Top 10 Grind House Films
We take a look at the genre that inspired <i>Grindhouse</i>.
By IGN Staff
Updated: 15 May 2012 11:07 am
Posted: 4 Apr 2007 4:23 pm
, from directors Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, was conceived as an homage to old-school exploitation flicks. Exploitation films, sometimes referred to as grindhouse
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movies (after the type of theaters where they were predominantly screened) or paracinema (if you're a film student), can be identified by their emphasis on extreme depictions of sex, violence and gore, over things like, say... quality or artistic merit.
These kind of sensational movies have been around since the early days of cinema, but the whole concept peaked in the 1970s when filmmakers began to more freely explore cultural taboos. The whole grindhouse concept began to crash in the '80s when home video arose -- people just watched the films at home instead of going to the theaters. And while the grindhouses themselves might have been demolished long ago, modern day movie mavericks like Tarantino have brought the exploitation film -- albeit a postmodern, deconstructionist version of it -- into the mainstream.
With QT and RR's ode to the genre that inspired them hitting theaters this weekend, we thought it apropos to present our picks for the "Top 10 Grindhouse Movies." Enjoy!
10. Please Don't Eat My Mother
A sentimental favorite... this movie might feature a man-eating plant with a sexy female voice, but this ain't no Little Shop of Horrors. Please Don't Eat My Mother! is a sexploitation horror-comedy spoof of Roger Corman's 1960 classic. The story follows a middle-aged man who acquires a plant with a taste for bugs, reptiles, canines and... you guessed it... nekkid ladies! Sure, it's a brain draining sleazefest, but that's what makes it so awesome.
9. Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS
Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS is the over-the-top tale of a lady Nazi who conducted sadistic experiments to prove that women were more capable of enduring pain than men. You see where this is going, right? Anyway, she also happens to be a sexual fiend who discards her men by torturing and killing them once she's had her way with them. (Sounds like one of my ex-girlfriends.) The movie, which starred Dyanne Thorn in the title role, spawned several sequels and innumerable dirty thoughts.
8. Cannibal Holocaust
This 1980 movie caused a stir primarily because a lot of people thought it was real. Filmed on location in the Amazon, the story follows four documentary filmmakers who are making a movie about the area's primitive tribes. When the team disappears, a rescue mission is launched in hopes of finding the team alive. And even if you haven't seen the movie, you should pretty much be able to fill in the blanks from there. Cannibal Holocaust was banned in Italy shortly after its premiere, and the director, Ruggero Deodato, was accused of making a snuff film. Authorities didn't actually let him off the hook until he presented them with the real life actors that were seemingly slain on screen. Despite this, the flick is still banned in numerous countries because of its graphic gore, sexual violence and the legitimate killing of animals.
7. I Spit on Your Grave
Esteemed film critic Roger Ebert says I Spit on Your Grave is "a vile bag of garbage...without a shred of artistic distinction." So you know it's got to be good! The story, although calling it that might be a bit of a stretch, follows a woman who is attacked and raped by a group of men. That's the genuinely disturbing part, of course. The "fun" comes in when she gets her revenge and subsequently "cuts, chops, breaks and burns them all beyond recognition" -- this exquisite language actually appears on the film's poster. And while director Meir Zarchi has denied that his controversial film was intended to be exploitative in nature, we don't really care.
6. Vampyros Lesbos
With a name like Vampyros Lesbos, it's got to be good! This 1971 German film from director Jesus Franco is a classic example of the European exploitation film. The movie follows a young female lawyer who travels on a job assignment to an island where she encounters the mysterious, beautiful countess Carody. Basically, it's a budget take on Dracula with lesbian vampires. Now you're feelin' it.
5. Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song
That's right... five S's! 1971's Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, was written, produced, scored, and directed, by star Melvin Van Peebles. It is the original blaxploitation film, but some critics argue that the movie, probably because it's so good, isn't an exploitation film at all. We think they're wrong. The film was groundbreaking because of its avant-garde visual style and also because it featured a tough black dude sticking it to the Man... and he doesn't get killed in the end!
4. Zombi 2
While the movie doesn't actually have any connection to the original Zombi (a recut-for-Europe version of Romero's Dawn of the Dead), the film sparked a zombie movie craze across Europe and made Italian filmmaker Lucio Fulci a horror icon. The flick is known for its sensational zombie antics such as the notorious "eye-gouging," and zombie vs. shark scenes. The flick was later released in the U.S. as Zombie, a standalone release with no connection to Romero's movies.
3. Vanishing Point
This 1971 carsploitation flick stars Barry Newman as Kowalski, a delivery driver who has lost everything and becomes a counterculture hero as he leads police on a crazy four-stage car chase. All the while Kowalski is guided by a blind radio DJ named Super Soul. Of course, it all ends in a flaming heap of metal, but even that is fun to watch. Newman might be billed as the star of the flick, directed by Richard C. Sarafian, but the real star is the Alpine White 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T with a 440/375 horsepower engine!
2. Coffy
Coffy is the 1973 blaxploitation film that launched the career of Pam Grier, who would follow up the flick with another genre classic, Foxy Brown. Here Grier plays the title role of a nurse-cum-vigilante who sets out on a one-woman war against crime after her sister becomes addicted to drugs. The movie, directed by Jack Hill, broke new ground by featuring a strong black woman as a lead. It's also notable for its strong anti-drug message -- a notion that was out of vogue in the early 1970s.
1. Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
There's no denying that Russ Meyer's Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! is outrageously campy. But that hasn't stopped the film from becoming a cult classic. The flick centers on three sexy go-go dancers who go on a murderous rampage. It has plenty of crazy violence, gratuitous sexuality (although it does not have explicit nudity), and is known as one of the controversial filmmaker's most explicitly exploitative films.
Release DateApril 6, 2007
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