Well, here it is October 1st and you know what that means. It’s time for horror, horror, and more horror. This edition of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation Trailers is dedicated to just that. So, without further ado, let’s jump into the world of ghosts, zombies, maniacs, and Paul Naschy…
Though this appears to be a fairly standard old school Jamie Lee Curtis slasher film, I like this trailer a lot. The opening shots of the train are nicely ominous, the shots of winter are perfectly matched with the trailer’s grim atmosphere, and it’s interesting to see Ben Johnson in one of these films.
“No one does it like the teenager do it…” This kinda looks like Dazed and Confused as directed by a Crazies-era George Romero. I actually like this trailer a lot. It has this vaguely threatening subtext to it.
I am happy to say that it’s a beautiful day today. After dealing with a record number of 100 degree days that slowly plodded along without so much as a breeze or a cloud in the sky, I am happy to say that, as I type this, the temperature outside is 84 degrees, the sky is gray with storm clouds, and, here at Le manoir d’Bowman, we’ve got the windows open and we’re loving the breeze. To me, it seems like a perfect time for 6 more of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation Trailers.
From acclaimed director John Boorman comes … whatever this is. For the longest time, I assumed that this film starred Sean Connery as someone named Zardoz but having watched the trailer, I now see that Connery played Zed. That makes sense. With that pony tail and red diaper, Connery looks more like a Zed than a Zardoz here. I like the flying head, just because I keep imagining that after the head dropped off all those guns, Connery shouted, “Give me more, Head!”
Now, this is a trailer that could have used a big floating head. The Norseman appears to be yet another oddly ambitious, very low-budget film from the John Boorman of Texarkana, Charles B. Pierce.
Pierce was also responsible for The Evictors. “It’s happening again…” Much as the trailer for the Norseman featured the co-star of Eaten Alive, Mel Ferrer, the trailer features the star of Suspiria, Jessica Harper.
Grindhouse and exploitation films loved to exploit Yankee paranoia, which helps to explain films like Tick…Tick…Tick. (It also helps to explain — but throughly fails to justify — the latest remake of Straw Dogs.)
This film co-stars the legendary Sonny Chiba. I can’t watch this trailer too many times because I know it’ll inspire me to show off my karate moves. Last time I did that, I ended up with a sprained ankle.
This is one of those public domain films that seems to show up in every other Mill Creek Box Set. It’s a guilty pleasure of mine and the trailer is all tacky goodness. Plus, Erika Blanc’s in it. (And the title has allowed me to have a lot of fun at my friend Evelyn’s expense.)
Before he was hired to direct Zombi 2, Lucio Fulci directed this spaghetti western. Not surprisingly, it’s one of the darkest, most cynical westerns ever made.
Nine years before Four of the Apocalypse, Fulci directed another western, this one with Franco Nero. Have I mentioned the things I would let Franco Nero do to me if I could get my hands on a time machine? Mmmmm….Franco Nero.
Well, I guess I should start this off with an apology to all the British leftists out there who might have wandered over here after accidentally misinterpreting the title of this post. This post does not feature anyone named Paddy, Tony, or Gordon. (Actually, Paddy Ashdown is apparently not a member of the Labour Party but I just happen to like his name.) Instead, it’s just the latest entry in a series I like to call Lisa’s Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation Trailers.
Speaking of things living underground, C.H.U.D. apparently stands for Cannibalstic Humanoid Underground Dwellers. I’ve got this one on DVD and, to be honest, I’ve never been able to stay awake through the whole thing. But the trailer is effective and you can tell it’s from the 80s because there’s no attempt to show that the little doggie escaped.
Okay, so this trailer is kinda boring (though I imagine all you boys will enjoy all the boobies) up until that final image which just totally freaks me out for some reason. “Where are you going? The party’s just begun…” Agck!
And now, I’m off to find myself a Labour Party — a Labor Day party, that is.
One of Lucio Fulci’s final films, this was made for Italian television. It’s actually better than you might think from the trailer. But, yes, it is a far cry from Zombi 2.
Judging from the trailers I’ve come across since I first started this feature, the 70s were a turbulent time. The revolution continued with Combat Cops.
“Pam Grier is …. Sheba, Baby!” Sad to think that the last time we saw Pam Grier on-screen, she was reduced to playing Julia Roberts’ best friend in Larry Crowne.
George Romero’s follow-up to Night of the Living Dead is better known as Season of the Witch. Like most of Romero’s non-zombie films, it has some major issues with pacing but it remains of interesting artifact of its time. The film has a feminist subtext which works about as well as can be expected, considering that the movie was made by a man.
Not to be confused with the 2010 action film, this Losers has been described as the best “bikers-in-Viet-Nam film ever.” It was directed by Jack Starrett and, like every other biker film from 1970, it stars William Smith.
This is another short trailer, in fact, I think — at just 30 seconds — it might be the shortest trailer I’ve ever featured in this series. Anyway, Chatterbox is a film about a woman whose vagina can talk and, apparently, sing. I have never seen this film though I have seen a few isolated clips. I hope if my vagina ever starts to speak, it 1) has a less annoying voice and 2) just displays a lot more wit and personality in general. Anyway, the talking vagina is not featured in this trailer. Anyway, you wouldn’t know any of that from watching the trailer, which I think is odd. I mean, if you’re going to make a film about a talking vagina, shouldn’t the vagina be allowed to speak for itself? Just saying…
Like all good things, this trailer comes to us from Italy.
5) Disco Fever (1978)
Wow! Disco, a concorde, dirt bike racing, braless dancers, and a boring 40 year-old rock star with a cocaine-flecked beard. Could this film be any more 70s? “Disco Fever — Everything is perfect…until the music stops!”
6) American Fever (1978)
Okay, I’m either in a disco mood or else I’m running a fever because I just have to end things with a second disco film. This is an Italian film. Does anyone out there own the American Fever soundtrack?
For this week’s edition of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitaiton Trailers, we actually have a loose theme as opposed to just me tossing up random stuff. That theme: Out Of Control Youth. (Cue dramatic DAH-DAH-DAAAAAH music)
Normally, I try to avoid doing “theme” trailer posts because they require way too much concentration on my part. However, this week, as I selected the trailers I wanted to feature, I slowly realized that I was doing just that and I was actually being a pretty good job at it.
Take heart, Out of Control Youths. This post is dedicated to you.
I may be wrong but just judging from the trailer, I think this film might be about “women in chains.” Pam Grier, of course, everyone knows. The white mama was played by Margaret Markov, who later married exploitation film producer Mark Damon.
Eventually, I guess the kids from Over the Edge grew up to be the kids from Suburbia. I’ve got this one on DVD but every time I’ve tried to watch it, I’ve ended up falling asleep. Not necessarily because the film is bad. I just always end up trying to watch it at 4 in the morning for some reason.
I just love that the credits at the end of the trailer announce that this film features a “special appearance” from Peter Fonda.
5) Mission Hill (1982)
“Mission Hill: A Neighborhood where anything can happen…” This is the type of film that I often fantasize about appearing in. Naturally, I would be the girl singing. I can’t really sing but that’s what post-production dubbing is for, right?
This is another one that I have on DVD but I haven’t found the time to watch yet. This appears to be a film in which psycho children kill … well, everything. All I know is that if I’m ever taking a bath and some little child comes wandering in with a bunch of fish, I’m jumping up and running. I don’t care how wet and naked I am.
Okay, I am like supper giddy excited and dancing-around-my-house-in-my-underwear excited right now and that’s because a story I wrote has been accepted for publication so let me just repeat what I said when I learned the news: “Oh. My. God. YAY!” And then I pushed off my jeans and tossed my camisole and I started dancing around the house in my underwear and that’s where you came in and…
This is appears to be yet another one of those “So You Say You Want A Revolution” films from the late 60s. The 60s were a good time for freeze frames apparently.
I love any trailer that claims that the movie being advertised is about “what’s happening now…” It’s a line that just screams 1970s. Anyway, this is The Student Nurses which was directed by Stephanie Rothman, one of the first of the true Grindhouse feminists.
Student Nurses was a huge success so the next few years so a whole lot of different “Student” films. Hence, the Student Teachers. That clown at the end of this trailer freaks me out. By the way, Chuck Norris is apparently in this trailer.
5) The Two Faces Of Love (1972)
Of course, even as the grindhouse celebrated the strong women who became student nurses and student teachers, it was also celebrating the woman who found themselves trapped in rip-offs of Repulsion, like The Two Faces of Love.
Hi. Good morning. I’m sitting here in my beloved Pirates shirt with my hair a big mess and an aggressive kitty trying to dig his claws into my thigh as a sign of affection as I try to complete this thing known as “waking up” but I’m still a happy girl and I’ll tell you why.
First off, we’re only six posts away from hitting that magical 1,000th post. And, once we hit a thousand, Arleigh is going to give us all a 50% raise on our current Shattered Lens salary. Yay! I know I can really use the money as I’m getting ready to go back to school and get my master’s.
This trailer is for the Italian satire/sci-fi film The 10th Victim. As this trailer makes clear, the film’s American distributor wasn’t quite sure how to sell this particular film.
By contrast, the distributors of Chained Heat appear to have known exactly who would be sitting in their audience. Chained Heat has a reputation for being one of the sleaziest of the Women in Prison films and that’s saying something. I actually saw this playing on cable once though I was kinda *ahem* tied up at the time and as such, didn’t pay too much attention to it.
Yeah, I haven’t actually seen this film but I’m going to guess that the trailer is probably more exploitive than the actual film. This is a classic example of the exploitation tease. Also, this is yet another example of a ’70s trailer that makes me go, “Ewwwwww!” at the sight of a dumpy man running around in his man panties. I mean, seriously — ewwwww, 1970s, ewwww!
The title makes it sound like a second-rate Broadway musical but actually, Manhattan Baby was (along with the far better remember New York Ripper) Lucio Fulci’s follow-up to the brilliant Beyond trilogy. I’ve sat through this film a few times and I’m still not sure why it’s called Manhattan Baby. Maybe Fulci was trying to start a trilogy of New York-themed horror films. Maybe The House By The Bronx was meant to be next…
Through the Shattered Lens 