What is it about Ruggero Deodato’s vicious masterpiece that continues to elude horror fans and film enthusiasts to this day? Surely, it’s a shocking film with immense gore, but “Cannibal Holocaust” is about so much more than splatter and bloodshed. It still holds a volatile resonance in a day and age where the world is obsessed with voyeurism. “Cannibal Holocaust” is still such an enormous master work from Ruggero Deodato whose own film has pretty much guaranteed to outlive its creator. As well, it’s inadvertently posed as the template for all of the found footage films currently storming the box office. It’s a film about the media exploiting and demoralizing a primitive culture for the purposes of entertainment. It’s a film about entitled young Americans intruding on a foreign soil to manipulate their civilization. It’s also movie about how humanity is often a destructive and vicious force of evil consuming one another for nefarious purposes without conscience.
Category Archives: Grindhouse Review Fest
Same Time Every Year (1981) (DVD)
Goofy, albeit erotic, “Same Time Every Year” is one of the more tightly directed and entertaining smut films from the late seventies, that would help usher in the eighties porn wave. It’s not really a movie so much as it is hardcore porn, but it definitely has its charms. Besides the gorgeous women and well edited sex scenes, “Same Time Every Year” is delightfully funny at times. Whether it’s intentional or not, I’m not sure, but some scenes were just too unusual to take as erotic.
42nd Street Forever – The Peep Show Collection Vol. 1 (DVD)
The previous library of 42nd Street Forever” collections were DVDs and Blu-Rays that focused on compiling some of the more interesting and famous grindhouse movie trailers, where as “The Peep Show Collection” is an entirely different animal. Rather than collect porn trailers, this is instead a compilation of short porn and stag films from the seventies. These were often seen in peep shows and most likely dime booths that allowed limited viewing time for customers, and the like. All of the shorts here are comprised of 8mm video shoots with no sound, but are perfect for collectors of this kind of entertainment.
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)
Joseph Zito’s 1984 treatment of “Friday the 13th” really should have been the final film in the series. While I do love the “Friday the 13th” movie series dearly, there’s a considerable drop off in quality after “The Final Chapter” as you can sense the writers trying to bring Jason back with as little absurdity as possible. “The Final Chapter” is one of the last really excellent horror romps that focus on character dynamic and family, and surely enough it’s still a very strong horror film where Jason Voorhees is an unstoppable killing machine.
Profoundly Erotic: Sexy Movies that Changed History [Paperback]
It’s the last book from Joe Bob Briggs, and for his final outing in the publishing world, he follows up “Profoundly Disturbing” with the equally excellent “Profoundly Erotic.” The final book reviews a series of erotic movies, all of which aren’t exactly pornographic or erotica per se. They’re instead very adult films that deal with sexual politics and the undertones of sexual repression. As usual Joe Bob Briggs is as insightful and informative as ever, and it was ultimately a breezy read to finish.
The Chambermaids (1974) (DVD)
Impulse Pictures apparently restored “The Chambermaids” from a nearly destroyed theatrical print, and boy does it show. Despite the attempts to keep it pristine, “The Chambermaids” still looks like it was carried over from a projector. But for folks that appreciate the faux grindhouse aesthetic, it might add to the experience. What’s more entertaining is the inadvertent comedy, bad acting, really bad sound looping, and shadows of crew members during certain scenes. “The Chambermaids” is only seventy minutes long and wastes absolutely no time establishing its plot. Or what little there is.
Honey Buns (1973) (DVD)
One of the most disappointing aspects of “Honey Buns” is that is boasts the incredible Uschi Digard, who plays a key role in this goofy porn film, but she never really does much the entire time she’s on-screen. Granted, she appears in a skimpy purple dress, and doesn’t mind showing off her gorgeous body, but she disappears for the remainder of the movie, entirely. Not that Ms. Digard’s fleeting albeit stunning presence ruins the experience of “Honey Buns.” But it’s the principle, damn it.




