ormond — a vaudeville trouper who restages a union-suited fan dance from the burley-Q days — and son Tim, a longtime Nashville film professional. Tim will check in at tonight's 7 p.m. Belcourt screening via Skype to share stories of the shoot, and his memories of his family's adventures — including their near-fatal local airplane crash — are not to be missed.
For background, here's an epic account of the Ormonds' career from the Scene. If either “monster” or “stripper” raises your pulse even slightly, there is nowhere else you need to be.
