DVD Review: Grindhouse Trailers Classics 2 (2008)
The first volume went down well, so why not have another? And here it is - Grindhouse Trailer Classics 2.
Grindhouse you ask? Yes, a bit of a 'flavour of the month' term right now - you probably know it better as exploitation cinema, particularly from the 60s, 70s and early 80s. Think low-budget shocker playing at low-rent cinemas or those video nasties you saw on the shelves of your local video shop in the format's infancy. And while the movies might have been of...shall we say 'variable' quality, the trailers were guaranteed to get you rushing back for more.
Yes, the best way to sell a low budget movie is to make it look and sound like the most shocking experience known to man. Which is why the trailer is often more entertaining than sitting through the full 90-minute movie - it takes out the woeful acting, the laughable plot and the pitiful special effects, leaving in the best snippets and that 'dare you watch' message to entice you into the cinema the following week. Of course, not all the films were bad - some grindhouse flicks (like Texas Chainsaw Massacre for example) are now viewed as classics. But a great number were made purely to shock and to make a fast buck...and some can still shock today. Although you'll probably be shocked by the subject matter more than the actual content.
The selection on volume 2 certainly covers all bases - sex, violence, torture, horror, kung fu, blaxploitation, cannibals, gay bikers - you want it, it's probably here. And that includes such 'gems' as The Tigress (Russian prison camp torture mistress movies to America), Black Shampoo (the killer hairdresser), Cut-Throats Nine (escape convicts go on a murdering spree for gold), The Black Gestapo (black nazi gang takes on local gangsters), Don't Go In The House (because you might not come out alive), Criminally Insane (she loves food, she loves killing), Bloody Pit Of Horror (kind of explains itself), The Pink Angels (camp bikers being chased by the straight establishment), The Worm Eaters (yes, they eat worms) and Invasion of The Blood Farmers ('they plant the living...and harvest the dead').
There's also a bunch of seriously questionable flicks as Jail Bait Babysitter, The Depraved and The Cheerleaders and a few you might already know - Dolemite, Foxy Brown, Rabid, Driller Killer, The Exterminator and Brit cult classics Deathline (under its US title Raw Meat), Vampyres and Virgin Witch.
Like the first volume, this is solid entertainment and the perfect disc to watch with a few mates on a Friday night. And like the previous volume, it's also a great reference and starting point for the genre. Indeed, many of these movies are now getting DVD releases, so if you want a to build a collection of weird, wonderful and plain warped exploitation flicks, a two-hour 'try before you buy' disc like this is well worth the asking price. Another winner from Marc Morris and if you bought volume one, the perfect companion to it.
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