Crimson Orgy -- Austin Williams

Crimson Orgy is both the title of the novel and the title of the movie that the characters in the book are making. The setting is Florida, c. 1965, and one of the nice things about the book is that we learn a good bit about how low-budget exploitation films were made back in those days. The industry started with nudies, very popular in the south, until Herschel Gordon Lewis changed the game with Blood Feast.

Gene Hoffman and Shel Meyer want to get in on a good thing, so they're making Crimson Orgy, a movie now available only in grainy bootleg VHS copies because the original footage has disappeared. We learn this in the prologue, in which we also learn that a member of the crew died in mysterious circumstance during the filming. What really happened on the shoot? No one knows. Those who might know have either disappeared or kept silent.

But now we have the whole story in the novel. There's a lot more going on than is even hinted in the prologue. If ever the phrase "troubled production" was justified, this is the time. No spoilers here, though. You'll have to get the book if you want to find out all the problems.

Is there gore? Yes, both real and the movie kind. Is there sex? Sure. Humor? Yes, believe it or not. If you're interested in exploitation movies or just some entertaining reading, check it out.