I Drink Your Blood – Page 2 – Through the Shattered Lens

This edition of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation Trailers is a sentimental and sad occasion for me. I’m a Scorpio (and, seriously, who is shocked to hear that, right?). What that means is that I’ve got a birthday coming up this Tuesday. I’ll be turning 25. I’ll be a quarter of a century old. So, this will be my last installment of this series as a young woman. Next weekend, when I post the next installment, I’ll be an adult.

Unfortunately, I didn’t really think about this until I’d already selected my trailers for this installment. So, I wish I could say that there’s some sort of deep meaning behind why I picked any of these posts. But there’s not, with the exception of I Drink Your Blood. And my selection of I Drink Your Blood has less to do with my birthday and more with the fact that it’s the 17th greatest movie ever made.

Anyway, let’s get to the trailers and try not to think about the fact that I’m getting old…

1) Food of the Gods

Two things I love about the trailer: the pompous opening 40 seconds (I loved it when Exploitation mocks the Mainstream through imitation) and the presence of Marjoe “Bad, not evil” Gortner.

2) Tintorera

This is the Mexican version of Jaws. Not only was it directed by the infamous Rene Cardona, Jr. but it stars the original HUGO STIGLITZ!

3) Prisoner of Paradise

Prisoner of Paradise (which I have never seen) is apparently a hardcore war film from the 70s that starred John C. Holmes’s cock. The star does not appear in this trailer. Instead, we get things blowing up followed by something else blowing up which is followed up by something — wait for it — blowing up. And then, suddenly, we’re on the beach.

4) Machine Gun McCain

Speaking of blowing things up…Machine Gun McCain is one of the many Italian crime thrillers that came out in the late 60s. They were not only far more violent than American thrillers but usually a lot more interesting too. Earlier on Saturday, I bought this movie on DVD. The guy working the register looked at it and said, “I’d watch this first because Britt Ekland’s in it.”

5) Hell’s Bloody Devils

While the Italians were exploiting the Mafia, Americans were exploiting motorcycle gangs. Hell’s Bloody Devils is a typical example with a typically 1970 political subtext. It was directed by Al Adamson who, years later, was apparently murdered and buried in cement.

6) I Drink Your Blood

I Drink Your Blood was released on a double bill with an old black-and-white zombie films called I Eat Your Skin. All the scenes in the trailer below are from I Drink Your Blood. I love the trailer because it is just classic grindhouse. However, I Drink Your Blood is also one of the best films ever made. The 18th best, to tell the truth. Seriously.

No, the Valley of the Dolls is not one of the trailers included in the latest installment of Lisa Marie’s Grindhouse and Exploitation Trailers. It just happens to be the movie that I’m watching as I edit this post. Anyway, Valley of the Dolls was an exploitation film mostly because of human error. The trailers below are for films that came by their exploitation label honestly.

1) An American Hippie In Israel

There’s some debate as to whether or not this movie actually exists. I originally saw this trailer as an extra on the I Drink Your Blood DVD about three years ago. At that time, Grindhouse Releasing claimed that it would be releasing this film on DVD “soon.” Three years later, the DVD has yet to be released. Perhaps it’s for the best. I doubt that actual film could live up to lunacy and silliness of the trailer.

2) Best Friends

This is a good example of a movie that, if it was released today, would probably be marketed as an indie art film. However, since it came out in the 70s, it played in grindhouses and drive-in movie theaters. It’s actually a surprisingly well-made and well-acted film.

3) Chappaqua

Much like Best Friends, Chappaqua is proof that art and exploitation often go hand-in-hand. The film was produced and directed by Conrad Rooks and features William S. Burroughs at his cynical best.

4) The Hellcats

This is another one of those trailers that proves that, in the late 60s, liberated women were actually more menacing than murderous biker gangs.

5) Hell’s Belles

This movie, I suppose, could also have been called The Hellcat. Adam Roarke, the star of this one, appeared in every biker film released in 1970.

6) Savage Sisters

This is another one of those films that, frustratingly enough, is not yet available on DVD. That’s a shame. The world needs more movies about women kicking ass.