Abstract

Critical engagement with some of the more outré cinematic artefacts obliges us immediately to relinquish any claims to moral or social fortitude on the part of their authors. Therefore, this discussion of Femmes De Sade (Alex De Renzy, 1976) and Water Power (Shaun Costello, 1977) constitutes neither defence or justification, accepting them from the outset as wilful incitements to revulsion, shock and bemusement. However, while focusing primarily upon their strategies of violent representation, there are several layers of interest aside from the purely sensational, allowing critical discourse to develop beyond the mere articulation of transgressive content. Taken together, they can help enhance our understanding of graphic, often alarming depictions of sexual violence within the stylistic norms of cinematic pornography, which in turn might be sensibly accommodated in ongoing debates regarding realist horror films produced within the exploitation and mainstream sectors. Emerging at a time when hardcore films were still wrestling with uncertainties both of cultural value and legal status, they are fascinating test cases for any insistence both upon pornography’s dangerous debasement, and its non-value as an object of critical inquiry.