Where do you find ‘Teen Lust’?

By Adam Ruhl

Even if you're not familiar with the name James Hong, you’re likely well acquainted with his many famous characters.

James Hong as Khan in Chinatown

In his over 60 year career, James Hong has appeared in more than 375 TV shows and movies. Before his famous turns in Blade Runner and as David Lo-Pan in Big Trouble in Little China, Mr. Hong directed a stellar low-budget comedy in 1979 called Teen Lust. Recently the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz in Austin held a rare screening of the film with Mr. Hong in attendance. Hong brought amazing energy to the stage, at times dancing and performing for the crowd. He said that the same sense of humor he wrote into this film pops up in his later roles such as David Lo-Pan in Big Trouble in Little China.

Promo photo from The Girls Next Door courtesy of James Hong

Teen Lust, originally called The Girls Next Door, is about two young women who join the Explorers program of their local police force (a similar premise was later used in Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol). Our main character Carol has a rotten home life, with a lecherous father and an alcoholic mother (played by Dolly Carolla in an amazing, over-the-top performance, but sadly I can find no other credits for her).  Carol’s new police work consists of being used as hooker bait and she is constantly sexually harassed by the officers on the force. She has a loving boyfriend, but he is being stalked by a nymphet ex-girlfriend.

Before the event was announced I had never heard of Teen Lust. The title and era of the film conjured images of teen-sex comedies like Porky’s, lots of T & A, but not much substance. My expectations going into the film were low. However, this film is a smart and funny comedy whose sense of humor was way ahead of its time. Teen Lustis very self-aware and effectively parodies teen-sex comedies of the day. The movie has humor on par with There’s Something About Mary and Superbad, over-the-top performances like a John Waters movie, and some of the wittiest dialogue I've seen in an absurdist comedy. Right now this film is extremely hard to see; the host of the event stated that we might have been watching the only theatrical print available and few VHS copies of the movie exist (I can’t even find a trailer on YouTube to post with this article).

There was something fun about the version we saw in the theater. It was a thirty year old print that had been played a million times. There were scratches everywhere, colors at times were almost faded completely, and there were a number of hard splices where tears had been fixed. It gave the experience a wonderful lost film atmosphere, much like the film Grindhouse, but genuinely old and worn, not a re-creation.

Mr. Hong said that he had recently found his personal film negative for Teen Lust in storage and intended to restore it and release the movie on disc. He also has interested in directing a sequel film. I would love to see this film re-released now because it has all the makings of a great cult film and it is quite unique for its era. When Teen Lust is restored and ready Hong will announce its release date on his Facebook page.

Currently Mr. Hong is putting together a project called “Master of Stone” that he would like to shoot in Texas and will also have a starring role in. It will be great to see James Hong back in the director’s chair because Teen Lust shows his flair for a fun story and the ability to deliver some very funny dialogue.