From the early 1970s Impulse is drama come low-key thriller, with some psycho horror undertones, and a fair bit of soapy melodrama/ 70’s camp. It features in its lead Willam Shatner, as a charming-to-unbalanced playboy. Here from Grindhouse Releasing is a double disc Blu-Ray release of the film- taking in two bonus films, and a truly hefty selection of extras.

Impulse( I Love To Kill, Want A Ride Little Girl ) is from the year 1974- filmed in the crawling and close humidity of Florida. It was directed by Miami-born William Grefé-  who has seventeen features to his name, and his filmography touches down in most exploitation bases. Going from the jellyfish man creature feature of Sting Of Death (1966), hippy road movie The Psychedelic Priest (1971), and sharksploitation Marko: The Jaws Of Death (1976).

Impulse kicks off with a flashback- as we see a woman making it out with a man fireside in a grand house. Out of one of the bedrooms comes a sleepy boy- he clearly unsettled by what’s going on, asking the man to stop attacking his mother- the man jumps up & starts to taut the boy- he grabs a sword off the wall, warning him off- but he keeps taunting/ coming at him- so he puts the sword through the man.

We then jump forward to the early 70s where we find Matt Stone( Shatner) coming out of a club with his girlfriend, she berates him for wondering eyes- the pair get in a car and drive out to a waterway- the woman keeps at him- he suddenly snaps- strangling the woman, until her tongue lulls out- he has seemingly forgotten what has happened trying to talk to her, then realizes what he’s done and breakdowns, before pushing her car into the water.

Matt then hits the road heading down Florida- renting a room in a motel. We then meet our other key characters thirty-something widow Ann( Jennfier Bishop), and her blond-haired around eleven-year-old Tina (Kim Nicholas)-who back-chats her mother before leaving the house- 
she storms out & Matt nearly hits her, he gives the girl a ride down to the local graveyard, along the way knocking down a dog & not stopping to see if it’s ok.

As things move on Ann’s fifty-something fliting friend Julia(Ruth Roman) bumps into Matt, inviting him back to her place to set her up Ann with the seemingly charming gentleman Matt. They hit it off quickly, and quickly become an item- though Matt’s other side shows itself ever so often- so will he manage to keep his impulses under control, or are Ann, Tina, and Julia in trouble?

The film runs at the one hour and twenty-four-minute mark- though it certainly feels longer than that, as at points we do drop into soapy drama/ romance- as Shatner dons 70’s flashy suit or one garment after another. The violence/ psycho horror elements are fairly low-key, we get the already mentioned strangulation, a man is hung, then run over, and there are a few violent interactions/fights towards the end of the film.

Acting-wise Shatner switches between charming/ slightly creepy, to hamming it up sweating/ looking pained as he flips out.  Nicholas is ok as the kid trying to uncover what’s going on/ shop Matt- though we do get moments of cliched/ annoying child actor tropes. I think the highlight here is Roman the flirty older women, with her amusing cutting/innuendo-tipped tongue.

On paper the idea of Shatner playing a psycho playboy should have fully worked- but the problem is that too much of the film drops into melodrama- with not enough violence, sleaze, terror/ unease- but as a 70’s curio with moments unintentional humour & high 70’s camp Impulse is  fine.

The first bonus film disc one is 1966’s The Devil’s Sisters. For many years this was seen as a lost Grefé film, getting first reissued in 2012 by the director himself a DVDR.  It’s a black and white roughie- which at points darts in WIP nastiness- and I must say it had a real crude, at points unpleasant charm about it- with lead actress  Sharon Saxon giving her all to the role.

The film opens up more like an army film- as we see a few military jeeps making their way to a cabin in the Mexican rugged countryside. Inside the vehicle are a mix of soldiers & police officers- the cops go inside the cabin to find Teresa( Saxon) who is battered & barely alive, and she then tells her story & how she got in this state, with the story linking into one of the offices on scene.

It begins with her talking about having illicit meetings with one of the officers- but all he wants is sex and not the love she wants. She sees an advert in the paper for a job in Tijuana- as a housekeeper, but the ad is just a ploy to pull women in. She is locked away in a bedroom, and gets forced into sex- first by the goons of the place's owner, then by random men who are paying for the privilege. Teresa is barely fed- slowly but surely getting battered down in both spirit & body. Then one day the officer she was meeting turns up- this makes the place's owner panic- so they first try to sell Teresa off to a fat English pimp, before being moved out to a barn where the women of the house are put after they become pregnant.

The initial attacks on Teresa are unpleasant, though not graphic. But as we move on we get more nasty roughing-ups, a woman burnt alive off screen, and most grulling someone naked getting warped in barbwire.

The film runs at one hour and twenty-eight minutes mark- though the last five minutes or so sees Grefé turning up to detail the film's last eight minutes. The print of the main part of the film is rather rough & ready- with at points some rather bad focus glitching, and some bad blips/ damage.  The whole thing soundtracked in a rather interesting manner- purely by moody Spanish/ classical guitar music.  I’ve seen eight of Grefé films now, and I’d say this stands as one of his better/ more evenly-paced films, so it’s great to get to see it.

The second & final bonus film on disc one is 1973’s The Godmothers- It's a real oddity a mafia comedy/ sendup, which features & is co-written by none other than Mickey Rooney. With Grefé seemingly being a hired hand for the Hollywood star's vanity project.

After we follow a bespeckled & suited man parachuting out of an aeroplane, catching another plane, and then driven to see a rather tumby & sweaty Don doing a rather clumsy Maroln Bradon impression. The Don's righthand man is The Hawk- played by little person Bill Barty, who is brought in to see the suited man who turns out to be the firms accountant.
After some more of the Don ham it up, we meet his rather large daughter who has decided she wants to find love. So The Hawk and a few henchmen are sent out to round up the eligible bachelors to meet the Don's Daughter. One of the said bachelors is Rocky Mastrasso- Micky Rooney, with dyed black hair & wig.

So what unfolds over the film is a blend of farce, slapstick, and general bumbling comedy. With Rocky & his middle-aged buddy dressing up as women on several occasions to avoid Rooney being marched down the aisle by the Don’s daughter- including a terribly bad taste/ very un-pc sequence where they dress up as two Asian women.

I found The Godmothers relatively amusing- though at points it did rather try my patience. There are moments of clear padding here, like when we suddenly get clips of the Keystone cops dropped in. As an odd/bizarre novelty, it’s ok, though I can’t see myself returning to it. The scan of this film looks very ropy/ low grade.

Moving onto this recently released double-disc Blu-Ray set which is a region-free set. Impulse is given a new 4k scan- it looks good- with the 70’s colourings coming out well. It’s not the crispest scan I’ve ever seen, but there’s no damage and the picture largely stays even/ balanced.

On the first disc along with the films we get a good selection of extras. On the new side, we have a commentary track from William Grefé, and this is excellent, I’ve now heard a few of his tracks, and they are always so down-to-earth, informative & full of great stories. He starts off by declaring that the samurai sword in the flashback was his own- he brought it after the Second World War. He talks about the actors in the flashback and goes on to discuss notable names in the film's opening credits. We find out the original script was entitled ‘Want A Ride Little Girl’,  and this was a more formally focused psycho-killer script- it changed when Shatner came on board.  He talks about how they set up the car scene- swapping the new car for a junk car when it went in the water. We find out how they got Shatner for the role- basically, they gave him a pitch after passing him in an airport.  He talks about how certain scenes were filmed on the cheap. Later on, discuss how they did the hanging scene- the actor been hung nearly choked, and Shatner broke his finger. He discusses how they shot certain scenes, and much more. A must-play!

Otherwise on the new side on the first disc, we have the following: Making of( 14.27), both Shatner & the director discussing the car wash scene- these each last around two minutes. There’s a Q&A with the director( 27.10).  

Moving onto the archive side of things- which are all related to the other two films. We have Devil's Sisters Intro with the director( 2.42). Devil's Sisters revisited(9.21) interview with the director. The Devil's Sisters(1.20) the director discusses the true crime story behind the film. There’s a director's commentary for the film, an intro from the director for The Godmothers radio spots, and stills.

The second disc is again packed- with (I believe) archive extras.  There are eight interviews with both Grefé & Shatner- these run between twelve and an hour. We have three filmmaking seminars with Grefé- these each run between an hour & half, and two hours. Three Industrials. Four short films from Grefé- Thumbs(2019), Iceman, A Cask Of Amontillado, and Underwood. Still gallery and credits.

The two discs come presented inside a raised/ embossed slip- featuring Shatner looking deranged with flames behind him. There’s a double-sided sleeve, card inlay featuring Shatner smoking a cigarillo, and an eight-page glossy inlay booklet.

Grindhouse Releasing has truly stacked this release- taking in three films, and a large selection of extras. If you’re a ’70s exploitation fan, want to see Shatner at his most unhinged, or a Grefé fan this is a true no-brainer.