review

THE SINFUL DWARF

THE SINFUL DWARF has gained a reputation as one of the sleaziest films of all time, a grotesque, vicious little exploitation film that crosses every barrier of good taste. Truth be told, I think it's reputation is more than undeserved. I didn't find it particularly disturbing nor did I find it particularly sleazy - then again I didn't find FORCED ENTRY sleazy either so perhaps I'm not the person to trust in such matters. What this film is, from start to finish, is a softcore porno geek show. I can see more people jerking off to it than being repulsed by it.


Torben Sinful Dwarf

Why would I say that? Well, for starters, full frontal nudity and this-close-to-hardcore sex scenes run rampant in the film, popping up every five minutes or so. Director Vidal Raski fills the film with close-ups of breasts, buttocks, and beavers - including several pickle shots for the ladies in the audience. The wildly overacted sex scenes go on far longer and are shot in much more graphic detail than in most films of this kind. The plot of the film - an aging Cabaret singer and her disabled dwarf son kidnap pretty young girls and imprison them in their attic, shooting them up with heroin and using them as prostitutes - is constructed for the single purpose of stripping four beautiful young women of their clothes. Even the mother shows the goods. Everything about this movie screams "Raincoat Crowd".


Anne Sparrow The SinfuL Dwarf

Now I would be lying if I said that I didn't enjoy the goods on display - lead actress Anne Sparrow in particular is one amazingly gorgeous woman - but I expected a bit more "ick" from the movie. This is a film I would have enjoyed more at age 13 or 14 when boobies were enough to hold my attention.


The SinfuL Dwarf Severin

I will say one good thing about this film. In the role of Olaf, the Sinful Dwarf of the picture, Torban Bille does manage to bring the creeps. Looking like a strange mix between Jack Nicholson and Jack Black - only scrunched down to under four feet - Torban's performance is incredibly persuasive. His strange voice and deliciously evil smile, coupled with his hobbled walk and twitchy reactions, helps to create a seriously sinister and disturbing movie villain. In fact, one of my biggest complaints about THE SINFUL DWARF has to do with his character's fate. If any character deserved a punishing, horrible demise, it's this little fucker. Unfortunately, Torban's final scene will do nothing but make you laugh and shake your head.


Raski does manage a few impressive visual flourishes and THE SINFUL DWARF most definitely has one of the wackiest credit sequences I've seen in a long time but it's really all for nothing. What exactly is the point of this movie? Just what the hell were these people thinking when they came up with this film? I must admit that I'm a bit confused. This really is one of those meandering pieces of nonsensical bullshit that doesn't really want anyone to like it.


Torben Bille

In the end, THE SINFUL DWARF comes off as little more than a mixture of THRILLER - A CRUEL PICTURE, HOUSE OF WHIPCORD and BLOODSUCKING FREAKS - though it predates BLOODSUCKING FREAKS by a few years - but without the raw impact of any of those films. The rapes in THE SINFUL DWARF - and there are many - are neutered by the plot of the film. All the girls are stoned off their asses and mostly unresponsive during the act, lessening the impact. Only a tea spoon of blood is spilled. Again, I have to question the "sleaze" label. I've seen sleazier things on prime time television.


Not recommended.


DISCUSS THIS FILM IN THE FORUM! JUST CLICK HERE TO VISIT!