“WHIPPING OUT A STORY”

By Raymond Benson

Kino Lorber and Something Weird Video continue their collaboration to present “Forbidden Fruit: The Golden Age of the Exploitation Picture” with Volume 9—The Lash of the Penitentes. Like the other exploitation titles that have appeared over the last two years, Lash is another piece of American celluloid that will surely elicit jaw-dropping, eye-rolling, and headshaking. How did these things ever get made and distributed? Who went to see them? How corrupted was one after a viewing?

These delicious and suitably sleazy pictures in the “Forbidden Fruit” series were made cheaply and outside the Hollywood system. They were distributed independently in the manner of a circus sideshow, often by renting a movie theater for a few nights, advertising in the local papers, and promoting the salacious title as “educational.” For adults only, mind you, but exhibited all in the good name of science or health or whatever. Reefer Madness. Narcotic. Ingagi. Test Tube Babies. She Should’a Said No!. Mom and Dad. That sort of fare.

The Lash of the Penitentes, from 1936, is sort of a documentary with re-staged and fictionalized elements. Los Hermanos Penitentes, the “Penitentes” of the title, (were? are?) a real religious sect in New Mexico and Colorado that practices extreme rituals on Good Friday of every year. The main course is a re-enactment of Christ’s passion by having “penitents” carry crosses up a mountain while being flagellated by the religious leaders, and then ending with the “chosen penitent” being crucified on a cross (not with nails). The film implies that the man dies, but that is unlikely. Apparently, for decades, these activities were public until more recent years in which the whole gruesome spectacle is performed in private and probably with more care not to really hurt anyone.

However, back when the picture was made, this was some seriously twisted stuff. And much of the real thing is caught on camera.

It has an interesting history, too. A cameraman named Roland Price (we think) went to New Mexico and surreptitiously filmed some of the ritual for the purposes of a future documentary. However, nothing was done with the approximately 18,000 feet of footage. Then, in early 1936, a journalist by the name of Carl Taylor went to write about the Penitentes. He was caught spying on the ceremony, which is forbidden to outside parties. He was murdered. The crime made headlines.

Enter exploitation moviemaker Harry Revier (also responsible for another “Forbidden Fruit” entry, Child Bride). He somehow acquired the rights to the documentary footage, fashioned a fictional murder mystery plot to wrap around it, and shot new material with actors. Of course, the mystery is based on—or at least inspired by—the true killing of Taylor.

In Revier’s version, journalist George Mack (José Rubio) goes to New Mexico to whip out a story about the Penitentes, hires a local young man, Chico (William Marcos), to assist him, and then witnesses the sensational ritual. He is discovered and then slain.

The approximately 48-minute movie was titled The Penitente Murder Case. Besides the (for the time) violent depiction of the flagellation and the creepy religious sect stuff that would assuredly freak out “normal” American Christians of 1936, the motion picture also contained footage of actress Marie DeForrest also being stripped and flagellated on the mountainside, and then “crucified” naked. Why this was included is unclear plot-wise, but it has something to do with her helping Mack in his mission.

The censors (the Hays Office) understandably would have nothing to do with the movie, so Revier edited his masterwork down to 35 minutes—deleting DeForrest’s footage and making other trims. This version was then released to the public as The Lash of the Penitentes and this is what grindhouse cinemas on the exploitation circuit have shown since. It was even released on VHS and DVD in this version by fly-by-night companies in the past.

Now, Kino Lorber has issued a high-def Blu-ray of the full-length 48-minute version that looks about as best as it can get. It comes with a highly informative audio commentary by Bret Wood, co-author of the book Forbidden Fruit: The Golden Age of the Exploitation Film and curator of the “Forbidden Fruit” series for Kino.

Also included is the 35-minute censored version. What makes the entire thing even more mysterious is the inclusion of the theatrical trailer, which contains scandalous footage that does not appear in either edit of the film. The trailer has scenes of a woman being assaulted by her boyfriend, saved by a young boy, but then flagellated while hanging from her arms. Full nudity. In a trailer. None of it is in The Penitente Murder Case or The Lash of the Penitentes. One supposes that this was the only way the distributors could lure an audience—mostly male, it is assumed—to come see the picture when it opened.

Since both versions of the feature are short, Kino Lorber and Something Weird probably could have added another “Forbidden Fruit” title to the disk; after all, several other Volumes in the series contain double features. Why not this one? With that the only quibble, The Lash of the Penitentes should appeal to those fans of film history, exploitation films, and just plain kooky, weird stuff.

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