Every Horrorthon, I like to bring out an old favorite of mine. Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation Film Trailers used to be a regular feature here on the Shattered Lens. Every week, I would share some of my favorite grindhouse and exploitation film trailers. Unfortunately, it turned out that YouTube only had a limited amount of good trailers and I soon found myself having to reuse trailers to keep the series going. As a result, this feature went from being a weekly thing to a holiday thing.
Well, it’s the holidays!
Here are six of my favorite horror trailers! I will definitely be watching all six of these this October!
(Be warned, some of the trailers are not safe for work and feature quite a bit of blood and violence.)
After starting his career as a cinematographer and a visual effects engineer, Mario Bava made his directorial debut with 1960’s Black Sunday, starring Barbara Steele!
2. Black Sabbath (1963)
In 1963, Bava directed one of his most popular films, the horror anthology Black Sabbath. The trailer put the spotlight on the great Boris Karloff.
3. Planet of the Vampires (1965)
One of Bava’s best films, Planet of the Vampires, was later cited by many as an influence on the Alien films.
4. Bay of Blood (1971)
One of the first slasher films, Bay of Blood was also a social satire that featured Bava’s dark sense of humor.
5. The House of Exorcism (1974)
When it was released in the United States, Bava’s Lisa and the Devil was re-titled House of Exorcism and, after new scenes were filmed, sold as a rip-off to The Exorcist.
6. Shock (1977)
Bava’s final film as a director was Shock, which starred Daria Nicolodi as a woman who is being haunted by the ghost of her first husband.
Though Corman worked in almost every type of film genre imaginable, he’s probably best remembered for his science fiction and horror films. This was one of the first of them.
2. Bucket of Blood (1959)
In Bucket of Blood, Roger Corman gave Dick Miller a starring role and also mixed comedy and horror in a way that influence many future horror directors.
3. Little Shop of Horrors (1960)
Roger Corman famously shot Little Shop of Horrors in just two days. The end result was a mix of comedy and horror that continues to be influential to this day. The musical is very good but I still prefer the cheerful low-budget aesthetic of the Corman original.
4. The Terror (1963)
Corman was famous for his ability to spot new talent. His 1963 film The Terror starred a then unknown actor named Jack Nicholson.
5. The Masque of the Red Death (1964)
In the 60s, Corman was also well-known for his Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, the majority of which starred Vincent Price. With these colorful and flamboyant films, Corman showed himself to be a pop artist at heart.
6. Frankenstein Unbound (1990)
In the 1970s, Corman retired from directing and instead focused on producing and distributing movies. In 1990, he briefly came out of retirement and gave us his final directorial effort, Frankenstein Unbound.
Though Corman worked in almost every type of film genre imaginable, he’s probably best remembered for his science fiction and horror films. This was one of the first of them.
2. Bucket of Blood (1959)
In Bucket of Blood, Roger Corman gave Dick Miller a starring role and also mixed comedy and horror in a way that influence many future horror directors.
3. Little Shop of Horrors (1960)
Roger Corman famously shot Little Shop of Horrors in just two days. The end result was a mix of comedy and horror that continues to be influential to this day. The musical is very good but I still prefer the cheerful low-budget aesthetic of the Corman original.
4. The Terror (1963)
Corman was famous for his ability to spot new talent. His 1963 film The Terror starred a then unknown actor named Jack Nicholson.
5. The Masque of the Red Death (1964)
In the 60s, Corman was also well-known for his Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, the majority of which starred Vincent Price. With these colorful and flamboyant films, Corman showed himself to be a pop artist at heart.
6. Frankenstein Unbound (1990)
In the 1970s, Corman retired from directing and instead focused on producing and distributing movies. In 1990, he briefly came out of retirement and gave us his final directorial effort, Frankenstein Unbound.
This western was the first film that Roger Corman was credited with directing.
2. The Day The World Ended (1955)
Though Corman worked in almost every type of film genre imaginable, he’s probably best remembered for his science fiction and horror films. This was one of the first of them.
3. Not of this Earth (1957)
Not of this Earth was not only one of Corman’s better sci-fi films but this also the first film in which Corman really took full advantage of character actor Dick Miller. (Miller, a longtime friend of Corman’s, largely improvised his role as a hip vacuum cleaner salesman.)
4. Machine Gun Kelly (1958)
Along with westerns and sci-fi films, Corman also directed several gangster classics. Machine Gun Kelly is remembered as one of his best.
5. Bucket of Blood (1959)
In Bucket of Blood, Roger Corman gave Dick Miller a starring role and also mixed comedy and horror in a way that influence many future horror directors.
6. Little Shop of Horrors (1960)
Roger Corman famously shot Little Shop of Horrors in just two days. The end result was a mix of comedy and horror that continues to be influential to this day. The musical is very good but I still prefer the cheerful low-budget aesthetic of the Corman original.
7. The Intruder (1962)
Corman was an exploitation filmmaker with a conscience. At a time when other films were avoiding social issues, Corman dove right in with challenging films like The Intruder.
8. The Terror (1963)
Corman was famous for his ability to spot new talent. His 1963 film The Terror starred a then unknown actor named Jack Nicholson.
9. The Masque of the Red Death (1964)
In the 60s, Corman was also well-known for his Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, the majority of which starred Vincent Price. With these colorful and flamboyant films, Corman showed himself to be a pop artist at heart.
10. The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (1967)
The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre featured Corman directing a film for a big studio. The film recreated the gang war between Al Capone and George Moran while also finding room for Corman regulars like Jack Nicholson, Dick Miller, and Jonathan Haze.
11. The Trip (1967)
Roger Corman was always sympathetic to the counter-culture, which led to the remarkably nonjudgmental nature of The Trip, a film in which Peter Fonda drops acid under the guidance of Bruce Dern and Dennis Hopper. Jack Nicholson wrote the script.
12. Frankenstein Unbound (1990)
In the 1970s, Corman retired from directing and instead focused on producing and distributing movies. In 1990, he briefly came out of retirement and directed his final film, Frankenstein Unbound.
Star Wars not only launched an entire expanded universe. It also launched a few thousand rip-offs. For this weeks edition of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation Film Trailers, we’ve got six trailers that might seem just a little familiar….
Battle Beyond The Stars (1980)
From Roger Corman comes this film, which is as much a rip-off of The Magnificent Seven as it is of Star Wars. Battle Beyond The Stars was a surprise box office success when it was first released.
2. Space Raiders (1983)
Also from executive producer Roger Corman, Space Raiders tells the story of what happens when a quirky band of intergalactic outlaws pick up an annoying (and frankly, rather stupid) kid.
3. The Humanoid (1979)
From director Aldo Lado, The Humanoid features the great Richard Kiel as the title character. There’s also a cute robot, an older mystic, and an evil Empire.
4. Message From Space (1978)
Do you remember another film that had a message from space?
5. Flash Gordon (1980)
Interestingly enough, Star Wars was as inspired by the original Flash Gordon as the Flash Gordon reboot was inspired by Star Wars.
6. Starcrash (1978)
And finally, we have Starcrash, the Star Wars rip-off that is actually better than Star Wars!
Happy Halloween! For today’s special edition of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation Film Trailers, we are paying tribute to the great George Romero! Here are six trailers, all for films directed by the master of American horror! How many of them have you watched this October?
For today’s edition of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse And Exploitation Film Trailers, we share some trailers from the maestro of Italian horror, Mario Bava!
Black Sunday (1960)
After starting his career as a cinematographer and a visual effects engineer, Mario Bava made his directorial debut with 1960’s Black Sunday, starring Barbara Steele!
2. Black Sabbath (1963)
In 1963, Bava directed one of his most popular films, the horror anthology Black Sabbath. The trailer put the spotlight on the great Boris Karloff.
3. Planet of the Vampires (1965)
One of Bava’s best films, Planet of the Vampires, was later cited by many as an influence on the Alien films.
4. Bay of Blood (1971)
One of the first slasher films, Bay of Blood was also a social satire that featured Bava’s dark sense of humor.
5. The House of Exorcism (1974)
When it was released in the United States, Bava’s Lisa and the Devil was re-titled House of Exorcism and, after new scenes were filmed, sold as a rip-off to The Exorcist.
6. Shock (1977)
Bava’s final film as a director was Shock, which starred Daria Nicolodi as a woman who is being haunted by the ghost of her first husband.
Obviously, I was going to have to share the trailer for the original Halloween eventually. This is still the best of the franchise. In fact, all of the attempts by other directors to “improve” on it just serves to remind us of the fact that John Carpenter said everything that needed to be said in the first film.
2. Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
How did Carpenter get the chance to direct Halloween? Well, the producers were impressed with his previous film, Assault on Precinct 13. Also impressed by this film was Angela Pleasence, who subsequently convinced her father, Donald, to read Carpenter’s script for Halloween.
3. The Fog (1980)
Carpenter followed up Halloween with The Fog, which featured several cast members of both Halloween and Carpenter’s next film, Escape From New York.
4. The Thing (1982)
Incredibly underappreciated when it was first released, Carpenter’s remake of The Thing has gone on to become one of his most popular and influential films.
5. Prince of Darkness (1987)
Speaking of underappreciated, it would also be several years before Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness started to receive the attention that it really deserved.
6. John Carpenter’s Vampires (1998)
Finally, with Vampires, Carpenter mixed the horror genre with the western genre and came up with a hybrid that continues to be influential to this day.
