Necropolis (1986)

 

Where else are you going to see a New York punk babe (who is in fact the reincarnation of a 17th century witch) expose her breasts, use her occult powers to grow four more breasts and then breast feed zombies?

Tim Kincaid's gooey handprints are all over this film. Although he was only the producer in this instance, Necropolis fits in well with the mid-1980s NYC sleaze of Kincaid's Breeders, Bad Girls Dormitory, Mutant Hunt etc etc

Kincaid came from the netherworld of 1970s gay porn (as "Joe Gage"). Followed by a stint in exploitation film distribution, releasing older titles like 'Psycho from Texas' and 'Kill and Go Hide' through his New American Films company in the early 1980s. A background that served Kincaid well when it came to knowing exactly what buttons to push for grindhouse audiences. Although his mixture of sleaze and slime often pushed the envelope a little too far when it came to the comparatively conservative confines of 1980s horror fandom. Most famously when Fangoria published a still from Breeders (depicting several naked women bathing in some suspiciously sperm like alien slime) the backlash against which directly led to the magazine's self imposed ban on female nudity. An air of sexual subversion is also strong in Necropolis, its anti-heroine Eva (LeeAnne Baker) is an outrageous Alicia Bridges type leather clad lesbian, who might use her sexuality to lure men to their deaths, but isn't also above seducing their girlfriends as well. Comic relief in the film is provided by a queeny mortuary attendant. Eva's purpose in the film, to avenge herself on the modern day descendants of the peeps who put her to death in the 17th century, places her at odds with the burgeoning heterosexual romance between an Italian-American cop and a British radio personality, whose union Eva had similarly foiled back in the 17th century. In another startlingly scene, one of Eva's intended victims turns out to be an ex-junkie and male prostitute, who insists he is straight and defensively claims to have only sold himself to men for money. An achilles' heel that Eva hilariously turns on the guy, planting the suggestion in his head that the kindly priest who is trying to help him kick his drug habit, is only after his body instead. As with Kincaid's Breeders, the major force for good in the film...the aforementioned priest...is played by an African-American actor, another atypical touch for a 1980s horror film.

Kincaid made Necropolis in association with Charles Band's Empire Pictures. A union that also produced Breeders, Mutant Hunt, Robot Holocaust and the urban action film Enemy Territory. Films whose graffiti sprayed, crack era NYC atmosphere always seemed a little at odds with Band's preference for picturesque L.A or Italian location shooting. As well as the relatively kiddie friendly, fantasy fare that Band's name has become synonymous with. Something that didn't stop Band from making a remake/sequel to the film 'Necropolis: Legion' last year, presumably for all the people who've been patiently waiting 33 years for a follow-up.

Necropolis' love of sticky bodily fluids -Eva is fond of suggestively licking ectoplasm off her fingers- suggests though that there was a part of Joe Gage that Tim Kincaid never forgot. The film's centrepiece, Eva growing multiple breasts, lactating slime and being suckled by her undead followers, might not be able to quite top the 'sperm bath' sequence in Breeders, but it can't be accused of not trying, and I doubt Fangoria were in any rush to feature that particular moment within their pages.