Exploitation Movies

Worst Movie Trailers Ever: ‘Grizzly II – Revenge’

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

Okay, I have not seen this particular sequel yet, nor have I seen the workprint which has been floating around the internet for years. But seriously, I came across not just one but two trailers for “Grizzly II: Revenge,” and neither of them try to hide how god awful this film must be. It’s bad enough the title reminds me of another excruciatingly awful sequel involving a killer animal, “Jaws: The Revenge,” but this one is so shameless in inviting audiences to check it out regardless of its subpar filmmaking on display (and that’s being generous).

Truth be told, “Grizzly II’s” backstory is bound to be far more interesting than the film itself. A sequel to the 1976 “Jaws” knock-off “Grizzly,” it was made back in 1983, but its production quickly got derailed due to a lack of funding, constant feuding behind the scenes, and technical issues with its 16-foot mechanical bear. 37 years later, after a ton of legal wrangling, it is now being shown in its final cut. But unlike other long-lost films such as “Gone with The Pope” or long in the making sequels like “I Spit on Your Grave: Déjà vu,” this one is unlikely to be worth the wait.

The first thing we in these trailers is the appearance of a couple of Oscar winners, George Clooney and Laura Dern, and Charlie Sheen before he did “Platoon.” Their names headline this movie, but as we can see, they are not in it for very long. We see their screaming faces up close, and it is clear the bear will treat this trio as dinner since hibernation is out of the question. This is not the first time recognizable names have been exploited to garner attention for a movie, and it won’t be the last either.

From there, we are introduced to actors who are forced to spout ridiculous dialogue a film like this always has to offer. A female scientist tells a group that the bear they are hunting is “huge.” No! Really??!! I mean, heaven forbid the bear they are dealing with is a small one! Can you imagine a little cub going psycho on so many stupid and unsuspecting humans?

There is also a brief moment with Louise Fletcher of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” fame telling someone to kill the bear as soon as possible because there is a big concert coming up. And then we have John Rhys-Davies playing what I guess is a mountain man of sorts, and he has one of those dramatic moments where he pauses before saying something intended to be hair-raising (“It’s very bad… you got the devil bear!”).

Speaking of the concert, we are shown some of it as well. But while the crowd looks huge, the onstage performers look like they are re-enacting scenes from the so bad it’s good rock musical “The Apple.”

But perhaps the biggest problem with these trailers is the lack of the bear itself. We hear it grunting throughout and see its point of view from time to time, but we never see its face until the last few seconds. Before this, we see Davies preparing to attack it, and it looks like the actor is about to attack a big pile of wool designed to look like a bear’s legs. Clearly there is no real bear there as it would have gobbled up Davies before he had a chance to draw a weapon.

In the end, these trailers for “Grizzly II: Revenge” represent filmmaking and marketing at its most cynical. The producers are simply looking for a quick buck here as they are exploiting big names and this film’s troubled production history for all it is worth. This sequel may have been 37 years in the making, but that was never intended to be the case. Its production was simply a case of very bad luck, and now this sequel exists as a mere oddity.

All of this just makes me miss Bart The Bear, a real-life grizzly who upstaged Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin in “The Edge.” Now if Bart were in this, it just might have been worth watching.

The Grindhouse Film Festival Pays Tribute to Russ Meyer and Tura Satana

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

Faster Pussycat Kill Kill movie poster

Back in May of 2011, the Grindhouse Film Festival paid tribute to director Russ Meyer and the late actress Tura Satana, both of whom are best known for having worked together on the exploitation classic “Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!.” This film screened at New Beverly Cinema along with “The Doll Squad” which Tura co-starred in, and in attendance were two actresses from the 1965 cult film: Haji and Susan Bernard. Both said if Satana were still with us, she would have been very pleased by the large turnout.

Satana starred as Varla, the leader of a trio of thrill-seeking go-go dancers. Her contribution to the 1965 movie was she added karate scenes and even choreographed them with the stunt director. Satana died in February of 2011 from heart failure, and Haji burst into tears confessing just how much she misses her and her pot roast. Bernard said Satana had a very big heart. She was 72 when she passed away, but we came out of this screening feeling like she left us way too soon.

In talking about Meyer, both ladies described him as a “good hearted man” who always visited his mother on Christmas Day. They described his editing and photography on his movies as being consistently top notch, and he always worked with the same five men crew which became a “tight knit” family. Bernard also remarked how he had a natural instinct about actors in what they could do without direction. It got to where he went up to the cast and said, “Here’s your scripts, do your thing.”

Bernard recalled her big driving scene where she got into the truck and of how she told Russ she had never drove a stick shift before. To this, Meyer replied, “You’ll figure it out.”

Both actresses made it very clear Meyer always took care of the girls and made sure they were well rested and that he ensured they did not have sex during filming as he always wanted them to look horny onscreen. Working with Meyer also made them both understand what he stood for: freedom of expression, anti-prejudice, equal rights for everyone and, along with the late Hugh Hefner anti-censorship.

Haji further remarked if you went into Meyer’s movies a complete wimp, you came out a toughened and changed person. He had the cast sleeping in tents out in the desert with scorpions, snakes and tarantulas threatening them when they least expected it. After doing one film with Meyer, Haji said she came out if it “rugged,” but they remained very good friends all the way up to his death.

“Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!” is considered the cinematic origin of girl power and female empowerment. Unlike the endless number of films which came afterwards, it had no cursing and no nudity. Haji even said you could take your kids to see it. Whether or not taking kids to this movie is a good idea, there is no doubt of how much influence it has had on movies and popular culture. This cult classic still draws quite the crowd for good reason: women have the upper hand against those against them, and they are never ever weak. When you think about it, this was not always the case with movies back in the 1960’s.

So Bad It’s Good: Ed Adlum Looks Back at ‘Invasion of the Blood Farmers’

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

Invasion of the Blood Farmers movie poster

Ed Adlum was the Grindhouse Film Festival’s guest of honor at New Beverly Cinema on September 25, 2012. Among the movies of Adlum’s were showing there on this evening was his 1972 cult horror movie “Invasion of the Blood Farmers.” Many have described this film as being delightfully dreadful, and Adlum is not blind to its lack of quality. Watching it with an audience, however, and hearing Adlum talk about what got him to make movies made this a highly entertaining evening.

Adlum was actually involved in the music business before he decided to make movies, and he was a writer for Cashbox Magazine back in the 1960’s. This determination which led him to do the things he wanted to do came about in his youth.

“When I was a kid, I was one of these ambitious fellas who was gonna show everybody in the East Bronx that I was special,” Adlum said. “Now how that happened is up to the psychiatric profession, but it happened anyhow. I was short, I was not especially good looking and frightened of girls. I was number one in school and you know how that can happen, and I was the kind of person who often said in his own head I’m gonna be something special. So, when you have a motivation like that, all you need is the occasion, and the occasion came along.”

From there, Adlum talked about how he met Jimmy Walker whose band Castle Kings he ended up joining as a guitarist. He went on to say Walker and him made “several really bad” albums after being signed by Atlantic Records and that they eventually split up to do their own things. Adlum then went on to join the army as everyone was in the army back then thanks to General Dwight Eisenhower. Following this, he started Replay Magazine which covered the jukebox and coin-up industries.

When he moved to California, Adlum decided he wanted to fulfill his heart’s desire to make a movie. He came up with the story for his directorial debut while talking with a friend of his named Jackie.

“Why don’t we do something about a planet that’s dying from lack of food and call it Hianus and they all come to the earth in search of a food supply for their planet back home, but they find it in human blood,” Adlum said. “And I stop right in the middle of the floor and I say ‘Jackie I got it, Invasion of the Blood Farmers!’ From that point I went to my friends in the jukebox business and I raised the money. One of the guys that worked with me at Cashbox Magazine named Ed Kelleher and I wrote the script. We made that movie for $24,000 dollars.”

Adlum went on to describe “Invasion of the Blood Farmers” as being “bad good” and that “it is just a hoot which is like saying I don’t believe this picture.” Doing the movie also got him to meet Mike Findlay who ended up directing a film Adlum wrote and produced called “Shriek of the Mutilated,” and they became “fierce friends” as a result.

“Invasion of the Blood Farmers” cannot be mistaken for classic cinema as it has a number of things wrong with it: bad acting, erratic editing and serious continuity problems. Still, none of us could come out of it saying we were not entertained. When all is said and done, Ed Adlum did achieve his dream of making a movie, and in a way this was more than enough. The only thing even funnier than the unintentional laughs in the movie itself is, despite all the blood and gore, how it ended up getting a PG rating from the MPAA. Even in the 1970’s this group proved to be a hypocritical bunch! Some things never change.

Here are some other tidbits of trivia about this movie:

Most of the cast members worked for a six-pack of beer as payment.

It was shot over three weekends and never made its money back.

Cast members Richard Erickson and Richard Kennedy were so bad at memorizing dialogue that they ended up having to read off cue cards.

The production went through eight and a half bottles of stage blood.

 

William Lustig, Robert Forster and Company on the Making of ‘Vigilante’

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

Vigilante movie poster

WRITER’S NOTE: It was a shock to learn of Robert Forster’s death on October 11, 2019 after a battle with brain cancer. He was 78 years old. I remain in awe of his performance in Quentin Tarantino’s “Jackie Brown” for which he deservedly earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor as he was able to convey so much while doing so little. Having bumped into him once at New Beverly Cinema, I can also confirm he could not have been a nicer guy.

The following article is about a screening which took place at New Beverly Cinema back in 2010 in which Forster was one of the main guests, and I present here in his memory. RIP Robert.

Filmmaker William Lustig appeared at the Grindhouse Film Festival at New Beverly Cinema to talk about his 1983 “Death Wish” exploitation knock off, “Vigilante.” Joining Lustig for this Q&A were some of the film’s stars: Robert Forster, Fred “The Hammer” Williamson and Frank Pesce. For these four men, the evening was full of laughs and great memories as they discussed the making of this movie which was shot in what they called the “real New York” with blue collar workers and all.

The print of “Vigilante” being shown was from Lustig’s own collection and was over twenty years old. The color was pretty faded which the director apologized for. While they could have shown a digital copy of it instead, he was quick to remark, “The great thing about going to the Grindhouse is the prints, warts and all.”

Forster said he got cast thanks to Pesce and Lustig who remembered him from another movie Lustig made called “Alligator.” The role of factory worker Eddie Marino was originally given to Tony Musante who later turned it down by saying he did not want to work with “those guys.” Forster said the three guys onstage with him did more for his career than anybody, and he also got four or five film roles from Pesce alone as well as a set of golf clubs which he still uses.

Forster also had a very positive overview regarding his career as an actor:

“I never ever worried about the jobs I didn’t do. Every single movie I’ve done has been instructive to me in its own way.”

Pesce said he was also responsible for getting Williamson cast in “Vigilante,” but Williamson saw it a bit differently:

“I don’t remember how I got involved and I don’t give a damn!”

Suffice to say, Williamson was the coolest guy in the theater on this evening.

Pesce also gleefully told one story about the scene between him and Williamson where he was chasing him and they get separated by a chain link fence. Between takes, Pesce asked Lustig, “Should I spit through the fence at Fred?” “Do what you want to do,” Lustig replied.

So Pesce did what his instincts told him to do, the director yelled cut, and afterwards Williamson went up to Lustig and told him point blank, “Cut the spit.” Williamson’s reasoning in saying this to the director was very blunt:

“You don’t do that to a brother!”

Lustig also got Williamson to talk about some of the ad libs he came up with on set like when he was asked what he thought about capital punishment:

“Do you think anyone really misses Ted Bundy?”

Pesce also remarked how the scene with the guy in the wheelchair he pushed over was actually an homage to a similar one with Richard Widmark in “Kiss of Death.”

“Vigilante” may not be great cinema, but watching it with an audience was highly entertaining and we were lucky enough to have Lustig, Forster, Pesce and Williamson on hand to talk about it. Lustig summed it up best:

“There always seems to be a need for retribution movies.”

 

 

Quentin Tarantino and His March Madness at New Beverly Cinema

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

Quentin Tarantino New Beverly Cinema photo

WRITER’S NOTE: This article was written back in 2011.

With his birthday falling on March 27th, actor, writer and director Quentin Tarantino plans to celebrate the month of his birth at New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles, the same theater he saved from becoming just another Supercuts. The theater’s calendar for March includes a number of exploitation classics, some animated movies that Walt Disney would never have even thought of making, and several other films which are not currently available on DVD. Many of these cinematic experiences are very rare, and it is highly unlikely you will see them anywhere else.

Tarantino ended up making a surprise appearance at the New Beverly on March 1st, 2011 to introduce the first double feature of his month of programming: “Crack House” and “Redneck Miller.” Now “Crack House” was one of the myriad releases from Cannon Films during the 1980’s, and it follows young lovers Rick and Melissa whose relationship gets torn apart when Rick’s brother gets shot to death by a rival gang, and Rick quickly rejoins the gang he left for a better life to avenge his brother’s senseless murder. Of course, this all goes awry when Rick gets sent to prison while Melissa falls in with a drug dealer and gets hooked on crack cocaine.

Tarantino described “Crack House” as being very, very special to him as it came out in 1989, the very last year in which exploitation movies played in movie houses. From when he was young, he talked about making a list each year of the ten best exploitation movies that came out, and among his top picks was George A. Romero’s “Day of The Dead.” “Crack House” got the very last exploitation movie of the year award from Tarantino before these lists were rendered obsolete.

With exploitation movies, Tarantino said we were all attracted to them through their “50’s-ness of juvenile delinquentness.” Basically, these films were the bad boys of cinema, the ones which didn’t follow the rules nor did they ever apologize for being trashy entertainment. From the 1950’s onward, exploitation cinema succeeded in reflecting the juvenile delinquents of each passing decade. But when it came to the 1980’s, these same movies suddenly became unwatchable because, as Tarantino correctly pointed out:

“The 80’s were one fucked up decade!”

But “Crack House” is one of those rare 80’s exploitation flicks which does get better as it goes along. Even Tarantino admitted how shocked he was to find he actually “gave a fuck” about these characters who might seem like stereotypical bad boys to everyone else. The “Pulp Fiction” director also acknowledged the terrific “guest star” cast which included Richard Roundtree (the original Shaft) as a no-nonsense cop, and all-time football great Jim Brown as a vicious drug kingpin.

Tarantino’s brand of March Madness at the New Beverly will culminate in a week long showing of “Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair.” This is the combined version of both films into one single movie which screened at the Cannes Film Festival and has never been seen before in the United States. At four hours long, there was no way New Beverly was just going to show it two nights of the week! However, as I write this, all advance tickets for each night are now sold out (NOOOOO!!!). Your best bet is to get to the theater really early in the hopes you can get in through the standby line.

In any event, here’s to a month of great, unabashed entertainment at the New Beverly Cinema!

Top photo courtesy of Los Angeles Times.

 

Rob Zombie Unleashes The First Trailer for ‘3 From Hell’

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

Of all the sequels coming out in 2019, I have to confess I am especially excited for “3 From Hell.” Writer and director Rob Zombie returns with his third film dealing with the murderous exploits of the Firefly family, exploits which began with 2003’s “House of 1000 Corpses” and continued on in 2005’s “The Devil’s Rejects.” This sequel has been in the making for some time now, and while we still have to wait a month or two before it comes out, we now have a new trailer which shows it to be as bloody and violent, if not more so, than its predecessors.

One thing I am especially intrigued about is how Zombie plans to explain how Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig), Otis (Bill Moseley) and Baby Firefly (Sheri Moon Zombie) survived the “Wild Bunch” shootout at the climax of “The Devil’s Rejects.” For all intents and purposes, they have looked to have willfully ended their existence in a hail of bullets which no one could easily survive. Still, a news reporter confirms they somehow survived but, as their mangled bodies are hauled into the emergency room, says their chances of survival are “less than a million to one.” But as John Carpenter once said, “evil never dies.”

Surprise! The three survive and are put on trial for their vicious crimes in a public spectacle to where they look to have become folk heroes just like Mickey and Mallory were in “Natural Born Killers.” We even hear supporters in the background yelling out “free the three” to where I wonder if Zombie is making some sort of comment about how many in America typically act against their own best interests. Regardless of how you may feel about horror and exploitation films, the best ones always have some social commentary hiding just beneath the surface.

Judging from the behind the stories I have read about “3 From Hell” thus far, I assumed this movie would be about the trial. But sure enough, Captain Spaulding, Otis and Baby appear to have freed themselves from their incarcerations and go on another killing spree, and the trailer never tries to sugar coat or hide away from the brutality Zombie has in store for genre movie fans. Just watch as Otis endlessly bashes a helpless victim while Winslow Foxworth Coltrane (“31’s” Richard Brake) looks on with a twisted and detached amusement.

Like “The Devil’s Rejects,” “3 From Hell” looks to have a very grungy look which more than suits the subject matter, and my hope is Zombie got to shoot this one on film instead of digital. I eagerly await its release and its soundtrack as the ones Zombie has provided for the previous films were fantastic, and I never get sick of listening to either of them. Surely, this latest installment will have one which is every bit as good, right?

Lionsgate and Saban Films have partnered with Fathom Events to present the unrated cut of “3 From Hell” in theaters on September 16, 17 and 18, 2019, and each screening will have unique bonus content:

  • September 16th – Rob Zombie will provide a special video introduction before the screening, and the first 50 people at each theater will receive an exclusive poster (while supplies last, I imagine).
  • September 17th – There will be a half hour behind-the-scenes featurette shown about the making of this particular sequel
  • September 18th – The unrated cut of “3 From Hell” will be presented as a double feature with “The Devil’s Rejects.”

Tickets for these screenings will be available on the Fathom Events website starting on July 19. Click here to find out more.

Please check out the trailer above.

3 From Hell Teaser Poster

‘I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu’ Gets Grindhouse Poster and Trailer

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

I Spit on Your Grave Deja Vu grindhouse poster

While I have already made clear my thoughts about the long-awaited sequel “I Spit on Your Grave: Déjà vu,” there are still some things about it I cannot help but admire. There are the performances of Jamie Bernadette and Maria Olsen, and now we have a new poster and trailer done in the style of a grindhouse film. Grindhouse, aside from being the title of an awesome cinematic experience directed by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, is a term for a theater in America which screens exploitation films. These films were known for containing a lot of sex, violence, blood, gore and different bizarre elements you would never see in the average Disney movie. They were also afflicted with low production values and poor print quality, but these of course became qualities fans of the genre loved to no end.

These grindhouse qualities are more than evident in the newly released poster and trailer for “I Spit on Your Grave: Déjà vu,” and I got a huge kick out of both as a result. The poster features Bernadette quite prominently, but it also includes the many characters who inhabit this sequel as well as some of its most unforgettable images. The color scheme is perfect as it makes the poster appropriately grungy, just like a grindhouse film should be.

As for the trailer, it features footage from “I Spit on Your Grave” and makes it look as though the film is about to break (like I said, poor print quality). When it gets to “Déjà vu,” the footage is cleaned up but now dominated by a hard rock score and a narrator who sounds like he is reveling in this sequel’s down and dirty qualities. Watching this makes me want to view this sequel again, and that’s even though it is highly unlikely my opinion of it will change.

In addition to it now being available on DVD and Blu-ray. “I Spit on Your Grave: Déjà vu” is also available to watch on VOD.

Also, please feel free to check out the Q&A from “Deja vu’s” premiere screening in Beverly Hills, California down below.

‘I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu’ Has Its World Premiere in Beverly Hills

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

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A sequel 40 years in the making, “I Spit on Your Grave: Déjà vu,” had its world premiere on April 18, 2019 at the Laemmle Music Hall Theater in Beverly Hills, California. Among those in attendance were its director Meir Zarchi who also wrote and directed the 1978 original, his son Terry Zarchi, Camille Keaton who returns as Jennifer Hills, and Jamie Bernadette who plays Jennifer’s daughter, Christy Hills. The sequel sees Jennifer and Christy getting abducted by the infinitely vengeful Becky (Maria Olsen) who looks to make Jennifer pay for what she did to her husband years ago. For those who have seen the original, you can expect blood, gore, acts of revenge which know no bounds, and the intensely painful separation of certain body parts which no one is ever quick to part with.

Following the screening, there was a Q&A with the cast and filmmakers who were also watching this sequel on the big screen for the very first time. It was an exciting evening for everyone as this sequel was actually finished back in 2015, and it is only now being released. When Keaton was asked what made her return to this iconic role, she made it clear how she wanted Zarchi to make a sequel for many years.

“I had been trying to get him to make a sequel to this movie for about 30, 35 years at least,” Keaton said. “One day I get a call, and lo and behold (Meir Zarchi told me) we’re gonna make a sequel. So I said, what? I was surprised and was happy we were going to do this, and it was great to work with him again.”

Jamie Bernadette was asked how she came to be cast in “Déjà vu,” and her response showed how thoughtful she is as a working actress.

“I saw the casting notice and I had seen the original 1978 film and thought it was brilliant,” Jamie said. “The casting notice said Christy Hills was a supermodel and gorgeous, and I thought no, I’m not going to submit. I’ll never get this. And then I sat and stared at that notice and said you know what, what the heck. So, I just pushed a button, and then I got asked for a tape. So I sent in a tape and I thought well, I won’t get a callback but we’ll just do this for kicks. Sent in a tape and I got called back in and I thought, you know what, if I meet Meir Zarchi, I’m happy. So, I walked into that callback room and Meir was sitting there with Terry (Zarchi), our producer. I did the scenes and I was in there for like 40 minutes. It was a long audition, and then Terry caught me on my way to the elevator and said can I take my picture with you because Terry told me later that he just knew before I spoke…”

“(It was) the eyes, the eyes,” Terry Zarchi said. “There was a look that she gives… She gave that look in the audition before she uttered a word. I said wow, that spoke so many words without her saying a word. I can’t wait to hear her, and then a second later three words came out of her. I really hoped Meir likes her enough to (cast her), because he has the ultimate decision on who is going to be cast, but I knew.”

Terry’s relationship with the “I Spit on Your Grave” movies began when he was just nine years old and back when the 1978 original was referred to as “Day of the Woman.”

“I had a hippie guy come up to me while I was on the set and asked me hey, do you want to be in the movie,” Terry said. “I was like no, I really don’t. I was a shy kid, and they talked me into it by saying that my father would offer me $10 if I did the film. I decided to do the film.”

Meir Zarchi himself eventually made it to the front of the audience, and he answered the question which was all on our minds before anyone could ask it.

“Somebody asked me why did it take 40 years to make this sequel,” said Meir. “So I said because I was waiting (he points to Jamie) for this girl. She wasn’t born yet.”

An audience member asked the cast what they did to prepare for their roles and of what they did to get into the psychotic mindset. Jamie was very open about the research she did.

“I spent months watching horrific videos about rape and murder, and I had a lot of nightmares during those months,” Jamie said. “I watched the original film over and over. It was a lot of research into gang rape and things like that, so it was a dark time. I also lost a lot of weight for the role because I am playing an anorexic model. Every day was emotional.”

This evening also allowed Meir to share a moment with Camille whom he married after the making of “I Spit on Your Grave.” Unfortunately, their union did not last long as they divorced in 1982 after three years of marriage. Still, they appeared to have a great respect for one another, and it should be noted how Camille flew all the way over from Florida just for this screening (“I wouldn’t have missed it for the world,” she said).

“Tell us, what do you think about seeing yourself on the big screen after 40 years for this time,” Meir asked Camille.

“I felt the same way I felt about it when I saw myself the first time,” Camille replied.

“That’s a lie, that’s a beautiful lie” Meir said. “You know we were married once. No wonder she divorced me. What did I do? What did I do wrong?”

“I don’t think you did anything wrong,” Camille replied.

Regardless, they both shared a kiss which had the audience applauding.

2018 had Jamie Lee Curtis resurrecting Laurie Strode to tremendous effect in “Halloween,” and now Camille Keaton gets to do the same with Jennifer Hills while at the same time passing on the torch of vengeful female to Jamie Bernadette. As for Meir Zarchi, he isn’t terribly concerned whether or not you like or hate “I Spit on Your Grave: Déjà vu.” He does, however, want to make certain you were not bored while watching it. Suffice to say, the audience responded loudly that they were not.

“I Spit on Your Grave: Déjà vu” is set to be released on DVD and Blu-ray April 23, 2019.

The video below is from the Q&A following “Deja Vu’s” screening. My apologies for the the shakiness and visual quality as I shot this on my cell phone. Still, it was fun to hear how the cast and crew came to work on this long-awaited sequel.

The First Trailer for ‘I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu’ Has Been Unleashed

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

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As much as I despise the controversial 1978 exploitation classic “I Spit on Your Grave,” I cannot help but be intrigued by its upcoming sequel. 40 years after Jennifer Hill (Camille Keaton) was brutally assaulted, left for dead and eventually reaped bloody revenge on her assailants, she rises again for another “Day of the Woman” in the eagerly anticipated sequel “I Spit on Your Grave: Déjà Vu.” Keaton returns to her iconic role along with Meir Zarchi who also wrote and directed the original, and one has to wonder how much more brutality Jennifer can possibly endure even after suffering unimaginable horrors decades before.

The trailer starts off with images from “I Spit on Your Grave” which last long enough to remind us how brutal and uncomfortable the first film was, and the moment where Jennifer has one of her attackers relaxing comfortably in the bathtub as she gently lifts up a knife she has hidden away still has men crossing their legs automatically. Whatever your thoughts were on the original, its lasting impact in the realm of revenge and exploitation films cannot be denied. It inspired a remake which was followed up by several sequels, but this follow up ignores them and focuses on the aftermath of what came before.

40 years later, we see Jennifer having a nice lunch with her daughter, Christy (Jamie Bernadette), but while walking back to their cars, they are greeted by a rabid fan gets Jennifer’s attention and asks her to sign a copy of her book. That this guy has a face which makes him look like a disciple of Charles Manson, and this is the first sign of things about to go very bad. Also, he is coming up to these ladies in a white van which, aside from the passenger and driver side, has no windows to see what’s in the back. This makes it all the easier for the fan and his driver to abduct Jennifer and Christy and throw them inside while no one else is looking.

From there, we know history will repeat itself in an intensely bloody fashion as Jennifer and Christy are greeted by an especially deranged matriarch named Becky (Maria Olsen), wife of the man Jennifer castrated in the bathtub. Becky promises both Jennifer and Christy a slow ride to hell as she seeks to avenge the men Jennifer killed, but neither of them are about to go quietly into that gentle night. This is especially the case with Christy who, at one point in the trailer, says she has her mother’s genes but none of her forgiveness.

Okay, this does not look like a great movie to say the least, but I am interested in checking it out in part to see if Zarchi’s filmmaking skills have improved in the slightest since 1978. Furthermore, even if you hated the original, you had to admire Keaton’s bravery as her character endured an infinitely appalling attack I would never wish on my worst enemy, and this sequel would not be worth the effort had she not agreed to reprise her role here.

Aside from Keaton, there are two actresses who stand out prominently in this trailer. One is Maria Olsen who looks to give a scenery-chewing performance as the embittered widow aiming to give Jennifer a taste of her own gory medicine. Granted, some of her acting looks like it just might be featured on the “Exquisite Acting” segment of Hollywood Babble-On, but she may very well give this sequel the hateful antagonist it deserves.

The other is Jamie Bernadette who plays Christy Hills. We see Christy wreaking bloody havoc on her captors to where she has bloodstains on her face much like her mother had years before. Bernadette has previously appeared in such movies as “Mortdecai” opposite Johnny Depp, and “The Darkness” which starred Kevin Bacon. If she hasn’t snuck into your consciousness yet, she will after this sequel is unleashed.

As for the male characters, they look to have the same luck as those crew members of the Starship Enterprise who are forced to wear red shirts on the average episode of “Star Trek.”

Again, this is unlikely to be a great cinematic experience, and the trailer cannot hide the signs of the limited budget the filmmakers had to work with. Filming on this sequel was completed back in 2015, and it is only now getting a release. Still, in a time where alternate timelines are more popular than ever, whether its J.J. Abrams’ “Star Trek” or the latest “Halloween” movie we’re talking about, this direct sequel to “I Spit on Your Grave” is something horror and exploitation movie fans cannot ignore.

“I Spit on Your Grave: Déjà vu” is set to be released on DVD and Blu-ray April 23, 2019. If Roger Ebert were still alive, I have no doubt he would be thrilled at how this sequel is not being shown on the silver screen (or at least, not yet).

Check out the trailer below.

Wes Craven’s ‘The Last House on The Left’ Remains a Highly Disturbing Cinematic Experience Years Later

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

The Last House on the Left 1972 poster

“To avoid fainting keep repeating,

It’s only a movie

…Only a movie

…Only a movie

…Only a movie”

Exploitation movies, or “video nasties” as they are called in certain countries, have a power most do not have. They shock even the most jaded and seasoned of movie fanatics, and they burn into your subconscious in a way which cannot be undone. A lot has been written about Wes Craven’s “Last House on The Left” and of the impact it had on audiences upon its release. Like Gaspar Noe’s “Irreversible,” it’s a movie I was bound to see at some point. Many would prefer to stay far away from movies like this, but I don’t want to be like everyone else. I don’t want to be put off watching a movie just because it shocks more than half the world. Who am I to talk or criticize a particular movie if I haven’t seen it anyway?

“The Last House on the Left” was Craven’s directorial debut, and he made it with future “Friday the 13th” director Sean S. Cunningham on a very low budget. While many of Craven’s later movies deal with horror on a fantasy level like “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” this one deals with the horrors of real life. It deals with real people and situations any of us could fall victim to. While it was made back in 1972, it still has the power to completely unnerve anyone who sits through it to this very day. Even though I had a pretty good idea of what was in store, this movie proved to be a true endurance test more than others of its genre. And like many horror movies of the past, it just had to be remade years later.

To dismiss “The Last House on The Left” as pure exploitation is not altogether fair. There is extreme violence, naked bodies and a lot of blood and gore, but there is more going on here than what we see on the surface. Throughout Craven’s long career, he has made movies which work on an intellectual level as well as a visceral one, and this one is no exception. Craven said he made this movie in response to the Vietnam War which was going on at the time. I can certainly see that, but I think it also deals with the death of the 1960’s as well as the destruction of innocence. This film also deals with humanity at its most depraved and animalistic and of how no one can ever go back to who they once were. Everything is changed when the movie is over, and so are we for having watched it.

This movie’s story is somewhat inspired by Ingmar Bergman’s “Virgin Spring,” and it follows two teenage girls, Mari and Phyllis, as they head into the city to go to a concert. While in town, they decide to score some grass and go to a total stranger named Junior who ends up taking them back to his place. But what the ladies find instead are a couple of escaped convicts and their girlfriend who proceed to torture them to their last dying breath. You can see why the tagline fits the movie so perfectly. You have to keep reminding yourself this is only a movie as everything we are forced to witness is all too evil to process right away.

As this twisted family of psychos viciously rape and torture the two girls in the woods right near where one of them lives, it is intercut with scenes of one of the girl’s parents baking a cake and preparing a birthday party for her. There is an innocence on display in these scenes with the parents, and it serves to make all the sheer brutality even more disturbing to sit through. You don’t watch a movie like “The Last House on The Left” as much as you experience it, and movies don’t get much bleaker than this one.

Once the group has finished their dirty work, their car breaks down and they end up staying as guests of one of the girls’ parents who just welcome them into their home, completely unaware of who they actually are. They even take the time to make dinner for their guests and give them wine to drink. You would never ever see that happening today, ever. Perhaps it was the custom of people in the 1960’s to be hospitable to total strangers.

During the evening, however, the wife discovers a necklace one of their guests is wearing as being the same one she and her husband gave to their daughter before she went off with her friend. This leads to her discovering bloody clothes in one of their suitcases, and she and her husband rush off to the lake where they find their daughter dead. From there, both carry out bloody revenge against their guests, and it leads to one of the bloodiest conclusions ever in a motion picture.

To watch a movie like “The Last House on The Left” is to witness how brutal human nature can get, and it makes you wonder how someone could do something so incredibly. It’s easy to see why Craven saw this movie as a response to the Vietnam War. We went into that country and raped it without much thought of what would happen to us, and this conflict bled deeply into our country and its citizens. This war been covered in many movies like Brian De Palma’s “Casualties of War” and “Redacted” as well as Oliver Stone’s “Platoon.”

You have to give the actors a lot of credit here as they don’t play their characters as much as they inhabit them. Medals of bravery should be given to both Sandra Cassel and Lucy Grantham who play Mari and Phyllis as both are forced to suffer indignities no human being should ever endure. They are beaten, humiliated, stripped naked and violated in the worst ways imaginable.

But it’s not just the girls who die, the killers do as well, but not just in the literal sense. There is a perverse ecstasy they take in degrading their hostages, but killing them off leaves them with nothing much in the way of emotion. Seeing the looks on their faces after killing the girls proves to be one of the most fascinating moments in “The Last House on the Left” as we can see how each has lost any chance at redemption they could ever hope to get.

The late David Hess gives us one of the most despicable and vile villains in movies as Krug Stillo. There is no redeeming value to this character, and he sinks even deeper into a moral black hole when you realize he controls his son, Junior, through the use of drugs. Hess also did the music score which, to put it mildly, sounds utterly bizarre.

One other important thing to note is this is not the kind of movie where you cheer on the good guys. When the parents get their revenge, there is no joy to be taken in it and you are as emotionally drained as they are when the screen fades to black. Many people complain about the unspeakable violence in this movie, but then they go out to see the latest action extravaganza which features dozens of exploding limbs and severed body parts (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Don’t get me wrong, I like those movies as well, but it is hypocritical to get furious at one violent movie while excusing another one.

I should also add that one of idiotic cops we see in this movie is played by Martin Kove, the same actor who would go on to play Kreese in “The Karate Kid” movies. Kove seems to have been the only actor here to come out of this movie with a successful acting career.

With all the unpleasantness surrounding “The Last House on The Left,” why would I give it a positive review? Because it stands out from the average exploitation fare of the time, and there was a good deal of thought put into it. No, it is not enjoyable to sit through, but not all movies are meant to be enjoyed. Craven doesn’t hold anything back, and he gets to the ugliness humanity has to offer the innocent and the unsuspecting.

It says a lot about a movie when it can still retain its power to shock and unnerve audiences even decades after its release. “The Last House on The Left” belongs in the same company with the original “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” as neither have lost any of their visceral power. You don’t like unpleasant movies? Stay miles away from this one. For those willing to endure it, just remember it’s only a movie …Only a movie …Only a movie …Only a movie …With an utterly bizarre music score!

* * * ½ out of * * * *