Doris Wishman (Bad Movie Director)

dcj2112 · June 20, 2020, 08:39:40 AM

You know we're talking obscure when I feel compelled to mention she is a bad movie director on a forum dedicated to bad movies!

Her best known film has to be Deadly Weapons, a movie heavily advertising the lead actresses HUGE..."weapons"

Other than that though she was a favorite of Something Weird Video. They released a big chunk of her filmography and what they didn't release is next to impossible to find. Now that her SWV titles are long out of print even most of those are going for a pretty penny.

Fortunately I won an auction for a double features of hers. The titles were Indecent Desires / My Brother's Wife.

Indecent Desires is a lot of fun. It is about a random loser who finds a discarded doll. He then spots a female office worker who looks vaguely like the doll. Through reasons that are never explained he can then use the toy as a voodoo doll to torture the woman. It is only a hair over an hour and it goes by pretty quick. Of course it's one of those movies you can't share much with other folks because about a good chunk of it is the female office worker or her friend running around naked. Despite the sexploitation it has a pretty solid horror vibe throughout

My Brother's Wife is a little more generic. It's just about a nogoodnik who screws around with his brother's wife and the wife then kills herself of guilt. This is all explained within the first 5 minutes when the brother finds the main character in a pool hall and beats the hell out of him. The movie never gets better than that and the rest is just a flashback explaining exactly how we got to this point with not much else revealed.

I tried picking up some more of her films but the auctions for her double features went over $30 and I just don't care to spend that much on them. Hopefully, I come across some more later either selling for cheaper or on a streaming service or something

RCMerchant · June 20, 2020, 08:51:50 AM

I never sat through a film of hers. I tried- but I got bored real quick.

claws · June 20, 2020, 08:55:24 AM

I know about her reputation, but I'm not familiar with most of her movies, except for A Night to Dismember (1989). I dearly LOVE A Night to Dismember. It was the first movie that inspired us to do bad movie nights.

Rev. Powell · June 20, 2020, 09:09:54 AM

I love her roughie-era stuff. Big fan of BAD GIRLS GO TO HELL (her best IMO), INDECENT DESIRES, ANOTHER DAY ANOTHER MAN, and THE AMAZING TRANSPLANT. I actually haven't seen the Chesty Morgan ones.

dcj2112 · June 20, 2020, 10:19:02 AM

Quote from: claws on June 20, 2020, 08:55:24 AM
I know about her reputation, but I'm not familiar with most of her movies, except for A Night to Dismember (1989). I dearly LOVE A Night to Dismember. It was the first movie that inspired us to do bad movie nights.

I really want to see that one! I was just reading about this yesterday and got a kick out of the story behind it. Apparently she filmed most of it in 1977 then a disgruntled film lab employee straight up destroyed 35 minutes of it. At least that's her excuse. So she abandoned it for years then tried to cobble together a movie with what she had plus recording some new stuff for it on the cheap (well cheaper as it were).

Shame, the only DVD for it I can find is a double feature with Effects that goes for $25. There is another version of it that goes for around $50 (!!!) and I'm not sure how many bells and whistles are included.

dcj2112 · June 20, 2020, 10:21:58 AM

Quote from: Rev. Powell on June 20, 2020, 09:09:54 AM
I love her roughie-era stuff. Big fan of BAD GIRLS GO TO HELL (her best IMO), INDECENT DESIRES, ANOTHER DAY ANOTHER MAN, and THE AMAZING TRANSPLANT. I actually haven't seen the Chesty Morgan ones.

I might have to get the Amazing Transplant sometime. You can still find that one fairly easily. I've had it on my wishlist for a while, but it's a wishlist only I have access to since I don't feel like having my girlfriend give me another lecture about what a weirdo I am

I think another of the auctions I was bidding on was a double feature of Bad Girls Go to Hell / Another Day, Another Man. That SWV release has been tricky to track down at a reasonable price.

Allhallowsday · June 20, 2020, 12:22:23 PM

Quote from: dcj2112 on June 20, 2020, 08:39:40 AM
You know we're talking obscure when I feel compelled to mention she is a bad movie director on a forum dedicated to bad movies!
...

Hey! We know ANDY MILLIGAN and LARRY BUCHANAN and AL ADAMSON and not so obscure RUSS MEYER... and PROUD of it!

claws · June 20, 2020, 01:32:38 PM

Quote from: dcj2112 on June 20, 2020, 10:19:02 AM
Quote from: claws on June 20, 2020, 08:55:24 AM
I know about her reputation, but I'm not familiar with most of her movies, except for A Night to Dismember (1989). I dearly LOVE A Night to Dismember. It was the first movie that inspired us to do bad movie nights.

I really want to see that one! I was just reading about this yesterday and got a kick out of the story behind it. Apparently she filmed most of it in 1977 then a disgruntled film lab employee straight up destroyed 35 minutes of it. At least that's her excuse. So she abandoned it for years then tried to cobble together a movie with what she had plus recording some new stuff for it on the cheap (well cheaper as it were).

Shame, the only DVD for it I can find is a double feature with Effects that goes for $25. There is another version of it that goes for around $50 (!!!) and I'm not sure how many bells and whistles are included.

QuoteIn August 2018, a video master of the original cut of the film–previously thought lost–was discovered in the possession of the film's cinematographer, C. Davis Smith, and uploaded on YouTube. This cut of the film features actress Diana Cummings in the lead role, as well as an entirely different plot; Cummings had been replaced by Fox after the purported destruction of Wishman's film reels.

Warning: NSFW (You shouldn't be watching movies at work anyway

)

Error 404 (Not Found)!!1

I still prefer the Samantha Fox version but the original cut has some hilarity as well.

zombie no.one · June 20, 2020, 01:39:34 PM

Quote from: Rev. Powell on June 20, 2020, 09:09:54 AM
I love her roughie-era stuff. Big fan of BAD GIRLS GO TO HELL (her best IMO)

that's the only one I've seen.

dcj2112 · June 20, 2020, 01:50:55 PM

Quote from: claws on June 20, 2020, 01:32:38 PM
Quote from: dcj2112 on June 20, 2020, 10:19:02 AM
Quote from: claws on June 20, 2020, 08:55:24 AM
I know about her reputation, but I'm not familiar with most of her movies, except for A Night to Dismember (1989). I dearly LOVE A Night to Dismember. It was the first movie that inspired us to do bad movie nights.

I really want to see that one! I was just reading about this yesterday and got a kick out of the story behind it. Apparently she filmed most of it in 1977 then a disgruntled film lab employee straight up destroyed 35 minutes of it. At least that's her excuse. So she abandoned it for years then tried to cobble together a movie with what she had plus recording some new stuff for it on the cheap (well cheaper as it were).

Shame, the only DVD for it I can find is a double feature with Effects that goes for $25. There is another version of it that goes for around $50 (!!!) and I'm not sure how many bells and whistles are included.

QuoteIn August 2018, a video master of the original cut of the film–previously thought lost–was discovered in the possession of the film's cinematographer, C. Davis Smith, and uploaded on YouTube. This cut of the film features actress Diana Cummings in the lead role, as well as an entirely different plot; Cummings had been replaced by Fox after the purported destruction of Wishman's film reels.

Error 404 (Not Found)!!1

Very cool! I noticed on her IMDB she had a few films in the early 2000s after a LOOONG gap in her filmography. Are those all just lost films that were only later discovered and released around that time?

I figured that would be the most likely case, but sometimes bad/obscure directors really do come back after a super long gap. About a third of Ted V. Mickel's filmography is from the 2000s after a long time away. The only film from this era I've seen is the Corpse Grinders 2 and it's god awful. I've thought about checking some more out but I'll never get those hours of my life back. Also, anyone know if Ten Violent Women 2 was ever actually made? On IMDB it has only 6 votes and not much other info. Although there is a movie poster for it go figure.

pennywise37 · June 22, 2020, 07:04:00 PM

i would need to look at her filmography but off the top of my head i don't remember even seeing anything she did. i watched a documentary i think it was? many years ago early 2000's maybe? or maybe the late 90's and that's the first time i had even heard of her. i want to say it's because of John Waters cause but than i could be wrong.

there's no doubt a lot of her movies you download do you do that?

Dr. Whom · June 23, 2020, 01:01:26 AM

I know her only from Nude On the Moon (and yes, that title really says all you need to know), which has the goofiest space suits ever filmed.

pennywise37 · June 23, 2020, 06:18:08 AM

that one i have heard of but i've just never seen

The Burgomaster · June 27, 2020, 02:59:26 PM

I have at least 8 or 10 of her movies on DVD. "Something Weird" is a great source for Wishman movies.

pennywise37 · June 27, 2020, 07:50:56 PM

i was watching a cinema snob episode of one of her films sh*t i forget which one it was but it was from (1961) that he did a snob on and it was the one where they are at a nude beach. i'm a huge fan of Cinema snob and when someone told me that episode was on porn hub i downloaded it and watched it. if you want a good laugh watch it.