Grindhouse Trailer Classics 2 (1965 - 1980)


An incredibly ecclectic collection of trailers from the Grindhouse era. Nucleus UK R2 DVD release.

The Collection

The Grindhouse film has attained an almost legendary status in recent years and was homaged in a multi-million pound tribute film in 2007. However there is really no such thing as a Grindhouse genre, the exploitation cinemas which became known as the Grindhouses (in reference to their predecessors, the burlesque houses with their "bump & grind" dancing) would show anything that would attract the young male audience - so usually breasts, blood and explosions. At least as interesting as the films themselves were the trailers used to promote them - usually trying to cram all of the sex or blood in the whole film (and occasionally adding some more from other films) into a three minute runtime. The producers would desperately try and outdo each other with trailer voice-overs and catchy titles to make sure that they stuck in the minds of the impatient cinema patrons and they became an icon of the Grindhouse era in themselves.

This DVD presents 55 trailers from the early days of the era in the late 1960s to its last hurrah in the 1980s when horror films started to target an even younger demographic and cities began to clean-up their act, relegating the Grindhouse cinemas to the wrecker's ball. The films chosen represent most of the favourite genres that made up most Grindhouse playbills. Although not the all out porn that became popular in the later days of the era, the disc includes both the light hearted sex comedies and the darker sexploitation films, including the notorious Women-in-Prison films such as Women in Cages and Wanda the Wicked Warden. Horror is represented in all of its forms from the low budget slashers like Don't look in the Basement to the more cerebral Vampyres. Imported films were always popular, when dubbed of course - Sonny Chiba turns up in a couple of the ever popular Kung-fu films while European cinema is represented with Giallo, Euro-crime and Euro-horror, including Paul Naschy, Franco Nero and Dario Argento productions. Home grown exploitation comes in the form of the Blaxploitation films, mostly starring Pam Grier, including Foxy Brown. The producers of the DVD have also managed to dig up a couple of really obscure titles, in the form of the improbably low budget looking Criminally Insane and the indescribable Worm Eaters (yes the title explains the film's "plot" very well).

The trailers show some wonderful attempts to outdo each other - many of them warning the audience at the opening that they are about to witness the most shocking film they have ever seen, although only Cuthroats Nine goes as far as to offer the audience a 'horror mask' to hide behind - a throwback to the classic William Castle promotions of the 1950s and 60s, many of them do however boast that they cannot show all the scenes they want to in the trailer, while the Undertaker and his Pals trailer actually cuts off half way through so the 'producer' can warn the audience about what they are about to see. The titles are equally memorable and instantly make it clear what sort of film they are - it would be impossible to mistake Jailbait Babysitter or Blood Orgy of the She Devils for much else than they are.

The trailers are each seperated by a brief pause that help to make it clear when they start and end. They are well arranged on the disc to help avoid too much repetition being obvious and although not many will make it through the complete two hour runtime in a single sitting, each trailer has its own chapter stop and is named on the chapter menus so it is easy to jump to where you want to start. This is a very well put together DVD and a wonderfully ecclectic mix of trailers from all of the different genres that made up the era. For any fans of the Grindhouse era then this collection is a must-have, making a wonderful wishlist for films to track down. It will certainly be worth picking up for any fans of cult cinema in general and would make a great conversation piece and background noise for the right sort of party. Recommended.

Films Included
Film Title (original title) Year IMDB Link Genre
Night Call Nurses 1972 IMDB Sex Comedy
The Tigress
(Ilsa, the Tigress of Siberia)
1977 IMDB Sexploitation
Sister Street Fighter
(Onna hissatsu ken)
1974 IMDB Kung Fu
Chain Gang Women 1971 IMDB Sexploitation
Black Shampoo 1976 IMDB Blaxploitation
The Undertaker and his Pals 1966 IMDB Horror
Jailbait Babysitter 1977 IMDB Sex Drama
Violent Professionals
(Milano trema - la polizia vuole giustizia)
1973 IMDB Euro-crime
The Cheerleaders 1973 IMDB Sex Comedy
Cuthroats Nine
(Condenados a vivir)
1972 IMDB Spaghetti Western
The Black Gestapo 1975 IMDB Blaxploitation
Sacrifice (Deep River Savages,
Paese del sesso selvaggio
)
1972 IMDB Cannibal Adventure
Dolemite 1975 IMDB Blaxploitation
The House that Screamed
(La Residencia)
1969 IMDB Euro-horror
Dr Minx 1975 IMDB Sexy Comedy
Don't Go in the House 1980 IMDB American Horror
Cinederella 2000 1977 IMDB Sexy Comedy
The Hunchback of the Morgue
(Jorobado de la Morgue)
1973 IMDB Euro Horror
Criminally Insane 1975 IMDB Low budget horror
Foxy Brown 1974 IMDB Blaxploitation
Bloody Pit of Horror (Boia scarlatto) 1965 IMDB Euro-horror
The Pink Angels 1971 IMDB Comedy
Nightmare 1981 IMDB Horror
The Depraved (Exponerad) 1971 IMDB Sexploitation
Don't Look in the Basement
(The Forgotten)
1973 IMDB Low budget horror
The Arena 1974 IMDB Sex adventure
Naughty Stewardesses 1975 IMDB Sexy Comedy
Snuff 1976 IMDB Horror
The Twilight People 1973 IMDB Horror
The Worm Eaters 1977 IMDB Low budget "comedy"
The Virgin Slaughter (Lisa, Lisa) 1977 IMDB Horror
Mean Mother 1974 IMDB Blaxploitation
Tender Flesh
(Welcome to Arrow Beach)
1974 IMDB Horror
Ilsa, the Wicked Warden 1977 IMDB Sexploitation
Death Dealer (Spasma) 1974 IMDB Euro-crime
Invasion of the Blood Farmers 1972 IMDB Low budget horror
Deep Red
(Profondo rosso)
1974 IMDB Giallo
Mighty Peking Man
(Xing xing wang)
1977 IMDB Asian Monster
Blood Orgy of the She Devils 1972 IMDB Horror
The Bodyguard (Karate Kiba)) 1976 IMDB Kung-fu
Virgin Witch 1972 IMDB Brit-Horror
Women in Cages 1971 IMDB Sexploitation
The Exterminator 1980 IMDB Action
Don't Answer the Phone! 1980 IMDB Slasher
Raw Meat (Death Line) 1972 IMDB Brit-Horror
Street Law
(Il Cittadino si Ribella)
1974 IMDB Euro-crime
Flesh Gordon 1974 IMDB Sexy Comedy
Vampyres 1974 IMDB Horror
Rabid 1977 IMDB Horror
House of Psychotic Women
(Ojos azules de la muņeca rota)
1973 IMDB Horror
The Girls Who Do
(Liebesjagd durch 7 Betten)
1973 IMDB Sexy Comedy
The Driller Killer 1979 IMDB Slasher
Nurse Sherri 1978 IMDB Horror
Chinese Hercules
(Ma tou da jue dou)
1973 IMDB Kung-Fu
Invasion of the Bee Girls 1973 IMDB Horror


In Brief
Any gore or violence ? Some strong, gory sequences.
Any sex? Numerous female nude and sex scenes - some including strong violence.
Who is it for? Fans of the Grindhouse and Euro-cult eras should really enjoy this.
The DVD
Visuals Aspect ratios vary - anamorphic widescreen. Colour.
The picture quality varies very heavily from some 'as new' looking prints, to some much more low quality (although these are quite infrequent). Always watchable.
Audio Original English mono - as with the print, the quality varies heavily but is generally good and the audio always comes through well.
Subtitles English HOH
Extras The disc includes:
  • Into the Grindhouse - a short interview with Stephen Thrower (author of Nightmare USA and Beyond Terror: The Films of Lucio Fulci) discussing the Grindhouse era and its highlights. Interesting although the topic really needs full documentary to cover. (10 minutes)
  • Poster Gallery, covers the films whose trailers are on this disc. Presented as a video file with background music.
  • Bonus trailers for Gwendoline, Fausto 5.0, Death Ship, London Voodoo and Bloodbath and the House of Death
Region Region 2 (UK, Europe) - PAL
Cuts? The trailers are uncut as they were originally shown. All of the trailers carry English langauge titles.

Summary

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All text in this review written by Timothy Young - 3rd September 2008.
Text from this review not to be used without authorization.

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