A recurring theme you will find in my posts as time goes on is the impact that late night cable TV had on my youth. In the days before the internet, it was the one place pre-teen boys could go to see naked women that moved. Sure, the nudie magazines had pictures, but cable had movement. It was almost like they were in the room. The reason I mention this is that it was on late night cable that I saw my first Women in Prison movie (hereby referred to as W.I.P.'s throughout the remainder of this post), Chained Heat. Starring a now grown up, voluptuous and unposessed Linda Blair, Chained Heat had everything you would expect from a W.I.P., which had quite an impact on a 12 year old boy. What I didn't know, and would be happy to find out, is that Chained Heat was just a continuation in a long line of W.I.P.'s, which is one of the most enduring and popular exploitation sub-genres.
W.I.P.'s have been around pretty much since the beginning of motion pictures, but first came to prominence in the 50's, the most well known of which was 1950's Caged. The 50's movies were usually dramatic morality tales, showing the negative side of hardened prison life. The late 60's, with it's loosened code standards, brought about the new wave of W.I.P's, kicked off by Jess Franco's (who would go on to direct many more W.I.P.'s in his long career) 99 Women. Then the 70's deluge, led by stalwarts like Jack Hill's The Big Doll House and it's sequel the Big Bird Cage. Both starring Pam Grier (as did Black Mama/White Mama, making Grier one of the first stars of the sub-genre), these films introduced what would become the prevalent themes for most of the films that continues to this day, that is, young attractive inmates being abused by male guards and/or lesbian wardens, strip searches, sex, showers, sex, fights, sex, escape, the end.
That theme continued throughout the 70's with features such as the still popular Caged Heat, directed by Jonathan Demme, the controversial Ilsa movies, Terminal Island, and Barbed-Wire Dolls, to name a few. While some contained different plot elements and varying degrees of explicit sex and violence, the ideas were pretty much the same, only the locations changed. The 80's brought more of the same: the afforementioned Chained Heat was a highlight, along with Reform School Girls most notable for starring Plasmatics front woman, the late Wendy O. Williams.
The 90's ushered in more sequels and more silicone with titles like Chained Heat 2, Caged Heat 2: Stripped of Freedom, Chained Heat 3: Hell Mountain, and Caged Heat 3000. The same basic elements are all there, except for taking place sometime in the future, one in which apparently having breast implants is a crime. Latter day installments of W.I.P.'s are done primarily as either homages or parodies, the (abundant) exceptions being fetish porn. If you're looking for riveting performances and razor sharp, deep dialogue, W.I.P.'s are probably not a well advised choice. If you're looking for sadistic wardens, women in group showers, gratuitous sex, nudity, and violence; (and if you're reading this blog, the odds of that are high) W.I.P.'s may be a good route.
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
They Saved Hitler's Brain
They Saved Hitler's Brain is one of the worst movies ever made. This of course, within the walls of Grindstone Grindhouse, makes it one of the greatest movies ever made. The premise itself, regarding the head of Hitler being kept alive in a jar in a plot to take over the world, is enough to give it full grindhouse credibility. The fact that extra, essentially non-related, footage was shot and added several years after it was filmed, makes it a grindhouse classic.
Originally called Madmen of Mandoras, the plot itself, while offbeat, is fairly simple. Post WWII Nazis take Hitler's head to South America, keep it alive, to try and have the Third Reich rise again. Feds from all over the world are privy to the scheme and hire people to stop it. The end. The film takes place (and was clearly originally shot) in the early 60's. In the late 60's, however, the distributor recruited some film students to shoot an extra 20+ minutes for TV. What resulted were hilarious continuity errors and nonsense segues. The best part, however, is that the actors in the bonus footage, sport long hair and mutton chops, and drive around in late 60's muscle cars (the lead actor from the added footage closely resembles Steve Perry, Journey lead singer). these scenes are intertwined with the original, older footage, where the actors are heavily Brylcreemed and wear suits and ties.
It should be known (and is probably fairly obvious) that the movie was no masterpiece before the extra footage was added. The scenes of Hitler's head in the jar making odd faces, grinning, and furrowing his brow are ridiculously (and unintentionally) funny. It would probably have been long forgotten, maybe occasionally turning up on local late night TV or maybe in a bargain bin. Thanks to the distributor and a few film students, They Saved Hitler's Brain has become required viewing for fans of bad movies.
Originally called Madmen of Mandoras, the plot itself, while offbeat, is fairly simple. Post WWII Nazis take Hitler's head to South America, keep it alive, to try and have the Third Reich rise again. Feds from all over the world are privy to the scheme and hire people to stop it. The end. The film takes place (and was clearly originally shot) in the early 60's. In the late 60's, however, the distributor recruited some film students to shoot an extra 20+ minutes for TV. What resulted were hilarious continuity errors and nonsense segues. The best part, however, is that the actors in the bonus footage, sport long hair and mutton chops, and drive around in late 60's muscle cars (the lead actor from the added footage closely resembles Steve Perry, Journey lead singer). these scenes are intertwined with the original, older footage, where the actors are heavily Brylcreemed and wear suits and ties.
It should be known (and is probably fairly obvious) that the movie was no masterpiece before the extra footage was added. The scenes of Hitler's head in the jar making odd faces, grinning, and furrowing his brow are ridiculously (and unintentionally) funny. It would probably have been long forgotten, maybe occasionally turning up on local late night TV or maybe in a bargain bin. Thanks to the distributor and a few film students, They Saved Hitler's Brain has become required viewing for fans of bad movies.
Friday, August 31, 2012
Russ Meyer
Russ Meyer. His name typically conjures up one image: women with enormous breasts. Now, let's be clear. It doesn't take a whole lot of effort for a guy like me to conjure up images of enormous breasted women. If a person could wager on what I'm thinking about at any given time, if they bet on boobs they would be a frequent winner. My love of boobs is what drew me to Russ Meyer movies in the first place, let's be honest, and I'm sure I'm far from the only one. But like many others, I discovered that behind the breast-obsessed voyeur was a gifted director and storyteller who made quality adult films.
Now, you'll notice I wrote "adult" films because Russ Meyer did not make porn movies. His movies contained plenty of sex and nudity, to be sure, but what his films did contain, unlike the "nudie" movies of the late 50's/early 60's, and most of the hard-core porn of the 70's and beyond, was a plot. In fact, according to John Landis in the great documentary American Grindhouse it was Meyer's 1959 debut The Immoral Mr. Teas that introduced the idea of plot driven nudie movies. Until then most of those movies were "documentaries" about nudist colonies where people stood around talking, hiking, or playing volleyball in the nude. Mr Teas, with it's story about a salesman who obtains X-Ray vision after a trip to the dentist, was a major financial success, and to many ushered in what was known as the "nudie cutie" genre. Meyer followed this up with a series of similar movies over the next five years.
In 1964, with the release of Lorna, starring Lorna Maitland, Meyer began creating the films that would eventually become his trademark: campy movies with darker themes, featuring domineering, statuesque women. This trend continued in 1965 with what would turn out to be a very prolific year with Mudhoney, Motorpsycho, and, what would become his most well-known feature, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, which is now an endearing cult classic. A story about three murderous, thieving go-go dancers, it contains no nudity, very uncharacteristic of Meyer's films. An interesting (to me anyway) sidenote: all three of these 1965 films had at least semi-famous bands named after them.
Meyer's output remained somewhat prolific through the remainder of the decade, the high points being the 1966 "documentary" Mondo Topless and the 1968 hit Vixen! starring frequent collaborator Erica Gavin in the title role. Vixen! contained very taboo (at the time) themes including lesbianism, racism, and even incest. As the decade ended, Meyer would begin work on what would be his most mainstream feature, the sequel to the popular Valley of the Dolls. Released in 1970, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls was written by Roger Ebert (!) and really bore no resemblance to it's predecessor in either style or subject. It did feature a performance by one-hit wonder psychedelic pop band Strawberry Alarm Clock ("Incense and Peppermints"), which alone makes it worth watching.
His output slowed somewhat in the 70's, although several collaborations with Ebert were highlights. Up! (1976) and Beneath The Valley of the Ultravixens (1979), which would prove to be his final film, were graphic and surreal. Both featured the legendary Kitten Natividad, and were far more sexually graphic, even by Meyer's standards, than his earlier features. The latter contained an appearance by the equally legendary Uschi Digard (who had also appeared in one of his earlier features, 1970's Cherry, Harry, and Raquel!). He was hired to direct a movie about The Sex Pistols, which never came to fruition due to numerous problems. The screenplay Ebert wrote (with Pistols manager Malcolm McClaren) would eventually evolve into The Great Rock and Roll Swindle.
Though Meyer would never direct again, his films continued to make him large sums of money through the 80's and 90's via home video. He died in 2004 at age 82, from complications due to Alzheimer's disease.
Now, you'll notice I wrote "adult" films because Russ Meyer did not make porn movies. His movies contained plenty of sex and nudity, to be sure, but what his films did contain, unlike the "nudie" movies of the late 50's/early 60's, and most of the hard-core porn of the 70's and beyond, was a plot. In fact, according to John Landis in the great documentary American Grindhouse it was Meyer's 1959 debut The Immoral Mr. Teas that introduced the idea of plot driven nudie movies. Until then most of those movies were "documentaries" about nudist colonies where people stood around talking, hiking, or playing volleyball in the nude. Mr Teas, with it's story about a salesman who obtains X-Ray vision after a trip to the dentist, was a major financial success, and to many ushered in what was known as the "nudie cutie" genre. Meyer followed this up with a series of similar movies over the next five years.
In 1964, with the release of Lorna, starring Lorna Maitland, Meyer began creating the films that would eventually become his trademark: campy movies with darker themes, featuring domineering, statuesque women. This trend continued in 1965 with what would turn out to be a very prolific year with Mudhoney, Motorpsycho, and, what would become his most well-known feature, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, which is now an endearing cult classic. A story about three murderous, thieving go-go dancers, it contains no nudity, very uncharacteristic of Meyer's films. An interesting (to me anyway) sidenote: all three of these 1965 films had at least semi-famous bands named after them.
Meyer's output remained somewhat prolific through the remainder of the decade, the high points being the 1966 "documentary" Mondo Topless and the 1968 hit Vixen! starring frequent collaborator Erica Gavin in the title role. Vixen! contained very taboo (at the time) themes including lesbianism, racism, and even incest. As the decade ended, Meyer would begin work on what would be his most mainstream feature, the sequel to the popular Valley of the Dolls. Released in 1970, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls was written by Roger Ebert (!) and really bore no resemblance to it's predecessor in either style or subject. It did feature a performance by one-hit wonder psychedelic pop band Strawberry Alarm Clock ("Incense and Peppermints"), which alone makes it worth watching.
His output slowed somewhat in the 70's, although several collaborations with Ebert were highlights. Up! (1976) and Beneath The Valley of the Ultravixens (1979), which would prove to be his final film, were graphic and surreal. Both featured the legendary Kitten Natividad, and were far more sexually graphic, even by Meyer's standards, than his earlier features. The latter contained an appearance by the equally legendary Uschi Digard (who had also appeared in one of his earlier features, 1970's Cherry, Harry, and Raquel!). He was hired to direct a movie about The Sex Pistols, which never came to fruition due to numerous problems. The screenplay Ebert wrote (with Pistols manager Malcolm McClaren) would eventually evolve into The Great Rock and Roll Swindle.
Though Meyer would never direct again, his films continued to make him large sums of money through the 80's and 90's via home video. He died in 2004 at age 82, from complications due to Alzheimer's disease.
Monday, August 27, 2012
Andy Warhol
The man who once said that everyone would be famous for at least 15 minutes certainly had a much longer moment in the spotlight as one of the most recognized artists in the world during his lifetime. His role in the film world, while maybe not as celebrated as his art and his ties to music via the Velvet Underground, were revolutionary in their impact. It is his films that we will celebrate here, and that ensure his stature as a grindhouse legend.
In the 60's, Warhol was prolific with his movie camera, creating hundreds of shorts shot mostly at his "factory" and starring the members of his circle, including Edie Sedgwick and Mary Woronov, who would go on to act in many cult movies over the course of her career. The most well known of these is probably The Chelsea Girls featuring Marie Menken and Woronov, notable mostly because it was actually two movies being shown simultaneously, each one featuring a different story. It was also during this era that Warhol created his nearly 500 famous "screen tests" of renowned (and sometimes unknown) visitors to the factory. These icluded the likes of Bob Dylan, Allen Ginsberg, Salvador Dali, Edie Sedgwick, Lou Reed, Donovan, and Nico. Many of his films were frankly sexual, often dealing with gay themes that were extremely taboo at the time and were thusly relegated to "underground" screenings, or merely at his own private exhibitions.
Warhol stopped directing after he was shot in 1968, and interestingly enough this began the period when the most well known of the films associated with him were produced. A trilogy of films, Flesh, Trash, and Heat, were directed by Paul Morrissey and starred Joe Dallesandro ("Little Joe" from Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side") beginning in 1968. Warhol was the producer, and they achieved modest success and gained instant cult status. All three are remarkable portrayals of underground city life and regarded as exploitation classics.
The 70's brought a move toward horror with the release of Flesh for Frankenstein in 1973 and Blood for Dracula in 1974. Also known as Andy Warhol's Frankenstein and Andy Warhol's Dracula, both films found Morrissey again in the director's chair and Dallesandro starring. The two movies turned out to be the most successful and well known of Warhol's career, and are good, albeit different (it's Warhol, whaddya expect?) genre pieces. Both were rated X upon release because of the excessive sex and violence, and were trimmed for an R but are now easily attainable in unrated versions.
Warhol would go on to produce a small number of films after that, most notably Andy Warhol's Bad in 1977, and his movie career effectively came to an end upon his death 10 years later. Warhol can certainly be viewed as a pioneer of avant-garde cinema with his 60's directorial efforts, and a less pioneering but effective purveyor of exploitation with his 70's productions. With his contributions to the arts in any medium, he was nothing if not a true original.
In the 60's, Warhol was prolific with his movie camera, creating hundreds of shorts shot mostly at his "factory" and starring the members of his circle, including Edie Sedgwick and Mary Woronov, who would go on to act in many cult movies over the course of her career. The most well known of these is probably The Chelsea Girls featuring Marie Menken and Woronov, notable mostly because it was actually two movies being shown simultaneously, each one featuring a different story. It was also during this era that Warhol created his nearly 500 famous "screen tests" of renowned (and sometimes unknown) visitors to the factory. These icluded the likes of Bob Dylan, Allen Ginsberg, Salvador Dali, Edie Sedgwick, Lou Reed, Donovan, and Nico. Many of his films were frankly sexual, often dealing with gay themes that were extremely taboo at the time and were thusly relegated to "underground" screenings, or merely at his own private exhibitions.
Warhol stopped directing after he was shot in 1968, and interestingly enough this began the period when the most well known of the films associated with him were produced. A trilogy of films, Flesh, Trash, and Heat, were directed by Paul Morrissey and starred Joe Dallesandro ("Little Joe" from Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side") beginning in 1968. Warhol was the producer, and they achieved modest success and gained instant cult status. All three are remarkable portrayals of underground city life and regarded as exploitation classics.
The 70's brought a move toward horror with the release of Flesh for Frankenstein in 1973 and Blood for Dracula in 1974. Also known as Andy Warhol's Frankenstein and Andy Warhol's Dracula, both films found Morrissey again in the director's chair and Dallesandro starring. The two movies turned out to be the most successful and well known of Warhol's career, and are good, albeit different (it's Warhol, whaddya expect?) genre pieces. Both were rated X upon release because of the excessive sex and violence, and were trimmed for an R but are now easily attainable in unrated versions.
Warhol would go on to produce a small number of films after that, most notably Andy Warhol's Bad in 1977, and his movie career effectively came to an end upon his death 10 years later. Warhol can certainly be viewed as a pioneer of avant-garde cinema with his 60's directorial efforts, and a less pioneering but effective purveyor of exploitation with his 70's productions. With his contributions to the arts in any medium, he was nothing if not a true original.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
"He's a complicated man...
...but no one understands him but his womuhhhnn...John Shaft! I must admit I heard (and fell in love with) the theme before I ever saw the movie, but what a theme and what a movie! Shaft is great. Put the whole "blaxploitation" thing aside, and take it for what it is, a first rate action movie. Yes, it is often credited with kickstarting the blaxploitation genre (although the less polished but more overtly political Sweet Sweetback's Badass Song came first), and though I am a HUGE fan of them, it's hard to dispute that few of the films that followed were able to match it's quality. The acting and direction are solid, the script is well written (despite some cheesy dated dialogue), and the soundtrack is, indisputably, one of the best ever.
I mentioned the dialogue, and despite it's cheesiness, it's my favorite part of the movie. Lines like "You're a very wise caucasian, Vic", " 'Where are you going, Shaft?' 'To get laid! Where are YOU going?'", and "Cut the crap, man, this is Shaft!" are some of the coolest ever written, and could only, ONLY have been written in the 70's. But the greatest dialogue in the movie, and my favorite dialogue exchange between characters in any movie ever takes place between Shaft and one of his girlfriends, as he's talking to her on a pay phone: she says "I love you!" Shaft says "Yeah, I know. Take it easy." Chauvinistic? Sure. But undeniably cool.
I mentioned the dialogue, and despite it's cheesiness, it's my favorite part of the movie. Lines like "You're a very wise caucasian, Vic", " 'Where are you going, Shaft?' 'To get laid! Where are YOU going?'", and "Cut the crap, man, this is Shaft!" are some of the coolest ever written, and could only, ONLY have been written in the 70's. But the greatest dialogue in the movie, and my favorite dialogue exchange between characters in any movie ever takes place between Shaft and one of his girlfriends, as he's talking to her on a pay phone: she says "I love you!" Shaft says "Yeah, I know. Take it easy." Chauvinistic? Sure. But undeniably cool.
Monday, August 20, 2012
Horror Cliches
One of the things that makes horror movies great is that there is no true definition of what is "scary". What may be scary to some may not be..blah, blah, blah..you get the idea. But it's true. I've watched The Exorcist with people who had no reaction to it at all, and even some that found it funny. Needless to say, I don't understand that (see my previous Exorcist post), but I'm not one to judge. There are many horror cliches that I find annoying or unappealing, some that involve the movies themselves and some that involve those of us who enjoy them. I'd like to touch on a few of those.
I know I'm in the minority on this but I'm getting kind of tired of the idea that in order to be scary a movie has to have lightning fast editing, that staticy (is that a word?) electric buzzing background noise, and have frequent scenes shot in sepia tones. I'm not saying that it doen't work sometimes, but it shouldn't be a requirement. The customary "person being dragged through an opening by some unseen force" scene is getting kind of tired with me too. I often find more subtle, psychological horror a little scarier than the in-your-face variety, a notion which will make the following sentence border on ridiculous: I get suckered in to the "six teenagers go to a cabin in the woods for a weekend of partying, but then get more than they bargained for..." movie every time one comes out. Of course there is no cliche in horror that is more well represented than that one, which proves my point that there is no true definition of scary.
I also find it annoying that there is a stereotypical "horror fan". Take me for example. I seldom dress in black. I don't listen to metal, I don't even particularly care for it. I don't have any tattoos. I haven't watched wrestling since 1985. I haven't been to a haunted house or worn a costume since I was in high school. I'm a 40-ish, overweight, balding, married father of a well-adjusted grade schooler, who lives in the suburbs with a normal day job. I would suspect that many of you have a similar life, and many of you fit the stereotypes (or at least some of them), and it really makes no difference. I hear on occasion that I "don't look like a horror fan", to which I typically reply, "no, but you certainly look like an asshole!", then I stare at him with my glowing red eyes until his head explodes, another non-believer sacrificed for Satan...uh, wait, I mean..I just chuckle and say "yeah, go figure" and make my way home.
I know I'm in the minority on this but I'm getting kind of tired of the idea that in order to be scary a movie has to have lightning fast editing, that staticy (is that a word?) electric buzzing background noise, and have frequent scenes shot in sepia tones. I'm not saying that it doen't work sometimes, but it shouldn't be a requirement. The customary "person being dragged through an opening by some unseen force" scene is getting kind of tired with me too. I often find more subtle, psychological horror a little scarier than the in-your-face variety, a notion which will make the following sentence border on ridiculous: I get suckered in to the "six teenagers go to a cabin in the woods for a weekend of partying, but then get more than they bargained for..." movie every time one comes out. Of course there is no cliche in horror that is more well represented than that one, which proves my point that there is no true definition of scary.
I also find it annoying that there is a stereotypical "horror fan". Take me for example. I seldom dress in black. I don't listen to metal, I don't even particularly care for it. I don't have any tattoos. I haven't watched wrestling since 1985. I haven't been to a haunted house or worn a costume since I was in high school. I'm a 40-ish, overweight, balding, married father of a well-adjusted grade schooler, who lives in the suburbs with a normal day job. I would suspect that many of you have a similar life, and many of you fit the stereotypes (or at least some of them), and it really makes no difference. I hear on occasion that I "don't look like a horror fan", to which I typically reply, "no, but you certainly look like an asshole!", then I stare at him with my glowing red eyes until his head explodes, another non-believer sacrificed for Satan...uh, wait, I mean..I just chuckle and say "yeah, go figure" and make my way home.
Saturday, August 18, 2012
There's Something Weird about that...
As I mentioned in my previous post, I didn't discover the non-horror exploitation films of the 60's and 70's until I was in my late twenties. The most prominent purveyors of these classics for me was Something Weird Video. Named after a 1967 obscure H.G. Lewis classic, Something Weird Video delivers exactly what the name conveys: obscure, wacked-out and, for lack of a better word, weird exploitation movies that cross many eras and genres.
It was through renting these movies that I discovered the productions of such luminaries as David F. Friedman and Harry Novak, who produced sleaze classics directed by the likes of A.C. Stevens and Bethel Buckalew, to name a few. Biker movies, hippie movies, drug movies, and, of course, the short lived genre (which I believe they invented, if not they ceratinly perfected) the Naked Hilbilly movie. Sometimes they may contain elements of all four! Often containing the same group of actors (people like Rene Bond, Marsha Jordan, Ric Lutze, and the venerable George "Buck" Flower), these movies all contain lots of nudity and soft core sex, very little plot, horrible dialogue and acting, and hilarious music, all blended together for hours of sheer exhilarating, blissful awfulness. Some can't miss titles? The Pig-Keepers Daughter, Sassy Sue, Tobacco Roody, Southern Comforts, and last but not least, Midnight Plowboy.
If you're unfamiliar with Something Weird Video (I should hope not, but hey, ya never know) check them out on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/#!/SomethingWeirdVideo Twitter @swvonline on Twitter or their website http://somethingweird.com/ and see what all they have to offer, which is extensive, and trust me, worthwhile. I only touched on a small portion of it here, Go see for yourself.
It was through renting these movies that I discovered the productions of such luminaries as David F. Friedman and Harry Novak, who produced sleaze classics directed by the likes of A.C. Stevens and Bethel Buckalew, to name a few. Biker movies, hippie movies, drug movies, and, of course, the short lived genre (which I believe they invented, if not they ceratinly perfected) the Naked Hilbilly movie. Sometimes they may contain elements of all four! Often containing the same group of actors (people like Rene Bond, Marsha Jordan, Ric Lutze, and the venerable George "Buck" Flower), these movies all contain lots of nudity and soft core sex, very little plot, horrible dialogue and acting, and hilarious music, all blended together for hours of sheer exhilarating, blissful awfulness. Some can't miss titles? The Pig-Keepers Daughter, Sassy Sue, Tobacco Roody, Southern Comforts, and last but not least, Midnight Plowboy.
If you're unfamiliar with Something Weird Video (I should hope not, but hey, ya never know) check them out on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/#!/SomethingWeirdVideo Twitter @swvonline on Twitter or their website http://somethingweird.com/ and see what all they have to offer, which is extensive, and trust me, worthwhile. I only touched on a small portion of it here, Go see for yourself.
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