A lot of the intentionally camp B-movies of this era are truly insufferable, boring, filled with bad acting and awkward attempts at sex appeal. Often times MST3K can't elevate them enough to be watchable. SEX KITTENS manages to avoid the these trappings and create a really fun movie. The appearance of actors like Jackie Coogan, John Caradine, and a brief appearance by Vampira probably do a lot to elevate the story. Nobody gives a restrained or subtle performance. Everyone is very goofy, which is exactly what the film called for.
Surprisingly the film is very tame when it comes to sex. Men ogle Van Doren, but they're such harmless cartoon characters that it never feels sleazy, and none of them make a serious advance. There are also two subplots about men actively rejecting the advances of women. One is about a gangster who is more interested in his schemes than the student trying to seduce him for her report on sex, and the other is about the head of the football team passing out because he's too nervous to talk to girls. Sex is treated in a very cute harmless way, despite what the title and marketing would suggest.
Mamie Van Doren's Dr West shows considerably more depth than you would expect the role to allow. In fact with the exception of the sex obsessed French student, all of the female characters are depicted as intelligent and thoughtful, while the male characters are absolute morons. I think this dynamic does a lot to make the film not feel too dated in it's social politics. It features a woman with 13 PhDs who is also a former stripper overcoming sexism to be the head of a University science department. If that's not a female empowerment fantasy, I don't know what is.
You should have realistically low expectations for a movie like this, but there's a Chimp named after Voltaire and Conway Twitty is in it for a few minutes. Do you really need more?
Surprisingly the film is very tame when it comes to sex. Men ogle Van Doren, but they're such harmless cartoon characters that it never feels sleazy, and none of them make a serious advance. There are also two subplots about men actively rejecting the advances of women. One is about a gangster who is more interested in his schemes than the student trying to seduce him for her report on sex, and the other is about the head of the football team passing out because he's too nervous to talk to girls. Sex is treated in a very cute harmless way, despite what the title and marketing would suggest.
Mamie Van Doren's Dr West shows considerably more depth than you would expect the role to allow. In fact with the exception of the sex obsessed French student, all of the female characters are depicted as intelligent and thoughtful, while the male characters are absolute morons. I think this dynamic does a lot to make the film not feel too dated in it's social politics. It features a woman with 13 PhDs who is also a former stripper overcoming sexism to be the head of a University science department. If that's not a female empowerment fantasy, I don't know what is.
You should have realistically low expectations for a movie like this, but there's a Chimp named after Voltaire and Conway Twitty is in it for a few minutes. Do you really need more?