American Grindhouse: Elijah Drenner

Elijah Drenner's American Grindhouse is the kind of documentary about the cinema that I love the most: one that will make me run out and try to find a list of movies that I had previously never heard of. American Grindhouse scours the underground of American cinema, dredging up some of the most shocking, absurd, and bizarre exploitation and grindhouse films ever made. The film stretches from the the early years of Edison (with such films as The Kiss by William Heise) to the era of the Hayes Code to 70s exploitation and splatter films. Featuring truly fascinating interviews with such legends of sleaze and pioneers of smut as Jack Hill and Herschell Gordon Lewis and insights from film historians Eddie Muller, Kim Morgan and Eric Schaefer, American Grindhouse takes the audience on a truly fascinating tour through exploitation cinema. I give this film credit for admitting that many exploitation filmmakers like Lewis and Roger Corman were doing shocking things purely for the sake of money. Whenever I hear about critics and film historians praising exploitation filmmakers for being progressive and daring for casting homosexuals, different races, and women in lead roles, it activates my cynicism alarm. Yes, Jack Hill did cast women as the leads in The Big Doll House (1971). But it wasn't because he wanted to make some grand statement about gender roles and female empowerment. He did it because, excuse my language, he wanted to see some titties. Anyhow, I personally would have been more interested in the film if it had branched out from focusing solely on American films and examined international exploitation circuits. There's a remarkable documentary on Italian exploitation films and directors like Bruno Mattei and Jess Franco that's just waiting to be made, mark my words. But American Grindhouse is still satisfying fare for horror and exploitation enthusiasts.

7/10