Scream of the Butterfly (1965) Eber Lobato

A beautiful woman marries a rich man for his money, then embarks on an affair and plans to use her boyfriend to help murder her husband.

Grindhouse regulars must’ve been shocked in l965 when this way-above-average exploitation film began its cycle on the marquees of theaters along 42nd Street.

Scream of the Butterfly is strikingly photographed by Ray Stickler who used bright, white lighting that brings out the striking beauty of its female star–the incomparable Nelda Lobato, famous at that time as a dancer and singer. She’s shown here as the evil, man-eating sex-pot Marla who marries a rich man but who grovels and swallows her equally gorgeous boy toy, Nick Navarro. The latter was also an aberration in the soft-core flicks of that era because he was so sexy looking. Most of the male leads were heavy, middle-aged looking slobs. Nelda has several crowd-pleasing moments when her perfectly proportioned body is revealed. The strongest moment in the film comes when Marla and her stud make love in the surf as a thunderstorm rages. The music is perfectly crafted to enhance this moment and raises this well-done movie to memorable heights. As was typical of that era, although Nelda is completely nude in her love scenes, her boyfriend always keeps his pants on, even while rolling with her in the waves. Eber Lobato, who produced this movie, was the lucky husband of the silver-haired sex queen who never made another movie–what a shame and a loss.

Scream of the Butterfly (1965)