A trio of vicious bikers are running rampant out in the desert, roving around, raping and murdering with reckless abandon. They make the mistake of drawing the rage of local veterinarian Cory Maddox (Alex Rocco) by raping his wife. This isn’t the kind of act that Maddox is going to take lying down though. He teams up with a woman named Ruby Bonner (Haji) whose husband the bikers killed, and they set off in pursuit of the deranged gang. Will Cory and Ruby catch up to the bikers and take their well-deserved revenge?
Coming shortly before Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, MotorPsycho feels very much like a warm up for that seminal Russ Meyer film. MotorPsycho feels very much like Meyer at a crossroads, taking the grim melodrama of prior films like Lorna and Mudhoney and imbuing them with the lighter fun of his earlier nudie cuties like The Immoral Mr. Teas and then adding a heaping dose of action and aggression that Russ hadn’t really tackled before but that he would use to great effect in many films subsequent to this one. The plot of MotorPsycho is pretty thin, even for Meyer, but it’s directed in such an original and kinetic way that it hardly matters. Meyer’s dynamic editing style even this early in his career was already maturing into what he would be known for, much of it brought on from the more propulsive themes of this film in particular compared to prior efforts. Paired seamlessly with Meyer’s anarchic shooting style is the gritty energy of Alex Rocco (who would go on to play Moe Greene in The Godfather and dozens and dozens of other roles over the years) in his screen debut. It’s easy to see even this early in career that’s he’s got the stuff. Plus we get the great Haji kicking off her Bosomania career in the one-two punch of this and Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! In some ways, MotorPsycho may be one of the most conventional films of Meyer’s career, delivering essentially a pretty straightforward bikersploitation picture of a marauding motorcycle gang getting their comeuppance. But it’s still singularly Meyer through and through, making it feel fresher and more exciting than the average biker flick from the late ’60s.
The transfer here looks excellent, restored from the original 35mm elements. While I received the blu-ray for review, I would imagine the 4K edition looks incredible as well. It has a nice level of grain without getting too heavy and has a very crisp, clean look. The 2.0 mono audio track sounds similar nice and clear, even amidst revving engines and screaming. For extras, we first get an interesting and informative audio commentary track with film historian Elizabeth Purchell and filmmaker Zach Clark (director of Little Sisters and White Reindeer) as well as a pair of interviews with actors Haji and Alex Rocco. It’s topped off with a cooler-than-average trailer that does a great job selling the film.
MotorPsycho finds Russ Meyer in a transitional period from the more innocuous nudie cuties and turgid melodramas of his early years and the more over-the-top cartoonish, kitchen sink crazy movies delivered by the Meyer we all know and love. Despite this, MotorPsycho is a hell of a fun biker trash pic that showcases Meyer fully formed and ready to impress, preparing the world for the screech of fury that is Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! and beyond.