I know Tarantino would love to take the credit for the popularity and new found interest in “Vanishing Point,” thanks to his repeated references to the movie in his underrated “Death Proof,” but that’s simply presumptuous, considering many people have been singing the praises of “Vanishing Point” for years and years. It’s been deemed as the best car movie ever made, and is considered a pure cult classic, way before Chin McGee mentioned it on celluloid, and that’s a fact. “Vanishing Point” is really nothing but a one hundred minute car chase across country, and I loved every minute of it.
Category Archives: Grindhouse Review Fest
Maniac (1980)
“Maniac” is a different kind of slasher film, one so incredibly vile and utterly wretched that you’ll be forced to decide if you enjoyed this or not. I experienced the same conflict of decision. Did I enjoy this or not? I’m not entirely sure, but a good part of me says “yes.” At a time when the Son of Sam was still fresh on everyone’s minds, “Maniac” is the closest depiction of a madman on the streets that we’ll ever get again. We don’t just watch this madman destroy folks, we learn about him, and we get into his mind.
Ilsa the Tigress of Siberia (1977)
Ilsa and the great Dyanne Thorne are at it once again, this time in the sub-zero wastelands of Siberia. Ilsa is once again untouched and hardly a day old from her time as a World War II concentration camp owner, and grooming harem girls. Now, with LaFleur’s often sloppy direction, she helps run a labor camp in the forests of Siberia teamed with a group of violent soldiers, a cannibal tiger, and plenty of snow. Ilsa is once again the devil in sheep’s clothing, the egomaniacal merciless monster that dispenses of men in her own ways. She bashes their heads in, lets them be eaten alive by her pet tiger, and uses them as toys leaving them in the snow to freeze to death. Unlike “Haremkeeper for the Oil Shieks,” this sequel is a much better entry.
Switchblade Sisters (1975)
All these years I was pretty sure that there’d never be another gangster movie that equaled “The Warriors” in terms of pure atmosphere and grit. And then I saw “Switchblade Sisters.” Sure, it’s not as good as “The Warriors,” but it makes a damn good argument of equaling it in quality. “Switchblade Sisters” is a hard film to dislike. I’m not going to claim it’s the perfect gangster movie, but watching a bunch of tough broads fighting off prison wardens is still as exciting as watching The Warriors battle The Lizzies. It’s past its time, sure, but it’s also aged pretty damn well. The gung-ho corniness, colorful characters, and unflinching bad-ass attitude are just so damn entertaining, and Hill is never apologetic about displaying this film as a fantasy, that’s also acceptably outlandish.
Thriller: A Cruel Picture (1973)
Allegedly one of the many influences for Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” series, “Thriller” or “They Called her One Eye” is an awfully uneasy and chilling bit of savagery involving one of the primary themes for grind house cinema: Victimizing. Like many before and after it, we watch a simple girl terrorized by corrupt and violent forces that drive her to the brink of violence and revenge in a hail of blood and bullets. Sure, thanks to many of its fans, “Thriller” is hardly a rare movie anymore, nor are reviews of it hard to come by, but where else will you find my own wry commentary?