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lshap
Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 9:30 pm Reply with quote
Site Admin Joined: 12 May 2004 Posts: 4246 Location: Montreal
This month's theme will be archived and a new one begun next week. Dlhavard will be our next host.

This was a great start. Thanks to Tirebiter and all who got the place into gear.
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mo_flixx
Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 10:11 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 30 May 2004 Posts: 12533
Dl, do you know what we will be discussing?

Maybe I should pass on trying to cram a Russ Meyer into my viewing schedule, and start with whatever you're planning to discuss.

Thanks.
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lshap
Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 10:37 pm Reply with quote
Site Admin Joined: 12 May 2004 Posts: 4246 Location: Montreal
I just emailed Dl a bit earlier to let her know she's on deck. I doubt she's given it much thought yet.
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tirebiter
Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2006 1:56 am Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 4011 Location: not far away
I'll be sorry to see the old place close down. All the fond moments of the last three weeks... they're pressed forever between the pages of my Album of Treasured Memories.

BUT BEFORE WE GO: Am I right in thinking that exploitation film is primarily a nostalgic quantity? Is it only aimed at (and valued by) the adolescent sensibility that yearns to see and hear The Forbidden (i.e., a flash of t*t or a Bad Word or a Guy Get His Head Cut Off Right On Camera)? As I get older, I've come to think this may be true-- there's a novelty factor that gave the "classic" exploitation of the 30s to 70s its power. First, there was a dominant and repressive culture that made it risky and exciting when boundaries were transgressed (before pervasive cable made dirty words and boobage common); and second, labelling films as "exploitation" now locates them in a safe place where they're quaint and camp: their time past, their mojo is gone.

Dunno. Thoughts before the lights dim?
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mo_flixx
Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2006 2:27 am Reply with quote
Joined: 30 May 2004 Posts: 12533
tirebiter wrote:
I'll be sorry to see the old place close down. All the fond moments of the last three weeks... they're pressed forever between the pages of my Album of Treasured Memories.

BUT BEFORE WE GO: Am I right in thinking that exploitation film is primarily a nostalgic quantity? Is it only aimed at (and valued by) the adolescent sensibility that yearns to see and hear The Forbidden (i.e., a flash of t*t or a Bad Word or a Guy Get His Head Cut Off Right On Camera)? As I get older, I've come to think this may be true-- there's a novelty factor that gave the "classic" exploitation of the 30s to 70s its power. First, there was a dominant and repressive culture that made it risky and exciting when boundaries were transgressed (before pervasive cable made dirty words and boobage common); and second, labelling films as "exploitation" now locates them in a safe place where they're quaint and camp: their time past, their mojo is gone.

Dunno. Thoughts before the lights dim?


Certain types of exploitation films _are_ probably a thing of the past. Perhaps DVD's and home theaters have dictated a different approach to the business.

On the other hand, I am reminded of the success of "The Blair Witch Project" just a few years ago which I guess one could signal a continued life for exploitation films.

[You could argue that it's low budget horror...but I think one could also argue that it was an exploitation film.]

BTW, I suspect there are still plenty of Asian exploitation films being made. Marc would know a lot more about this.
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Nancy
Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2006 2:27 am Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 4607 Location: Norman, OK
tire,

I think it would certainly be harder to make a successful exploitation flick today. The best ones tend to have a naive gullibility (that this really is something that you should tell your children, etc.) that we are a bit too cynical for today. What we tend to get, instead of straight blaxploitation, nunsploitation, sexploitation or what have you, are parodies. We just don't seem to take our 'sploitation seriously any more.

_________________
"All in all, it's just another feather in the fan."

Isaacism, 2009
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Marc
Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2006 2:43 am Reply with quote
Joined: 19 May 2004 Posts: 8424
Rob Zombie attempted to make a neo-exploitation film in THE DEVIL'S REJECTS, but it is far too self-aware to be any fun. As I watched REJECTS,
I kept being reminded of the raw thrills of the films it is paying homage to: THE HILLS HAVE EYES, TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE, LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT and at least a dozen other gore fests of the 70s and 80s. Like the Troma movies, REJECTS tries to duplicate the crude innocent kicks of exploitation but ultimately fails because crudeness and innocence is not something learned or recreated. Its like the difference between THE CLASH and RANCID. One is pure, the other secondhand.
Good exploitation is like garage rock of the '60s. The Kingsmen doing LOUIE LOUIE or Hershell Gordon Lewis's BLOOD FEAST are the creations of inspired amateurs. Rob Zombie's THE DEVIL'S REJECTS displays alot of film making skill. Unfortunately, exploitation has nothing to do with skill. Skill is a gloss that smothers the raw power (thanks Iggy) of genuine exploitation.
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gromit
Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2006 3:02 am Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
My impression is that low-budget horror is sort of the last bastion of exploitation films.

Besides blaxpolitation, I'm not really much of a fan of exploitation films. But thought I'd just mention some of what I see available on dvd here. There are two Russ Meyer boxes, Russ Meyer's Mondo Box and RM's Wide Box. Both contain a 6-pack of features, but I couldn't tell what the difference was between the two.

There is also a 3 pack of Joe D'Amato films.
These have titles such as:
Super Climax Orgasmo Nero (aka Black Orgasm) [1980]
Sex and Black Magic
Erotic Nights of the Living Dead
I don't know anything about Joe D'Amato, except that he was Italian, but when your entry on AMG has 8 aliases, you can guess that he was involved in the seedier side of the business.

I'm not sure if this was touched on, but the Japanese made alot of expoitation films. One of my favorites is Hanzo the Razor. Sex, violence and humor. Hanzo is a renegade policeman who tends to lop off heads with his sword, and "interrogate" females with his cock. Bizarre stuff. If I remember correctly, the first 2 films in the series were good fun, while the 3rd was pretty tired stuff.

Shogun Assassin has also recently surfaced.
It's actually two films in a series cobbled together, with poor English dubbing, and over-the-top violence, which includes a killer baby carriage
The dvd cover contains this stellar quote:
"The blood gushes out all over the screen,
as if being hosed into the camera."
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Marc
Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2006 3:18 am Reply with quote
Joined: 19 May 2004 Posts: 8424
Of contemporary Asian exploitation, ICHI THE KILLER is the real deal. Directed by Takashi Miike, ICHI has several taboo bursting scenes that belong in the "I've never seen that before" category that reminded me of early exploitation classics like COLOR ME BLOOD RED and THE WIZARD OF GORE. ICHI is the work of a hugely talented director so it ain't crude but it is rude.
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Nancy
Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2006 11:07 am Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 4607 Location: Norman, OK
gromit wrote:
Shogun Assassin has also recently surfaced.
It's actually two films in a series cobbled together, with poor English dubbing, and over-the-top violence, which includes a killer baby carriage


I once saw this one on one of the Hispanic channels. It was really weird seeing a Japanese film that had been dubbed into Spanish.

_________________
"All in all, it's just another feather in the fan."

Isaacism, 2009
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tirebiter
Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2006 3:23 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 4011 Location: not far away
From the films Marc mentions, I get the feeling that he too associates the best of exploitation with his youth. There were no videos or DVDs back then (by cracky), so the experience was intimately associated with theatre-going (usually a grind-house). Kind of a rite of passage.

Watched the first half of Danger:Diabolik with my son last night-- still a psychedleic masterpiece. These things need to be seen in a theatre with a crowd. Damn this new-fangled technology!!
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yambu
Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2006 10:26 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 23 May 2004 Posts: 6441 Location: SF Bay Area
Foreign Film:

- Look at Me
- Downfall

Edukator is my third favorite foreigner, but I can't give it a nom.
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Syd
Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2006 10:47 pm Reply with quote
Site Admin Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 12887 Location: Norman, Oklahoma
You may want to put those in the Blanche forum.

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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament
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yambu
Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2006 11:04 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 23 May 2004 Posts: 6441 Location: SF Bay Area
Thenk yoo, veddy mutch.
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mo_flixx
Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2006 10:05 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 30 May 2004 Posts: 12533
Hope there's still time to make an EXPLOITATION post.

This is just to say that I remember some of the very early Oliver Reed films (such as "The Damned") - late '50's, early '60's - when Reed was still kind of a beefy hunk. He did a number of exploitation films and was very good in them.

It makes me really miss him when I think about his pitiful demise before shooting on GLADIATOR was finished. Reed had alcohol problems which had taken a sizeable toll.
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