Private Parts (1972)

When Cheryl and her roommate quarrel, Cheryl moves into her aunt's skid-row hotel in downtown L.A. rather than return home to Ohio. The lodgers are odd, Aunt Martha is a moralizer obsessed ... See full summary »

Director:

Paul Bartel

Writers:

Philip Kearney, Les Rendelstein

Stars:

Ayn Ruymen, Lucille Benson, John Ventantonio

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Ayn Ruymen	...	Cheryl Stratton
Lucille Benson	...	Aunt Martha
John Ventantonio	...	George
Laurie Main	...	Reverend Moon
Stanley Livingston	...	Jeff
Charles Woolf	...	Jeff's Dad
Ann Gibbs	...	Judy
Len Travis	...	Mike
Dorothy Neumann	...	Mrs. Quigley
Gene Simms	...	First Policeman
John Lupton	...	Second Policeman
Patrick Strong	...	Artie

Storyline

When Cheryl and her roommate quarrel, Cheryl moves into her aunt's skid-row hotel in downtown L.A. rather than return home to Ohio. The lodgers are odd, Aunt Martha is a moralizer obsessed with funerals, murder is afoot, and the inexperienced and trusting Cheryl may be the next victim. She wants to be treated like a woman, and she's drawn to George, a handsome photographer who longs for human contact but sleeps with a water-inflated doll and spies on Cheryl as she bathes. Jeff, a neighborhood clerk, may be Cheryl's only ally in what she doesn't realize is a perilous residence haunted by family secrets. And, what happened to Alice, a model who used to have Cheryl's room?

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Plot Keywords:

hotel | photographer | stealing a wallet | bathroom | fake priest | 

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Taglines:

Cheryl is a lovely girl... but to George, she's a living doll.

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Genres:

Horror | Comedy

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

September 1972 (USA)

Also Known As:

Blood Relations

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Penelope Productions Inc.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Aunt Martha: Cheryl dear, when you're older, you'll realize that the body is a prison that traps and bends the natural spirit to its will. It makes us weak or sick or ugly, it makes us into men or women or whatever it likes, whether we like it or not.

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Connections

Referenced in Ban the Sadist Videos! Part 2 (2006)

User Reviews

My favorite Paul Bartel film

Both an unsettling horror film, and a very dark comedy, this is my favorite Paul Bartel film.

Avoiding the sometimes too overt self-congratulatory humor of "Eating Raoul", this story of a "nice" young girl who comes to stay at her aunt"s creepy hotel, only to be surrounded by all sorts of disturbingly depraved types frequently leaves you both laughing and cringing (in a good way) at the same time.

Only the less than stellar (in fact sometimes near porn film level) acting keeps this from being a classic of disquieting, semi-surreal cinema.

But there are scenes and images that stick with me, and Bartel creates a lot of atmosphere with his use of music, compositions, and light.