Barn of the Naked Dead
USA, 1974
Director: Alan Rudolph
Writers: Alan Rudolph, Roman Valenti
Producer: Alan Rudolph
Starring: Andrew Prine, Manuela Thiess, Sherry Alberoni, Gyl Roland
Genre: Horror
Rating: Not Rated
DVD distributor: Legend House
Website: Buy it here

When I was growing up, I took full advantage of my local video store’s Wednesday 2-for-1 special. Indiscriminant to say the least, I mixed Frank Capra films with WWII documentaries with movies about giant ticks trying to eat Carlton from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Along with mild mental illness and social retardation, this led to an appreciation of quantity over quality, and therefore, I see Barn of the Naked Dead as an ideal film, as it crams at least two separate exploitation films into one affordable package.

Directed by Alan Rudolph, who later went on to make Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, the film is about Andre (Grizzly’s Andrew Prine), a delusional rancher who Shanghais women into a bizarre desert circus. It’s also about nuclear testing mutating Andre’s father into a feral Toxic Avenger. Between the dad’s occasional forays into cannibalism and the bizarre circus performances that resemble Down’s Syndrome interpreted through dance lies a strange and gritty film dealing with isolation and dysfunction. In that sense, it’s not far removed from Rudolph’s other work, particularly Choose Me and Trouble in Mind, though it’s significantly rougher around the edges than his later films.

The film is undeniably unusual, but Barn of the Naked Dead doesn’t go to extremes, avoiding graphic violence or sexuality. In fact, the title is a bit of a misnomer, as the women are neither naked nor dead, though I suppose Barn of the Partially Clothed Hysterics sounds less dramatic. Nevertheless, the film has an uneasiness about it that, mixed with the camp, disparate storylines, and the man-eating cougar in the cage I forgot to mention earlier, makes a bargain that rivals any video store special

Legend House’s DVD features an interview with star Andrew Prine, and an edition of videozine Gorezone, featuring director Fred Olen Ray.

Rating: 6 on 10

alkratina@comicbookbin.com