So, I’m currently still working on my review of Black Swan, which I saw this weekend and loved so much that I ended up having an asthma attack at the end of it. But anyway, as we wait for me to discover articulation, why not check out 6 more of my favorite grindhouse and exploitation film trailers?
1) Deathdream (a.k.a. Dead of Night)
Now, this is an interesting debut film from the prolific Canadian director Bob Clark (the man who later gave the world both Black Christmas and A Christmas Story). A young soldier is killed in Viet Nam and shows up back in his hometown one night later without a soul. The allegory is pretty obvious but it’s still effectively done and crawls under your skin. This film was also one of Tom Savini’s early films. The soldier’s father is played by John Marley who later appeared in The Godfather with a horse’s head in his bed.
2) Delinquent Girl Boss: Worthless To Confess
I’ve never seen this movie. I just like the title.
Director Lucio Fulci made this film around the same time he was making his more famous zombie films but it never got the same attention, despite starring David Warbeck. I love the cat — he’s so cute and he reminds me of my own cat. Plus, he’s quite effective at killing people.
Apparently, this is a nunsploitation film from Japan! That nunsploitation was a very popular genre in Italy, Spain, and Ireland makes sense when you consider that those are three of the most Catholic countries on the planet. But Japan?
The trailer for the 1971 Italian lesbian vampire film goes on for a bit too long but I think it has nice atmospheric feel to it (the same can be said of the film itself).
6) The Dead Pit
Since we started with a zombie film, let’s end with one as well. The Dead Pit is pretty silly but I enjoyed it and would happily star in a remake. Plus, the trailer’s line about “the thickness of the door” just amuses me on so many levels.
Through the Shattered Lens 
I’ve seen two of these films, albeit, “Deathdream” was a result of your reference to it during one of the site’s zombie sub-genre discussions months ago.
“Deathdream” was pretty good. Not terrifying, but appropriately odd, cold, and disturbing.
Assuming that “Delinquent Girl”‘s title is the result of an awkward translation, I wonder if the actual translation is as funny.
Man, that cat really f’s those people up. (That’s my learned assessment of the trailer.)
The “School Of The Holy Beast” trailer is probably more fun because of not knowing the dialogue. The girl is very pretty.
“The Blood Splattered Bride” – All I can say is, that Judith must have been one REALLT complex chick. Yikes.
I had read about “The Dead Pit”, and debated whether or not to watch it – the reviews were mixed, but those who liked it cited reasons that appealed to me. It was dumber than I had hoped, yet had an interesting premise. I was entertained. Despite how hokey it sounds, the “thickness of the door” line is actually a good depiction of the plot.
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The Dead Pit is fairly entertaining when taken on its own terms. It had some nicely atmospheric scenes and the film was so shameless in its approach (and the lead actress — can’t remember her name — was so likable) that things that might otherwise be borderline stupid — like her continually shrinking costume — instead became oddly charming. It was like watching a video of a really fun Halloween party.
I need to rewatch Blood-Splattered Bride as I was multi-tasking when I first saw it. I appreciated the fact that the film had a feminist subtext to it (rare for an Italian horror film, to be honest) but the film itself was a bit draggy.
Deathdream, of course, is all subtext. I wonder if it would have been scarier if we had been around to see it when it first came out.
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Surprisingly (to me), I had forgotten about “The Dead Pit” girl’s awkwardly scanty attire, although the trailer does show a few seconds of that shower hose-down. But you are correct; her clothes did seem to inexplicably diminish as the movie goes on. And, yes, there was an effectively dark atmosphere at times, which is what some of the reviews I had read had mentioned,
I think your suggestion about the place in time of exposure is probably true of most horror films. Plus, with “Deathdream, the subtext you mentioned would likely have cut even deeper in 1974, or whenever the film was made.
I’m really enjoying these trailers. It is interesting to see how many different types and intensities of exploitation there were. Some satire, some serious social commentary, some schlock, some just plain silliness, and some hard to categorize. I just find it interesting to think about the motivation of the filmmakers, and the appeal to the audiences (in the instance where was much). It’s kind of fascinating phase in cinematic history. And some of these trailers are just a ton of fun.
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Code Red released The Dead Pit on DVD last year and it’s one of my favorite DVDs because the thing is just full of interviews with both the filmmakers and the cast and, for the most part, they all had really good memories of making the film. Obviously, they enjoyed the experience and you can tell when you watch the movie that everyone was really into it and they really were attempting to make a good movie.
The lead actress explains, in her interview, that she was the one who suggested that she should spend most of the movie running around in her underwear because that’s what she would normally sleep in. However, since the movie was shot over several weeks and her clothes would be sent to the laundry at the end of every shooting day, her outfit got progressively smaller and tighter as the shoot went on. So, I guess it was a fortunate accident for the movie since that seems to be what most people seem to remember about this film. lol. 🙂
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Interesting trivia. I think if the cast and crew were actually committed to the project, it’s more enjoyable, even if the film isn’t so good, or is really bad. That effort is somehow perceptible to the audience, and if the film is bad, it’s more fun to watch it. Because they tried, you have some appreciation and affection for them. After all, they did entertain you, even if it was in different ways they had intended. Some films try, but don’t quite succeed. But you still recognize the effort, and have a sort of respect or affection for the film itself.
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