one of my absolute favorites!

Dreadfully Boring

Absolutely the worst movie.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

American Grindhouse is a straightforward clip compilation that traces the history of exploitation cinema from its very beginnings through to the present day. It's very ordinary in format, and the writing is hardly engaging, but it just about gets by thanks to the extraordinary assortment of interviewees they've assembled for the job.The documentary starts out by looking at the old sensation films of the 1930s before moving into the 1950s nudity wave. From the 1960s, the double whammy sellers of sex and violence become prevalent, with the likes of H. G. Lewis coming to the fore, and then the glory days of 1970s grindhouse cinema hit.The reliable Robert Forster is the narrator, while those being interviewed include John Landis, Joe Dante, William Lustig, Jack Hill, and many more besides. Tons of clips are also used to illustrate various points, but for the most part this is a generalised celebration of exploitation cinema, extremely superficial but entertaining nonetheless.

Cheerful, appropriately unfettered documentary on exploitation, sexploitation and blaxploitation movies, from 1913's "Traffic in Souls" to the (would-be) grindhouse movies of the present day (Tarantino's efforts rightly looked upon as homages rather than the real thing). Elijah Drenner co-wrote, co-produced and directed this clip-heavy essay on the names, faces and posters behind the salacious, scandalous, shocking and sometimes successful grade-B features that played in rundown theaters on the bad side of town. Of the celebrity interviews, only directors John Landis and Joe Dante are knowing enough to give us a broad spectrum of the now-cult genre. Drenner loves showing off the title cards and advertisements of the movies his guests are talking about, but there's no exploration into the financing, production or box-office returns of these pictures. It's a facetious, shallow entertainment--which may be purely intentional, as it accurately reflects the sex-drugs-and-gore-infatuated features on display. ** from ****

Exploitation cinema has been around since the creation of film itself, as this extremely snappy and concise, yet still comprehensive and illuminating documentary astutely points out. Among the subjects covered are the definition of exploitation, the origins of exploitation in the silent movie era, the Hays Code, Tod Browning's "Freaks," educational shock docs (yep, we get to see some disgustingly explicit birth of a baby footage), film noir, 50's juvenile delinquent pictures, nudist camp romps, AIP fare, Russ Meyer, roughies, gore flicks, biker outings, chicks-in-chains movies, the 70's blaxploitation explosion, Nazisploitation, the eruption of porn, and the ongoing legacy of grindhouse pictures in the early 21st century. The eclectic array of interviewees are quite lively and enjoyable, with especially stand-out contributions from film critic and historian Kim Morgan, a highly funny and dynamic John Landis, the ever-charismatic Fred Williamson, a seriously whacked-out David Hess, "Ilsa" director Don Edmonds (who flat out admits he made this notorious cult classic because he was starving and desperately needed the money), screenwriter James Gordon White, director William Lustig, exploitation legends Jack Hill, Larry Cohen, Herschell Gordon Lewis, and Ted V. Mikels, and actress Judy Brown. Zipping along at a constantly brisk pace, perfectly narrated by Robert Forster, and containing a wealth of choice trashy and graphic clips from countless gloriously down'n'dirty nickel'n'dime features, this baby is absolutely essential viewing for exploitation cinema buffs.

American Grindhouse (2010)*** (out of 4)This film begins with people debating on what a grindhouse film really is and after the release of the film GRINDHOUSE it seems like everyone was debating the true definition. This documentary, to me, covers pretty much everything that wasn't accepted by the mainstream. We cover a wide range of films starting with some early silents from Edison and then moving to Hollywood movies like FREAKS as well as trashier things like MANIAC, REEFER MADNESS and then going through other decades. Included are the "birth" films from the 40s, the nudist films of the 60s, the gore period starting with Herschell Gordon Lewis and then moving through the 70s with stuff like THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT and the blaxploitation pictures. John Landis, William Lustig, Ted V. Mikels, Herschell Gordon Lewis, Joe Dante, Kim Morgan, Fred Olen Ray, Fred Williamson, Allison Anders, Larry Cohen, David Hess, Don Edmonds and Jack Hill are just a few of the people interviewed here and they too have a wide range of opinions on the films covered here. For the most part I think this is a terrific introduction to those unfamiliar with the genre but if you have a good idea of these films and their history then it's doubtful you're going to learn much here. I think American GRINDHOUSE would best be used as a training tool for those new movie fans wanting to see about this stuff and be able to see countless clips as well as get some nice recommendations for rentals. I think the documentary does a good job at covering various genres but at just 83-minutes there's really no way it can really dig deep into everything. Europeon films are pretty much overlooked and this is somewhat frustrating especially when certain films are made to appear as if they started a sub-genre when in fact it was usually something overseas. The film also does a nice job at showing how certain production rules in Hollywood is what helped change the exploitation filmmakers and how Hollywood eventually had to drop what they were doing and offer people what they wanted.