The Centerfold Girls

• Director: John Peyser
• AMG Rating:
• Genre: Crime
• Movie Type: Slasher Film, Crime Thriller
• Themes: Woman In Jeopardy, Serial Killers
• Release Year: 1974
• Country: US
• Run Time: 93 minutes
• MPAA Rating: R

Plot

A psychopathic killer administers a series of death sentences to various pornographic models. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

Review

The Centerfold Girls thoroughly lives up to the lurid come-on of its premise. The script delivers plenty of skin and slash in a short running time and director John Peyser happily lingers upon every bloody or sexy tableau in true exploitation film style. Unfortunately, the film never manages to be as fun as the other exploitation classics of the early 1970's because it lacks inspiration and energy. The script relies on its heroines to do dumb things to endanger themselves and is frequently cruel to them, to boot. Peyser's direction is professional but indifferent, giving the viewer no reason to get invested in what's going on. The best element of The Centerfold Girls is its cast but even that resource is sometimes misused: Ray Danton and Francine York get memorable character turns as magazine-business types with barbed tongues and big egos but Aldo Ray is wasted in a badly-written bit role. Of the heroines, the best performance comes from Tiffany Bolling, who invests her embattled heroine role with plenty of conviction. That said, it's Andrew Prine who dominates the film as its murderous villain: despite a thin characterization, he manipulates his appearance to chilling effect and makes his character scary without ever overplaying the role. Ultimately, The Centerfold Girls is a footnote in exploitation film history, delivering the goods but still managing to lifeless and uninspired. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide

Cast

Jennifer Ashley - Charly; Jamie Lyn Bauer; Tiffany Bolling - Vera; Teda Bracci - Rita; Kitty Carl - Sandi; Mike Mazurki; Andrew Prine; Aldo Ray; Dan Seymour; Jeremy Slate; Francine York; Ray Danton

Credit

John Peyser - Director, Richard Greer - Editor, Mark Wolin - Composer (Music Score), Robert Maxwell - Cinematographer, Chuck Stroud - Producer, Arthur Marks - Screenwriter, Bob Peete - Screenwriter

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