I’ve made it relatively clear that I am a fan of genre films, up to and including exploitation films. I grew up on these movies and they have helped shape my future movie watching habits, so I have enjoyed quite a bit the recent bit of mainstream love for grindhouse films.

Now, coming on the heels of the outstanding Ozploitation documentary Not Quite Hollywood, comes a film devoted to the American exploitation films of the same time. Now the film does not look to have quite the same level of frenzied adoration as its Australian counterpart, but with its massive cast of interviewees it should prove to be a fascinating look at one of my favorite parts of cinema history.

Official Site
Title: American Grindhouse
Director: Elijah Drenner
Starring: Allison Anders, Larry Cohen, Joe Dante, Don Edmonds, Robert Forster, Jack Hill, John Landis, Herschell Gordon Lewis, William Lustig, Bob Minor, Kim Morgan, Fred Olen Ray, Lewis Teague, Fred Williamson
Release Date: March 2010 (SXSW Film Festival)

Tags: Allison Orr, Australia, bob minor, cinema, cinema history, exploitation, exploitation films, film, films, fred olen ray, Fred Williamson, genre film, genre films, grindhouse, grindhouse films, herschell gordon lewis, Hollywood, Interview, Joe Dante, john landis, kim morgan, larry cohen, movie, Movies, Not Quite Hollywood, One to Watch, ray lewis, robert forster, sxsw, sxsw film festival, william lustig

I wasn’t what you would call a quick convert to the Church of Tarantino. I remember when Pulp Fiction came out and I fully admit to thinking the ad campaign for it made the film look stupid. My freshman year at the University of Minnesota I lived on the St Paul campus which had its own movie theater. While I can brag that I watched Clerks there before you even knew it existed, I turned a blind eye to Pulp Fiction when it played there. Even that summer, when I was home and working at a movie theater, I did my best to ignore the marketing for it. Why would I care about a bunch of has-beens and never-weres with bad haircuts?

Soon enough I learned the error of my ways. I watched Reservoir Dogs and was so impressed that I finally was rather intrigued at what Pulp Fiction was going to be like. Luckily, I knew several clerks at my local video store and they loaned me a screener copy of the film so I could see what all the fuss was about.

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