Lisa Marie’s Grindhouse Trailers: The First Sunday In October Edition

Posted on October 3, 2021 by Lisa Marie Bowman

It’s the holiday season and you know what that means!

Or maybe you don’t. Sometimes, I forget that not everyone can read my mind. Anyway, I used to do a weekly post of my favorite grindhouse trailers. Eventually, it went from being a weekly thing to being an occasional thing, largely due to the fact that there’s only so many trailers available on YouTube. Now, Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation Film Trailers is something that I usually only bring out on a holiday.

Like Halloween!

So, with that in mind, here are 6 trailers for the first Sunday of October! By the way, these trailers might contain some material that some viewers might find objectionable. To be honest, if you’re reading this site in October, you’re probably used to horrific imagery and there’s nothing here that will really upset you. But, y’know …. better to pretend to care than to not care at all!

I Dismember Mama (1972)

This is probably one of the best known of the classic grindhouse trailers. It features very little footage from the film (which, despite the title, is apparently fairly tame) but it does feature interviews with actors playing the people who supposedly watched it. Interestingly enough, the recent film version of Dear Evan Hansen did the same thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-snCZiiyUg

2. A Night to Dismember (1984)

Oh, Doris! This trailer for Doris Wishman’s A Night To Dismember goes on for a bit but that’s kind of the key to it’s charm.

3. Blood Cult (1985)

Blood Cult is often cited as being the first direct-to-video film. And the film definitely has a home movie feel to it …. as does the trailer!

4. Blood Beach (1981)

If Blood Cult is not your thing, how about Blood Beach? This film has the grainy aesthetic of the best low-budget grindhouse trailers.

5. Blood Feast (1963)

Since we’ve already got a blood theme going here, this seems like an appropriate place for the trailer for the first gore film, Herschell Gordon Lewis’s Blood Feast! Have you ever had an Egyptian feast?

6. 2,000 Maniacs (1964)

And finally, let’s wrap up today’s edition with another blood-soaked trailer from Herschell Gordon Lewis. 2,000 Maniacs is Lewis’s take on Brigadoon. Not surprisingly, this trailer features almost as much music as the trailer for Dear Evan Hansen.

Lisa Marie’s Grindhouse Trailers will return next week, with more trailer that may or may not be connected to Dear Evan Hansen!

4 Shots From 4 Beach Horror Films: The Horror of Party Beach, The Beach Girls and the Monster, Blood Beach, Sand Sharks

Posted on October 20, 2018 by Lisa Marie Bowman

4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking.

Today, we celebrate horror on the beach with….

4 Shots From 4 Beach Horror Films

The Horror of Party Beach (1964, dir by Del Tenney)

The Beach Girls and the Monster (1966, dir by Jon Hall)

Blood Beach (1981, dir by Jeffrey Bloom)

Sand Sharks (2011, dir by Mark Atkins)

Horror Film Review: Blood Beach (dir by Jeffrey Bloom)

Posted on October 20, 2018 by Lisa Marie Bowman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFSIK4lEYGk

“Nom nom nom nom,” says that monster under the sand.

“Agck! Agck! Agck! Agck!” says the people above the sand.

And that’s all you really need to know about the 1981 film, Blood Beach.

Blood Beach takes place on a beach that also happens to be a hunting ground for this mutated worm thing that lives underground. Basically, whenever anyone takes a stroll on the beach, they get sucked down into the sand and, for the most part, they’re never seen again. Sometimes that’s not a bad thing, as in the case of a wannabe rapist who ends up getting castrated while being pulled down into the sand. But, far too often, the victims are innocent people who were just walking their dog, chasing after their hat, or searching for buried treasure.

The beach becomes so well-known for being a death trap that the locals start to call it Blood Beach but, for some reason, that doesn’t seem to stop people from wandering out on the sand at inopportune times. I mean, it would just seem logical to me that if there’s a monster killing people on the beach then maybe it would be a good idea to avoid the beach for a while. I mean, you could go see a movie or you could lay out and work on your tan in your back yard. Believe it or not, you do have the option of not going to a monster-infested location.

Strangely, there’s one person who is always on the beach but never gets killed. That’s Mrs. Selden (Eleanor Zee), a somewhat odd woman who always seems to be nearby whenever someone is getting dragged into the sand but who never gets attacked herself. Interestingly, Mrs. Selden never seems to be particularly concerned by all the carnage around her. (One victim is even killed while specifically checking to make sure Mrs. Selden is okay.) I kept expecting some sort of major twist where it was revealed that Mrs. Selden was a witch or something but it never happened.

Now, you would think that the presence of an underground monster would be the perfect excuse to call in the national guard but instead, the local police (led by John Saxon’s Captain Pearson) handle it. Sgt. Royko (Burt Young) heads up the monster investigation, which in this film means that he kinda of stumbles from scene-to-scene, never looking particularly impressed by or interesting in anything that’s happening around him. If anything, Royko seems to be annoyed that he’s having to give up time that he could be using to drink beer and watch TV and that attitude makes Royke the hero of this film. Forget the scientist who wants to understand where the monster came from. Forget the habor cop who wants to rekindle things with an old flame. Royko doesn’t care about science or love. He just wants to blow stuff up, which makes him the perfect audience surrogate

Anyway, Blood Beach sounds like it should be a fun movie but it’s not. The movie delivers a lot of beach but very little blood. There’s a lot of “nom nom” but very little “agck!” Blood Beach is almost as much of a misfire as spending spring break in West Texas.

6 Trailers For America

Posted on July 2, 2011 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Flag (Erin Nicole Bowman, 2010)

Seeing as how its the July 4th weekend, this latest edition of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation Trailers is dedicated to America.

1) American Ninja (1985)

Let’s start out with this celebration of the fact that Americans always do it better. Yes, the film was originally titled American Warrior. Apparently, ninjas are more appealing than just plain old warriors.

2) The Last Hunter (1984)

From director Antonio Margheriti comes one of the best Namsploitation films ever. How can you go wrong with David Warbeck?

3) Fighting Mad (1976)

What could possibly be more American than Peter Fonda getting mad and killing people? This was an early film from future “mainstream” director Jonathan Demme.

4) Thunder Alley (1967)

Well, there might be one thing more American than Peter Fonda killing people and that would have to be Nascar. I’m not sure if they called Nascar Nascar back in 1967 but the idea appears to be the same.