The 1970's was known for the drive-in sexploitation films. This one is just right for anyone who is nostalgia oriented. It's one of the few before "Meatballs","Little Darlings", or "Porky's". But in return, it's before the time of slasher films. So there's more sex, than comedy. And a touch of drama to go along with. Here you have four beautiful women, along with a cousin who work at a camp, meeting different people. Making love. Having fun. Pure and simple. However, that fun is about to come undone, when a mysterious figure starts killing people. One blonde was being chased by a biker who decided to stay behind at the party. She only met her end by a female figure with a knife. Then more victims are killed in different matter. A water skier is sniped by the same person. But after all what the ladies have been through, they managed to have a fun summer. Seems like anything or everything goes in that place. This is a cult classic that should be recognized by movie goers. It's a mixture of sex, intrigue, and surprise. I like it very much. 3 out of 5 stars.

This movie begins with two attractive young ladies by the names of "Beth" (Roberta Collins) and "Carla" (Marki Bey) in their bikinis on the beach and talking. The next scene introduces two more young ladies named "Heather" (Pat Woodell) and "Brea" (Laurie Rose) taking a shower prior to meeting Beth and Carla to discuss their plans for their upcoming summer vacation. Eventually, they all agree to go to Lake Arrowhead but not necessarily together. Heather has invited her cousin, "Paula" (Christina Hart) to spend some time with her at her house near the lake while Brea has accepted a job as a nurse at nearby Camp Wanachee. Beth, on the other hand, wants to spend time at the lake with her new boyfriend "Nick" (Daryl Stevens). Likewise, although Carla has accepted a summer job at the local library she also plans on spending some time at the lake as well. Anyway, as things are progressing like one might expect, the movie takes a sudden turn at around the 40-minute mark and the comedy morphs into a slasher film when a serial killer emerges and begins to kill some of the females at the beach. Although it was all rather sudden and unexpected, I suppose it was a turn in the right direction as the comedy wasn't too sharp to begin with. Even so, the director (Arthur Marks) wasn't able to keep the mystery going for too long and as a result the movie regressed even further from there. The worst part, however, was the dialogue which was about as bad as anything I have ever witnessed. This clearly affected the acting as only Pat Woodell managed to turn in anything resembling an adequate performance. That being said, about the only thing going for this film was the presence of the lovely actresses just mentioned and I have rated this movie accordingly as it simply lacked cohesion.

Unlike other reviewers here praising THE ROOMMATES, I was a regular drive- in fan in the early '70s and can attest to the fact that not only was this Arthur Marks film not successful in that market, but it was not competitive at all with the other distributors' fare.This was an era when often sleazy but very entertaining R and Soft X movies were being released by prominent companies like New World (Roger Corman's at the time), Crown Intl. (later to hit big with THE POM POM GIRLS), Hemisphere (lots of Filipino-lensed exploitation films), Harry Novak's Box office International (and its Buckalew titles) and of course AIP. Below I will enumerate many of the shortcomings of ROOMMATES.First, its overwritten script is mired in previous decades: the key subplot of a mother persecuting her young son ("introducing Gary Warren Mascaro as Arnie") is right out of the '50s, poorly played and when finally revealed as a maniacal killer just a ripoff from Russ Meyer and Roger Ebert's Z-Man of BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS.Scenes of untalented bands and cast dancing around look like an early '60s movie, and much of the action set around a camp is puerile crap reminiscent of beach party movies from AIP a decade earlier.The heroines are poorly used, and the pederast daddy of Arnie bedding down two of them is really a throwback. Except for a peeping scene and a mercy- hump (by beautiful Laurie Rose), the campers get lost in the shuffle.Light and airy tone suddenly and unconvincingly turning to melodrama with the serial killer is climaxed by an extremely poorly staged massacre and neutralization of Arnie by the kindly deputy who is lead Marki Bey's lame black-on-black romantic interest. The red herring (previous closeup emphasis) of "lady" killer with orange nail polish = Arnie was particularly irritating.After the massacre, this poorly directed, way overlong film goes immediately back to business as usual, with the heroines' reaction to mayhem being one of idle bemusement. I was fortunate not to have this stinker from unsuccessful distributor General Film Corp. booked anywhere near me in the '70s, and catching up with it on DVD, replete with self-serving comments by the director, was merely a reminder of dozens of far better movies that delighted us fans in cars (as well as the many bikers who populated the front of the Drive-In parking area) back then.

It's a shame that Arthur Marks' THE ROOMMATES is for the most part verrrrry hard to come by because it's one of his best! It's a hell of a lot better than CENTERFOLD GIRLS, that's for sure, and while it's no BONNIE'S KIDS, it is a unique blend of beautiful girls and 70s drive-in elements. While the four leading ladies only share one or two scenes together, this is typical of the four-independent-and-beautiful-twentysomethings subgenre of the drive-in. New World's NURSES and TEACHERS films, as well as THE STEWARDESSES and Al Adamson's rip-offs, featured beautiful girls who were friends, but their individual stories were followed more closely. The social politics of the time (the sexual revolution, women's lib) also play heavily in character development, as in the aforementioned films.Marki Bey, who would soon become SUGAR HILL before becoming a featured player on "Starsky and Hutch", gives probably her finest performance as a smirking librarian who makes no apologies when she jumps from one man to another who catches her fancy. Pat Woodell, besides contributing a little nudity in a shower scene, is given little to do despite her star billing. She was the only established star of the cast, yet she's obviously not the character Marks was most interested in. Laurie Rose had the most varied career of the girls, from David Friedman skinflicks (ADULT VERSION OF JEKYLL AND HIDE) to Lee Frost sleaze (POLICEWOMEN) to Filipino action pics (THE HOT BOX). Here she is given probably her most interesting and sensitive character. Today she is a professional bellydancer and doesn't look on her past too highly, but she should at least be proud of her work in this film. Roberta Collins is the most vivacious of the quartet, and as evident in most of her films, is an adept comedienne who totally endears herself to the audience. How could anyone watching her films NOT fall in love with her? One of the strongest actresses of the 70s drive-in, she also handles dramatic scenes astonishingly well. Unbelievably, she never graduated to the bigger and better Hollywood roles she so richly deserved.Also on-hand are two more popular drive-in beauties. Christina Hart (THE STEWARDESSES, JOHNNY FIRECLOUD) is a seemingly innocent cousin of Woodell's who turns out to be a conniving little sexpot who plans on having the swingingest summer of her life. Connie Strickland, the blonde bombshell from BUMMER!, appears in a small role as a vacationing water-skier who is the killer's first victim. Strickland didn't get to star in too many films, usually in small character roles; Marks would use her again in CENTERFOLD GIRLS. Look fast for Uschi Digart in an orgy scene and Albert Cole (THE INCREDIBLE TWO-HEADED TRANSPLANT) as a biker!! ROOMMATES is a little slow-going. The first 15 minutes set-up the four best friends, who have lots of dialogue discussing their personal politics and establishing the two goofball comediennes (Marki Bey and Roberta Collins) and the more serious lasses (Pat Woodell and Laurie Rose). Following a wild party where Rose beats a jock in a sit-up contest, the girls take off for their summer vacation at a lovely resort. And all of a sudden, a charming comedy in the vein of SUMMER SCHOOL TEACHERS becomes a twisted killing-spree-whodunit with beautiful girls falling dead left and right (very much like the Sebastians' THE SINGLE GIRLS from the same year, or New World's NIGHT CALL NURSES and STUDENT TEACHERS). All four gals manage to pair up with respective male partners in-between the murders, and the film successfully jumps back and forth between these two very different parts.I think The Hoyk's review below is a little off; Tarantino probably never saw this film (which was never available on home video and is still near impossible to find) so its influence on him is zero. Hopefully some DVD company will come along to rescue this one from obscurity and release it with appreciative extras with Marks and the six featured actresses and the tender loving care it deserves. It's not a four-star, solid 10 exploitation feature, but there is still plenty here to keep fans of 70s drive-in fare happy.