Here’s the latest edition of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation Trailers. (I know, I know — worst intro paragraph evuh! Following the tradition of the Pieces trailer, which can be found below, I’m keeping things simple. I’ll be back to my usual complicated self next week.)
1) Fear City
Believe it or not, this was directed by Abel Ferrara, the same man who directed Ms. 45. Fear City is one of the few Ferrara films that I haven’t seen but the trailer just oozes sleaze doesn’t it? And speaking of sleaze, maybe that’s what all the men in this film were putting in their hair. Seriously, why not call it Gel City? And how about Billy Dee Williams there, sounding like the angel of the final judgment? Shut up, Billy Dee Williams!
This is one of Lucio Fulci’s final films and you’re either going to love it or you’re going to hate it. The film is surprisingly meta for an Italian horror film not directed by Michele Soavi. This is the one where Fulci plays himself and attempts to personally answer his critics. Anyway, the reason I love this trailer is because of the cat puppet that appears at the end. It’s so cute! (Ignore the quote from Clive Barker — he’s almost as much of a whore as Stephen King.)
3) Pieces
“It’s exactly what you think it is!” Anyone who wants to go into advertising should watch this and learn.
4) The Stud
I imagine this is another film that’s “exactly what you think it is.” I love trailers that show off what was considered to be chic and decadent in the past. This is one is from the 70s. (Surprised?)
While the rich people were partying in London, cannibals were apparently ruling the streets of Atlanta. According to actor John Saxon, starring in Cannibal Apocalypse made him suicidal. Cannibal Apocalypse is actually a pretty good film with an anti-war subtext and it features a great supporting performance from Giovanni Lombardo Radice so seriously — shut up, John Saxon! (Actually, Saxon gives a really great performance here — of course, his character is meant to be suicidal — and he’s the main reason that Cannibal Apocalypse works.)
6) Cannibal Man
Much like Cannibal Apocalypse, Cannibal Man is actually an allegory of alienation that’s disguised as a horror movie. Cannibal Man is a seriously strange movie and highly recommended.
Through the Shattered Lens 
Interesting cast in “Fear City”. Once again, despite all of those familiar actors, I have never heard of this film. But that’s why you’re here.
When I saw that someone had made a film called “The Stud”, I thought I was going to have to sue them for making an unauthorized biography of me. But I never hooked up with Joan Collins, so it must be about someone else. She wouldn’t have been able to afford me.
“Cannibal Apocalypse”? Real original title. Are these the same folks who produced “Evening Of The Living Dead” and “An American Wolfman In London”?
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Well, you have to understand that a lot of these knock off Italian cannibal/zombie grindhouse flicks of the 70’s and 80’s pretty much recycled their titles. The producers pretty much thought that since they’re already recycling several successful films in the genre why not mash-up the titles. That’s why you had lots of European zombie flicks with “Living Dead” in it and cannibal ones with the word “cannibal” in it then just find the follow-up word to make it stand out.
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Plus, Apocalypse Now was a huge hit in Italy in 1979 and, as a result, there were hundreds of Italian exploitation films released over the next couple of years that had the word “Apocalypse” in the title as well as flashback scenes that dealt with helicopters flying over Viet Nam.
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I’m actually surprised there was never a film titled “The Cannibal Zombie Apocalypse”
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