The Gruesome Twosome (1967)

A demented, elderly woman has her mentally retarded son kill and scalp various young women to use their hair for her wig shop while a persistent coed tries to link various killings on a local Florida college campus to them.

Director:

Herschell Gordon Lewis

Writer:

Allison Louise Downe (original screenplay) (as Louise Downe)

Stars:

Elizabeth Davis, Gretchen Wells, Chris Martell

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Elizabeth Davis	...	Mrs. Pringle
Gretchen Wells	...	Kathy Baker
Chris Martell	...	Rodney Pringle
Rodney Bedell	...	Dave Hall
Ronnie Cass	...	Nancy Harris
Karl Stoeber	...	Mr. Spinsen
Dianne Wilhite	...	Janet
Andrea Barr	...	Susan
Dianne Raymond	...	Dawn Farrell
Sherry Robinson	...	Lisa
Barrie Walton	...	Neighbor Lady
Marcelle Bichette	...	Jane
Tom Brent	...	Neighbor Man
Mike Todd	...	Mike
C.A. Dukes

Storyline

Mrs. Pringle and her son Rodney run a wig store which they stock by scalping young coeds who show up to look at the "room for rent." Meanwhile at the local college, Kathy is determined to figure out who is killing her classmates, much to boyfriend Dave's irritation. When her friend Dawn disappears, Kathy gets closer to the truth as she begins investigating the Pringle's lair.

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Plot Keywords:

wig | wig store | scalping | violence | notoriety | 

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Taglines:

Think you've seen blood and gore? Think you've seen wild, way-out humor? YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHING YET!

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 August 1967 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Miami, Florida, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$40,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

72 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The opening four-minute segment with the two talking Styrofoam wig blocks was filmed months after production ended in Herschell Gordon Lewis' office in Chicago during post-production when it was discovered that the running time was too short, and Lewis filmed this pre-credits segment to pad out the running time to make the feature over 70 minutes.

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Goofs

When Mrs. Pringle pushes victims into Rodney's room the door to the room opens out toward her wig shop, however, when seen from inside the door opens in toward Rodney's room.

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Connections

Featured in Montag Speaks! with Ray Sager (2016)

User Reviews

Fun Trash

Gruesome Twosome, The (1967)

** (out of 4)

An elderly woman and her deranged son kill young women so that they can scalp them in order to put their hair in a wig shop. As is normally the case with a Lewis film, this one here is very short on plot but as an early splatter film goes, the gore does come off is fun red style. This is certainly a poorly made film with awful performances, bad dialogue and questionable direction but that doesn't really matter as what the film delivers is nostalgic fun. The film, as bad as it is, is a lot of fun because of how cheaply made it is and how much fun the director has with the gore. The gore effects are so obviously done but they remain fun just because of how fresh and at times original they are. One must remember that Lewis didn't have anything to copy off of so he was pretty much coming up with this stuff as he went along. If one is looking for a horror film to shock and scare them then this certainly isn't your movie but if you want a classic example of drive-in trash then this film remains fun.