Amazon.com
Vice Rackets! Narcotics! Nazis! Nudists! Cults! Wrestling Women! No sooner than the first movie camera was invented, it was put to sordid use. Grindhouse is a sexy and sardonic romp through the history of "adults only" cinema, from the roadshows and "hygiene" movies of the '30s, to the burlesque and vice movies of the '40s, to the Scandinavian Invasion of the '70s. Includes photos of rare posters and lobby cards as well as portraits of the auteurs of the films, such as Russ Meyer and David F. Friedman.
Booklist
Before the advent of the corner video store, connoisseurs of sex and sensation sought the stuff they loved in grindhouses. Although the low-budget films these low-rent venues screened promised more lewdness, nudity, and weirdness than they delivered, some are monuments of ludicrous filmmaking. Perhaps the best known is Ed Wood's transvestite opus, Glen or Glenda, but it is just one of the daffy and scuzzy movies Muller and Faris note in their decade-by-decade tour of yesterday's prurience. As historically responsible scribes, the pair recognizes the role of such big-budget, more hard-core movies as Deep Throat in the demise of the grindhouse genre and recounts how a film now considered a genuine classic, Tod Browning's Freaks, was once double-billed with classic trash like Wages of Sin and Reefer Madness. Possessed of some reference value for collocating the many titles under which the same sleazy shows were repeatedly recycled, the book's most endearing aspect may be its many illustrations--a rogue's gallery of cheesy publicity for cheesier flickers. Mike Tribby
Ingram
Grindhouse lovingly traces the sordid history of the "adults only" film, from Poverty Row productions of the 1930s to the swinging '70s and the days of free love. In truth, the movies themselves were extremely tame by today's standards--replaced by hardcore pornography and the advent of VCRs. Grindhouse brims with rare posters and lobby cards for these outrageous subculture masterpieces. color photos. 180 b&w illustrations.
Publisher comments
A few reviews for this lovely book
"Keep your copy of VOODOO MUSIC handy while perusing this. GRINDHOUSE's title is evocative and the authors know whereof they speak---they wisely wrap their tribute to the blue movie era in the early Seventies, preferring the Sixties-style sexploitation flicks to the Mitchell Brothers hardcover porno era. It's also not just poser-collection-with-textbook either; there's genuinely interesting commentary detailing many of the producers, actors, actresses and directors." ---LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS
"Keep your copy of VOODOO MUSIC handy while perusing this. GRINDHOUSE's title is evocative and the authors know whereof they speak---they wisely wrap their tribute to the blue movie era in the early Seventies, preferring the Sixties-style sexploitation flicks to the Mitchell Brothers hardcover porno era. It's also not just poser-collection-with-textbook either; there's genuinely interesting commentary detailing many of the producers, actors, actresses and directors." ---LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS
"Fascinating!" ---AUSTIN CHRONICLE
"Authoritative!" ---TIME
"Make this book a holiday gift for that lonely friend who celebrates Christmas in the flickering light of a VCR." ---VILLAGE VOICE
"Fabulous!" ---SHOCK CINEMA
"Lots of great photos, lobbycards, posters and ads." ---PSYCHOTRONIC VIDEO
"An excellent, compelling tratment of the secret subculture of American sin." ---GENESIS
