Hi!
I guess the first question I should ask is “Did anyone miss me?”
It’s been a week since I last posted anything and when’s the last time that happened? Seriously, even when I went up to Baltimore last year, I still managed to put up three posts a day. The only excuse I can give is that it’s just been a very busy week and I hope that y’all can forgive me and give me a second chance. And hey — what about the great job that all of our contributors did keeping the site updated while I was on my unscheduled vacation for blogging last week? That’s why I love this site. Other sites gives you only one voice and only one view. Through the Shattered Lens, however, celebrates the fact that everyone views things through his or her own individual lens.
Anyway, now that I’m back and running totally behind, I probably better get started on making up for missing last week. So, let’s start with the latest edition of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation Film Trailers?
1) Dark Universe (1993)
From director Fred Olen Ray comes this film that was apparently the inspiration for Prometheus. I love how low-budget movies about spaceships and airplanes always feature some heavy-set guy going, “You are coming in too fast!”
2) House of the Devil (2009)
I’m cheating a little because this film was released just a few years ago and therefore, it’s not technically a grindhouse film. However, it’s a film that was definitely inspired by the great low-budget horror films of the past. And, yes, that is Greta Gerwig, who is like in every other worthwhile film scheduled to be released this year and who will win an Oscar in the next five years.
3) House of Wax (1953)
My sister included this film’s poster in her last artist’s profile so it seems only appropriate that I include its trailer her. I love how bombastic these old horror trailers used to get. “YOU’VE HEARD ABOUT IT!”
4) A Fistful of Dynamite (1971)
This film is better known by the title Duck, You Sucker. Though he’s not seen in the trailer, this film also features future Fulci leading man David Warbeck.
5) Twice Dead (1988)
“It’s a dream house … for nightmares!”
6) Amityville 2: The Possession (1982)
This film is part of a grand tradition of cheap Italian sequels to hit American films. I actually own this one on DVD and I had to stop watching after about an 1 hour because it was just too disturbing. Considering some of the films that I’ve sat all the way through (and if you think that I’m referring to Cannibal Ferox and Cannibal Holocaust, you might be right), that’s saying something.
House of the Devil was one of my favorite films of 2009 and I will say it’s one of the best new horror of the recent past.
I recently reviewed it for HorrorCritic.Com. I agree with you completely, one of the best recent horror films that I’ve been lucky enough to see. In many ways, it was a bit of a precursor to The Cabin In The Woods.
“A Fistful of Dynamite” (a.k.a. “Duck, You Sucker”) is one of those films that you simply must catch on the big screen if it ever plays in your city or town. I find it a tad underrated and more entertaining than “Once Upon a Time in the West”. The explosions in “A Fistful of Dynamite” put to shame the CGI pyrotechnics found in contemporary action films. Also, Rod Steiger is great fun in this one, and I love his line about “the people with the books” and “the people without the books”–and that score from Ennio Morricone! Sergio Leone was indeed a master filmmaker.