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…
First off, I was supposed to be seeing Capt. America but when we were standing in line to get our tickets, I started to feel dizzy and then I kinda sorta ended up fainting. Which I know sounds like something serious but, to be honest, I faint all the time. I’m like a Tennessee Williams heroine that way. It’s no big deal except to my sister and my boyfriend who decided that instead of going to the movies, I should go home, lay down, rest, and “take care of myself.” so, I told them that they were crazy and that I was perfectly fine and they were like, “You’re so full of it, Lisa Marie,” and then I stood up to show them how healthy I was and I guess I didn’t put my feet on the ground correctly because suddenly, I was going down again and anyway, long story short, I ended up being dragged back to the house.
And then once I got back home, one of my longtime twitter followers suddenly decided to unfollow me because apparently, I haven’t been a good enough friend to him. Which I found interesting considering that I had just spent the past week literally holding his hand while he attempted to get over not one but two girls who never liked him in the first place. So, yeah, learning that despite my best efforts, I’m apparently just a self-centered bitch who foolishly uses twitter to talk about what I want to talk about as opposed to devoting all of my time to helping some asshole deal with problems that a 12 year-old should be able to freaking handle, well, that kinda sorta hurt my feelings just a little bit. (Contrary to popular opinion, redheads with big boobs actually do have feelings. Go figure!)
However, things are not a complete bust. First off, as I type this, I’m watching the old episode of Degrassi where Emma and Alex have that huge fight in the school hallway while Paige and Spinner skip school and Ashley gets dressed up like Elvis and then Mr. Simpson finds out his cancer is in remission. I love that episode. And, along with watching Degrassi, I’m also putting together the latest edition of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation Trailers.
Yep, that’s the kind of mood I’m in. I’m starting things off with the trailer for the evil grindhouse/drive-in movie to end all evil grindhouse/drive-in movies, the original Last House on the Left. Why? Because, as the trailer tells us, the road leads to nowhere…
Believe it or not, I’ve got this one on DVD and this is one of those films that looks a lot more extreme in the trailer than it actually is. The film itself is a collection of bad performances, juvenile humor, and silly gore effects. The trailer looks a lot more sick than the actual film, which is why it’s a classic of grindhouse advertising.
Let’s start things out with this film from 1988. I haven’t seen this film but the trailer has a certain silly charm to it and how can’t you enjoy the use of the fake lightning special effect? Plus, those finger nails screeching across the car — Agck! Freaky.
This is one of my favorite movies. Basically, a bunch of hippies take some really powerful acid in 1968 and then, eight years later, they end up having the worst flashback ever! To say that Zalman King gives an “interesting” performance as the film’s hero is a bit of an understatement.
“Jamie Lee Curtis is…Hitch.” Well, that would probably explain why she was destined to end up hitchhiking. Seriously, parents — give it some thought before you give your child any old name. Anyway, Road Games was director Richard Franklin’s follow-up to Patrick and it’s one of the better slasher films of the early 80s.
Oh my God, this looks like a bad movie. The trailer, however, is just so silly and kinda endearing in the way that it seems to desperately be saying, “No, it’s not as bad as it looks! Look — we have ice people!”
Speaking of the evil that men do, this sexploitation film from Michael and Roberta Findlay is pretty rough even by today’s standards. Don’t watch this if you’re easily offended. If you are easily offended, just remember that ten years after making this film, Michael Findlay was decapitated by a rotating helicopter blade.
On a slightly less disturbing note, here’s the trailer for Moving Violation. The film is actually a bit more odd than you might guess from just the trailer.
This is one of the most financially succesful films of all time and apparently, it extended the life of the Southern drive-in by a good decade or so. It’s actually a pretty good movie.
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.
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.
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.
This weekend, I’m busy getting ready to go on a road trip with Jeff. I’ll be away from home for two whole weeks! However, fear not! With the help of WordPress and my wonderful, beautiful older sister Erin, I will still be updating and posting even while we’re on the road. I might even be able to convince my fellow Shattered Lens writer to spend the next two weeks watching the Lifetime Movie Channel and posting “What Lisa Would Have Watched Last Night.” How about it, guys? *wink wink*
(And by the way, just because I’m going to be out of town next weekend won’t stop me from posting six more trailers next Saturday. Why? Because I love you, silly!)
In this infamous little film from the 1970s, Richard Burton, Lee Marvin, and O.J. Simpson fight the Ku Klux Klan in Alabama. Believe it or not, I’ve actually seen this movie though the copy I saw was one of those public domain DVDs that I think was actually a copy of the edited-for-TV version of this movie. (I say that because every time someone cursed, there was an awkward silence on the soundtrack.) Even more odd is the fact that I’ve actually read the old novel that this movie is based on. Anyway, this movie is pretty bad but the book is okay. The film was directed by the same guy who directed the first James Bond films.
Okay, so this is pretty obviously an Exorcist rip-off but wow, this trailer freaks me out. Needless to say this is an Italian film. My favorite part of the trailer, to be honest, is the use of the Ryder truck. It’s a moment that epitomizes Italian exploitation in that you can tell that the filmmakers really thought that displaying the one word — “Ryder” — would convince viewers that they were watching an American-made film.
Speaking of Italian exploitation cinema, here we have another example. I pretty much had to include this trailer because I live in Dallas and 2020 is just 9 years away. That said, I’m not sure what part of Texas this film is supposed to be taking place in. I’m guessing by all the shots of boots marching through grass that this is supposed to be up in North Texas but if you can find mountains like that around here then you’ve got far better eyesight than I do. Add to that, the sudden indian attack seems more like an Oklahoma thing. Not surprisingly, according to Amazon, this film was not only directed by Joe D’Amato but features both George Eastman and Al Cliver.
Apparently, it didn’t start in Texas. This is also an Italian film. It was directed by Enzo Castellari and, not surprisingly, George Eastman is in this one as well.
The is the trailer that dares to ask — who are you going to listen to? Common sense or H.G. Wells? I’ll tell you, nothing freaks me out more than when I see one of those ant lines carrying a dead cricket back to the anthill. Ants are one thing that I will not allow in the house. However, I kinda admire them. They’re so neat and organized. Plus, males in ant society know their place.
“20th Century Fox presents Mr. Billion …. starring Terence Hill, the 5th biggest star in the world…” I haven’t seen very many Terence Hill films but I always enjoy seeing him in trailers. I can’t really say whether he’s a good actor or not because every time I’ve seen him, he’s been dubbed. But he definitely had a very likable presence. You wanted him to be a good actor whether he was or wasn’t. That said, even if I had been alive at the height of Mr. Hill’s fame, it never would have worked out for us as I’m Southern Italian and Hill is quite clearly from the north. That’s just the way it is. Anyway, back to Mr. Billion — I’m including two trailers for this one. The first is the “Prestige” trailer. The second one is much shorter and features one of those odd little songs that gets stuck in your head.
Through the Shattered Lens 