Login or Register for free.
The UHF of the film world.


Marina Antunes [Film Festival 07.14.10] movie review news documentary

Share on Google+


Year: 2010
Director: Elijah Drenner
Writers: Elijah Drenner, Calum Waddell
IMDB: link
Trailer: link
Review by: Marina Antunes
Rating: 7 out of 10

Grindhouse. A term as old as cinema (though it wasn’t always referred to as that) that has, for a large part of its history, existed on the fringes. For some, it was a common form of entertainment but for many others, it was something that existed outside of our regular watching habits, heard and perhaps even talked about but rarely explored.

Over the decades, grindhouse has taken on different incarnations, changing and adapting to the times, the culture and the audience and Elijah Drenner’s first full length feature documentary American Grindhouse does a great job of walking the uninitiated through the history of the genre (though it’s much more than that) from the early days of Thomas Edison’s invention of the camera to the old burlesque theatres of New York’s 1940s 42nd Street and into the 70s when grindhouse seemed to be everywhere.


It’s a very paint but numbers style of documentary, following a linear process which could make for a dry film but Drenner brings together a fantastic cast of characters to help fill in much of the background. John Landis and Joe Dante come on board with lengthy commentaries on the films of the time and their personal experiences with grindhouse which is both insightful and entertaining not to mention, a great mini biography on their influences in the early years. Adding more depth and history to the proceedings are a number of film historians, among them Eddie Muller, Eric Schaffer and the fantastic Kim Morgan who provides an interesting female perspective to the proceedings. These experts fill in the gaps of the progression of grindhouse and tie it into popular culture and film history.

Drenner seizes the opportunity, when it occasionally presents itself, to veer into the mainstream, allowing his guests to speak of the evolution of grindhouse in both the independent and Hollywood avenues and how the studios bent and twisted grindhouse ideas into mainstream films, creating a number of subgenres the most prominent being film noir.

It’s not exactly breaking new ground but American Grindhouse does exactly what it sets off to do: provide an overview of grindhouse cinema in the US from it’s inception into its golden age. Though it doesn’t feature a huge range of interviewees, it has just enough of a mix to provide both insightful and entertaining commentary on the subject, including interviews with some of the men and women who made seminal films including Herschell Gordon Lewis, Ted V. Mikels and Fred Williamson. Definitely one to see for the curious but likely one to skip for fans of the genre or anyone looking for in depth scrutiny of the genre and moralizing on what it said and continues to say about the audience it was made for. American Grindhouse is a great introduction, providing just enough information to open a few doors for further exploration.

avatar

agentorange (1 year ago) Reply

Great review. I've been waiting for this for almost two years now. Can't wait to catch up with it.

Watch for my review of horror doc Nightmares in Red, White and Blue shortly. Lots of the same names pop up.

avatar

Theodora Michaels (1 year ago) Reply

Fans of Ted V. Mikels should also be sure to check out the new documentary about him, "The Wild World of Ted V. Mikels," narrated by John Waters. http://thewildworldoftedvmikels.com/


Leave a comment








Related articles
Posted on Friday, November 5th, 2010 16:55 GMT By Marina Antunes
Posted on Tuesday, September 21st, 2010 18:33 GMT By Marina Antunes
Posted on Tuesday, March 15th, 2011 22:06 GMT By Marina Antunes
Posted on Tuesday, October 12th, 2010 20:01 GMT By Marina Antunes
Posted on Tuesday, May 31st, 2011 0:13 GMT By Marina Antunes