This Freaked-Out Drug Pic is Even Stranger than Strange

      

director: John W Shadow
starring: Ewa Aulin · Alex Rebar · Carlo De Mejo · Eugene Pomeroy · Christian Pogany

        

    

College professor John Fink is upset after a student dies while under the influence of drugs. He believes the widespread use of recreational drugs on campus stems from a rebellious student named Billy. Professor John doesn't want to tell the Police about Billy's activities for fear of tarnishing the school's reputation. So instead, he plans an off-the-grid weekend at his isolated countryside villa for Billy and a few other students. He also invites his much younger wife, Elizabeth, to join them. Professor John was hoping to help Billy (and the others) kick their dependency on drugs, but instead things take an ugly turn when Elizabeth gets hooked on a nasty heroin strain.

As unconventional this plot may be, the details behind the production are even stranger. Swedish-born Miss Aulin had just found International success with the title role in CANDY, and she was signed to star in Lee Van Cleef's Spaghetti Western "Take A Hard Ride."After few weeks of shooting, she abruptly refused to do a nude scene and walked from that project. Ewa bounced into the lead position for this 'underground' film directed by John W Shadow. That's where things got really weird. Exactly who is (was?) John W Shadow?

According to IMDB, this is a pseudonym for a small-time Italian producer (Roberto Loyola) who had no other directing credits. On the other hand, some film historians claim John W Shadow is really Joe D'Amato; this is based on the fact that D'Amato used the 'John Shadow' name when he scripted J.P. Simon's film PIECES. In reality - most likely - both of these are incorrect.

It appears that John W Shadow was a real person, a British musician who became a very popular disc-jockey on Radio Caroline (a pirate station that operated off the coast of the British Isle with an estimated audience of 12 million listeners). In 1969, after the station was shutdown, John W Shadow went to Italy where he met and married Ewa Aulin (the picture to the right was published in "La Stampa" announcing the wedding; this appears to be the only documentation). John Shadow had written the script for MICROSCOPIC LIQUID SUBWAY during is DJ days, he also wrote music in anticipation of making the movie. After Miss Aulin bolted from "Take A Hard Ride," the couple began shooting it. Besides the controversial theme, the movie suffers from budgetary issues (slipping from color-to-cepetone-and-back-to-color would indicate lack of funds rather than artistic experimentation). Distribution proved impossible. Seemingly, the film has never been released anywhere in the world... with the exception of this rare Greek package.