GRINDHOUSE cinemas could once be found in the sleaziest and run-down areas of America’s grimiest cities. New York’s 42nd Street was one of the most famous trash pit hangouts for... more
A review by sghawken on Grindhouse Trailer Classics Vol.1 (DVD) September 28th, 2007
Author's product rating:
Did you enjoy it?
Loved it
Story
Satisfactory
Characters / Performances
Satisfactory
Special Effects
Standard
How does it compare to similar films?
Not applicable
Advantages:
Classic trailers for awful films
Disadvantages:
None
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
Who would have thought that trailers for movies could become as popular as the real thing? But this is exactly what has happened with Nucleus Films release Grindhouse Trailer Classics. Taking a leaf out of US DVD releases 42nd Street Forever, a series of DVD's that bought the power of cult, low budget and niche movie trailers into the homes of viewers, themselves inspired by Quentin Tarentino's Grindhouse movie.
Watching trailers for movies from yesteryear may seem like a strangething to do, but if you're a fan of classic movies of the 60's, 70's and 80's that were far from blockbusters like myself, two hours of Trailer viewing will be right up your street. Grindhouse Trailer Classics opens a sort of vortex to the past, a glimpse at life before the dawn of the multiplex cinemas of Warner, Venue, or Cineworld.
The success of this DVD was so unexpected that Nucleus films headed up by film historian Marc Morris and movie maker Jake West are about to release a second volume of this compilation series.
To be honest with you, there is not much you can say about a two hour DVD of trailers, however I can tell you about some of the trailers. The combination of trailers varies from horror movies, thriller, soft porn classics, and sex comedies.
Switchblade Sisters sees a gang of teenage girls who have a thirst for blood, and a love for sharp knives. Eyeball offers a red raincoat wearing serial killer as they select a series of victims, "No Suspense has ever gone this far" tells the narrator of the trailer. Wes Craven's Last House On The Left trailer features footage actually edited out of the UK DVD release for the movie, making this a must for fans of the movie. Italian horror movies are well represented with trailers for Torso, Autopsy, Zombie AKA Zombie Flesh Eaters, and Doctor Butcher MD AKA Zombie Holocaust. How about Deadly Weapons a movie about a female assassin who kills her targets by smothering them with her enormous breasts. They Call Her One Eye features Christina Lindberg in the toned down version of this thriller/porn movie that inspired the Daryl Hannah character in Kill Bill. The Thing With Two heads sees the great Ray Milland near the end of his acting days as a head transplant patient whose head has been attached to the body of a black man who gets to keep his head too, the two headed man has a further issue because Ray Milland's character is a racist. Pete Walker's House Of The Whipcord offers British involvement to the piece and looks far sleazier than the reality. Fans of the Blaxploitation era will be treated to Truck Turner starring Isaac Hayes best known now as the voice of Chef from South Park, and Pam Grier movies Coffy, and The Big Doll House. While more modern movies are featured with the appearance of Death Ship and The Perils Of Gwendoline.
Among the 55 trailers featured are some trailers never before seen in the UK. Granted watching trailers might not seem like that much fun, but believe me if you have a good sense of humour and a thirst for movie trivia this DVD will keep you amused for weeks.
Special Features
Bump And Grind - A 17 minute documentary presented by low budget horror actress Emily Booth gives you a look and a taste of the effect these low budget movies had on audiences. In between clips for trailers like Wham Bam Thank You Spaceman, Emily tells the story of Grindhouse trailers from their initial conception to their demise at the dawn of the 1980's after the birth of videotape allowed cinemagoers the opportunity to see these weird movies in the comfort of your own home, rather than in semen stained seats, with audiences that were less than controlled. The documentary is based on the book Nightmare USA by cult movie novelist Stephen Thrower.
A series of posters are gathered together for you to get the unique feel of a bygone age, far from the modern politically correct age we now live in the posters could be every bit as shocking as the movies they publicise.
Finally there is a list of other movies from Nucleus a trailer for each one is featured the trailers include Between Your Legs, The Ugliest Woman In The World, Gwendoline, Fausto 5.0, London Voodoo, and Death Ship.
Consumer Advice: Contains strong violence, gore, sex and nudity
Country Of Origin: United Kingdom
Plot: Usually situated in the rough part of town, the grindhouses were American cinemas devoted to catering for the more extreme taste, projecting biker flicks, revenge thrillers, martial arts movies and blood-soaked gore epics, to patrons sat wide-eyed in the dark. Grindhouse cinema would later become a major influence on filmmakers such as Rob Zombie and Eli Roth, and is the inspiration for Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s film, the imaginatively titled GRINDHOUSE – an ode to these lurid exploitation flicks. Now, for the first time, you can relive this provocative and sensational era with a collection of trailers that encapsulate the essence of all that was great about the grindhouses, without having to cross the wrong side of the tracks.
Special Features: Bump And Grind - feaurette presented by Emily Booth, Poster gallery
Aspect Ratio: 16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
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Listed on Ciao since : 04/05/2007
DVD Description
GRINDHOUSE cinemas could once be found in the sleaziest and run-down areas of America’s grimiest cities. New York’s 42nd Street was one of the most famous trash pit hangouts for denizens of the lower depths. From dusk ‘till dawn the theatres would screen a mind-boggling assortment of movies featuring lashings of sex, gore and violence – and if you were lucky, you’d get all three!
SEE for the first time ever on British DVD you can now sit back and take a twisted trip back to the glory days of the sleazy 60s and 70s for a roaring rampage through a two-hour hand-picked collection of some of the most insane examples of trailer trash ever to slash and burn their way through a Grindhouse cinema projector.
MARVEL at the fact that most ot the actual films themselves could never live up to the jaw dropping lunacy of these incredible trailers, some of which can today be considered true masterpieces in advertising and marketing. With their often hilarious voice-overs and mind-bending taglines, plus all the best bits from the movies themselves, they add up to one thing – sheer entertainment!
BE AMAZED that Contemporary Directors such as Quentin (GRINDHOUSE) Tarantino, Eli (HOSTEL) Roth and Rob (THE DEVIL’S REJECTS) Zombie have all since revisted these movies and have made their own supercharged movies relying heavily on the essence of many of these Seventies Grinhouse cinema classics. Tarantino in particular has drawn a huge amount of his inspiration from these movies and trailers in many of his films, so we’ve included some of his favourites here - see if you can spot them!
THRILL to the fact that many of the then unknown actors and filmmakers from these choice cuts went on to much bigger and better things, so it’s no surprise that these fantastic flicks have since achieved cult status, making GRINDHOUSE TRAILER CLASSICS a must-own DVD that's ideal for parties in your very own private Grindhouse...
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