A Little Sin

The Sinful Dwarf
Reviewed By: The DarkSider 12/31/2009

The Plot: Oh the sinful delights of the world. Pretty much everyone around you has taken in something that they felt they shouldn't have (hopefully legally) yet they have enjoyed it. It’s the one thing that kind of binds us together in our society. No matter if you are black, white, big or in this movie’s case…small.

Our film begins in a quiet suburban area where a young lady is playing hopscotch. I say "young lady" a bit tentatively because she really looks to be about mid 20ish. Around the corner comes the film’s title character, Olaf, who is indeed the sinful dwarf. Or would that be sinful “little person” by today’s overly PC standards? Well none the less he whips out an annoying toy poodle which the young lady takes a liking to. Immediately she follows him to his home. I’m guessing girls in this town aren’t the brightest bulbs in the bunch. Once there, she plays with the poodle and Olaf whacks her over the head with his cane.

Cue up the title sequence which plays over a twisted yet oddly enjoyable opening track. Once we get through the credits, which is laced with an odd barrage of children's toys, we are introduced to aspiring writer Peter and his main squeeze Mary. I’m thinking not a lot of effort was put into brainstorming their character names. Frankly I’m surprised there was no “Paul” in the movie. The two are an unemployed couple out looking for a room and end up at Olaf’s place of residence. They meet his mother, Lila, who runs the joint and they reluctantly settle on a room. Olaf leads them to the room and once there he wiggles on the bed to show them how soft it is. Just so you’ll know at this point while watching, I realized no matter how bad the film may end up sucking, this scene paid for my ticket.

"Ohhhhh, it's so cute and cuddly! And the
bear is adorable too.

Peter and Mary get settled and decide to make some sweet love that evening. During the oddly shot (yet arousing thanks to Mary) love scene, Olaf decides to get in some voyeurism. He does so by peeping through a hole in the wall. After this, Olaf is sent by his mother to take care of a problem in the attic. What is this problem you might ask? It is their collection of young girls who they keep in a white slavery ring. They keep them naked and doped up on heroin. Well, this film just keeps getting more interesting by the minute.

The next evening Mary makes Peter a nice dinner which the two enjoy together. Mary chats with Peter how she has seen people coming and going all day. Hmmmm...a curious shapely blond...can you spell potential future plot fodder? I knew you could? Downstairs, Lila entertains her lush friend Winnie and the two chat of the good ole days when they ran a club. Olaf arrives after letting in a male client to the white slavery room. Lila goes into a half assed Carmen Miranda mode with Olaf on piano which rather frightened me. Minutes later Olaf lets in another male client has his way with one of the ladies upstairs. He may be a little perv but Olaf seems to be good a multitasking.

The next day Lila and Olaf talk about how they want Mary into the white slavery mix. However they both agree they need Peter out of the way. Upstairs, Peter gets ready to head out while Mary insists on foul play in the hotel. Peter gives her the "yeah yeah yeah" treatment and heads out after asking Lila for the place's phone number in case he gets a job offer. Meanwhile Mary decides to do a little more snooping before heading back to her room.

Lila heads upstairs to give one of the girls her heroin shot. She comments on how she is using a bit too much of it lately. Lila gets in a few b*tch slaps on one of the other girls and leaves. She gets on the horn with her drug dealer/toy shop owner who she calls "Santa Claus". I guess he keeps things merry and bright all year round with his bears stuffed with smack. Anyhow, eventually Santa's drug runner is busted and he needs a new one. In steps Peter (wow that was convenient) who is told he needs to go to Paris immediately. He informs Mary who finds herself alone in the hotel.

Mary heads out one evening and finds the room with the girls. Mary promises them she'll go to the police but is stopped by Lila and Olaf. Minutes later she finds herself in the room chained to the wall and drugged up. Lilla quickly types up a Dear John letter for Peter. Peter finds the letter and is rather saddened. He heads back to work and overhears an incriminating conversation between Santa and Olaf. Peter heads out to the police to report his findings. Meanwhile Olaf f*cks Mary with his cane. Nothing more to add there folks. Well other than Mary getting a little of the old in/out from a male client.

"Ok, where do I go for refunds?"

Santa Claus gets busted big time and the police head to the hotel. Once there they confront Lila and she pleads the fifth. However, after a thorough search of the attic the find the room in question. The police hand their gun to Peter who quickly uses it to dispatch Lila. This move, although questionable, kind of makes justice easy so I won't question it. Meanwhile Olaf attacks a police officer and tries to escape. However he ends up doing a lemming imitation (or his tiny dummy stunt double does anyhow) out the window thus dying.

When it comes to sexploitation (in this case mixed with dwarfploitation) films, this is explicative as it comes. You have naked women chained up, injected with drugs and forced to commit sex acts of the worst nature. So it goes without saying that as with any film in the sexploitation genre, it isn't for everyone. Matter of fact many people will find this a difficult watch. However, if you can look past the shock value of the film, it actually has some qualities that set it apart from your standard films of a rather perverse nature.

The characters in the film have a decent amount of depth especially in the antagonist department. You have Lila who apparently was a star in her heyday. Yet, you can tell she never made anything more of herself than the local bars. Through her awfully performed musical numbers we see how much time has destroyed her talent. She may try to go back but she just can't hence her need for whoring out girls.

Meanwhile Olaf is a character that seems to cling a childhood he never had. He plays with toys devilishly and cuddles with his mother. However, he commits horrible acts that makes you wonder if he either grew up too quickly or perhaps not at all. Maybe I'm reading too much into the film's characters but at least they didn't fail to interest me. Even the good guys who were kind of your generic happy go lucky couple.

Acting wise the film is nothing horribly special but the cast pulls it off nicely. The desolate mood of the film is set nicely and the decrepid hotel really added to the sleaze theme. There are several scenes of tension and the film throws in a few false scares here and there to keep the viewer on their toes. The film was recently brought on DVD by Severin Films who seem to specialize in the grindhouse/sexploitation genre so many people adore. The Sinful Dwarf is what it is and knew what it was out to deliver which would be the sleaze factor. However there is a little something extra there. No dwarf pun intended there.

YOU'RE A GRAND OLD A-HOLE
(the A-Holes of the film get their moment)

Olaf

Currently head pimp in the red light
district of Munchkin Land.

Lila

Aka, Mrs. Hannigan from Annie
but with whores.

Santa Claus

Hey, how else is one man supposed to pay for
presents for kids around the world other than to
deal some crack?

OVERALL GRADE


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