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<  Third Eye Archives - Specialty Forums  ~  As The Forum Turns - This Month: EXPLOITATION FILM

Trish
Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 8:56 am Reply with quote
Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 2438 Location: Massachusetts
Marc wrote:
exploitation flicks are hot again:

SAW
SAW 2
DEVIL'S REJECTS
HOSTEL
CABIN FEVER
TEXAS CHAINSAW remake
DAWN OF THE DEAD remake


So what's the difference between an Exploitation film and a Horror film?- there seems to be a blurring of the lines - I'm trying to conceptualize what a true exploitation film is
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tirebiter
Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 9:30 am Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 4011 Location: not far away
Well, I know it when I see it.

Is it just "low budget" + "lotsa sex & violence" = exploitation? Or is it more than that?

Silent film? That's easy: it's silent. War? Western? Musical? Pretty simple. Lots of SF films are exploitation, but is Bladerunner? Most horror is-- how about Silence of the Lambs? The Haunting? Are they "exploitation films?"

Looking for a working definition here....
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Trish
Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 9:33 am Reply with quote
Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 2438 Location: Massachusetts
so bad horror film = exploitation film ?
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jeremy
Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 9:41 am Reply with quote
Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 6794 Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)
I remember seeing the first Toxic Avenger in my teens. Maybe I was too smart a dumbass or too naive a sophisticate to appreciate that bad could be good; I thought it was just plain bad.

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tirebiter
Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 10:12 am Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 4011 Location: not far away
Trish: I see what you mean, but I'd say exploitation film encompasses much more than just "bad horror films." Nudie-cuties, anti-drug diatribes, beach movies, JD films, gore flicks, chop-socky--and really, dozens more. So much depends on budget, marketing, intention....

I don't want to hog things here-- somebody else weigh in.
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Trish
Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 11:02 am Reply with quote
Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 2438 Location: Massachusetts
"intention" - do you mean specifically intention to make money - because in that case it would be the largest genre of film out there...


as far as anti-drug films - I'd be more likely to place those in the "propaganda" films category


Films that appeal to the lowest common denominator? to our most basest instincts (LOL - now I'm sounding preachy...)


obviously Exploitation films - exploit something - but what is it?
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dlhavard
Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 11:13 am Reply with quote
Joined: 24 May 2004 Posts: 1352 Location: Detroit (where the slow are run over)
I have three to recommend:

Billy the Kid vs. Dracula (a really hammy John Carradine)
Attack of the 50 Foot woman (either version) - my personal favorite is the more recent one with one of the Baldwin boys.

and my all time favorite Joan Crawford

Trog!

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marantzo
Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 11:46 am Reply with quote
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If we start to try to define the parameters of 'Exploitation' films we will never get into discussing the actual films. Don't you people have any memory of how every time we start discussing these kind of things, that it goes on forever with everyone having their own little ideas?

Forget the definition, we are pretty close together on this as far as I can tell. Clam's definition does it for me.

The original The Blob was a bad/so it was good, exploitation film. They tried to exploit the teen market which had taken Rebel Without A Cause to it's heart and tried to make Steve McQueen another James Dean with the teeners saving the world from the alien blob. They hit all the bases. Teen hero's, stupid authorities, scifi aliens, teen love, rebel handsome, super cool leader. And pretty teenage girls. It was awful. But I'd like to see it again.
Trish
Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 12:22 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 2438 Location: Massachusetts
so we should just free associate - think "exploitation" and whatever film pops into our head - we can then discuss - whether the term fits or not

okay I'll try it Exploitation = Crash
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lady wakasa
Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 12:28 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 5911 Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
How about Motel Hell? Not sure what it's exploiting; but if it smells like exploitation, Odorama can't be far behind.

Which reminds me: John Waters.
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lshap
Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 1:44 pm Reply with quote
Site Admin Joined: 12 May 2004 Posts: 4246 Location: Montreal
Back in the early 90's in Canada, we had a horrific series of sex murders committed by a husband and wife team. Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka drugged, raped and killed three young girls, one of which was Karla's own younger sister. The circumstances were beyond appalling.

While Bernardo is serving 25-to-life, Karla Homolka cut a deal back then which saw her, incredibly, get out this past summer. She's free and living right here in Montreal.

And now, naturally, we're getting ready for the big movie premiere based on her story. Reaction to this yet-to-be-seen film is, naturally, quite intense.

This seems to be a pretty good example of "Exploitation", dontcha' think?
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dlhavard
Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 1:57 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 24 May 2004 Posts: 1352 Location: Detroit (where the slow are run over)
Sorry Ishap - they already made an Law and Order episode out of it.

How about Swamp Thing? Which is mainly about saving the swamps and Adrienne Barbeau's breasts.

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lady wakasa
Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 2:09 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 5911 Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
Lorne - I heard half of that on the CBC the other day, and it wasn't making much sense.

Now that you've explained it, I'm sorry it does.
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shannon
Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 2:30 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 1628 Location: NC
Quote:
I could be an obnoxious twit (something I never am) and define "exploitation film"--


Ha. I'll be the twit. "Exploitation films may adopt the subject matters and stylings of other film genres (particularly documentary films or horror films), but are themselves recognized as a genre by the fact that they typically sacrifice traditional notions of artistic merit for the sensational display of some topic about which the audience may be curious, or have some prurient interest."

I'm interested in this exploitation subgenre known as "nunsploitation" if only because I can't comprehend how there'd be enough of these films to constitute a new classification.
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shannon
Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 2:35 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 1628 Location: NC
Apparently "nunsploitation" is popular enough to have fansites.
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