Past generations grew up in the "grind-house" world, but that world has fallen to the wayside of the megaplex. The trailer for the new Robert Rodriguez-Quentin Tarantino film, aptly titled "Grindhouse," describes it as "a theater playing back-to-back films exploiting sex, violence and other extreme subject matter." Their new film brings this house of the 1970s into the 21st century.
"Grindhouse" is chock-full of the different stories and genres that made up the exploitation film scene. Rodriguez's "Planet Terror" is equal parts Romero zombie film and '80s action extravaganza, whereas Tarantino's "Death Proof" mixes the vehicle/slasher/female revenge genres together into some kind of godlike puree.
It's obvious that the exploitation films he grew up on have always influenced Tarantino. The film "Jackie Brown" was not only his ode to great blaxploitation films of the '70s such as "Coffy" and "Foxy Brown," but it also revitalized the careers of its exploitation stars, Pam Grier and Robert Forester. "Kill Bill" borrowed heavily from grind-house films, such as the O-Ren Ishii character's style from "Lady Snowblood" and the Elle Driver character obviously derived from the eye-patch clad female from "Thriller: A Cruel Picture."
The fake trailers featured throughout "Grindhouse" were created by some of the foremost genre filmmakers working today. Eli Roth ("Hostel") helmed a trailer called "Thanksgiving," the only holiday not yet immortalized by a horror film. It's funny, it's scary, it's gory, and the trailer perfectly captures the trailers of the day. "Don't Scream" is a trailer by Edgar Wright ("Shaun of the Dead") that is a glorious homage to the foreign splatter films of the day. Never one to avoid controversy, Rob Zombie does a take off of the Nazisploitation genre made famous by "Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS" with his trailer for "Werewolf Women of the S.S.," featuring his wife, Sheri Moon Zombie, and a cameo by a true "national treasure."
Just because a film is a grind-house film doesn't necessarily mean it's bad. Here's a rundown of several exploitation genres and some of the select films of said genre:
Blaxploitation - "Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song," directed by Melvin Van Peebles, was the first of the genre. Van Peebles couldn't get any studio to back an all-black cast, so he independently financed the film as well as capitalized on the white-black dichotomy by giving the film the tagline "The film the MAN doesn't want you to see." "Shaft" came out a few months later and gave the black community their own cool detective to root for. Curtis Mayfield's fantastic score for "Super Fly" is one of its most well-known aspects. Quentin Tarantino's Film Festival last year screened "Brotherhood of Death," a movie about three black friends who go off and fight in Vietnam together. When they return home, they are obviously not welcome by the racist town. They must fight back for the rights of their community by using the tricks and booby traps they learned in Vietnam.
Female Revenge - "Kill Bill" obviously borrowed heavily from this genre. "I Spit On Your Grave" is arguably the first of this genre, featuring a female author who is raped and then seeks revenge on her assailants. The Swedish film "Thriller: A Cruel Picture" features a young girl who is kidnapped, drugged and turned into a prostitute. With the money she earns from her job, she begins to take various lessons (karate, driving, shooting) so one day she may exact revenge on the people who took her life ... and her eye!
Road Movies - "Vanishing Point" is a ridiculously fun road picture about a man and his Dodge Challenger (the same car Tarantino uses in "Death Proof"). Barry Newman is trying to deliver a car in less than 15 hours, and the cops begin to try to take him into custody. Newman is guided by radio DJ Super Soul, played by Cleavon Little.
Sexploitation - "The Girl from Starship Venus" is a hilarious film I also saw at Tarantino's film fest. It involves an alien disguised as a beautiful young woman who lands in Soho to explore and research sex on Earth.
Women in Prison - "Caged Heat" is a film produced by B-movie master Roger Corman about women trying to bust out of the slammer. Pam Grier stars in both "The Big Doll House" and "White Mama, Black Mama," both also about women trying to break free from their imprisonment. In "The Big Doll House," Grier even sings the catchy ditty "Long Time Woman," also used by Tarantino in "Jackie Brown."
Embrace the exploitation and see "Grindhouse" in a packed, rowdy theater tonight.
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