Double-D Avenger (2001)

Rating: 1 Star (out of 4)

Bazoom Boredom

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy Double-D Avenger on DVD.

The brilliant American satirist and drive-in movie critic Joe Bob Briggs returns for his third DVD commentary track, and it's a distinct letdown from the first two. His I Spit on Your Grave may well be the greatest commentary track yet recorded with its deft combination of social commentary and side-splitting humor, and Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter is just plain funny.

This time Elite Entertainment has selected a recent film, William Winckler's Double-D Avenger (2001), which brings three former Russ Meyer girls out of retirement: Kitten Natividad (Beneath the Valley of the Ultravixens), Raven de la Croix (Up!) and Haji (Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!) -- as well as several other graciously endowed women. Famed horror movie aficionado Forrest J. Ackerman has a cameo.

Here's the catch: the film has no nudity. Not to mention that it's really, really bad. Shot on video, Double-D Avenger looks terrible, features horrible dialogue laden with bad breast jokes, too many talky exposition scenes, horrible music, lame special effects and equally bad acting. Joe Bob's commentary track is almost as uninspired, as if he himself couldn't stand the sheer nothingness of this film -- though he does provide a long list of hilarious synonyms for the word "breasts." Even funnier is a "making-of" documentary in which Winckler discusses Double-D Avenger as if it were a real film. (The making-of doc is a few minutes longer than the feature.)

It begs the question, if you have Joe Bob Briggs available for a commentary track, why wouldn't you skewer some more historically significant movie? Wouldn't it be great to hear Joe Bob rip through something like Herschell Gordon Lewis' Blood Feast or the American version of Godzilla or Robert Mitchum's Thunder Road or one of Roger Corman's movies?

I'm second to none in my admiration for Joe Bob, but even for die-hards, Double-D Avenger is strictly a rental only.

Starring: Kitten Natividad, Haji, Raven De La Croix, Forrest J Ackerman, William Winckler, Mimma Mariucci, Sheri Dawn Thomas, G. Larry Butler, Gary Canavello, Lunden De'Leon, Andrea Ana Persun, Ray Verduzco, Bob Mackey, Steve Wicklas, Woody Bengoa
Written by: William Winckler
Directed by: William Winckler
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Running Time: 77 minutes
Date: April 28, 2004