Will the Thrill's Top 75 Grindhouse Movies
SEX. BLOOD. GORE. HORROR. AND LOTS OF TITS! These are the essential ingredients and main appeal of a certain type of film that has become known as "grindhouse," even though during the era of their actual flourishing (designated and christened retrospectively much like film noir), they were merely "exploitation" or "horror" movies. What sets these movies apart is their sheer fearlessness in terms of indulging the darkest corners of the human psyche, shamelessly pandering to the male (and sometimes female) libido while wallowing in the trashiest elements of our primal nature. Love 'em or hate 'em (often both simultaneously), they are memorable and significant for their naked honesty.
Due to loosening censorship in a gradually more liberal culture, truly adventurous, boundary-pushing exploitation cinema exploded in the early 1960s, the fuse lit back in the 1930s with relatively tame but nudity-friendly "sex education" film roadshows and even mainstream Hollywood, pre-Code. But the term "grindhouse" owes awareness of its existence in mainstream consciousness largely due to the 2007 film Grindhouse by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino (who earlier popularized "pulp fiction," inspiring a popular cinematic trend while revitalizing an entire "retro" industry spanning all media.) As much as I love that film and both Machete spinoffs, I've chosen not include them here, since they are more pastiches of the source material rather actual modernized but aesthetically authentic heirs, as opposed to the films of Rob Zombie, which do not cater to mass audiences in any way, shape or form, remaining true to the nihilistic, repulsive, and explicit nature of the originals. With few exceptions, like those made by Roger Corman's New World Pictures, these films never played in suburban malls. They all lived briefly then died in sleazy, seedy houses of piss, wine and semen on 42nd Street in Times Square, Market Street in San Francisco, and Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. Most were never meant for mass consumption, catering instead to a select audience of misfits and malcontents. Later they were rediscovered and are now studied as historic artifacts and critically acclaimed by revisionists while playing hipster film festivals. The irony of this only proves my point: we all have these lustful, primal cravings and impulses in common. If nothing else, these films provide a relatively safe, healthy sublimation of these otherwise destructive tendencies and socially unacceptable tastes.
The following list is not meant to be comprehensive, merely representative. I've chosen films I thought best exemplified the unabashed debauchery, decadence, depravity, and degradation of Grindhouse Cinema as a whole, spanning its entire history, from its origins in the the "roughies" of the 1960s to "torture porn" of the 2000s and beyond. Essentially, these types of movies embody, embrace and embolden the basest instincts of our sad species, laying bare our deepest, most disgraceful and disgusting desires, vices, and moral hypocrisy in the process. In many cases, particularly in the New French Extreme trend earlier this century, this "genre" has been elevated to Art by force of vision, style, personal statement, and political context.
But in the end, we're really here for the breasts, boobs, and blood. None of these films are recommended for even the slightly squeamish. If you're a politically correct prude, any one of them will make your head explode like that dude in Scanners. Everyone else will find this list to be an enlightening, entertaining, and edifying primer, abetted by a carnal cavalcade of lurid graphics, even if it results in multiple showers and bouts of severe self-loathing...
WILL THE THRILL'S TOP 50 CLASSIC GRINDHOUSE FILMS
BLOOD FEAST (1963)
The first gore film. Herschell Gordon Lewis only did it to make money, not history. He did both. And he kept doing it with Two Thousand Maniacs, Color Me Blood Red, The Wizard of Gore, and The Gore-Gore Girls among many others. The first one remains the most influential, simply because it was first. Oddly, Gordon died the same day as my mother, a former beauty queen and actress turned homeless schizophrenic confined to a state ward (tragic story), on September 26, 2016--also in Florida.
BAD GIRLS GO TO HELL (1965)
Doris Wishman was a pioneer female indie director long before that became fashionable, doing it just as dirty as her male counterparts in the "roughie" sexploitation racket, like Joseph W. Mawra (Olga's House of Shame and sequels) and Joe Sarno (Sin in the Suburbs). All of these movies are perfectly if perversely pristine time capsules of underground, off-the-grid, urban and suburban New York in that era, captured and preserved in all its sleaze-noir glory.
THIS NIGHT I'LL POSSESS YOUR CORPSE (1967)
José Mojica Marins - better known as "Coffin Joe" - stirred immense controversy and enjoyed
international notoriety by breaking every taboo in the book, especially The Good Book, with this psychedelic pulp classic, along with its predecessor, At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul (1964). The lushly lurid color just makes this one so much juicier. He made a lot of movies but it's his signature Coffin Joe persona that will haunt nightmares forever. If we're lucky.
SPIDER BABY (1967)
AKA "The Maddest Story Ever Told," Jack Hill's sexy, gothic-noir fable about a cannibalistic family of urban hillbillies, starring poor, aging drunk Lon Chaney Jr., also introduced Sid Haig to the world of underground, over-the-top cult cinema. He's still going strong today, appearing in Rob Zombie's 3 From Hell. As you 'll see when you watch this movie, he was born to be Sid Haig and nobody else.
NIGHT OF THE BLOODY APES (1969)
Essentially a remake of Rene Cardona's earlier female lucha monster movie Dr. Doom (1962), this much more graphic version in lurid color is also known as Horror Y Sexo, to give you an idea of its subtlety, or lack thereof. A pulp masterpiece.
THE CURIOUS DR. HUMPP (1969)
A classic of Argentinian erotic horror (possibly a one-and done film genre), dripping mad science, female flesh and incidental tropical-noir atmosphere. Pure (or rather quite impure, depending on your personal perspective) pulp pleasure.
MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND (1969)
This Filipino classic is a toss-up with the previous entry in the infamous Blood Island series, Brides of Blood (1968), but this one gets the slight edge because it has the cooler monster (whose head at least returns in the third entry, Beast of Blood). All three are extra pulpy blends of exotica and eroticism.
MARK OF THE DEVIL (1970)
As a paperboy in 1970s South Jersey I remember passing by the Glassboro Theater and seeing this poster and title on the marquee. I was both repelled and fascinated, which is the required reaction if you're even partly sane. I had a rough childhood, so I was already drawn to the dark side, at least in my fantasy life. I finally saw it much later, but by then I was so jaded I didn't need the infamous "barf bag." It was still pretty sick, though.
I DRINK YOUR BLOOD (1970)
Hippies scared me as a kid and sartorially speaking, still do. This movie demonstrates just how dirty and depraved a homicidal hippie cult could be. I kinda love 'em for it now.
VAMPYROS LESBOS (1971)
Hard to pick just one out of literally hundreds of the painfully prolific Jess Franco's moody sexual fever dreams, but this one is the best known, rightly so, with a groovy and still popular jazz-rock soundtrack. While not as stylish, Franco's Female Vampire (1975) starring his wife at the time, Lina Romay, is much more explicitly pornographic if that's what you're looking for, and I know that you are.
THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (1972)
I know most fans prefer the more mall-friendly Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream teen horror franchises, but for me, this absolutely filthy groundbreaker is Wes Craven's best demonstrates truly impactful and influential legacy in the genre.
THRILLER - A CRUEL PICTURE (1973)
Due to the cultural repression of the 1950s and earlier, once the censors cut filmmakers slack on both sides of the Atlantic as well as the Pacific, the dams of repression suddenly broke in a torrid torrent and along with relatively innocuous stuff like gratuitous shower scenes, the "rape and revenge" trend went full throttle, simultaneously sating the mostly male target audience's craving for unabashed sex and violence while at the same time incorporating a female empowerment angle due to the rise of feminism. It's a weird, compelling psychological mix that works best when viewed at a strictly gut level as intended. This is a Swedish film, like Ingmar Berman's The Virgin Spring 1960), the first and most respectable rape and revenge movie (which directly influenced Last House on the Left), though aimed at art houses. This one aimed much lower and hit its target on the bullseye.
TORSO (1973)
Giallo is the Italian film genre inspired by the pulp books of the same designation, which were printed with yellow covers, hence the name. Most featured masked killers (long before Hollywood claimed to invent the cycle), beautiful women wearing flimsy clothing when not totally naked, and highly stylized, color-saturated set pieces. Cinematic fever dreams at their finest. Sergio Martino was one of the masters of the genre, also known for classics like Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key, All the Colors of the Dark, and The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh. Any of those could and should make this list. This one just has the shortest title due to its stateside distribution. Its original native title is The Bodies Bear Traces of Carnal Violence, which is much more apt.
COFFY (1973)
Toss-up between this and Pam Grier's other most iconic role in the equally reputable blaxploitation classic Foxy Brown, but this one just feels a tad nastier, so more suitable for this particular context. Essential viewing.
THE SINFUL DWARF (1973)
This notorious Dutch classic is as shamelessly sick, filthy, and disgusting as it sounds. More so. Which is why I love it so. It's basically software porn for freak fetishists.
ANDY WARHOL'S FRANKENSTEIN (1973)
Both this and Andy's Dracula (1974), both starring genre icon Udo Kier, are required viewing for all fans of psychotronic/exploitation/arthouse cinema, but this one just has more guts, gore and nudity, so I'd start here. Plus it came out first, its success inspiring the inevitable followup, so only fair.
THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (1974)
Tobe Hooper's documentary-style groundbreaker needs no further sales pitch from me. It's formidable reputation and influence are still resonating in our cinematic culture. The lack of actual gore and music remains impressive, relying solely on organic atmosphere to induce dread, nausea, and teeth-clenching tension.
SHIVERS (1975)
Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg scored his first international horror hit with this erotic horror masterpiece, carving his own unique niche in the genre with his trademark blend of austere aesthetics, visceral body horror, and neurotic sexuality. Plus Barbara Steele.
ILSA, SHE WOLF OF THE SS (1975)
Dyanne Thorne made an international name for herself in one of the first and most influential "Nazisploitation" movies, which combined the hidden decadence of Nazi Germany with early torture porn and Women In Prison movie tropes, without ever even hinting at The Final Solution. That's good, because then we can enjoy them as the trashy sexploitation films they were meant to be, guilt-free. Well, if you have any kind of social or moral conscience, that is. The "sequels" are worth watching too, if only for her bountifully busty, gleefully evil presence, though they're not set in a concentration camp, which makes them slightly less cringe-inducing to watch.
STRIP NUDE FOR YOUR KILLER (1975)
One of the sexiest and most stylish giallo films ever made, despite or perhaps due to that titillating if completely wrong title. It certainly lives up to it. In fact, it's probably my favorite giallo film. It just turns me on.
RUSS MEYER'S SUPERVIXENS (1975)
Russ Meyer is one of my favorite filmmakers (along with David Lynch and Jim Jarmusch) because of his singular voice and signature style, not to mention all the gratuitous boobs, and any of his films would qualify for this list, since they played almost primarily in drive-ins and grindhouses. I chose this one because by the 1970s Russ was really allowed to let loose with the sex and violence, and the ladies here, particularly Shari Eubank, are especially luscious.
RUSS MEYER'S UP! (1976)
This is also a quintessential Russ Myer later period movie featuring one of my favorite of. his leading ladies, and my good personal friend, the incredibly sensuous, utterly ravishing Raven de La Croix.
BLOODSUCKING FREAKS (1976)
Another film without any artistic or social redemption whatsoever. Just non-stop cheap thrills, bargain basement gore effects, blood dripping down naked breasts, evil ugly men doing vile things to innocent people...yeah, it's pretty great. Well, not great, just...it is what it is, no apologies. I respect that. Sort of.
ISLAND OF DEATH (1976)
This Greek film is an absolutely amazing sun-splashed wallow in animalistic sex and ritualistic violence. Has to be seen to be believed. Plus it's Greek. Did I mention that already? Just trying to redeem myself by pointing out it's a "foreign art film."
THE HILLS HAVE EYES (1977)
Wes Craven's other early influential horror classic. It's not as good (meaning not as brutally explicit) as the remake, though, but that's partly due to the restrictions imposed by the distribution. Nobody wanted another Last House on the Left. Well, not enough paying patrons outside the grindhouse circuit, anyway. It's still pretty unnerving.
RABID (1977)
David Cronenberg scored another hit with this supernaturally sexy take on modern vampirism that morphs into a raging zombie movie. Porn star Marilyn Chambers proves she is actually a really good actress. Perfect for this role, anyway. A remake is in the works as of this writing. The trailer looks very promising. But it will never replace the original, because nobody does Cronenberg like Cronenberg, also one of my favorite filmmakers due to the very personal originality permeating all of his work.
SUSPIRIA (1977)
Speaking of remakes, the recent one of Dario Argento's signature masterpiece of macabre mood was pretty good in its own right, but again, nobody beats or matches the master at his own game. Nobody.
HITCH-HIKE (1977)
David Hess became the the go-to killer-rapist for exploitation filmmakers after Last House on the Left, and this intense revenge thriller is perhaps the best of that subgenere. I knew David in real life. We were at dinner once with Monica and filmmaker Rob Nilsson and David turned to me and said, "Hey man, I really like your wife!" Creeped me out.
BARE KNUCKLES (1977)
Yeah. That's my Pop. But this isn't just a matter of bias. Even without the personal connection, this flick is quintessential grindhouse. Pop's onscreen action partner, played by John Daniels, is simply called "Black." Gloria Hendry is in it too, too. It has a masked kung-fu serial killer riding a motorcycle, a fistfight in a gay bar, and the wah-wah pedal score was composed by a guy who normally did porn flicks and it sounds like it. In fact the soundtrack has been reissued on LP. Plus the director was Don Edmonds of "Ilsa She Wolf" fame. I rest my case.
EMANUELLE IN AMERICA (1977)
Following the worldwide smash success of the French softcore porn flick Emmanuelle (1974), grindhouse auteur Joe D-Amato dropped one of the "m"'s but added way more nudity, sex and violence in his own unauthorized ripoff/spinoff series starring Laura Gemser. This is perhaps the best of the bunch, meaning it's the worst in terms of completely senseless sex and violence, meaning it's the best.
DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978)
The Greatest Zombie movie ever made from the man who single-handedly invented the genre as we know it today. Also my favorite horror film ever. 'Nuff said.
I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (1979)
The most famous, or infamous, of all rape-and-revenge movies, not just due to that killer title. No other movie of its ill ilk can boast its no-holds-barred approach to the touchy subject matter. It was rather recently remade and rebooted several times, and successfully, too. But there's no way to replicate the organically nasty and dirty ambience of the original, largely due to its grimy, gritty setting and era. Everyone one in it needs a shower and so will you.
BEYOND THE DARKNESS (1979)
Joe D'Amato knew how to mix lowdown sex and lowbrow violence like nobody else and he could both scare you and turn you on at the same time. This notorious nightmare-on-film is perhaps his apex as an exploitation filmmaker. It's just plain insane.
FASCINATION (1979)
Yet another of my favorite filmmakers is Jean Rollin, who made both hardcore porn and sexy horror films simultaneously in the 1970s, often with the same actors, who were all beautiful and talented. Again, any one of his classics--especially earlier masterworks like The Shiver of the Vampires, Grapes of Death, The Living Dead Girl, The Demoniacs, and The Iron Rose--could make this list, since they're all pure erotic cinematic poetry. This one is widely considered one of his most accomplished, featured my favorite of his leading ladies, Brigitte Lahaie, so it's a good place to start.
ZOMBIE (1979)
Marketed internationally as a direct sequel to Dawn of the Dead, Lucio Fulci's masterpiece of undead gore, with a tropical setting much like the Italian cannibal movies of the period, was actually more directly influenced by Val Lewtons' '40s mood piece I Walk with a Zombie. The pulsating electronic score by Fabio Frizzi helps augment the suspense and sense of creeping dread much like Goblin did for Romero, but the makeup effects are way, way more effective. Plus the iconic shark-vs-zombie with sexy topless underwater diver scene. Or the equally iconic wooden hards-in-the-eyeball scene following a gratuitous shower scene. This one just has it all. Sorry, George.
CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD (1980)
Another Fulci zombie classic, set in New England, and it's even more unsettling and disturbing than Zombie, due to the Lovecraftian atmosphere oozing apocalyptic, ghoulish, nightmarish imagery.
BURIAL GROUND (1980)
Italian director Andrea Bianchi didn't earn the respect of his peers like Fulci and Argento, and movies like this are the reason why. It just too obviously aims directly for the raincoat crowd. For example, the main female character's son, with whom there is obvious incestuous tension, is played by an adult midget who eventually turns into a zombie and bites her tit off. That's just one example of many nauseating, totally tasteless scenes. It's a classic. Give the man his due already. He was fearless if not peerless.
ZOMBIE HOLOCAUST (AKA Dr. Butcher) (1981)
This one is both typical and exceptional for an Italian zombie movie of the era. What makes it seem special even if it's not is the pervasive, almost depressive feeling of extreme nastiness, even for its genre, though actually it's a mix of zombies and cannibals, giving it further distinction. It's also just plain sexy, in a very dirty and therefore satisfying way.
THE BEYOND (1981)
Fulci's masterpiece of moody apocalyptic undead voodoo dread is set in New Orleans with another fabulous freaky Frizzi score. It is perhaps his most bleakly yet beautifully poetic cinematic nightmare. It will haunt the hell out of you.
NIGHT OF THE HUNTED (1981)
My gal Brigitte Lahaie is back in another Jean Rollin classic which has the ambient feel of a Cronenberg film while being entirely unique and original. You'll remember it like a weird, surrealistic wet dream gone bad, and yet it made you feel so good.
HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP (1981)
Roger Corman pissed off the female director when he inserted second unit-shot scenes of monsters actually impregnating female victims, but he knew that's what audiences wanted to see. No more gettin' carried off to the Black Lagoon honeymoon suite.
GALAXY OF TERROR (1981)
Roger Corman shamelessly ripped off both Star Wars and Alien and personally I like his low budget versions much better. Cheaper in every sense of the word, meaning way more nudity and monster gore. This one features the infamous giant centipede having his way with a female astronaut. Of course, it all turned out to be an illusion. Maybe.
THE NEW YORK RIPPER (1982)
Fulci shocked even his most ardent fans along with his harshest critics with one of the most brutal films ever made. But it's the stark brutality (along with the gritty Manhattan setting) that makes it so compelling. This is unflinching, uncompromising and undeniably one of Fulci's greatest, if also hardest to stomach.
TENEBRAE (1982)
Argento made several key giallo films but this is my personal favorite. It employs all of his trademark visual tricks and stylistic techniques in the most seamless way. Quintessential Argento and quintessential giallo.
THE INCUBUS (1982)
John Cassavettes actually has one of his most interesting roles (of course he makes every role interesting just by showing up and scowling) in this intriguing tale of conspiratorial witchcraft and forbidden sensuality in a typical small town. The atmosphere is thick with gray Northeastern gloom, which is what really makes it for me. Well, and the excessive female nudity, of course.
BASKET CASE (1982)
Frank Henelotter endeared himself to midnight movie fans and cult movie aficionados everywhere for generations with his audacious debut. It's a classic underground New York fable, sick and sleazy and yet touching in its own demented way. Made especially just for social outcasts and fringe dwellers, and that's me and you if you're reading this. The sequels are good and even more outlandish but not as charming, partly due to the bigger budgets and slicker production values.
DAY OF THE DEAD (1985)
George Romero himself considers this his best work and I must concur. It's both horrifying and thanks to the performance by the late Joe Pilato, freaking hilarious. Sherman Howard will forever be Bub to me, too.
RE-ANIMATOR (1985)
The first time I saw this with a buddy he actually had to get up and leave during the infamous "head" scene." When I showed it to another friend on video he had the same reaction. Me, I was riveted. I actually met Barbara Crampton recently. Nicest lady. Still looks great. Jeffrey Combs is really humble and friendly in person, too. When I saw director Stuart Gordon (also very cool) present this film at the Balboa in San Francisco, he told the audience why she took did the now legendary scene: "No guts, no glory." A Grand Guignol masterpiece. It's among my top 5 films ever.
DEMONS (1985)
Mario's son Lamberto did Daddy proud with this intensely violent, vicious monster movie. It's just non-stop guts and blood, loaded with scary faces and screaming victims. It will make you squirm in your seat. But in a good way. If you like this kind of thing, anyway.
HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER (1986)
It took me a while to actually accept that I like this movie. In fact, I'm not even sure I really do "like" it so much as admire the hell out of it. It has that documentary feel like "Texas Chainsaw," but its raw realism is even more nerve-wracking and gut-churning, thanks largely to the stellar performances, all formally trained Chicago stage actors including star Michael Rooker. He was just too convincing in this part. It had to come from someplace real, and if you know something about his rough childhood, you understand that place.
TOP 25 NEO-GRINDHOUSE FILMS
AUDITION (1999)
Takashi Miike, yet another of my favorite filmmakers, has made dozens and dozens of films spanning genres from noir to horror to samurai to comedy to musicals, but each is loud with his singular voice as a true cinematic visionary. The man does not hold back, and this masterful psychological torture porn flick is a perfect example. It's a slow burn, but when it blows up, it's right in your face, making an indelible impression on your fevered and strangely aroused brain.
BAISE-MOI (2000)
This modern (well, it was at the turn of the century), exceedingly explicit and raw rape-and-revenge thriller packs quite a punch, actually augmented by the rather bland direct-to-video visual style, which ultimately gives it a voyeuristic immediacy it might lack in a slicker framework. The star is actually a porn actress, and the sex scenes were reportedly not simulated...
ICHI THE KILLER (2001)
Probably my favorite Takashi Miike movie, since this unconventional Yakuza horror-noir contains all the elements that make his films so wildly unpredictable, revolutionary, audacious, sensuous, depraved, stylistic, and unique.
IRREVERSIBLE (2002)
Gaspar Noé was obviously out to push polite society's buttons and piss off everyone right, left and center of several moral issues--or at the very least didn't give a shit--when he made this insanely controversial film that is another one I admire more than I enjoy. It's boldly rebellious in every way, from the backwards plot construction which actually works brilliantly to the brutally graphic rape scene to the tearjerking final shot, sending the viewer on a rollercoaster of emotions from anger to fear to lust to joy, without resolution or any redemption. This is neo-noir at its most nihilistic.
HIGH TENSION (2003)
French filmmaker Alexandre Aja was at the forefront of what was to be known as the French New Extremity, when traditional elements of exploitation horror were graphically depicted with an uncensored brutality never seen before while at the same time injecting complex character studies, feminism, and pointed political commentaries into the mix. This is a perfect exponent of this rejuvenating if often reviled trend. It broke all the rules and made new ones, then broke those too.
HOUSE OF A 1,000 CORPSES (2003)
I must admit I've never listened to a single Rob Zombie album because I'm just not into metal. But after seeing this movie I became an instant fan of his films, and in fact he also ranks among my favorite filmmakers. No one else replicates the giddy, gory glory days of classic grindhouse cinema then Rob. He obviously shares my love for many of the beloved genre icons of my childhood, including TV horror hosts and monster movie magazines, along with the natural beauty of the female figure (mostly embodied by his lovely wife), so naturally I'm on his creative wavelength. This is a like the raunchiest, goriest, creepiest, sexiest EC comics story come to life, incorporating elements from several different sources, but in the end, creating a unique blend all his own. I even prefer his two Halloween reboots over the originals (including Carpenter's, though he's also a personal fave), because Rob doesn't pussyfoot around depiction of graphic violence. He doesn't make teeny bopper spook shows. The cinema of Rob Zombie is a unique, hard-hitting, adults-only genre unto itself.
THE DEVIL'S REJECTS (2005)
See above, times a hundred. Masterpiece. Not for kids, even the ones who think
they like horror movies.
See above, times a hundred. Masterpiece. Not for kids, even the ones who think
they like horror movies.
HOSTEL (2005)
Though I'm not a torture porn fan per se, as I much prefer sex over violence in both movies and rea life, Eli Roth won me over with the smooth visual style, witty narrative expertise, and generous does of female nudity interspersed with truly gut-wrenching, savagely sadistic violence. Like it or not, it's a landmark in the history of horror, both borrowing from the genre's past while sharing its future.
THE HILLS HAVE EYES (2006)
Alexandre Aja cemented his already formidable reputation when he not only "reimagined" Wes Craven's original classic (while retaining the spirit and basic plot) but rejuvenated it by expanding the backstory of the mutant cannibals and framing it in as an Atomic Age cautionary tale of manmade horror. The makeup and gore effects are naturally superior, but the underlying "message" not to mention the carnal carnage are vastly more visceral. This is definitely a remake that is better on every level than its source material. Sorry, Wes (though he was an executive producer).
FRONTIER(S) (2007)
Another masterpiece of New French Extremity. It is very hard to watch, and so I've only seen it a couple of times. But its impact only increases with viewings. I thought I'd seen everything. Then I saw this. Trust me. It will crawl under your skin and then tear is way out.
INSIDE (2007)
This New French Extremity classic is made somewhat palatable by its insanely over-the-top characters and storyline, giving the outlandish action an almost cartoony sensation, but the buckets of blood and vicious violence will still make your stomach churn. It's like a fairy tale turned nightmare for breeders. I'm not sure it has a message about maternity, but it sure makes me glad my wife never even tried to have kids. Mine, I mean.
MARTYRS (2008)
Again, this masterpiece of New French Extremity is extremely tough to sit through even once, but I actually did it again, because it is so compelling. It's emotionally, psychologically and physically brutal, an all-out assault on the viewer's senses, but the fact it works so beautifully is what gives it such hypnotic power, despite the horrific overkill, as it were.
EMBODIMENT OF EVIL (2008)
Coffin Joe returns decades after his heyday in what I think is his best, or rather most effective film, since by now he was artistically free to let his ingeniously deranged imagination run completely wild, unfettered by censors or even timid audiences, who demanded he show the world where true cinematic dementia orginated. He does not let us down.
THE LOVED ONES (2009)
This Ozploitation classic is one of those movies that will make you laugh, gag and possibly vomit at the same time. It's a deliriously disturbed and disturbing satire of romantic obsession, its terrifying tale of torment gradually then suddenly unraveling, so you never know what to expect and even if you think you do, you're still shocked by its audacity.
A SERBIAN FILM (2010)
Whatever you've heard about this film, it's worse. Much worse. Which could mean better, depending on what you're expecting. It's definitely different, and perversely interesting, but not "entertaining" to anyone remotely well adjusted. It is so artfully sick and twisted on so many levels that I'm ashamed of myself for watching it more than once. I don't know what's wrong with me. It makes me wonder, though. It makes me wonder what's wrong with our entire species, and maybe that was the point, if there is one.
THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2 - FULL SEQUENCE (2011)
See above, times a hundred. It makes Parts 1 and 3 look like Disney movies by comparison. I've never seen anything quite so repulsive yet mesmerizing. I swore I'd never watch it again after I forced myself through the first time. But I did, because I just can't believe I exists.
HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN (2011)
This originated as a faux trailer, Grindhouse-style, that won a contest, which meant it got bankrolled into a feature film. People like me who love truly original, fearless, reckless, hilarious, colorful, fuck-you-in-the-face cinematic pulp are eternally grateful.
MANIAC (2012)
Another remake that to me is vastly superior to the original on both a technical and a narrative level. Its beautiful visual style does nothing to diminish the deeds of its psychological its psychotic serial killer protagonist, played with troubling conviction by Elijah Wood. I also love its dreamy retro-synth score.
THE STRANGE COLOR OF YOUR BODY'S TEARS (2013)
The French filmmaking duo of Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani create what I often and lovingly refer to as "cinematic fever dreams" with a style that is both retro and timeless, unique in this day and age of pastiches and reboots. They capture the spirit of classic giallo without trying to replicate it, giving us a beautiful visual poem to experience as much as witness.
THE CURSE OF DR. WOLFFENSTEIN (2015)
This movie is so blatantly crude I almost didn't include it, but the fact is, it contains more blood, gore, nudity, depravity, poor dubbing and bad acting to fill fifty other exploitation films of greater artistic merit, so for succeeding with that ambition alone, it makes the cut. One of many.
BASKIN (2015)
Turkish surrealistic horror. I had no idea such a thing existed, I mean outside the real world. But here it is. A masterpiece of this very specific and for now limited subgenre. Pulp oozes out of every pore, and the horror is both elemental and abstract. It is literally a nightmare on film. Sorry, Freddy. You can't compete.
WE ARE THE FLESH (2016)
I've long been a fan of Mexican horror, but it's come a long way since the days of El Santo and Blue Demon fighting vampire women and zombies. Though I will always love the campy fun of the old wrestlers-vs-monsters classics, this new breed of sexually graphic, politically charged pulp cinema is like a shot of tequila after a drive through the desert of mainstream culture, from any country. This seemingly post apocalyptic tale of survival in an underground hellhole is deceptively simple at first, until layers of deception are peeled away like the clothes of the young protagonists. Cinematic fever dream, Mexico style.
MANDY (2018)
Speaking of cinematic fever dreams as I obviously often do, Greek-Canadian by way of Italy filmmaker Panos Cosmatos has only made two films I know of so far, but both are among the most riveting if deliberately paced I've ever seen, due entirely to the absorbing atmosphere he creates in both Beyond the Black Rainbow and this, which also features Nicolas Cage at his most delightfully unhinged. It's about cults and revenge on the surface, but mostly, it's about swimming through someone else's nightmare, and loving every dark, delirious minute of it.
LET THE CORPSES TAN (2019)
Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani's best film to date, which makes it one of my favorite films of this century. It is a gorgeous, dreamy mood piece smoothly combining elements of 1970s Italian cop flicks, spaghetti Westerns, and highly stylized horror, with a seductive soundtrack and eye-popping set pieces. I just fucking love the shit out of this thing.
3 FROM HELL (2019)
Haven't even seen it as of this writing. But some things you just know.
I'll revise this if Rob Zombie lets me down.
Never bet get against the grindhouse...
I'll revise this if Rob Zombie lets me down.
Never bet get against the grindhouse...
CHEERS!
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| BACHELOR PAD MAGAZINE #48 featuring my 48th movie column, this one spotlighting Jayne Mansfield! |
Bachelor Pad Magazine #50 featuring my 50th movie column, now on sale!
Reading from Vic Valentine, Private Eye backed by Dmitri Matheny and his band,
Tula's Jazz Club, Seattle, 8/7/19
"Thrillville," my official theme song by The Moon-Rays |
Interview conducted by Drive-In Radio host Alec Cizak, October 24, 2017,
broadcast from Missoula, Montana.
Podcast interview by Steven Gomez for The Noir Factory, August 2017
Promoting the first edition of A Mermaid Drowns in the Midnight Lounge on San Francisco's Creepy KOFY Movietime, 2010
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ONLINE SHORT FICTION
PEOPLE BUG ME (2013)
ESCAPE FROM THRILLVILLE (2014)
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LOVE STORIES ARE TOO VIOLENT FOR ME from Gutter Books!
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THE "MENTAL CASE FILES":
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