Tura Returns! THE DOLL SQUAD to be Riffed at CINEMATIC TITANIC in St. Louis November 17th

CINEMATIC TITANIC is the live movie riffing show from the creator and original cast of MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 and they’re bringing their show to St. Louis on Saturday November 17th. Like MST3K, the show was created by Joel Hodgson and features the same team that first brought the Peabody award winning cult-classic series to life: Trace Beaulieu (Crow, Dr. Forrester), J. Elvis Weinstein (Tom Servo, Dr. Erhardt), Frank Conniff (TV’s Frank), and Mary Jo Pehl (Pearl Forrester), Cinematic Titanic continues the tradition of riffing on ‘the unfathomable’, ‘the horribly great’, and the just plain ‘cheesy’ movies from the past.

Three years ago when Cinematic Titanic came to the St. Louis area’s St. Charles Family Arena, they riffed on the deliciously riffable 1964 gem SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS. The next year they chose a 1968 Kaiju I was unfamiliar with called WAR OF THE INSECTS (aka GENOCIDE) but it was indeed worthy of their patented scorn.  This year, on November 17^th at the St. Charles Family Arena, I’m thrilled to report that the movie that Joel and the guys will be ripping is one of my favorites: Ted V. Mikel’s glorious 1973 babes and bullets opus THE DOLL SQUAD!

In 1976 Television producer Aaron Spelling gave the world Charlie’s Angels. A trio of gorgeous, gun-toting special agents seemed like a new idea, and television audiences gobbled it up, making the show a smash and soon Farrah Fawcett posters adorned every teen boy’s wall. However, three years earlier notorious schlock director Ted V. Mikels, the man best known as the force behind the low-brow epics ASTRO-ZOMBIES(1969) and THE CORPSE GRINDERS (1972), unleashed THE DOLL SQUAD, about a bevy of weapons-savvy babes who fight crime and save the world. Tura Satana, best known for her starring role as Varla in Russ Meyer’s 1965 masterpiece FATSER PUSSYCAT KILL KILL, was one of the costars of THE DOLL SQUAD and invited Spelling to the premiere of the film. Four years later Spelling conveniently came up with Charlie’s Angels concept and was still counting his money until his death in 2006, while Mikels continued to churn out entertaining low-budget drive-in films.

The plot of THE DOLL SQUAD follows a crack team of highly trained female spies who are as beautiful as they are deadly. A terrorist has blown up a rocket ship on it’s way to outer space just to prove he can so Senator Stockwell (John Carter) hires Sabrina Kincaid (Francine York). and her ragtag team of bad ass babes to find the culprits and put a stop to any future disasters that may happen. It tunrs out that the bad guy is Sabrina’s ex-boyfriend, Eamon O’Reilly (Michael Ansara), and he’s started his own little community on an island to prepare for future world domination. He’s going to do it by spreading the bubonic plague unless he can be stopped by the bodysuit-clad, machine-gun-totin’ heroines known as The Doll squad!

DOLL SQUAD was one of Ted V. Mikels’ best films — a low budget drive-in movie that was goofy, creative, fast paced, usually interesting, and a lot of fun. It played like a very low rent Bond inspired knock-off—complete with a ruthless villain intent on ruling the world, explosive Vodka and a Magic Bazooka,. Mikels’ movie may or may not have been the source for Charlie’s Angels but it does have its own special charms, including a catchy, typically ’70s horn-driven musical soundtrack and a cool supporting turn by the ultra-curvy Tura Satana (though I wish she’d have played Sabrina).  The special effects are cheesy, some of the ‘night’ photography too dark, but THE DOLL SQUAD has some truly hysterical moments and while certainly not high-brow entertainment, Mikels’ film had enough outlandish absurdity to make it immensely appealing. It should be a great night at Cinematic Titanic seeing how Joel Hodgson and his gang tear apart Sabrina and her gang. Be sure to check back here tomorrow night at We Are Movie Geeks where we’ll be posting a contest on how to win FREE TICKETS to Cinematic Titanic’s live riffing of THE DOLL SQUAD at the St. Charles Family Arena.

my DOLL SQUAD DVD signed by Tura Satana