| The First Turn On ! (1983) |
| Directed by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz. Starring Georgia Harrell, Michael Sanville, Googy Gross, John Flood, Heidi Miller, Mark Torgl, and Vincent D'Onofrio. |
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| Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz made this , the last of their screwball sex comedies just before The Toxic Avenger. It's about a particularly zany summer camp populated by teens in their mid-twenties. The usual Meatballs style antics abound , such as a frog being shoved down an aerobics instructors shirt (a scene pretty much repeated in The Toxic Avenger) , hillbillies getting urinated on , and countless other examples of sight gags and good old fashioned toilet humour. |
| On the last day of camp, flaky councilor Michelle takes a bunch of not so happy campers on a nature walk. A few of them duck into a cave for a quick smoke, and when she finds them in there the entrance to the cave collapses. With nobody knowing their whereabouts, Michelle and the four campers do what anyone |
| in their not so right mind would do. Tell a slightly boring , slightly bullshit story about their first sexual experience. |
| Each of the trapped campers tells their story, which is related to us as a series of wacky nudity filled (if in doubt about how funny your comedy will turn out, plenty of nudity is always a smart course of action)vignettes. One guys first time is with a prostitute who doesn't even charge him (yeah right). A fat guy goes out on halloween dressed as a member of the K.K.K. and saves a wealthy young woman from a gang. As a reward , he gets laid and also gets all the donuts he can eat ! Michelle tells a story about her failed relationship with Mark Torgl , the Bob Dylan lookalike who played Melvin in The Toxic Avenger. The guy's a real dirtbag, who vomits in her punch , and has some of the worst acne on celluloid. |
| The other stories are pretty boring , and not too funny in the slightest. Thankfully the stories are intercut with more hijynx at the camp, which save the film from becoming too dull. Still, this movie is noticebly better than several of the earlier Troma comedies , and prepared Kaufman and Herz for bigger, better, and definitely funnier things. Mark Torgl steals the show as Michelle's douchebag boyfriend , just as he stole every scene he was in as Melvin in The Toxic Avenger. It's a pity that Troma never gave this great character actor a bigger role , or perhaps even a whole movie based around him. The First Turn On ! certainly isn't the best screwball American comedy around , and doesn't even come close to movies like Revenge of the Nerds or Fast Times At Ridgemont High. But with the current bizarre trend of hybrid comedies like There's Something About Mary that are simultaneously trying to aim for both the chick flick and young horny male audience demographic , a dumb flesh filled screwball comedy like The First Turn On! makes for a refreshing change. So jam it in the VCR or DVD player , switch off your brain , let the troubles of the world float away, crack a beer , and enjoy. |
| Entertainment : 2 out of 4 |
| Watchability : 3 out of 4 |
| Overall : 2.5 out of 4 |
| Reviewed by Blake |
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