Event

Teenage Mother

The directorial debut of producer/distributor Jerry Gross (in his pre-Cinemation days), TEENAGE MOTHER is undeniably an exploitation film but it also kind of feels like an educational scare film marked as a piece of juvenile schlock cinema. From the over-the-top portrayals of repressive adults, angry parents, noirish drug dealers, psychotic thugs, troubled young lovers, and well-meaning idealistic teachers (including an early appearance by Fred Willard as the squeaky clean coach) to the too perfectly wrapped up "lesson learned" ending fade-out, TEENAGE MOTHER comes across as a loopy dramatization rather than a fictional film. It's an odd duck in that it actually seems to have a serious message beneath the juvenile schlock cinema plot. The film's exploitation trump card is the uninterrupted screening of a "birth reel" (in spite of the teacher and a title card emphasizing its non-prurient function). While it's not exactly a good film, it isn't really a bad film either and perhaps best works as a guilty pleasure (birth scene aside).