Black Shampoo

Black Shampoo (1976)
Dir: Greydon Clark ( Satan's Cheerleaders/ Joysticks)
Starring: John Daniels (Bare Knuckles/Flesh Eating Mothers)

One thing I gotta say is that as far as Sub Genre's of exploitation cinema are concerned , Blaxploitation has to have the most vast variety of different types of films in itself than almost any other genre out there. Although Once this film gets going it is pretty standard stuff for the genre this one starts off as a black , more explicit version of  the original Shampoo. I gotta say it works and makes for some rather interesting scenes in the opening moments.
      Mr. Johnathon is a hairstylist/ gigolo that is very popular with the ladies in town and this is made clear right away as he is "serving" a female client while another awaits her appointment for some special treatment. Johnathan is having sex with a client while Mrs. Wilson waits in the lobby and impatient to wait demands he make a house call so, like any good stylist he decides to do so although turning down yet another client while he is on his way out the door. Johnathan heads to the Wilson home and before he gets to her he is approached and seduced by Wilson's two young daughters, one of which has a tremendous rear end I have to point out. Mrs. Wilson see's this and is angry, she comes out to scold her daughters and then proceeds to ride him while the girls watch. Thats some odd parenting, no wonder her girls are such sluts. All is not great for Johnathan though, as he is out keeping his appointment, Some goons arrive at the shop to steal his new receptionist who apparently was a girlfriend of Mr. Wilson, A local mobster.

 When Johnathan returns to his shop, he finds that one of his fellow hairdresser Artie had been attacked and Brenda plans to leave his shop to keep from further problems developing. Johnathan pleads for her to stay and the two go on a date and develop a relationship. Again though all is not as nice as it appears . While Johnathan is out with Brenda, Wilson's goons wreck his shop and he returns to find the place in shambles. After spending the night together, Brenda disappears leaving Johnathan high and dry.

The following morning Artie and Rich arrive at the shop to see the wreckage and are distraught to say the least. Johnathan heads out to find Brenda and while he is out the goons once again return to the shop. This time they wait for Johnathan to arrive and when he does they bring him to Wilson's home for a meeting. Mr. Wilson pays for all the damages and assures John that Brenda is well and she appears to be happy with Wilson.

Once Johnathan leaves we see some trouble brewing between Wilson and Brenda as she gets punished for looking at his books, and back at the shop Artie and Rich invite Johnathan to a party to get his mind off of things. At the party Johnathan decides he is going to take a vacation at his cabin and leaves Artie in charge of the shop. During his brief excursion from the shop, Wilson's Boys show up to find Brenda who has left Wilson to look for her true love Johnathan. In the process Artie gets sodomized by a hot curling Iron. After that lovely scene, The Mob finds their way to The cabin and the shit begins to hit the fan.

Once the chase starts at the cabin, Johnathan arms himself with a chainsaw and a game of cat and mouse begins. Johnathan manages to take out two of the henchmen with the saw before being caught up with by Wilson and his last goon. Brenda is held at gunpoint and then beaten with a pool cue in order to get the location of his books. Before John gives in his ranch hand returns from being hit by a car to take an Axe to the last mafioso and John spears Wilson with the cue leaving us with the requisite happy ending fading into a black light looking image of Brenda and Johnathan holding each other.

Black Shampoo is a nice take on the genre with a original approach, Using a Hairstylist as opposed to the traditional street smart ex con type that is so popular with the genre. The opening scenes are rather hilarious unintentionally and the sex scenes are borderline pornography, which work for this type of movie. When the action begins in the last half of the film it really takes a twist to almost horror movie territory with the chainsaw usage. All in all the characters are not too unique with the exception of Johnathan being a hairdresser as I said earlier and the Gay sidekicks but the rest are pretty much standard for the style although the mobsters in this one are not the typical racist ones so popular in the genre. This one has a ton of nudity , enough action to keep you watching and even though the real showdown and fights don't happen until the last maybe fifteen minutes of the film, this one doesn't really drag along like allot of these films tend to do. This film is definitely interesting and worth a watch especially if you are a fan of Blaxploitation in general. Black Shampoo is a rare one but definitely a worthy addition to the niche.

Ass-Kickin': 5.5 out of 10 ( Not much until the closing moments but there is a chainsaw and that is cool)
Jive:4 ( Not real heavy on the classic dialog you would expect  from a Blaxploitation film)
Funk:4 ( No part of the soundtrack really stands out, Except from the opening theme but not on par with some of the classic music of the genre)
Playa's and Whitey's:5 ( Nothing real special here, The gay side kicks are good for a few laughs though)
Ass and Tittay's: 7 ( Allot to be seen here and the young daughter has an ass to die for, Some real choice bodies are shown in this one)
Overall on the Funk-O-Tron: 5.5 out of 10