History of Exploitation Films

[@lucastavares5539]

I am a film student in the process of defending my thesis on body-horror cinema, your video was VERY important for the research. I came here just to thank you for having made this content public

[@MiraShades]

Big fan of this, very informative and a great presenter! Thank you for uploading!

[@zamiadams4343]

70's hardcore porn had many exploitation films, "Appointment With Agony " (1976) and "Forced Entry" (1972) were two classics of the genre.

[@birdkeks]

very cool lecture

[@BPD81]

This must be a dope library! Haha. Thx for the vid!!

[@drspecter]

Okay, good, even-handed overview from someone with an affinity for the form. I would add that Mario Bava is probably the godfather of Italian exploitation, and a superb cinematographer/director. Mostly but not exclusively horror: titles of interest include Black Sunday, Blood and Black Lace, Danger:Diabolik, Twitch of the Death Nerve, Lisa and the Devil, etc. Also, when Russ Meyer and Roger Ebert were wrote the first draft of the screenplay for Beyond the Valley, the Manson murders had happened, but no one knew who did it. It was something at the forefront of everyone in Hollywood's mind. Sharon Tate had also been in the original Valley of the Dolls. And BVD is basically a satire of how divorced from reality Hollywood had become at the time. It would have been very difficult, and kind of dishonest, for them not to comment on the murders in some way. I would also add Michael Weldon's original Psychotronic Encyclopedia as a must own for fans of fringe filmmaking. There are some inaccuracies due to the fact that it was written in 1983-- a time when very little of this stuff was even on VHS. But the writing is sharp and funny, and it really shaped my own perspective on these films.

[@drspecter]

PS: The king of Brazilian "garbage mouth" exploitation films was Jose Mojica Marins, and his alter ego Zé do Caixão-- later kind of Americanized as Coffin Joe. In 1970ish, his amazing film Awakening of the Beast got banned outright, so his output in the 70s was greatly diminished. No one wanted to give him money, and he ended up mostly shooting porn under fake names. In the 80s/90s, the great Something Weird Video started putting his films out on VHS, causing a resurgence of interest. A very promising blu ray box set called Inside the Mind of Coffin Joe is coming from Alpha Video later this month.

[@Norjrj]

@@drspecterarrow video

[@drspecter]

Yes, thank you. I pre-ordered it, so that was a goofy mistake. An Alpha set would've been pretty low rent. @@Norjrj

[@Norjrj]

@@drspecter no problem 😀

[@enriccoc7794]

I think exploitation can be seen more as like the adolescent phase of the development of the film medium. there are films that float in and out of this definition but is part of the process of defining genres, and might be furthest from art but has an emphasis on making money and figuring out what people like. in my opinion it may have peaked in development of the 80s where the formula of a movie as a roller coaster ride comes into maturity (and apparently gets forgotten again at some point)

[@TheTrashStash]

i gotta say i love your necklas!!! awesome video!!! coolest library video ive ever seen

[@DavidNeedToKnow]

Wow, great video! Thanks :)

[@BackupChannel-nq6fg]

The fact that Sharon Tate was in the first valley of the dolls definitely adds to it

[@monkey9750]

I know this is just a glance of exploitation cinema but you should atleast try to discuss the term ”exploitation” more. Also it’s such a shame that you don’t bring up the japanese pinku-violence movies but you warned about it in the beginning atleast. Wasn’t a fan of how you favorised and criticised other movies. The importance is understanding them, not liking them.

[@Swanlord1]

Oh I found an old vid from some class