Well, it took a nice, long weekend up at Lake Texoma (I actually got in the water and practiced swimming which is a big deal for a drowningphobe like me but then I ended up cutting my foot on a rock on the lakefloor — agck!) and another few nights of a little bit more sleep than usual but I am happy to say that I am back and I’ve brought the latest edition of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation Trailers with me! So, without further ado, let’s get started…
1) Killer Fish (1979)
In honor of my weekend at the lake, let’s start out with this trailer for a little film called Killer Fish…
2) Dogs (1976)
Now, I may have conquered my fear of swimming for like 10 minutes at the lake but I have yet to conquer my fear of dogs and this trailer shows why. Seriously, dogs are freaking scary!
3) The Doberman Gang (1972)
Dogs don’t just kill people. They rob banks too.
4) King Frat (1980)
Wow! Those dogs are scary, aren’t they? Let’s take a break from scary dogs with another breed of dog — the American frat boy.
5) Chain Gang Women (1971)
I love trailers that brag about how the characters in the movie live by only “one rule.” (Speaking of chain gangs, I recently saw an excellent film from 1932 that was called I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang. But that’s something I’ll save for a future post…)
6) The Stranger and the Gunfighter (1974)
Yes, between the chain gangs, the killer fish, the dogs, and the frat boys, it’s a scary world out there. Luckily, protection is right around the corner because here comes “(a) savage…a saint…a stranger…”
This weekend, because of both the Oscars and some personal matters I have to take care of, I will not be posting my usual Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation Trailers post. I sincerely apologize but I promise that the feature will return in two weeks time, on March 10th.
Let me take this time to ask a question of my fellow grindhouse and exploitation film enthusiasts. Are there any trailers that I have yet to feature that you personally think I should? In other words, what are your favorite trailers? If you’re feeling too shy (or not shy enough) to use the comments box below, feel free to e-mail me at LisaMarieBowman@live.com.
Again, the feature will be back in two weeks. Until then, here’s a picture of a racoon holding a kitty.
Hi and welcome to the latest edition of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation trailers! To be honest, I’m usually way too ADD to come up with (let alone maintain) any sort of theme with my trailer posts but this weekend — almost by pure chance — a theme has emerged! So, without further hold up, let us consider 6 Trailers of the Dead!
1) Night of the Living Dead (1968)
How have I done nearly a 100 of these posts without featuring the trailer for George Romero’s landmark Night of the Living Dead?
2) The Astro-Zombies (1968)
Apparently, 1968 was a big year for the dead returning to life.
3) The Majorettes (1986)
The Majorettes was directed by the late Bill Hinzman, the guy who played the Cemetary Zombie in Night of the Living Dead.
4) Dawn of the Dead (1978)
To be honest, I think I’ve already featured this trailer in an earlier post. However, there’s no way that you can start a post with Night of the Living Dead and then end it with Day of the Dead without finding some room for Dawn of the Dead in the middle.
5) Dead Heat (1988)
Wow, this looks really, really, really … not good. However, according to Wikipedia, it’s about zombies and it’s got the word “dead” in the title so it works theme-wise.
6) Day of the Dead (1985)
I’ve watched this trailer several times and those arms still make me jump every time!
I’m running a little bit late on getting this Valentine’s weekend edition of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation Trailers up and running and for that, I apologize. Last night, around midnight, I found myself at Target waiting for them to start selling the latest Twilight movie…well, let’s just not go into it, okay? Instead, here’s 6 trailers for your Valentine’s weekend.
1) Valentine (2001)
Oh. My. God. This is such a bad movie! Seriously terrible. However, it is Valentine’s Day weekend…
2) My Bloody Valentine (1981)
The original.
3) My Bloody Valentine 3D (2009)
The remake, which is a lot better than Avatar.
4) Emmanuelle (1974)
Valentine’s weekend is all about either celebrating romance or being alone and bitter. I’ve been told that Emmanuelle can be used for both of those purposes. “This movie will be shown only in special theaters.”
5) Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals (1977)
Not surprisingly, Italian director Joe D’Amato put his own individual spin on Emmanuelle (or Emanuelle as he spelled it, in order to get around copyright laws). This is probably one of the more explicit trailers I’ve ever posted so keep that in mind before you watch it.
6) Superfly (1972)
This trailer isn’t connected to Valentine’s Day at all but it’s got a lot of style.
Finally, let me just say, regardless of whether you’re in love, in lust, or mired in lonely bitterness, Happy Valentine’s Day!
Well, its Super Bleh weekend, the time of year when everything is just football, football, football! And Lisa says, “A bleh on both your houses!” Still, because I love theme posts, here’s the latest edition of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation Trailers — 6 Super Trailers For a Super Weekend! Yay! 8)
1) J.D.’s Revenge (1976)
He came back from the dead to possess a man’s soul, make love to his woman, and get the vengeance he craved!
2) Texas Adios (1967)
Starring the best, the one and only Franco Nero!
3) H.O.T.S. (1979)
Trailers like this prove that it was apparently a lot easier to be considered attractive back in the 70s.
4) Inglorious Bastards (1977)
I think this film features a former football player so it goes with the whole Super Bowl theme. Plus, the title was borrowed for Quentin Tarantino’s super Inglorious Basterds.
5) Wild Orchid (1990)
This film was directed by the super Zalman King who passed away on Friday. R.I.P.
6) Roadhouse (1989)
The film co-stars the even more super Ben Gazzara, who also passed away on Friday. R.I.P.
This is one of those films that seems to show up in a dozen or so public domain DVD compilation packs. The “lake” in this film looks a lot like White Rock Lake and when I first saw this film, I was convinced it had actually been filmed down here in Dallas. However, I subsequently found that there actually is a Crater Lake up in Oregon. There’s no word yet on whether or not there’s any monsters living in that lake but you have to figure there would be, what with it being Oregon and all.
2) Shogun Assassin (1980)
Just the story of a single dad and his baby. Awwwwww!
3) 100 Rifles (1969)
Obviously, this was one of the many American attempts to make a Spaghetti western. “This film has a message…”
4) Soylent Green (1973)
Yes, we all know what’s in Soylent Green.
5) Xtro (1982)
Oh my God, this trailer freaks me out!
6) Scarface (1983)
Oh, stop it. I don’t care how many “respectable” actors are in the film, you know that Scarface is like totally a grindhouse film.
First off, allow me to again apologize for being late with my weekly trailer post. I had some asthma issues that basically left me fairly useless on both Friday and Saturday. Still, better late than never. In this latest edition of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation Trailers, we acknowledge some films that were NOT nominated for Golden Globes.
1) The Flesh Eaters (1964)
I just recently got this one on DVD but I haven’t watched it yet. Of course, I love any trailer that starts out with a countdown.
2) Beach Girls and the Monster (1965)
The star of the film (which apparently co-stars the Watusi Dancing Girls), John Hall, was briefly a star back in the 1930s. This was his attempt at a comeback film and he ended up committing suicide after it was released.
3) Blast-Off Girls (1967)
This film was directed by the infamous Herschell Gordon Lewis. I want to be a blast-off girl!
4) Monsters Crash The Pajama Party (1969)
I don’t own this one on DVD, mostly because I’m kinda scared that if I watch it, a monster will pop out of the TV screen and try to drag me off to somewhere.
Let’s start off 2012 with this trailer for a low budget, drive-in film called Tomcats. It’s also known as Deadbeat, They Deserved It, and a few hundred other titles. The trailer is memorable for its light-hearted narration but the film itself is pretty dark (and kinda stupid, to be honest). By the way, this trailer features more than a little nudity and is definitely not safe for work.
2) Smokey Bites The Dust (1981)
This trailer was apparently used to advertise this Roger Corman production in Denmark.
3) Terminal Island (1973)
This is a landmark of feminist exploitation cinema. (Scoff all you might but there is such a thing and if you don’t believe me, go and read the best thing I’ve ever written, Too Sordid To Ever Be Corrupted.) Much like Smokey Bites the Dust, this trailer is in English but comes with Danish subtitles. It’s also NSFW.
4) Terror of Machagodzilla (1975)
And now for something completely different…
5) Across 110th Street (1972)
Who doesn’t love this film’s title song?
And finally…
6) Enter The Dragon (1973)
Yes, Enter the Dragon is an exploitation film. Just because it’s now considered to be a classic and it’s shown in film school (the first time I saw it was in film class) doesn’t change the fact that this film is pure grindhouse exploitation.
Welcome to 2012! Let’s make it a good one, just in case the Mayans were correct.
I’ve never seen this film but I’ve read about it and the plot actually sounds like it has potential: a killer is determined to kill a different person in each time zone across America over the course of one long, New Year’s Eve night. I get the feeling the execution was probably lacking but seriously, time zones are weird.
2) Student Bodies (1981)
This little satire of the slasher genre shows up on cable occasionally. I’ve never managed to make it all the way through but I do appreciate the gag with the killer continually stepping on chewing gum.
3) Screwballs (1983)
With a name like Screwballs it has to be …. uhmm, good?
4) Spring Break (1983)
Obviously, there was a serious lack of attractive people in the 1980s.
5) Ski School (1991)
Oh wait. The kinda attractive people were at the ski school. Emphasis on kinda.
6) My Tutor (1982)
However, as always, the truly cool people, were learning how to speak French.
On Thursday night, my twitter timeline briefly exploded when it was reported that legendary filmmaker Roger Corman had just passed away. I immediately jumped over to Wikipedia and I saw that Roger Corman was officially listed as being newly deceased. Quickly, I jumped back over to twitter and I tweeted, “R.I.P. to one of the most important figures in American film history — the legendary Roger Corman.” I then sent out another tweet in which I pointed out that this meant that two of the men who has played senators in The Godfather, Part II — G.D. Spradlin and Roger Corman — had died this year and within months of each other.
Immediatly, one of my twitter friends tweeted back, “If only real Senators would die as quickly.”
“Agck!” I thought to myself, “how do I respond to that? If I get all offended or humorless, I might lose a follower. If I say yes, that’s a good point, I might end up getting put on some sort of super secret government list…”
Even as I worried about my future as a subversive, I was thinking to myself that the best way I could pay tribute to the late Roger Corman was to devote my next edition of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation trailers to his memory. Yes, I decided, the next edition would have be all Corman, a celebration of the man, his life, and his movies…
And then it turned out that Roger Corman wasn’t dead. Turns out that some idiot journalist named Jake Tapper tweeted that Corman was dead and that’s what set off a chain reaction of false assumptions and early tributes. However, Roger Corman is still alive but you know me. Once I get an idea in my head, I have to see it through. Letting things go is not one of my talents.
So, with that in mind, here are 6 trailers in tribute to Roger Corman, who is not dead.
1) The Trip (1967)
In 1967, Roger Corman directed this film in which Peter Fonda plays a tv director who drops acid and ends up having a really bad trip. The script was written by Jack Nicholson and Dennis Hopper plays a random guru guy. Bruce Dern is in it too. As far as drug movies go, The Trip is actually pretty good though it does indulge in some of the standard Renaissance Faire imagery that all movies seem to use whenever attempting to visualize an acid trip.
2) St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (1967)
I recently saw this movie, Roger Corman’s first “studio” film. I have to admit that I thought it was a little bit slow but it had some fun performances and Jack Nicholson gets a memorable cameo where he explains why he dips his bullets in garlic.
3) The Intruder (1962)
In 1962, Roger Corman and William Shatner teamed up to make this look at racism and the people who exploit it.
4) The Raven (1963)
This is one of Corman’s famous Poe films.
5) The Wild Angels (1966)
Peter Fonda again. In this seminal biker film, Fonda again costars with Bruce Dern. Fonda’s girlfriend is played by Nancy Sinatra who, by the way, is one of the few celebs on twitter who will not only follow back but who will also actually respond to her followers.
6) It Conquered The World (1956)
Finally, let’s end things off with some truly old school Corman — It Conquered the World! This was Corman’s 3rd film as a director and his first major success.
Here’s to you, Roger Corman! Thank you for the movies and congratulations on still being with us.
Through the Shattered Lens 