Sugar Cookies Blu Ray Review (Troma)

Sugar Cookies is a 1973 suspense thriller film co-written and directed by Theodore Gershuny (Monsters, Tales from the Darkside, For Love or Murder, Deathouse, and Stephen King’s Golden Tales). It was executive produced and co-written by Lloyd Kaufman (Tromeo and Juliet, The Toxic Avenger franchise, Terror Firmer, Eating Miss Campbell, Surf Nazis Must Die, Luther The Geek, Class of Nuke Em High franchise, Def by Temptation, Blood Hook, The Final Countdown, and Zombie Island Massacre). It was associate produced by Oliver Stone (Platoon, Any Given Sunday, JFK, Natural Born Killers, The Doors, Freeway, Wall Street franchise, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Blue Steel, and Born on the Fourth of July). It only grossed $78,340 during it’s limited theatrical run. Welcome to the world of wealth and privilege…where everyone lives life in the fast lane! Meet the beautiful people…at their most thrilling and dangerous sex game. A producer Max Pavell (played by: George Shannon from Playing Dangerous, Private War, The Silencer, and Wanted: Dead or Alive) and Camila Stone (played by: Mary Woronov from Eating Raoul, Death Race 2000, Rock ‘n’ Roll High School, Night of the Comet, and Chopping Mall) decide to find an innocent young acting student Julie Kent (played by: Lynn Lowry from I Drink Your Blood, The Crazies, Fighting Mad, and Model Hunger). In a bizarre experiment that transforms her into the exact replica of a dead movie star Alta Leigh (played by: Lynn Lowry from Shivers, Cat People, Hell’s Kitty, and Sky Sharks)!!!! Sugar Cookies is sexploitation mixed with a thriller. Theodore Gershuny was behind the camera for this revenge mystery. It was co-written and executive produced by Troma’s own Lloyd Kaufman. He always joked about this saying it was the first sex feature to actually lose money. Unfortunately, he was right about Sugar Cookies because it bombed during it’s theatrical run back in the day. Fellow college friend Oliver Stone was involved as an associate producer for this low budget project. Obviously, he went on to have an amazing career in the industry after this. It has an interesting concept where a movie star is killed and a powerful producer meets an acting student that resembles the former movie star. Her ex lover has plane for her own retribution and it spirals out of control between the shady individuals involved. Cult actress Lynn Lowry appears in dual roles in Sugar Cookies. She is in top from for the different portrayals in this suspense exploitation film. Both are have their own unique quirks and mannerisms to them. Cult actress Mary Woronov shows up as the vengeful Camila Stone. She wants someone to pay for her ex-lover’s demise. She puts together a creative plan to reverse the awful situation. She was actually married to the director in real life when making this. Both women are not afraid to show off their bodies in this. Lead actor George Shannon is sleazy without any hesitation as the shady producer Max Pavell. He’s very unlikable, he uses his power to cover up the evil that he’s committed. The audience really roots for this guy to face his karma in the worst possible way. The rest of the supporting cast includes Monique van Vooren (Flesh for Frankenstein), Maureen Byrnes (Future War), Ondine (Batman Dracula), Jennifer Welles (Confessions of a Young American Housewife), Debbie Parness (Deathouse), Alexandra Stewart (Frantic), and Reid Cruickshanks (Runaway Train). Sugar Cookies is honestly one of the best Troma releases that no one really talks about. Technically, it was made before they were officially formed but they have handled the distribution for it for a long time now. It was originally rated X but they got it down to R so it could reach further. Luckily, it’s fully extended for home video. Sugar Cookies has that independent arthouse vibe to it. It’s not as erotic as you would think but it does deliver enough sleaze and nudity to satisfy most fans of the sub-genre. It has a decent suspense, tension, and mystery build up to it. Sugar Cookies goes for a psychological approach. It’s not action packed or explosive, it’s more about the game that’s all set up here. It deserves more attention and respect. It can be a little slower at times but it’s worth the wait. It’s a must watch for any Mary Woronov or Lynn Lowry fan, RECOMMENDED!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation and special features from Troma Entertainment! This 1080p (1.85:1) uncensored transfer is from a 4K restoration from the 35mm camera negative. I’ve said it before but I’ll repeat myself here. Troma is very smart for letting Vinegar Syndrome originally handling these older films from their vaults. They get the highest possible quality out of this deal when they get to re-release their movies on their own. No one does HD upgrades like OCN/VS when it comes to these obscure features. It has an English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track on the disc. The audio stands out the most for it’s soundtrack and score. All of the dialogue is crystal clear, the tension is elevated, and the music has a huge boost to it. It has English SDH subtitles. It has an almost 14 minute “Interview” with lead actress Lynn Lowry. This is from the original Vinegar Syndrome home video release. It’s a detailed conversation with the cult actress. She chats about how she got this role and production. She didn’t want to do it at first with all of the nudity in it. She didn’t want to do full frontal so they agreed to avoid that for her while shooting this. She talks about doing dual characters was a fun experience and she enjoyed working with the director plus Mary Woronov for it. She goes over hating the wig but it helped her do different things for the other performance. It has a little over 35 minute “Interview” with producer Lloyd Kaufman. This is from the original Vinegar Syndrome home video release. He’s proud of discovering Lynn Lowry and he used her in a previous production. She did it for basically for no money but she always worked hard no matter what. He shows his appreciation for the lead actress here. He goes over his earlier relationship with Oliver Stone. They both were involved with this independent project. Oliver Stone wanted to work together on more stuff but Lloyd just started his own studio. He originally met the director for this while working with Cannon back in the day. He’s not shy about saying it didn’t make any money. It has the “Original Theatrical Trailer” and “Alternative Theatrical Trailer” for Sugar Cookies. It has an archive little over 7 minute “Introduction” with producer Lloyd Kaufman. It’s from the original DVD home video release. Kaufman goes over the history of it. He made this before he formed Troma. They made it under a different company but they didn’t have good memories with the distribution for it so that’s why Lloyd started his own label after this. It has a little over 9 minutes of archive “Interviews” with Lynn Lowry and Mary Woronov. Lowry goes over her career a little bit. She mentions that she almost didn’t do it because it had so much nudity in it. She’s very honest and shares her thoughts on everything. Woronov goes over how she got this gig. Her husband at the time was the director here. He wrote the script with her in mind. She brings being shocked that he gave himself a sleazy part in this. Kaufman jokes about Mary being a lesbian but she confirms that she has never been one and it was just for the movie. She brings up some behind the scenes stuff. The rest of the bonus material are a little more random. They are all about Troma, not Sugar Cookies. It has “Coming Distractions” which features 9 different Troma related “Trailers”. It has a little over 2 minute “Troma Now Promo”. It has the little over a minute “We Stand with Ukraine”. It has the almost 4 minute “Seeing Red” music video from Entombed. It has the almost 2 minute “Tromatized” music video from Abbie Harper. It has the almost 3 minute “Stupid Moments in Troma History”. It has the under a minute “Radiation March”. It has the almost 10 minute “Troma: 30! Years of Reel Independence”. It has the little over a minute “TA in 5K Promo“. This Tromatic Special Edition is loaded with all kinds of entertainment. I love that it has some of the Vinegar Syndrome extras and restoration included with this re-release. It’s available everywhere right now, CHECK IT OUT!!!!