With a killer gorilla on the loose, a group of strangers find themselves stranded at a remote mansion of a grieving madwoman one dark and stormy night. They indulge in swapping bizarre perso... Read allWith a killer gorilla on the loose, a group of strangers find themselves stranded at a remote mansion of a grieving madwoman one dark and stormy night. They indulge in swapping bizarre personal backstories - and bodily fluids.With a killer gorilla on the loose, a group of strangers find themselves stranded at a remote mansion of a grieving madwoman one dark and stormy night. They indulge in swapping bizarre personal backstories - and bodily fluids.
- Chandler
- (as Mookie Blodgett)
- Medusa
- (as Pamela Primate)
- Hula Hoop Girl
- (as Michele Gross)
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- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaBuck Henry, co-creator of Get Smart (1965) and writer of The Graduate (1967), used his clout as a judge to set up a screening at Filmex, the Los Angeles Film Festival, which was held at the Plitt Theaters in Century City in 1975. It was the first X-rated film allowed at Filmex, and the screening became legendary for the extraordinarily high ratio of walk-outs.
- GoofsEarly in the dialogue, it's established that Bond has a dodo bird tattooed on his thigh. He's later seen nude in extensive detail and sports no tattoos.
- Quotes
Willene: That filthy man! I'm afraid you've opened your doors as well as your heart to the scum of the planet!
Mrs. Gert Hammond: Here on spaceship Earth, there is no scum. There are just malfunctioning circuits.
- Alternate versionsThe original version included the 1947 color cartoon/commercial "Chiquita Banana Tells a Fortune," but this was removed from all subsequent edits of the film.
- ConnectionsEdited into The Green Fog (2017)
Tailor-made for the midnight-movie crowd, THUNDERCRACK! Is the closest thing to a mainstream movie from iconoclastic filmmakers Curt McDowell and George Kuchar. Scriptwriter Kuchar, considered an innovator in the underground film circuit, frequently parodied old-style Hollywood melodramas; characteristically, THUNDERCRACK! Mimics gothic whodunits of the 1930s. Filmed in seven days for less than $10,000, this amusing take-off will be appreciated by some, bore some, and shock others.
Unfortunately -- or fortunately, depending on your perspective -- the movie was too notorious to gain a wide audience. The numerous hardcore sex scenes probably contributed to its "lunatic fringe" status.
Much of the movie centers how each character came to be in the house, where they are going, and why. For example, Chandler (Phil Hefernen) is a girdle factory heir whose wife recently burned to death in one of his father-in-law's supposedly fireproof brassieres. He is on his way to Waco, Texas to burn down the factory. The others include an earth mother type who pines for her country-and-western star husband, a nymphomaniac, an argumentative gay boy, and a beefy bisexual.
If these people have anything in common, it's sex. THUNDERCRACK! Offers straight and gay sex, sex with a rubber doll and a hydraulic pump, and several food-related sex jokes (including a woman who masturbates with a cucumber). It's an elaborate put-on intended to shock middle-class sensibilities and resonate with in-the-know cinema aficionados who remember classic Gothics like THE OLD DARK HOUSE (1932).
The general tone is summed up when a drunken Gert (Eaton), wearing a wig that she puked on, greets one of her guests, Willeen (Moira Renson), by practically falling into a toilet, all the while babbling incessantly about the history of the house. Willeen finally subdues Gert in a bathtub, and diddles her as they both recite unrelated monologues.
The gorilla aside, the highlight of the movie is the son's belated appearance. Afflicted with a rare disease picked up in Borneo, he is shown for about five seconds with what looks like two melons in a sack dangling between two naked legs. As Gert explains, "The one thing that made his life worth living had been crushed by the weight of his own testicles."
Most of THUNDERCRACK! Is boring and cheap, buts its extreme tackiness is part of the joke. Throughout the two hours of non-stop talk, scenarist Kuchar inserted some funny non sequitur jokes; however, you may not be able to hear them above the ever-present thunderstorm racket and the actors' habit of blowing their lines.
Amid the caterwauling, Eaton delivers the only thing resembling a performance. It's clear most of the actors were hired for their ability to pontificate loudly while they boff one another.
- jfrentzen-942-204211
- Feb 1, 2024
Details
- Runtime2 hours 40 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1