Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Isbel A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Coventry This little seen but uniquely original horror/black comedy effort has one of the most delightfully demented basic premises I've ever encountered. It's about a household of four completely bonkers people that live together in a large country estate without a fatherly figure. It's just Mumsy, the loyal nanny and the two adolescent children Sonny and Girly. They love each other very much and live their exemplar happy family role from early in the morning till late at night. The children occasionally lure "friends", who're actually complete strangers they picked up in the nearby park, back to the house. These people are initially treated as welcome guests, albeit so exaggeratedly hospitable that it becomes creepy, but in fact they're slowly being terrorized to death. The guests have to obey certain house rules, otherwise they are harshly punished. The new friend in room number two, however, is clever and manages to manipulate both Mumsy and Girly. "Girly" is a strange and unusual film for people with a strange and unusual sense of humor. I particularly found the conversations between Mumsy and nanny to be hilarious. They always knit when discussing the dear sweethearts of children and also always talk about themselves in the 3rd person, like "Mumsy thinks it is best you go to your room now". The most fantastic character of the bunch is obviously Girly, of course, as she a naughty 16-year-old who still sleeps in a cradle but doesn't feel to shy to cut off someone's head and boil it in a kettle. It's cute and crazy, but in a strange way also disturbing because these people definitely comes across as murderous, mad-raving maniacs at first sight. There don't seem to exist any taboos in this cinematic household; there's murder committed by children, sex with minors, etc… Moments after killing a human being with a bow and arrows, Sonny and Girly go back to playing with dolls and hobbling horses. "Girly" is adapted from a stage play, which is noticeable through the limited number of set pieces and characters. The emphasis here lies on the terrific acting performances and, of course, the multiple highlights of exquisite black comedy. The dialogs, grotesque situations and witty one-liners are unique, creative and almost impossible to describe. Take Girly's ingenious gag, for instance. She asks: "Do you know that boy Tony Chesnut?" and before the other person can reply, she stamps on his TOE, kicks him in the KNEE, hits him on the CHEST and smacks him in the NUTS. TO-NY-CHES-NUT; get it? Awesome! Freddie Francis directs with a lot more style and visual flair than you would expect in a raunchy and low- budgeted early 70's British exploitation flick. But then again, Francis was a talented director and an even more genius cinematographer. And finally, as some sort of epilogue, behold one last piece of terrific Girly poetry: Nasty Nanny ain't no goodChop her up for firewood When she's dead, boil her head Make it into Gingerbread!

HumanoidOfFlesh "Mumsy,Nanny,Sonny and Girly" is a dark 1969 British horror-comedy which is based on a stage play by Maisie Mosco entitled "Happy Family".The main characters of the film are the members of a wealthy British family whose names are synonymous with their roles within the family:the mother called Mumsy,the maid called Nanny,the son called Sonny and the daughter called Girly.Despite being in their twenties Sonny and Girly act like prepubescent children,dressing in British school uniforms and sleeping in giant cribs in a room full of toys.Sonny and Girly regularly seek out male loners,hobos and hippies to lure back to their house,where they are then forced to play "The Game".When the "new friends" refuse to participate they are murdered or "sent to the angels".Freddie Francis's "Girly" is a fantastic film which faded into obscurity too quickly.During a 2004 Freddie Francis film festival in England, the organizers struggled to find a VHS copy of the film to screen, but couldn't come up with one and it was briefly thought to be lost to the public,until copies began to surface on the internet in 2004.The acting is solid and there is enough creepy moments to satisfy any self-respecting horror fan.8 out of 10.

TheFinalAlias After reviewing 'The Whip & The Body' & 'House of Long Shadows', and because I've already covered the ultimate 'Family' horror film('Texas Chainsaw Massacre')and my 'Pink Flamingos' review was inevitable anyway, I decided to go a bit more esoteric and review this obscure film from director Freddie Francis(which has been sitting on my shelf for ages unwatched) as a sort of marathon of films featuring murderous, twisted families. I've always considered Francis one of the most underrated horror directors, and I always speculated that the reason for his detractor's venom, besides his infamous distaste for the genre; was because his films were often very accessible to mainstream audiences and mostly(Key word being mostly, 'The Ghoul', which I will also review for this 'Family Un-Friendly' marathon; is one of the bleakest bits of celluloid I have ever seen)meant to be 'fun films' like a carnival spook-house, and as his Amicus anthology films showed, he had a wry sense of humor. 'Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny & Girly' is fun, it is humorous, and it is wry; but it is anything but 'acessible'.The film follows the exploits of an unnamed aristocratic family in '60's London who are led by an aging, but kindly(so far...)mother(Mumsy), a doting nanny(Do I have to explain here?) and two happy, life-loving siblings who love to skip around, harass zoo animals and the gruff attendant(a cameo by Michael Ripper; the British Dick Miller) and search for new friends among the disenfranchised(Sonny & Girly). These people sure are not like the Addams Family or The Munsters, or even TCM's Sawyer clan. There are no hulking butlers, vampirish femme fatales or dark clothing here, no abusive patriarchs or glaring portraits of great-Uncle Hugo either; All smile, speak in sappily cloying voices and compliment each other and giggle. This would all seem perfectly ideal, if not for the fact that Sonny & Girly are in their early twenties and we never see Mumsy or Nanny, just hear their voices. And this is only just the first sign of something being not quite right. Francis does an excellent job building tension in these slowly paced early scenes, as we get a creeping sense of uneasiness. It all works amazingly well until we find out the truth: Sonny & Girly love to torment their 'friends', but not the way children normally do; after all, these are both adults here. No, they love to torment them, but if the 'friend' does not fully cooperate, then they die, and move on to new 'friends'. And after disposing of a homeless vet, the 'dears'(as Mumsy calls them)blackmail a drunken, middle-aged socialite after he accidentally kills his girlfriend on a slide into being their new 'friend' and bringing them pleasure...or else, and soon, Mumsy(An attractive middle-aged woman) finds new ways of using our protagonist to bring her pleasure as well, if you get what I mean, and soon, spinsterly Nanny finds herself wanting some of that pleasure as well...Didn't I say this family was nothing like The Munsters, Addams or Sawyers? I was right, those families were well-adjusted compared to this brood. And it only gets worse when Girly interprets a rape by our protagonist(I hesitate to use the word 'hero', as not only is rape a horrible act whoever the victim is, but it steadily becomes apparent that he identifies with the family more than he lets on, which leads to a genuinely disturbing climax)as an act of love.Francis does a great job weaving this twisted tale, the cinematography(his greatest strength)isn't as up to par as usual, but he more than makes up for it with his directorial flourishes, changing the film from a Not-quite-right day-in-the-life piece, to a 'Kind Hearts & Coronets'-style black comedy, to a genuinely disturbing and unpleasant drama. He also elicits great performances by the entire cast, particularly Vanessa Howard as Girly, and manages to make us experience every feeling of the protagonist, even though he is a character we don't particularly come to like, we still care about him.The film is also a remarkable study of gender politics; for example, the entire film is driven by strong-willed, and deranged women, and all the male figures are weak. Even the homicidal, conniving Sonny is ultimately a pawn done away with as easily as his victims, our protagonist, on the other hand; the closest thing to a heroic, ideal male figure that the film has, is not only driven to the clutches of Girly by trying to escape his nagging, controlling girlfriend, but is controlled by her even after death as the guilt of his killing of her and fear of exposure is what keeps him at bay. Even when he becomes a bone of contention between the 3 females, he still remains a captive. The implications of the ending; as he gives in to his captivity at the hands of his two beautiful jailers even though he has the perfect opportunity to escape, is truly disturbing, he will never be free of nagging, bitchy, women, and now, ensnared, has given up all hope and decides to enjoy it. It is the myth of the succubus in a non-supernatural form, and quite possibly, given that there is no backstory to explain any of this, a supernatural explanation could reasonably be inferred. This makes this film either one of the most sexist films ever made, or one of the most intelligent films about warped sexuality ever made.This debate is probably what will continue to fuel the cult following this obscure film increasingly enjoys.~

Tahhh I saw this film in the theaters when I was a kid of 15 or 16 or so, and I remember that my friends and I just loved making one another laugh by quoting from it.And if you're a kid of 15 or 16, I think you'll like this silly film for exactly the same reasons I did when I was that age.However, it's a very, very dopey little movie, and while I think I'd like to see it again, just to see if there WAS anything to it, back then, I seriously doubt that there was anything substantial to it.Still--there's a place for guilty pleasures on anybody's movie shelf, and I can think of far worse things you might include on your list of guilty pleasures.It's junk-food, though--and I think even WE knew that, when our gang of noisy teenagers decided to go see it, all those many years ago...good for nyuk-nyuk-nyuk laughter and acting out scenes from it for hilarity later on...but nothing more.