grindhouse

what to expect from this blog

Hi!  I'm so glad you found my site.  Please post a comment of what you think and how you got here.

Hopefully you're here because you already love or want to love the exploitation tradition in American cinema.  You will find reviews of amazing grindhouse gems that you should definitely rent, trailers for classic and modern exploitation flicks, and books for further reading (see sidebar).  I will focus on American exploitation films from 1965-1985, and their modern counterparts.

Some basic information (thanks to Wikipedia) to get you started:

A grindhouse is an term for an American theater that mainly showed exploitation films.  Exploitation films exploit often lurid subject matter. Films need something to "exploit" in their marketing, such as a big star, special effects, sex, etc.  Since these films were low-budget (as low as $5,000) and often starred unknowns, they relied heavily on sex and violence.  These independent films were often unexpectedly huge hits.

Sub-genres:

action, biker, blaxploitation (starring African-Americans), britsploitation (set in England), cannibal, carsploitation (car chases), chambara (non-traditional Samurai), drive-in films, eschploitation (apocalyptic thrillers), hixploitation (American South stereotypes), horror, martial art, mexploitation (starring Mexicans, set in Mexico), mondo (fake, shocking documentaries), nature run amok (ex/ Jaws), nazi exploitation, ninja, nunsploitation (nuns in dangerous or erotic situations), propaganda, rape-revenge, revenge, sexploitation, shock exploitation (very graphic), slashers, spaghetti westerns (Italian-made Westerns), splatter (gore focused horror), stoner (show marijuana use comedically), teensploitation (starring teenagers), women in prison, zombies

The premise of this blog is that, in attempting to exploit the most vulnerable and eroticized members of society, women, low-income people, blacks, Hispanics, and other non-white ethnic groups, these films achieved some change in the opposite direction, showing capable much-to-be reckoned with characters in these groups.  These films correspond with the rise of feminism, civil rights, understanding of the crime of rape, and the rise of a new, more compassionate white male prototype.

Rape-Revenge

Spit

Easily the most disturbing of the grindhouse sub-genres, rape-revenge films are also some of the most interesting when it comes to gender and feminism.  Obviously these films are exploitation, showing vicious, graphic rapes scenes, however, it is not the rape but the revenge that is at the heart of the exploitation these films, which raises the question of whether they may actually be feminist.  

Signs that this genre is not as sexist as you think:

- Instead of screen shots or close ups of a woman's terrified face (such as in a rape scene in Hitchcock's Frenzy (see the photo under #16 here), the camera points into the faces of the attackers from the point of view of the woman.

- The rape is not eroticized in any way (trust me, I saw it).  This cannot be said of nearly any contemporary (post 1980s) films that even allude to rape.

- By the end of the film (like most/all grindhouse films), audiences (even though the film targeted primarily young male audience, often from tough urban areas) identify with and are cheering for the female.

- The bulk of the exploitation involves violence against men, often just as graphic as the inciting violence against the woman.

Another interesting thing to keep in mind, I Spit on Your Grave, a clear and simple example of this genre, was initially titled Day of the Woman.  Not sure exactly what can be gleaned from that!  Also, though the posters say 5 men, there are actually only 4 male victims, which implies that men are completely disposable, not women.

Chambara - Samurai Sword-Swinging

Information from Chambara.com:

Lady Snowblood

Chambara films are typically set in harsh Feudal Japan and the term is slang for Japanese swordplay or swashbuckler films.  These films are inspired by the heroic exploits of majestic samurai, and have been around from the silent era to the present day.  The significance of the Chambara film genre in world cinema is enormous, influencing filmmakers from George Lucas (Star Wars) to Tarantino (Kill Bill) to Kurosawa (Seven Samurai). 

Most American directors need to use tricks to make a fight scene believable, but real physical skills are depicted in Chambara films. Skills such as dexterity, unmatched prowess with exotic weapons, and the genius of their unique unarmed fighting maneuvers allow wider angles to be used so the audience can actually see the fight from beginning to end with fewer edits.  Performers must be top-notch in acrobatics, weaponry skills, acting, and stunts.  Ex/ Chuck Norris, Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Sonny Chiba, Jet Li, Jean-Claude Van Damme.

Women in Prison

Women in Cages

Reviews and Pictures.

Information from Wikipedia:

Women in prison film (WiP) is a subgenre of exploitation film that began in the late 1960s and continues to the present day.

Their stories feature imprisoned women who are subjected to sexual and physical abuse, typically by sadistic male or female prison wardens and guards. The genre also features many films in which imprisoned women engage in lesbian sex.

Before the '60s, films on women behind bars were serious, realistic dramas that depicted the miseries of prison life. They also carried an implied moralistic or cautionary message about the consequences of breaking the law.

The exploitation WiP films that followed discarded all moralistic pretentions. Instead, they are works of pure fantasy intended only to titillate the audience with a lurid mix of sex and violence. The flexible format, and the loosening of censorship laws, allowed filmmakers to choose from an extensive menu of misogynistic taboos. From voyeurism (strip searches, group shower scenes, cat-fights) to sexual fantasies (lesbianism, rape, sexual slavery), to fetishism (bondage, whipping, degradation), and outright sadism (beatings/whippings, electric shock, other torture/cruelty).

Most women-in-prison films employ the same stock characters and formulaic situations which have since become cinematic cliches. 

- innocent or empathetic girl (or group) being wrongfully sent to a corrupt penitentiary or reform school run by a brutal and/or lecherous male or female warden

- strip search

- group shower

- lesbian elements

- cat fights with a tough "queen bee" gang leader

- cruel and often punishments and sexual assaults by sadistic guards 

- riot (ex/ yard riot quelled by spraying the prisoners with a firehose)

- end: uprising or escape where villains are murdered by the inmates

My thoughts:

This genre, like most, comes down to this question: Do the predominately male audiences of these films take the role of the sadist/voyeur or of the victim?  Though torture scenes are often filmed with the camera gaze on the woman (as opposed to her point-of-view looking at the perpetrator), the audience is always rooting for the victim.  The nudity in the shower and strip search scenes is often filmed in a surprisingly not erotic way.  Women's bodies are realistic, un-airbrushed, and often ungroomed (possibly due to the time period, when bodies were viewed differently).  Women in contemporary films are always filmed more erotically and in an objectifying way than in these exploitation films.

Female comraderie, which is hard to find in both movies and real life, is valued and documented above almost every other value or topic.  Teamwork is what allows the women to triumph at the end.  The innocent girl and gang leader often join forces after initial spats.  The women are all extremely self-sufficient, often achieving amazing feats of justice or self-preservation under extremely trying circumstances.  Male characters are one-sided, and often look like bumbling fools compared with the women's competence.

That the women escape prisons, and the (predominately-male) audience is behind them, though not promoting certain morals, does point out the injustices of the system, and that it's better to give these women a second chance than to subject them to the humiliations that critiques point out as the problem in the first place.

These films have elements of blaxploitation, and are sometimes combined with naziploitation.