Back in the early ’70s when the MPAA started rating films so movies could appeal to adults, movie theaters were more than happy to show films that featured plenty of sex and violence. American films could compete with the hotness of European cinema that was imported for its risky imagery. While the major studios dabbled in it, a new wave of independent filmmakers embraced the sensual to find an eager audience for R or even X rated excitement. Sugar Cookies is a movie that didn’t tease an audience. The film provides both nudity and bullets right from the start.
Model Ulta (Shivers’ Lynn Lowry) is hanging out naked in the apartment of adult filmmaker Max Pavell (Indecent Behavior’s George Shannon). He suggests they play a game by getting her to put bullets in his revolver. The game goes extremely bad for Alta. Max won’t take the blame. He gets Camilla (Eat Raoul‘s Mary Woronov) to make him look innocent. The story is that Alta killed herself and nobody was around. However Camilla’s not entirely happy cleaning up his mess. She heads up a casting call to find a new actress to replace Alta. She finds Julie who can be mistaken for Alta’s twin. It helps that Julie is also played by Lowry. The two women get extremely involved as she’s turned into a future movie star and the new Alta. Ultimately it seems Camilla wants Julie to suffer Alta’s fate at the hands of Max. Can this really be the case?
Sugar Cookies is so worth getting to see Mary Woronov and Lynn Lowry getting intimate during a time when cinema avoided showing this type of relationship as commonplace. was on the verge of her greatness with Death Race 2000 and Rock N Roll High School. She stuns with her cold and calculating attitude. She is a marvel to behold in the restored 1080p frame. Lynn Lowry is a perfect subject for Woronov’s attentions. She plays naïve yet curious so well. This goes up there with her performance as the curious wife in Radley Metzger’s The Score (which was also X rated).
Sugar Cookies launched the career of two other film icons. This was the first serious credit for Oscar winner Oliver Stone (Platoon) and Troma mastermind Lloyd Kaufman. The two were childhood friends. Shame they can’t make one more film together. Maybe The Toxic Avenger can go to Vietnam?
Sugar Cookies is a movie not made for children to ingest. This is some serious adult fun from 1971. The film is a wonderfully kinky variation of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo.
The Video is 1.78:1 anamorphic. Compared to the DVD clips in the bonus features, the Blu-ray has been brightened up and cleaned up. You’ll get to appreciate the intimate scenes. The Audio is Dolby Digital 2.0. Things sound fine for a low budet film. The movie is subtitled in English.
Lloyd Kaufman’s Classic Intro (7:17) has him wearing his Yale sweatshirt. He talks about just getting out of Yale. His classmates were George W. Bush and Oliver Stone. Only one of them worked on Sugar Cookies with Lloyd. He gets into the title change. This was his girl-girl version of Hitchcock’s Vertigo. Things get gross at the end.
Lynn Lowry Remembers (13:38) has the actress talk about her early career. She enjoys talking about her time as a model making “art pictures.” She also admits her first role was for one of Lloyd Kaufman’s short films.
Interview with Lloyd Kaufman (35:58) takes us to Tromaville. He admits to his crush on Lynn Lowry. He has fond memories of the sleazy theater that had the New York City premiere. He learned from this film to control his own distribution.
Interview with Lynn Lowry (4:11) has her drop by the Troma space at the American Film Market to chat with Lloyd Kaufman. She originally turned down the role because of the nudity. She talks about her scenes with Mary Woronov.
Interview with Mary Woronov (4:58) is from a previous Troma video release. Lloyd gets her to open up about her ex-husband who directed the film. She didn’t like the fact that the guy cast himself in the adult feature that plays in the movie. What director does that for their cameo? Mary is wonderful while remember the guy she dumped. Mary Woronov is beyond charming.
Theatrical Trailer (1:44) gives the movie a hip spin. There’s also an alternate trailer from when Troma re-issued the film (2:53) with the classic Troma opening.
Looking for Oliver Stone (3:32) has a Troma employee explain how he tried to get ahold of Oliver Stone. This was done when Oliver Stone was making Alexander.
Troma JFK Assassination Theory (2:52) goes Oliver Stone’s JFK to explain what happened that day in Dallas. Why did they never report the chopsticks?
Seeing Red by Entombed music video (3:46) is from Toxic Avenger 4. You get to see Lloyd in a movie theater projection booth when 35mm was the norm. The video shows a lot of women making out so that ties it back to Sugar Cookies.
Troma presents Sugar Cookies: Tromatic Special Edition. Directed by Theodore Gershuny. Screenplay by Lloyd Kaufman & Theodore Gershuny. Starring George Shannon, Mary Woronov, Lynn Lowry, Monique van Vooren, Maureen Byrnes, Daniel Sadur, Ondine and Jennifer Welles. Running Time: 91 minutes. Rating: unrated. Release Date: July 14, 2026.
