$kumbagz

$kumbagz is the latest tale of debauchery from Florida's horror/exploitation powerhouse The Sleaze Box. I was first introduced to The Sleaze Box shortly after the release of Amerikan Holokaust  (which John Miller wrote). I was immediately taken aback by the amount of sleaze and style that was poured into nearly every shot. To this day I have still not revisited that film, not because I didn't like it, more because Bob Glazier looks EXACTLY like my uncle and happens to be naked a good chunk of his time on screen. It was a traumatic experience that I still haven't quite recovered from. I am also still avoiding contact with my uncle. 

The film opens with music from Eigh8t the Chosen One AND a woman fingering herself. From this moment on, I knew I was in for a fun ride. Stephanie is 25 and still living at home, much to the dismay of her parents. Her father thinks she is lazy and simply doesn't understand why she can't move on from hopping to different burger flipping jobs. Stephanie heads off to work after being ridiculed over her laziness. Once she gets to her dead-end job, her boss tries to get her to blow him. Stephanie makes a face when he gives some juicy details regarding his sexual quirks, and he fires her on the spot. Frustrated with life and without a way home she sits against a building and stews over another shitty day in her seemingly shitty life.

Before long, a man offers her a ride to his place for a drink. She gladly accepts and before she knows it she's drug and forced into a life of prostitution and abuse. Her $kumbag, drug addicted pimp is far from efficient. Most of Stephanie's clients are giant sacks of shit. Eventually, Stephanie finds her way out when her pimp ends up dead. Luckily, she finds a home with a drug dealer who isn't opposed to getting into the pimp game. Here she is getting a far better lifestyle and things seem to be going great. SPOILER ALERT! This is the fucking Sleaze Box, things won't stay great for long.

$kumbagz is a movie that definitely lives up to its title, and the label it is released on. The level of sleaze coming from the low-budget scene in Florida is enough to balance out the lack-thereof elsewhere in recent years. There isn't really a likable character in this movie (aside from possibly Stephanie and 6-9), but that is actually beneficial to the film. $kumbagz is a journey into some of the crime going on in Florida and all throughout the United States. Some of the settings here don't feel too far off from the area I'm in and I love it. The grit is here, the sleaze is here, and so is the violence. Some of the stylistic choices shown in Amerikan Holokaust are also on display here, but not nearly as often. In exchange for more of those moments, we get montages of ladies shaking their asses backed by rap music. These lengthy scenes were about as far from problematic as you can possibly get for me. 

Overall $kumbagz is an extremely gritty unique experience, and at the same time it managed to be fun as hell. There are many familiar faces from past Sleaze Box flicks and they all turn in awesome performances. Miller's warped sense of humor is still sprinkled in as usual and lands perfectly. This isn't a movie for the easily offended, but if you're easily offended you shouldn't be looking to places with the word sleaze in their name to get your entertainment. If you don't want exploitation, look elsewhere. All you other twisted bastards out there need to check this one out. GET IT!