Sex Madness (1938) - Video On Demand

Sex Madness - Movie Review

This is a typical sex exploitation film from cult director Dwain Esper, along the lines of his other classic - Reefer Madness, supposedly to deal with venereal diseases. Wild parties, lesbianism and sex out of wedlock and the dangers of the casting couch are some of the forms of "madness" portrayed. The "educational" aspect of the film allowed it to portray a taboo subject which was otherwise forbidden by the Motion Picture Production Code of 1930.

Exploitation filmmakers hoped to capitalize on the taboo subjects of venereal disease, sex before marriage, lesbianism, etc. while skirting the Motion Picture Production Code of 1930 which forbade a film from containing such content. Films like this would tour the United States for years - mostly being shown either in a tent outside of town or in rundown, skid row theaters. This film has been re-edited and re-titled ("Human Wreckage", "They Must Be Told", "Trial Marriage", "About Trial Marriage") many times either to attract the same audience to the film, to take advantage of a taboo subject which may have gotten press recently or to appease local censors who disapproved of the film's content.

Dwain Esper was a director and producer of exploitation films (some of which were written by Esper's wife, Hildegarde Stadie). He is considered to be one of the worst directors of all time, and his films have become cult classics for being so notoriously bad. From the early '30s until the 1950s, Esper was a bottom-dweller in the field of exploitation movies, a producer and distributor so lowbrow and sleazy (and at times grotesque) in his output and methods that he was an embarrassment to most of his colleagues in the exploitation field, a realm of filmmaking where shame was otherwise virtually unknown.

Sex Madness - Cast & Crew

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