Grindhouse Trailer Classics 3 (1965 - 1980)

The Collection

Since the boom of obscure films available on DVD, Grindhouse films have gained a cult popularity among film collectors. There is no specific Grindhouse genre, but it represents any variety of exploitation films encompassing a wide range of low budget shockers, erotic and action films from the American Deep South via Spain and Italy to China and Japan, that played in the fleapit cinemas epitomised by New York's 42nd Avenue. As enjoyable as the films themselves (or often moreso) were the trailers which determinedly tried to outshine each other within the crowded marketplace, cramming in every violent or sexy scene from the film and often using wry voiceovers and gimmicks to try and distinguish themselves.

This third collection of Grindhouse trailers from Nucleus Films covers the era's heyday from the mid-'60s to the mid-'80s and focuses mostly on ultra-low-budget American made films from the likes of Cannon Films, American International Pictures and Roger Corman's New World Pictures as well as a variety of fly-by-night independents. Often set and filmed in the American Deep South, trailers are included from horror films like The Touch of Satan (1971), action films like Northville Cemetery Massacre (1976) and Black Oak Conspiracy (1977) and of course the ever popular Blacksploitation genre with Soul Soldier (1970). Generally these trailers are rather more conventional in their format, although the films themselves are an utterly bizarre mix - The Doberman Gang (1972) about a criminal gang who use dogs to commit the roberies compares neatly with The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1973) about a black CIA agent who uses his contacts to plan a revolution against the US Government.

To add variation there are still a number of imported trailers in the mix as well - among others, on the horror side, Lucio Fulci's Lizard in a Woman's Skin (1971) [under its US title Schizoid] appears along with Leon Klimovsky's Spanish horror The Vampire's Night Orgy (1973) while some skin is provided by German erotica Swedish Wife Exchange Club (1969) and ultra-sleazy Italian film Nazi Love Camp 27 (1977). A little Far Eastern action comes courtesy of Hong Kong action films like Deadly China Doll (1973) and Slash: The Blade of Death (1971), as well as Cannon Films' faux-Oriental Revenge of the Ninja (1983). These films certainly provide some much stranger trailers and a real highlight is the "self-censored" trailer for Nazi Love Camp 27 which actually has an on-screen 'cut' notice in the middle of various naughty scenes.

The standard of the presentation is consistent from the previous two discs and each trailer is clearly seperated as well as having its own chapter stop and menu entry to make it easy to browse as well as to watch as a single feature. There are a lot more American trailers here than on part two and although the trailers are spread out and split up to avoid too much similarity, if watching the whole disc in a single sitting, it can become a little repetitive. In keeping with the spirit of the series there are certainly some very rare and obscure trailers on this reel, although the low budget American films which are the focus of this disc generally did not seem to use as elaborate promotional techniques as those films covered on the earlier discs and although there are a few neat gimmicks on show, most of the trailers are more conventional (even if the films themselves are generally not). As a result, this disc is probably of less interest to casual viewers, but certainly recommended to fans of Grindhouse films in general and particularly in the low budget American productions.

Films Included

In Brief

The DVD

Summary

• A varied selection of obscure trailers, will certainly appeal to fans of Grindhouse films.

• Print and audio are good and the trailers are well presented.

Links

• For explanations of technical terms, see the DVD Dictionary.

All text in this review written by Timothy Young - 10th November 2011.
Text from this review not to be used without authorization.

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