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Great Performances. Dyanne Thorne in Hellhole.

Great Performances in Horror. Dyanne Thorne:  Crysta, “Hellhole”. (1985) By Brian Kirst

Hellhole (otherwise, gloriously, known as “YAHOO! I have to wash the sleaze off my body after viewing this!”) is one of those mid-80’s fests o’ nasty yumminess that delightfully combines mad scientist horror with the women in abject captivity genre.

Populated by cult and genre veterans such as Judy Landers, Ray Sharkey, Edy Williams, Mary Woronov, Terry Moore, Robert Z’Dar, Richard Cox (Zombie High, Cruising and Oliver Stone’s Seizure – for the uninitiated) and Marjoe Gortner – this bloodily bonsai event concerns bouncily naïve Susan’s (Landers) attempts to gain her memory after witnessing her mother’s murder and being placed in an asylum for safe keeping. Of course, her mother’s killer (Sharkey) is on the payroll there – along with some crazed and dubiously experimenting doctors (Woronov and Gortner) whom are allowed to ‘alter’ any patient who momentarily steps over the line. Filled with naked babes and blunt candy coated depravity – Hellhole is like a wonderful grindhouse stew with element after element of exploitation cliché thrown at you from all angles!

Most spectacularly, Hellhole features a committed (pun intended) and fully layered supporting appearance from none other than Madame Ilsa herself, Dyanne Thorne. As Crysta, Thorne decorates several scenes with effective background – but she truly delivers the grandness in a tense filled moment as Lander’s Susan tries to escape from her dubious lodgings. Seemingly a former actress, Crysta begins to loudly involve Landers in her role play – just as she is trying to depart unnoticed. Here, Thorne gives her Crysta a tiny bit of Miss Haversham , a dash of Gloria Swanson  and a lot of sympathetic appeal – making her smaller role a stand-out one and one of the primary reasons to view (with pleasure) the tainted goulash that is Hellhole.

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  1. SaW THE "HELLHOLE'" QUITE A WILD ONE,ACTUALLY THE ONE & ONLY EDY wILLIAMS STOLE THE SHOW, SHE DID A BEDROOM SCENE WITH RAY SHARKEY, & INCREDIBLE SHOWER FIGHT SCENE! SHE SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED.LOOKS & TALENT..RARE

    ROBERTO

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