An exploitation film is a film that tries to succeed financially by exploiting current trends, niche genres, or lurid content. Exploitation films are generally low-quality " B movies", though some set trends, attract critical attention, become historically important, and even gain a cult following.
History
Exploitation films may feature suggestive or explicit sex, sensational violence, drug use, nudity, gore, destruction, rebellion, mayhem, and the bizarre. Such films were first seen in their modern form in the early 1920s, but they were popularized in the 60s and 70s with the general relaxing of censorship and cinematic taboos in the U.S. and Europe. An early example, the 1933 film Ecstasy, included nude scenes featuring the Austrian actress
Hedy Lamarr
Hedy Lamarr (; born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler; November 9, 1914 January 19, 2000) was an Austrian-born American film actress and inventor. A film star during Hollywood's golden age, Lamarr has been described as one of the greatest movie actress ...
. The film proved popular at the box office but caused concern for the American cinema trade association, the
MPPDA
The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distribu ...
. Hildegard Esper and
Dwain Esper
Dwain Atkins Esper (October 7, 1894 – October 18, 1982) was an American director and producer of exploitation films.
Biography
A veteran of World War I, Esper worked as a building contractor before switching to the film business in the mid-19 ...
are husband and wife film directors and producers who made some of the most exploitative movies back in the 1930s such as Narcotic,
Maniac
Maniac (from Greek μανιακός, ''maniakos'') is a pejorative for an individual who experiences the mood known as mania. In common usage, it is also an insult for someone involved in reckless behavior.
Maniac may also refer to:
Film
* ' ...
,
Marihuana
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tr ...
, and
How to Undress Your Husband.
How may refer to:
* How (greeting), a word used in some misrepresentations of Native American/First Nations speech
* How, an interrogative word in English grammar
Art and entertainment Literature
* ''How'' (book), a 2007 book by Dov Seid ...
The Hays Code
The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the ...
did not like any of their movies and not even
MPPDA
The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distribu ...
. Back in the 1930s, exploitation movies were looked down upon.
The
Motion Picture Association of America
The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distrib ...
(and the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America before it) cooperated with censorship boards and grassroots organizations in the hope of preserving the image of a "clean" Hollywood, but the distributors of exploitation film operated outside of this circuit and often welcomed controversy as a form of free promotion. Their producers used sensational elements to attract audiences lost to television. Since the 1990s, this genre has also received attention in academic circles, where it is sometimes called
paracinema
Paracinema is an academic term to refer to a wide variety of film genres out of the mainstream, bearing the same relationship to 'legitimate' film as paraliterature like comic books and pulp fiction bears to literature.
Definition
In terms of tas ...
.
"Exploitation" is loosely defined and arguably has as much to do with the viewer's perception of the film as with the film's actual content. Titillating material and artistic content often coexist, as demonstrated by the fact that art films that failed to pass the
Hays Code
The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the ...
were often shown in the same
grindhouse
A grindhouse or action house is an American term for a theatre that mainly shows low-budget horror, splatter and exploitation films for adults. According to historian David Church, this theater type was named after the "grind policy", a fil ...
s as exploitation films. Exploitation films share the fearlessness of acclaimed transgressive European directors such as
Derek Jarman
Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman (31 January 1942 – 19 February 1994) was an English artist, film maker, costume designer, stage designer, writer, gardener and gay rights activist.
Biography
Jarman was born at the Royal Victoria Nursing Home ...
,
Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish-Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico, and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians, and directors to be one of the greatest and ...
, and Jean-Luc Godard in handling "disreputable" content. Many films recognized as classics contain levels of sex, violence, and shock typically associated with exploitation films; examples are Stanley Kubrick's ''
A Clockwork Orange
''A Clockwork Orange'' may refer to:
* ''A Clockwork Orange'' (novel), a 1962 novel by Anthony Burgess
** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (film), a 1971 film directed by Stanley Kubrick based on the novel
*** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (soundtrack), the film ...
'' has rarely been considered psychopharmacology. The novel written by Anthony Burgess’s is most well-known and memorable for its Bristish texts about youth and counterculture. In the Stanley Kubrick movie from 1971, the famous iconic scene when Alex is strapped to a chair his eyes are wide open, he is forced to watch horror of the holocaust and World War II footage. Author Anthony Burgess defined that moment as the Ludovico treatment. It was a neurological intervention that used behavioral conditioning and psychopharmacology to prevent the subject from committing violent crimes. "A Clockwork Orange" speaks to the audience of the dominant culture and counterculture. The novel and movie delve into the neuroscience and cultural effects of War World II, reflecting reactionary politics of fear based on disciplinary neuroscience. '' '' Tod Browning's ''
Freaks
Freak has several meanings: a person who is physically deformed or suffers from an extraordinary disease and condition, a genetic mutation in a plant or animal, etc.
Freak, freaks or The Freak may also refer to:
Fictional characters
* Freak (Ima ...
'', and
Roman Polanski
Raymond Roman Thierry Polański , group=lower-alpha, name=note_a ( né Liebling; 18 August 1933) is a French-Polish film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, tw ...
Un Chien Andalou
''Un Chien Andalou'' (, ''An Andalusian Dog'') is a 1929 French silent short film directed by Luis Buñuel, and written by Buñuel and Salvador Dalí. Buñuel's first film, it was initially released in a limited capacity at Studio des Ursuline ...
'' contains elements of the modern splatter film. It has been suggested that if ''
Carnival of Souls
''Carnival of Souls'' is a 1962 American independent horror film produced and directed by Herk Harvey and written by John Clifford from a story by Clifford and Harvey, and starring Candace Hilligoss. Its plot follows Mary Henry, a young wo ...
'' had been made in Europe, it would be considered an art film, while if '' Eyes Without a Face'' had been made in the U.S., it would have been categorized as a low-budget horror film. The audiences of art and exploitation film are both considered to have tastes that reject the mainstream Hollywood offerings.
Exploitation films have often exploited news events in the short-term public consciousness that a major film studio may avoid because of the time required to produce a major film. '' Child Bride'' (1938), for example, tackled the issue of older men marrying young girls in the
Ozark
The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and the extreme southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover a significant porti ...
s. Other issues, such as drug use in films like ''
Reefer Madness
''Reefer Madness'' (originally made as ''Tell Your Children'' and sometimes titled ''The Burning Question'', ''Dope Addict'', ''Doped Youth'', and ''Love Madness'') is a 1936 American propaganda film about drugs, revolving around the melodramat ...
'' (1936), attracted audiences that major film studios would usually avoid in order to keep their respectable, mainstream reputations. With enough incentive, however, major studios might become involved, as
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
did in their 1969 anti-
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known colloquially as acid, is a potent psychedelic drug. Effects typically include intensified thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception. At sufficiently high dosages LSD manifests primarily mental, vi ...
, anti-
counterculture
A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Hou ...
film ''
The Big Cube
''The Big Cube'' is a 1969 American psychological-thriller film directed by Tito Davison and starring Lana Turner, Karin Mossberg, George Chakiris, Daniel O'Herlihy and Richard Egan. Its plot follows an aging former actress who is dosed with LSD ...
''. The film ''
Sex Madness
''Sex Madness'' is a 1938 exploitation film directed by Dwain Esper, along the lines of ''Reefer Madness'', supposedly to warn teenagers and young adults of the dangers of venereal diseases, specifically syphilis.venereal disease
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), also referred to as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and the older term venereal diseases, are infections that are Transmission (medicine), spread by Human sexual activity, sexual activity, especi ...
from premarital sex. '' Mom and Dad'', a 1945 film about pregnancy and childbirth, was promoted in lurid terms. ''
She Shoulda Said No!
''She Shoulda Said No!'' (also known as ''Wild Weed''; ''The Devil's Weed''; ''Marijuana, the Devil's Weed''; and ''The Story of Lila Leeds and Her Exposé of the Marijuana Racket'') is a 1949 exploitation film that follows in the spirit of mora ...
'' (1949) combined the themes of drug use and promiscuous sex. In the early days of film, when exploitation films relied on such sensational subjects as these, they had to present a very conservative moral viewpoint to avoid censorship, as movies then were not considered to enjoy
First Amendment
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...
protection.
Several
war film
War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...
s were made about the
Winter War
The Winter War,, sv, Vinterkriget, rus, Зи́мняя война́, r=Zimnyaya voyna. The names Soviet–Finnish War 1939–1940 (russian: link=no, Сове́тско-финская война́ 1939–1940) and Soviet–Finland War 1 ...
in Finland, the
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
, and the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
before the major studios showed interest. When
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...
The War of the Worlds
''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells, first serialised in 1897 by ''Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and by ''Cosmopolitan (magazine), Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US. The novel's first appear ...
'' from ''
The Mercury Theatre on the Air
''The Mercury Theatre on the Air'' is a radio series of live radio dramas created and hosted by Orson Welles. The weekly hour-long show presented classic literary works performed by Welles's celebrated Mercury Theatre repertory company, with mus ...
'' for Halloween in 1938 shocked many Americans and made news,
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
edited their serial ''
Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars
''Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars'' is a 1938 Universal Pictures 15–chapter science-fiction movie serial based on the syndicated newspaper comic strip ''Flash Gordon''. It is the second of the three Flash Gordon serials made by Universal between 1 ...
'' into a short feature called ''
Mars Attacks the World
''Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars'' is a 1938 Universal Pictures 15–chapter science-fiction movie serial based on the syndicated newspaper comic strip ''Flash Gordon''. It is the second of the three Flash Gordon serials made by Universal between 1 ...
'' for release in November of that year.
Some
Poverty Row
Poverty Row is a slang term used to refer to Hollywood films produced from the 1920s to the 1950s by small (and mostly short-lived) B movie studios. Although many of them were based on (or near) today's Gower Street in Hollywood, the term did ...
low-budget B movies often exploit major studio projects. Their rapid production schedule allows them to take advantage of publicity attached to major studio films. For example, Edward L. Alperson produced
William Cameron Menzies
William Cameron Menzies (July 29, 1896 – March 5, 1957) was an American film production designer (a job title he invented) and art director as well as a film director and producer during a career spanning five decades. He began his career ...
George Pal
George Pal (born György Pál Marczincsak; ; February 1, 1908 – May 2, 1980) was a Hungarian-American animator, film director and producer, principally associated with the fantasy and science-fiction genres. He became an American citizen after ...
's ''
The War of the Worlds
''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells, first serialised in 1897 by ''Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and by ''Cosmopolitan (magazine), Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US. The novel's first appear ...
'' to the cinemas, and Pal's ''
The Time Machine
''The Time Machine'' is a science fiction novella by H. G. Wells, published in 1895. The work is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel by using a vehicle or device to travel purposely and selectively for ...
'' was beaten to the cinemas by Edgar G. Ulmer's film ''
Beyond the Time Barrier
''Beyond the Time Barrier'' is a 1960 American science fiction film. It was released in September 1960 on a double bill with '' The Angry Red Planet''.Warren, Bill (1986). "Keep Watching The Skies Volume 2". McFarland & Co., Inc. . Page 730 It sta ...
''. As a result, many major studios, producers, and stars keep their projects secret.
Grindhouses and drive-ins
Grindhouse
A grindhouse or action house is an American term for a theatre that mainly shows low-budget horror, splatter and exploitation films for adults. According to historian David Church, this theater type was named after the "grind policy", a fil ...
is an American term for a theater that mainly showed exploitation films. These theatres were popular throughout the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s in New York City and other urban centers, mainly in North America, but began a long decline during the mid 1980s with the advent of home video.
As the
drive-in movie theater
A drive-in theater or drive-in cinema is a form of cinema structure consisting of a large outdoor movie screen, a projection booth, a concession stand, and a large parking area for automobiles. Within this enclosed area, customers can view movie ...
began to decline in the 1960s and 1970s, theater owners began to look for ways to bring in patrons. One solution was to book lower cost exploitation films. Some producers from the 1950s to the 1980s made films directly for the drive-in market, and the commodity product needed for a weekly change led to another theory about the origin of the word: that the producers would "grind"-out films. Many of them were violent action films that some called "drive-in" films.
Subgenres
Exploitation films may adopt the subject matter and styling of regular film genres, particularly horror films and documentary films, and their themes are sometimes influenced by other so-called exploitative media, such as pulp magazines. They often blur the distinctions between genres by containing elements of two or more genres at a time. Their subgenres are identifiable by the characteristics they use. For example, Doris Wishman's '' Let Me Die A Woman'' contains elements of both shock documentary and sexploitation.
1930s and 1940s cautionary films
Although they featured lurid subject matter, exploitation films of the 1930s and 1940s evaded the strict censorship and scrutiny of the era by claiming to be educational. They were generally
cautionary tale
A cautionary tale is a tale told in folklore to warn its listener of a danger. There are three essential parts to a cautionary tale, though they can be introduced in a large variety of ways. First, a taboo or prohibition is stated: some act, lo ...
s about the alleged dangers of premarital sexual intercourse and the use of recreational drugs. Examples include ''
Marihuana
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tr ...
'' (1936), ''
Reefer Madness
''Reefer Madness'' (originally made as ''Tell Your Children'' and sometimes titled ''The Burning Question'', ''Dope Addict'', ''Doped Youth'', and ''Love Madness'') is a 1936 American propaganda film about drugs, revolving around the melodramat ...
'' (1936), ''
Sex Madness
''Sex Madness'' is a 1938 exploitation film directed by Dwain Esper, along the lines of ''Reefer Madness'', supposedly to warn teenagers and young adults of the dangers of venereal diseases, specifically syphilis.Child Bride'' (1938), '' Mom and Dad'' (1945), and ''
She Shoulda Said No!
''She Shoulda Said No!'' (also known as ''Wild Weed''; ''The Devil's Weed''; ''Marijuana, the Devil's Weed''; and ''The Story of Lila Leeds and Her Exposé of the Marijuana Racket'') is a 1949 exploitation film that follows in the spirit of mora ...
'' (1949). An exploitation film about homosexuality, ''Children of Loneliness'' (1937), is now believed lost.
Biker films
In 1953 ''
The Wild One
''The Wild One'' is a 1953 American crime film directed by László Benedek and produced by Stanley Kramer. The picture is most noted for the character of Johnny Strabler, portrayed by Marlon Brando, whose persona became a cultural icon of the 1 ...
'', starring Marlon Brando, was the first film about a motorcycle gang. A string of low-budget juvenile delinquent films featuring hot-rods and motorcycles followed in the 1950s. The success of American International Pictures' ''
The Wild Angels
''The Wild Angels'' is a 1966 American outlaw biker film produced and directed by Roger Corman. Made on location in Southern California, ''The Wild Angels'' was the first film to associate actor Peter Fonda with Harley-Davidson motorcycles an ...
'' in 1966 ignited a more robust trend that continued into the early 1970s. Other biker films include '' Motorpsycho'' (1965), ''
Hells Angels on Wheels
''Hells Angels on Wheels'' is a 1967 American biker film directed by Richard Rush, and starring Adam Roarke, Jack Nicholson, and Sabrina Scharf. The film tells the story of a gas-station attendant with a bad attitude who finds life more exciting ...
'' (1967), ''
The Born Losers
''The Born Losers'' is a 1967 American outlaw biker film.Gary A. Smith, ''The American International Pictures Video Guide'', McFarland 2009 p 32 The film introduced Tom Laughlin as the half-Indian Green Beret Vietnam veteran Billy Jack. Since ...
Easy Rider
''Easy Rider'' is a 1969 American independent drug culture road drama film written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Terry Southern, produced by Fonda, and directed by Hopper. Fonda and Hopper play two bikers who travel through the American So ...
'' (1969), ''
Satan's Sadists
''Satan's Sadists'' is a 1969 American outlaw biker film directed by Al Adamson and starring Russ Tamblyn.
Plot
The plot centers around an outlaw motorcycle gang called the "Satans", who roam the deserts of the American Southwest. The gang's leade ...
'' (1969), ''
Naked Angels
''Naked Angels'' is a 1969 American outlaw biker film directed by Bruce D. Clark. Starring Michael Greene (actor), Michael Greene as Mother, Jennifer Gan as Marlene, and Richard Rust as Fingers, it provides an insider's perspective at the lifesty ...
'' (1969), ''
The Sidehackers
: ''You may have been looking for Five the Hard Way (Prison Break episode)''
''The Sidehackers'' (also known as ''Five the Hard Way'') is a 1969 American action film about motorcycle racing with a twist. Each motorcycle has a sidehack (a sidecar ...
'' (1969), ''
Nam's Angels
''The Losers'' released on video as ''Nam's Angels'' is a 1970 American biker war film directed by Jack Starrett.
Plot
The plot involves a gang of Hells Angels-type bikers called "The Devil's Advocates" involved in the Vietnam War. They are sen ...
'' (1970), and ''
C.C. and Company
''C.C. and Company'' is a 1970 American biker film directed by Seymour Robbie. It starred Joe Namath as biker C.C. Ryder, Ann-Margret as fashion journalist Ann, and William Smith as Moon, the leader of the fictitious outlaw biker club the "Hea ...
'' (1970). ''
Stone
In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...
'' (1974)'',
Mad Max
''Mad Max'' is an Australian post-apocalyptic action film series and media franchise created by George Miller and Byron Kennedy. It began in 1979 with '' Mad Max'', and was followed by three sequels: ''Mad Max 2'' (1981, released in the Unite ...
'' (1979), and '' 1%'' (2017) combine elements of this subgenre with Ozploitation. In the 1960s
Roger Corman
Roger William Corman (born April 5, 1926) is an American film director, producer, and actor. He has been called "The Pope of Pop Cinema" and is known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film. Many of Corman's films are based on works t ...
directed
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wid ...
B horror movies with well-known horror veteran movie actors with
Boris Karloff
William Henry Pratt (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969), better known by his stage name Boris Karloff (), was an English actor. His portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the horror film '' Frankenstein'' (1931) (his 82nd film) established ...
,
Peter Lorre
Peter Lorre (; born László Löwenstein, ; June 26, 1904 – March 23, 1964) was a Hungarian and American actor, first in Europe and later in the United States. He began his stage career in Vienna, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, before movin ...
,
Vincent Price
Vincent Leonard Price Jr. (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993) was an American actor, art historian, art collector and gourmet cook. He appeared on stage, television, and radio, and in more than 100 films. Price has two stars on the Hollywood Wal ...
, and a very young and unknown
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is an American retired actor and filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time. In many of his films, he played rebels against the social structure. He received numerous ...
. He turned down directing
Easy Rider
''Easy Rider'' is a 1969 American independent drug culture road drama film written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Terry Southern, produced by Fonda, and directed by Hopper. Fonda and Hopper play two bikers who travel through the American So ...
Black exploitation films, or "blaxploitation" films, are made with black actors, ostensibly for black audiences, often in a stereotypically black American urban milieu. A prominent theme was black Americans overcoming hostile authority (" The Man") through cunning and violence. The first examples of this subgenre were '' Shaft'' and
Melvin Van Peebles
Melvin Van Peebles (born Melvin Peebles; August 21, 1932 – September 21, 2021) was an American actor, filmmaker, writer, and composer. He worked as an active filmmaker into the 2000s. His feature film debut, '' The Story of a Three-Day Pass'' ...
' ''
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song
''Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song'' is a 1971 American blaxploitation film written, co-produced, scored, edited, directed by, and starring Melvin Van Peebles. His son Mario Van Peebles also appears in a small role, playing the title character ...
''. Others are '' Black Caesar'', ''Black Devil Doll'', ''
Blacula
''Blacula'' is a 1972 American blaxploitation horror film directed by William Crain. It stars William Marshall in the title role about an 18th-century African prince named Mamuwalde, who is turned into a vampire (and later locked in a coffin) by ...
'', ''
Black Shampoo
''Black Shampoo'' is an American exploitation film directed by Greydon Clark. Released in 1976, the comedy film is considered an example of the blaxploitation and sexploitation subgenres of exploitation film. Produced on a budget of $50,000, the ...
'', ''
Boss Nigger
''Boss Nigger'' (also known as simply ''Boss'' and ''The Black Bounty Killer'') is a 1975 blaxploitation Western film directed by Jack Arnold, and stars former football player Fred Williamson, who both wrote and co-produced. ''Boss Nigger'' i ...
'', ''
Coffy
''Coffy'' is a 1973 American blaxploitation film written and directed by Jack Hill. The story is about a black female vigilante played by Pam Grier who seeks violent revenge against a heroin dealer responsible for her sister's addiction.Gary A. ...
Cotton Comes to Harlem
''Cotton Comes to Harlem'' is a 1970 American neo-noir action comedy thriller film co-written and directed by Ossie Davis and starring Godfrey Cambridge, Raymond St. Jacques, and Redd Foxx. The film, later cited as an early example of the ...
'', ''
Dolemite
''Dolemite'' is a 1975 American blaxploitation crime comedy film and is also the name of its principal character, played by Rudy Ray Moore, who co-wrote the film and its soundtrack. Moore, who started his career as a stand-up comedian in ...
Hell Up in Harlem
''Hell Up in Harlem'' is a 1973 blaxploitation American neo-noir film, starring Fred Williamson and Gloria Hendry. Written and directed by Larry Cohen, it is a sequel to the film '' Black Caesar''.
The film's soundtrack was recorded by Edwin S ...
'', ''
The Mack
''The Mack'' is a 1973 American blaxploitation film directed by California native Michael Campus, starring Max Julien and Richard Pryor. The film also stars Oscar-nominee Juanita Moore and Tony-nominated actor Dick Anthony Williams. Filmed in O ...
'', ''
Disco Godfather
''Disco Godfather'' (also known as ''The Avenging Disco Godfather'') is a 1979 American action film starring Rudy Ray Moore and Carol Speed, directed by J. Robert Wagoner and released by Transvue Pictures. J. Robert Wagoner wrote and directed ''Di ...
The Thing with Two Heads
''The Thing with Two Heads'' is a 1972 American blaxploitation science fiction comedy film directed by Lee Frost and starring Ray Milland, Rosey Grier, Don Marshall, Roger Perry, Kathy Baumann, and Chelsea Brown.
Plot
Dr. Maxwell Kirshner ( ...
'', ''
Truck Turner
''Truck Turner'', also known as ''Black Bullet'', is a 1974 blaxploitation film, starring Isaac Hayes and Yaphet Kotto, and directed by Jonathan Kaplan. The screenplay was written by Michael Allin, Leigh Chapman (under a pseudonym, Jerry Wilke ...
'', ''
Willie Dynamite
''Willie Dynamite'' is a 1973 American blaxploitation film directed by Gilbert Moses and starring Roscoe Orman, Diana Sands, Thalmus Rasulala, Joyce Walker, and was released by Universal Pictures. The eponymous Willie Dynamite is a pimp in New Yo ...
'' and ''
Cleopatra Jones
''Cleopatra Jones'' is a 1973 American blaxploitation film directed by Jack Starrett. Tamara Dobson stars as an undercover government agent who uses the day job of supermodel as her cover and an excuse to travel to exotic places. Bernie Casey, S ...
''.
In Blaxploitation horror movies back in the 1970’s, despite the leading stars in those movies being black, some of these movies were either produced, edited, or directed by white filmmakers. Blackula, a well-known Blaxploitation horror movie, was directed by an African American filmmaker named William Crain. Blackula was one of the first early successful blaxploitation horror movies.
Ganja and Hess
''Ganja & Hess'' is a 1973 American blaxploitation horror film written and directed by Bill Gunn and starring Marlene Clark and Duane Jones. The film follows the exploits of anthropologist Dr. Hess Green (Jones), who becomes a vampire after his ...
stars
Duane Jones
Duane L. Jones (April 11, 1937July 22, 1988) was an American actor and theatre director, best known for his lead role as Ben in the 1968 horror film ''Night of the Living Dead''. He was later director of the Maguire Theater at the State Universi ...
who played Ben in
Night of the Living Dead
''Night of the Living Dead'' is a 1968 American independent horror film directed, photographed, and edited by George A. Romero, with a screenplay by John Russo and Romero, and starring Duane Jones and Judith O'Dea. The story follows seven pe ...
. This movie has political and social commentary. The Vampires are a metaphor for
capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...
.
Modern homages of this genre include ''
Jackie Brown
''Jackie Brown'' is a 1997 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, based on Elmore Leonard's 1992 novel '' Rum Punch.'' It stars Pam Grier as Jackie Brown, a flight attendant who is caught smuggling money. Samuel L. Jac ...
'', ''
Pootie Tang
''Pootie Tang'' is a 2001 American comedy film written and directed by Louis C.K. Adapted from a comedy sketch that first appeared on ''The Chris Rock Show'', the character Pootie Tang is a satire of the stereotyped action heroes who appeared in ...
'', ''
Undercover Brother
''Undercover Brother'' is a 2002 American satirical spy action comedy blaxploitation film directed by Malcolm D. Lee and starring Eddie Griffin. The screenplay by John Ridley and Michael McCullers is based on the Internet animated series c ...
Proud Mary
"Proud Mary" is a song written by John Fogerty and first recorded by his band Creedence Clearwater Revival. It was released by Fantasy Records as a single from the band's second studio album, '' Bayou Country'', which was issued by the same ...
'' and ''
BlacKkKlansman
''BlacKkKlansman'' is a 2018 American biographical black comedy crime thriller film directed by Spike Lee and written by Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott and Lee, based on the 2014 memoir ''Black Klansman'' by Ron Stallworth. ...
''. The 1973 Bond film '' Live and Let Die'' uses blaxploitation themes.
Cannibal films
Cannibal films are graphic movies from the early 1970s to the late 1980s, primarily made by Italian and Spanish moviemakers. They focus on cannibalism by tribes deep in the South American or Asian rainforests. This cannibalism is usually perpetrated against Westerners that the tribes held prisoner. As with
mondo film
Mondo films are a subgenre of exploitation films and documentary films. Many mondo films are made in a way to resemble a pseudo-documentary and usually depicting sensational topics, scenes, or situations. Common traits of mondo films include p ...
s, the main draw of cannibal films was the promise of exotic locales and graphic gore involving living creatures. The best-known film of this genre is the controversial 1980 '' Cannibal Holocaust'', in which six real animals were killed on screen. Others include ''
Cannibal Ferox
''Cannibal Ferox'', also known as ''Make Them Die Slowly'' in the US and as ''Woman from Deep River'' in Australia, is a 1981 Italian cannibal exploitation horror film written and directed by Umberto Lenzi. Upon its release, the film's US dist ...
'', ''
Eaten Alive!
''Eaten Alive!'' ( it, Mangiati vivi!) is a 1980 Italian horror film directed by Umberto Lenzi. The film is about a young woman (Janet Agren) who is searching for her sister after her abduction by a cult in the jungles of New Guinea.
Synopsis
A ...
The Mountain of the Cannibal God
''The Mountain of the Cannibal God'' (Italian title: ''La montagna del dio cannibale'') is a 1978 Italian horror film starring Ursula Andress and Stacy Keach, with English dialogue, that was filmed in Sri Lanka. The film was also widely release ...
'', ''
Last Cannibal World
''Ultimo mondo cannibale'' (English: ''Last Cannibal World''; also known as ''Cannibal'', ''Jungle Holocaust'' and ''The Last Survivor'') is a 1977 Italian cannibal exploitation film directed by Ruggero Deodato and written by Tito Carpi, Gianfr ...
'', and the first film of the genre, ''
The Man From Deep River
''Il paese del sesso selvaggio'' (English: ''The Country of Savage Sex''), also known as ''Man From Deep River'', ''Deep River Savages'' and ''Sacrifice!'', is a 1972 Italian cannibal exploitation film directed by Umberto Lenzi and starring Iva ...
''. Famous directors in this genre include
Umberto Lenzi
Umberto Lenzi (6 August 1931 – 19 October 2017) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and novelist.
A fan of film since young age, Lenzi studied at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia and made his first film in 1958 which went unr ...
,
Ruggero Deodato
Ruggero Deodato (born 7 May 1939) is an Italian film director, screenwriter, and sometime actor.
His career has spanned a wide-range of genres including peplum, comedy, drama, poliziottesco and science fiction, yet he is perhaps best known f ...
,
Jesús Franco
Jesús Franco Manera (12 May 1930 – 2 April 2013) was a Spanish filmmaker, composer, and actor, known as a prolific director of low-budget exploitation and B-movies. In a career spanning from 1959 to 2013, he wrote, directed, produced, act ...
, and
Joe D'Amato
Aristide Massaccesi (15 December 1936 – 23 January 1999), known professionally as Joe D'Amato, was an Italian film director, producer, cinematographer, and screenwriter who worked in many genres ( westerns, decamerotici, peplum, war films, ...
"Canuxploitation" is a neologism that was coined in 1999 by the magazine ''
Broken Pencil
''Broken Pencil'' is a Canadian magazine based in Toronto, which profiles zine culture, independent arts and music. It was founded in 1995 and publishes four times annually.
History
The magazine was founded in 1995 by Hal Niedzviecki. Its curr ...
'', in the article "Canuxploitation! Goin' Down the Road with the Cannibal Girls that Ate Black Christmas. Your Complete Guide to the Canadian B-Movie", to refer to Canadian-made B-movies.Walz, Eugene P. ''Canada's Best Features: Critical Essays on 15 Canadian Films'' Rodopi, 2002. P. xvii. Most mainstream critical analysis of this period in Canadian film history, however, refers to it as the "tax-shelter era"."The History of the Canadian Film Industry"
The Canadian Encyclopedia
''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage.
Available f ...
.
The phenomenon emerged in 1974, when the government of Canada introduced new regulations to jumpstart the then-underdeveloped Canadian film industry, increasing the Capital Cost Allowance
tax credit
A tax credit is a tax incentive which allows certain taxpayers to subtract the amount of the credit they have accrued from the total they owe the state. It may also be a credit granted in recognition of taxes already paid or a form of state "dis ...
from 60 per cent to 100 per cent.
Geoff Pevere
Geoff Pevere (born October 1957) is a Canadian lecturer, author, broadcaster, teacher, arts and media critic, currently the program director of the Rendezvous With Madness Film Festival in Toronto.John Semley, "Can we play with madness?: Toronto' ...
Lies My Father Told Me
''Lies My Father Told Me'' is a 1975 Canadian drama film made in Montreal, Quebec. It was directed by Ján Kadár and stars Jeffrey Lynas as an orthodox Jewish boy growing up in 1920s Montreal. The film received the Golden Globe Award for Best F ...
'', and some film directors who cut their teeth in the "tax shelter" era emerged as among Canada's most important and influential filmmakers of the era, including David Cronenberg,
William Fruet
William Fruet (born January 1, 1933) is a Canadian film and television director, playwright and screenwriter. He made his directorial debut with the drama ''Wedding in White'' (1972), based on a play he had also written. The film won Best Picture ...
,
Ivan Reitman
Ivan Reitman (; October 27, 1946February 12, 2022) was a Czechoslovak-born Canadian filmmaker. He was best known for his comedy work, especially in the 1980s and 1990s. He was the owner of The Montecito Picture Company, founded in 1998.
Film ...
and Bob Clark, the new regulations also had an entirely unforeseen side effect: a sudden rush of low-budget horror and genre films, intended as pure
tax shelter
Tax shelters are any method of reducing taxable income resulting in a reduction of the payments to tax collecting entities, including state and federal governments. The methodology can vary depending on local and international tax laws.
Types of ...
s since they were designed not to turn a conventional profit. Many of the films, in fact, were made by
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
filmmakers whose projects had been rejected by the Hollywood studio system as not commercially viable, giving rise to the
Hollywood North
Hollywood North is a colloquialism used to describe film production industries and/or film locations north of its namesake, Hollywood, California. The term has been applied principally to the film industry in Canada, specifically to the city of T ...
phenomenon.
Notable examples of the genre include ''
Cannibal Girls
''Cannibal Girls'' is a 1973 Canadian independent grindhouse comedy horror film, co-written and directed by Ivan Reitman and starring Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, and Ronald Ulrich.
Whether by coincidence or not, the name of the film's setting, F ...
'', ''
Deathdream
''Deathdream'' (also known as ''Dead of Night'') is a 1974 horror film directed by Bob Clark and written by Alan Ormsby, and starring Richard Backus, John Marley, and Lynn Carlin. Filmed in Brooksville, Florida, it was inspired by the W. W. Jaco ...
The Clown Murders
''The Clown Murders'' is a 1976 Canadian horror film directed by Martyn Burke. It was one of the earliest films in which John Candy appears. The Executive Producer was Stephen Stohn, who later produced the '' Degrassi: The Next Generation'' TV ...
'', ''
Rituals
A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized, b ...
'', ''
Cathy's Curse
''Cathy's Curse'' (French: ''Une si gentille petite fille''), also released in Canada under the title ''Cauchemares'', is a 1977 supernatural horror film directed by Eddy Matalon and starring Alan Scarfe, Beverly Murray, and Randi Allen. The film ...
Rabid
Rabies is a viral disease that causes encephalitis in humans and other mammals. Early symptoms can include fever and tingling at the site of exposure. These symptoms are followed by one or more of the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, ...
'', ''
I Miss You, Hugs and Kisses
''I Miss You, Hugs and Kisses'' (also known as ''Drop Dead, Dearest'' and ''Left for Dead'') is a 1978 Canadian drama mystery film based on the Peter Demeter murder case. The film is one of the infamous "Video Nasties
Video nasty is a colloqui ...
'', ''
The Brood
''The Brood'' is a 1979 Canadian psychological body horror film written and directed by David Cronenberg and starring Oliver Reed, Samantha Eggar, and Art Hindle. Its plot follows a man and his mentally ill ex-wife, who has been sequestered b ...
'', ''
Funeral Home
A funeral home, funeral parlor or mortuary, is a business that provides burial and funeral services for the dead and their families. These services may include a prepared wake and funeral, and the provision of a chapel for the funeral.
Services ...
'', ''
Terror Train
''Terror Train'' is a 1980 slasher film directed by Roger Spottiswoode in his directorial debut and starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Ben Johnson, and Hart Bochner. Set aboard a moving train on New Year's Eve, the film follows a group of pre-medical sc ...
Scanners
''Scanners'' is a 1981 Canadian science fiction horror film written and directed by David Cronenberg and starring Stephen Lack, Jennifer O'Neill, Michael Ironside, and Patrick McGoohan. In the film, "scanners" are psychics with unusual telepathi ...
'', ''
Ghostkeeper
''Ghostkeeper'' is a 1981 Canadian supernatural slasher film directed by James Makichuk, and starring Riva Spier, Georgie Collins, and Murray Ord. Its plot centers on a trio of snowmobilers in the Canadian Rockies who become stranded at an ab ...
Class of 1984
''Class of 1984'' is a 1982 crime action thriller film directed by Mark Lester and co-written by Tom Holland and John Saxton, based on a story by Holland. The film stars Perry King, Merrie Lynn Ross (who also served as co-executive producer), T ...
'', ''
Videodrome
''Videodrome'' is a 1983 Canadian science fiction body horror film written and directed by David Cronenberg and starring James Woods, Sonja Smits, and Debbie Harry. Set in Toronto during the early 1980s, it follows the CEO of a small UHF televis ...
'', ''
Curtains
A curtain is a piece of cloth or other material intended to block or obscure light, air drafts, or (in the case of a shower curtain), water. A curtain is also the movable screen or drape in a theatre that separates the stage from the auditoriu ...
Self Defense
Self-defense (self-defence primarily in Commonwealth English) is a countermeasure that involves defending the health and well-being of oneself from harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force in ...
Def-Con 4
''Def-Con 4'' is a 1985 Canadian post-apocalyptic film, portraying three astronauts who survive World War III aboard a space station and return to Earth to find greatly changed circumstances. The film's title refers to the Defense Readiness Conditi ...
''.
The period officially ended in 1982, when the Capital Cost Allowance was reduced to 50 per cent, although films that had entered production under the program continued to be released for another few years afterward. However, at least one Canadian film blog extends the "Canuxploitation" term to refer to any Canadian horror, thriller or science fiction film made up to the present day.
Carsploitation
Carsploitation films feature scenes of cars racing and crashing, featuring the sports cars,
muscle car
Muscle car is a description according to '' Merriam-Webster Dictionary'' that came to use in 1966 for "a group of American-made two-door sports coupes with powerful engines designed for high-performance driving." The '' Britannica Dictionary'' ...
s, and car wrecks that were popular in the 1970s and 1980s. They were produced mainly in the United States and Australia. The quintessential film of this genre is ''
Vanishing Point
A vanishing point is a point on the image plane of a perspective drawing where the two-dimensional perspective projections of mutually parallel lines in three-dimensional space appear to converge. When the set of parallel lines is perpendicul ...
'' (1971). Others include ''
Two-Lane Blacktop
''Two-Lane Blacktop'' is a 1971 American road movie directed by Monte Hellman, written by Rudy Wurlitzer and starring songwriter James Taylor, the Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson, Warren Oates, and Laurie Bird.
Plot
Two street racers, the Dr ...
'' (1971), ''
The Cars That Ate Paris
''The Cars That Ate Paris'' is a 1974 Australian horror comedy film, produced by twin brothers Hal and Jim McElroy and directed by Peter Weir. It was his first feature film, and was also based on an original story he had written. Shot mostly i ...
Death Race 2000
''Death Race 2000'' is a 1975 American science fiction action film
produced by Roger Corman, directed by Paul Bartel, and starring David Carradine. The film takes place in a dystopian American society in the year 2000, where the murderous Transco ...
'' (1975), ''
Race with the Devil
''Race with the Devil'' is a 1975 American action horror film directed by Jack Starrett, written by Wes Bishop and Lee Frost, and starring Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, Loretta Swit, and Lara Parker. This was the second of three films Fonda and ...
'' (1975), ''
Cannonball
A round shot (also called solid shot or simply ball) is a solid spherical projectile without explosive charge, launched from a gun. Its diameter is slightly less than the bore of the barrel from which it is shot. A round shot fired from a lar ...
'' (1976), ''
Mad Max
''Mad Max'' is an Australian post-apocalyptic action film series and media franchise created by George Miller and Byron Kennedy. It began in 1979 with '' Mad Max'', and was followed by three sequels: ''Mad Max 2'' (1981, released in the Unite ...
'' (1979), ''
Dead End Drive-In
''Dead End Drive-In'' is a 1986 Australian dystopian action film about a teenage couple trapped in a drive-in theatre which is really a concentration camp for societal rejects. The inmates, many of whom sport punk fashion, are placated with a st ...
'' (1986) and ''
Black Moon Rising
''Black Moon Rising'' is a 1986 science fiction action thriller film directed by Harley Cokliss, written by John Carpenter, and starring Tommy Lee Jones, Linda Hamilton, Robert Vaughn, Keenan Wynn, and Richard Jaeckel. The plot revolves around ...
'' (1986). Quentin Tarantino directed a tribute to the genre, ''
Death Proof
''Death Proof'' is a 2007 American action-thriller film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars Kurt Russell as a stuntman who murders young women with modified cars he purports to be "death-proof". Rosario Dawson, Vanessa Ferlito ...
'' (2007).
Chambara films
In the 1970s, a revisionist, non-traditional style of samurai film achieved some popularity in Japan. It became known as ''chambara'', an onomatopoeia describing the clash of swords. Its origins can be traced as far back as
Akira Kurosawa
was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dyna ...
, whose films feature moral grayness and exaggerated violence, but the genre is mostly associated with 1970s samurai manga by
Kazuo Koike
was a prolific Japanese manga writer ( gensakusha), novelist, screenwriter, lyricist and entrepreneur. He is best known for his violent, artful ''seinen'' manga, notably ''Lone Wolf and Cub'' (with Goseki Kojima, 1970–6), '' Lady Snowblood'' ...
, on whose work many later films would be based. Chambara features few of the stoic, formal sensibilities of earlier ''
jidaigeki
is a genre of film, television, video game, and theatre in Japan. Literally meaning "period dramas", they are most often set during the Edo period of Japanese history, from 1603 to 1868. Some, however, are set much earlier—'' Portrait of H ...
'' films – the new ''chambara'' featured revenge-driven antihero protagonists, nudity, sex scenes, swordplay, and blood.
Giallo films
Giallo films are Italian-made
slasher film
A slasher film is a genre of horror films involving a killer stalking and murdering a group of people, usually by use of bladed or sharp tools like knife, chainsaw, scalpel, etc. Although the term "slasher" may occasionally be used informally as ...
s that focus on cruel murders and the subsequent search for the killers. They are named for the Italian word for yellow, ''giallo'', the background color featured on the covers of the
pulp novels
Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...
by which these movies were inspired. The progenitor of this genre was '' The Girl Who Knew Too Much''. Other examples of Giallo films include ''
Four Flies on Grey Velvet
''Four Flies on Grey Velvet'' ( it, 4 mosche di velluto grigio) is a 1971 '' giallo'' film written and directed by Dario Argento. The film concerns Roberto Tobias ( Michael Brandon), who accidentally kills a man and is then tormented by someone w ...
The Cat o' Nine Tails
''The Cat o' Nine Tails'' ( it, Il gatto a nove code) is a 1971 ''giallo'' film written and directed by Dario Argento, adapted from a story by Dardano Sacchetti, Luigi Cozzi, and an uncredited Bryan Edgar Wallace. It stars Karl Malden, Jame ...
'', ''
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
''The Bird with the Crystal Plumage'' () is a 1970 giallo film directed by Dario Argento, in his directorial debut. The film has been credited with popularizing giallo, an Italian genre of thriller developed in the 1960s. It is the first in what ...
'', ''
The Case of the Scorpion's Tail
''The Case of the Scorpion's Tail'' (Italian: ''La coda dello scorpione'' / ''Tail of the Scorpion'') is a 1971 Italian giallo film directed by Sergio Martino, produced by Luciano Martino and co-written by Ernesto Gastaldi and Eduardo Maria Bro ...
'', ''
A Lizard in a Woman's Skin
''A Lizard in a Woman's Skin'' ( it, Una lucertola con la pelle di donna) is a 1971 ''giallo'' film directed by Lucio Fulci and produced by Edmondo Amati and Robert Dorfmann. It stars Florinda Bolkan, Stanley Baker, Jean Sorel, Leo Genn, and ...
'', ''
Black Belly of the Tarantula
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have ...
'', ''
The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh
''The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh'' (Italian: ''Lo strano vizio della Signora Wardh'') is a 1971 ''giallo'' mystery film directed by Sergio Martino, and starring Edwige Fenech, George Hilton, Ivan Rassimov, and Alberto de Mendoza. Its plot follo ...
'', ''
Blood and Black Lace
''Blood and Black Lace'' ( it, 6 donne per l'assassino, lit=6 Women for the Murderer) is a 1964 ''giallo'' film directed by Mario Bava and starring Eva Bartok and Cameron Mitchell. The story concerns the brutal murders of a Roman fashion house ...
Opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...
and ''
Tenebrae
Tenebrae (—Latin for "darkness") is a religious service of Western Christianity held during the three days preceding Easter Day, and characterized by gradual extinguishing of candles, and by a "strepitus" or "loud noise" taking place in total ...
Lucio Fulci
Lucio Fulci (; 17 June 1927 – 13 March 1996) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor. Although he worked in a wide array of genres through a career spanning nearly five decades, including comedies and Spaghetti Westerns, he ga ...
, and
Mario Bava
Mario Bava (31 July 1914 – 27 April 1980) was an Italian filmmaker who worked variously as a director, cinematographer, special effects artist and screenwriter, frequently referred to as the "Master of Italian Horror" and the "Master of the M ...
are the best-known directors of this genre.
The 2013 Argentinian film '' Sonno Profondo'' is a modern tribute to the genre.
Mockbusters
Mockbusters, sometimes called "remakesploitation films", are copycat movies that try to cash in on the advertising of heavily promoted films from major studios. Production company
the Asylum
The Asylum is an American independent film company and distributor that focuses on producing low-budget, direct-to-video films. It is notorious for producing titles that capitalize on productions by major studios, often using film titles and sc ...
, which prefers to call them "tie-ins", is a prominent producer of these films. Such films have often come from Italy, which has been quick to latch on to trends like Westerns,
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...
movies, and zombie films. They have long been a staple of directors such as
Jim Wynorski
Jim Wynorski (born August 14, 1950) is an American screenwriter, director, and producer.
Wynorski has been making B-movies and exploitation movies since the early 1980s, and has directed over 150 feature films. His earliest films were releas ...
(''The Bare Wench Project'', and the ''
Cliffhanger
A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode or a film of serialized fiction. A cliffhang ...
'' imitation ''Sub Zero''), who make movies for the direct-to-video market. Such films are beginning to attract attention from major Hollywood studios, who served the Asylum with a cease and desist order to try to prevent them from releasing ''
The Day the Earth Stopped
''The Day the Earth Stopped'' is a 2008 American direct-to-DVD science fiction action horror film produced by independent studio The Asylum, directed by and starring C. Thomas Howell. Thomas stars as the protagonist, soldier Josh Myron, who witnes ...
'' to video stores in advance of the release of ''
The Day the Earth Stood Still
''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' (a.k.a. ''Farewell to the Master'' and ''Journey to the World'') is a 1951 American science fiction film from 20th Century Fox, produced by Julian Blaustein and directed by Robert Wise. It stars Michael Re ...
'' to theaters.
The term ''mockbuster'' was used as early as the 1950s (when ''
The Monster of Piedras Blancas
''The Monster of Piedras Blancas'' is a 1959 independently made American black-and-white science fiction- monster film. It was produced by Jack Kevan, written and directed by Irvin Berwick, and stars Jeanne Carmen, Les Tremayne, John Harmon, Do ...
'' was a clear derivative of ''
Creature From The Black Lagoon
''Creature from the Black Lagoon'' is a 1954 American black-and-white 3D monster horror film produced by William Alland and directed by Jack Arnold, from a screenplay by Harry Essex and Arthur Ross and a story by Maurice Zimm. It stars ...
''). The term did not become popular until the 1970s, with '' Starcrash'' and the Turkish ''
Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam
''Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam'' (English: ''The Man Who Saved the World'') is a 1982 Turkish science fantasy martial arts superhero adventure film directed by Çetin Inanç, and starring actor/martial artist Cüneyt Arkın. It was first released in ...
'' and ''Süpermen dönüyor''. The latter two used scenes from '' Star Wars'' and unauthorized excerpts from John Williams' score.
Mondo films
Mondo films, often called shockumentaries, are quasi-documentary films about sensationalized topics like exotic customs from around the world or gruesome death footage. The goal of mondo films, as of shock exploitation, is to shock the audience by dealing with taboo subject matter. The first mondo film is ''
Mondo Cane
''Mondo Cane'' (literally "Doggish World" or "Dog's World", a mild Italian profanity) is a 1962 Italian mondo documentary film and directed by the trio of Gualtiero Jacopetti, Paolo Cavara, and Franco E. Prosperi, with narration by Stefano S ...
'' (''A Dog's World''). Others include ''
Shocking Asia
''Shocking Asia'' is a 1974 mondo documentary film written and directed by Rolf Olsen with Ingeborg Stein Steinbach. The film was however banned in Finland due to its graphic content. A sequel titled '' Shocking Asia II: The Last Taboos'' was r ...
'', '' Africa Addio'' (aka ''Africa Blood and Guts'' and ''Farewell Africa''), ''
Goodbye Uncle Tom
''Goodbye Uncle Tom'' ( it, Addio Zio Tom) is a 1971 Italian Mondo docudrama co-directed and co-written by Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco Prosperi with music by Riz Ortolani. The film is based on true events in which the filmmakers explore ante ...
'', and ''
Faces of Death
''Faces of Death'' (later re-released as ''The Original Faces of Death'') is a 1978 American mondo horror film written and directed by John Alan Schwartz, credited under the pseudonyms "Conan Le Cilaire" and "Alan Black" respectively.
The fi ...
''.
Monster movies
These "nature-run-amok" films focus on an animal or group of animals, far larger and more aggressive than usual for their species, terrorizing humans while another group of humans tries to fight back. This genre began in the 1950s, when concern over nuclear weapons testing made movies about giant monsters popular. These were typically either giant prehistoric creatures awakened by atomic explosions or ordinary animals mutated by radiation. Among them were ''
Godzilla
is a fictional monster, or '' kaiju'', originating from a series of Japanese films. The character first appeared in the 1954 film '' Godzilla'' and became a worldwide pop culture icon, appearing in various media, including 32 films prod ...
'', ''
Them!
''Them!'' is a 1954 American black-and-white science fiction film, science fiction monster film from Warner Bros. Pictures, produced by David Weisbart, directed by Gordon Douglas (director), Gordon Douglas, and starring James Whitmore, Edmund ...
'', and ''
Tarantula
Tarantulas comprise a group of large and often hairy spiders of the family Theraphosidae. , 1,040 species have been identified, with 156 genera. The term "tarantula" is usually used to describe members of the family Theraphosidae, although m ...
''. The trend was revived in the 1970s as awareness of pollution increased and corporate greed and military irresponsibility were blamed for destruction of the environment. ''
Night of the Lepus
''Night of the Lepus'' (also known as ''Rabbits'') is a 1972 American science fiction horror film directed by William F. Claxton and produced by A. C. Lyles. Based upon Russell Braddon's 1964 science fiction novel '' The Year of the Angry Rabbi ...
'', ''
Frogs
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" '' Triadobatrachus'' is ...
Jaws
Jaws or Jaw may refer to:
Anatomy
* Jaw, an opposable articulated structure at the entrance of the mouth
** Mandible, the lower jaw
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Jaws (James Bond), a character in ''The Spy Who Loved Me'' and ''Moonraker''
* ...
'', a number of very similar films (sometimes regarded as outright rip-offs) were produced in the hope of cashing in on its success. Examples are ''
Alligator
An alligator is a large reptile in the Crocodilia order in the genus ''Alligator'' of the family Alligatoridae. The two extant species are the American alligator (''A. mississippiensis'') and the Chinese alligator (''A. sinensis''). Additiona ...
'', ''
Cujo
''Cujo'' () is a 1981 psychological horror novel by American writer Stephen King about a rabid Saint Bernard. The novel won the British Fantasy Award in 1982 and was made into a film in 1983.
Background
Cujo's name was based on the alias of ...
'', ''
Day of the Animals
''Day of the Animals'' (re-released as ''Something Is Out There'') is a 1977 American natural horror film directed by William Girdler, based on a story by producer Edward L. Montoro. The film reunited Girdler and Montoro with stars Christopher ...
Grizzly
The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America.
In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horri ...
'', ''
Humanoids from the Deep
''Humanoids from the Deep'' (released as ''Monster'' in Europe and Japan) is a 1980 American science fiction horror film starring Doug McClure, Ann Turkel, and Vic Morrow. Roger Corman served as the film's uncredited executive producer, an ...
'', ''
Monster Shark
''Monster Shark'' ( it, Shark - Rosso nell'oceano) is a science fiction- horror film directed by Lamberto Bava. It was also released in various countries as ''Devil Fish'', ''Monster from the Red Ocean'', ''Devouring Waves'' and ''Shark: Red in th ...
'', ''
Orca
The orca or killer whale (''Orcinus orca'') is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family, of which it is the largest member. It is the only extant species in the genus '' Orcinus'' and is recognizable by its black-and-white ...
Piranha
A piranha or piraña (, , or ; or , ) is one of a number of freshwater fish in the family Serrasalmidae, or the subfamily Serrasalminae within the tetra family, Characidae in order Characiformes. These fish inhabit South American rivers, fl ...
'', ''
Prophecy
In religion, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a '' prophet'') by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain divine will or law, or pr ...
'', ''
Razorback
The feral pig is a domestic pig which has gone feral, meaning it lives in the wild. They are found mostly in the Americas and Australia. Razorback and wild hog are Americanisms applied to feral pigs or boar-pig hybrids.
Definition
A feral p ...
'', ''
Blood Feast
''Blood Feast'' is a 1963 American splatter film. It was composed, shot, and directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis, written by Allison Louise Downe from an idea by Lewis and David F. Freidman, and stars Mal Arnold, William Kerwin, Connie Mason, ...
'', ''
Tentacles
In zoology, a tentacle is a flexible, mobile, and elongated organ present in some species of animals, most of them invertebrates. In animal anatomy, tentacles usually occur in one or more pairs. Anatomically, the tentacles of animals work mainl ...
'', and ''
Tintorera
''Tintorera'' is a 1977 Mexican-British horror film directed by René Cardona Jr. and starring Susan George, Hugo Stiglitz, Fiona Lewis and Andrés García. It is based on the novel of the same name by oceanographer Ramón Bravo, who studie ...
''. Roger Corman was a major producer of these films in both decades. The genre has experienced a revival in recent years, as films like '' Mulberry Street'' and Larry Fessenden's '' The Last Winter'' reflected concerns about global warming and overpopulation.
The Sci-Fi Channel (now known as SyFy) has produced several films about
giant
In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''gigas'', cognate giga-) are beings of human-like appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''giant'' is first attested in 1297 fr ...
or hybrid mutations whose titles are sensationalized
portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsSharktopus'' and ''
Dinoshark
''Dinoshark'' is a 2010 low budget Syfy horror film. It was shown on Syfy on March 13, 2010.
Background
The film premiered on Syfy on the evening of March 13, 2010 before 2 million viewers. ''Dinoshark'' followed up ''Dinocroc''; Roger Corman prop ...
''.
Nazisploitation
Nazi exploitation films, also called "Nazisploitation" films, or "il sadiconazista", focus on
Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...
torturing prisoners in death camps and brothels during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. The tortures are often sexual, and the prisoners, who are often female, are nude. The progenitor of this subgenre was ''
Love Camp 7
''Love Camp 7'' is a 1969 American women-in-prison Nazisploitation B-movie directed by Lee Frost (credited as R.L. Frost) and written by Wes Bishop and Bob Cresse, the latter of whom also portrays a sadistic camp commandant.
Plot
Two American ...
'' (1969). The archetype of the genre, which established its popularity and its typical themes, was ''
Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS
''Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS'' is a 1975 Canadian exploitation film about Ilsa, a sadistic and sexually voracious Nazi prison camp commandant. The film is directed by American filmmaker Don Edmonds and produced by David F. Friedman for Cinépix Fi ...
'' (1974), about the buxom,
nymphomania
Hypersexuality is extremely frequent or suddenly increased libido. It is controversial whether it should be included as a clinical diagnosis used by mental healthcare professionals. Nymphomania and satyriasis were terms previously used for the c ...
cal
dominatrix
A dominatrix (; ) or femdom is a woman who takes the dominant role in BDSM activities. A dominatrix can be of any sexual orientation, but this does not necessarily limit the genders of her submissive partners. Dominatrices are known for infli ...
Ilsa torturing prisoners in a Stalag. Others include '' Fräulein Devil'' (''Captive Women 4'', or ''Elsa: Fraulein SS'', or ''Fraulein Kitty''), ''
La Bestia in calore
''La Bestia in calore'' () is a 1977 Italian exploitation film starring Macha Magall, and directed, written, and edited by Luigi Batzella.
Plot
A beautiful yet nefarious female SS officer/doctor, Ellen Kratsch (Magall), creates a genetic, incubu ...
'' (''SS Hell Camp'', or ''SS Experiment Part 2'', or ''The Beast in Heat'', or ''Horrifying Experiments of the S.S. Last Days''), ''
Gestapo's Last Orgy
''Gestapo's Last Orgy'' ( it, 'L'ultima orgia del III Reich, lit=Last Orgy of the Third Reich) is an Italian Nazi exploitation film directed and co-written by Cesare Canevari and starring Daniela Poggi.
Plot
The film begins with a man named C ...
'', or ''Last Orgy of The Third Reich'', or ''Caligula Reincarnated as Hitler''), ''
Salon Kitty
Salon Kitty was a high-class Berlin brothel used by the Nazi intelligence service, the ''Sicherheitsdienst'' (SD), for espionage purposes during .
Created in the early 1930s, the salon was taken over by SS general Reinhard Heydrich and his sub ...
'' and '' SS Experiment Camp''. Many Nazisploitation films were influenced by
art films
An art film (or arthouse film) is typically an independent film, aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made primarily f ...
such as
Pier Paolo Pasolini
Pier Paolo Pasolini (; 5 March 1922 – 2 November 1975) was an Italian poet, filmmaker, writer and intellectual who also distinguished himself as a journalist, novelist, translator, playwright, visual artist and actor. He is considered one of ...
's infamous ''
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom
''Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom'' ( it, Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma, billed on-screen ''Pasolini's 120 Days of Sodom'' on English-language prints and commonly referred to as simply ''Salò'' []) is a 1975 horror film, horror art film dir ...
'' and Liliana Cavani's ' (''The Night Porter'') .
''Inglourious Basterds'' (2009) and ''The Devil's Rock'' (2011) are modern homages to the subgenre.
Nudist films
Nudist films originated in the 1930s as films that skirted the Hays Code restrictions on nudity by purportedly depicting the naturist lifestyle. They existed through the late 1950s, when the New York State Court of Appeals ruled in the case of ''Excelsior Pictures vs. New York Board of Regents'' that onscreen nudity is not obscene. This opened the door to more open depictions of nudity, starting with Russ Meyer's 1959 ''
The Immoral Mr. Teas
''The Immoral Mr. Teas'' (1959) is the first commercially successful film of director Russ Meyer. The film was described as a nudist comedy, and was noted for exhibiting extensive female nudity. The film cost $24,000 to produce, and eventually gr ...
'', which has been credited as the first film to place its exploitation elements unapologetically at the forefront instead of pretending to carry a moral or educational message. This development paved the way for the more explicit exploitation films of the 1960s and 1970s and made the nudist genre obsolete—ironically, since the nudist film '' Garden of Eden'' was the subject of the court case. After this, the nudist genre split into subgenres such as the "nudie-cutie", which featured nudity but no touching, and the "roughie", which included nudity and violent, antisocial behavior.
Nudist films were marked by self-contradictory qualities. They presented themselves as educational films, but exploited their subject matter by focusing mainly on the nudist camps' most beautiful female residents, while denying the existence of such exploitation. They depicted a lifestyle unbound by the restrictions of clothing, yet this depiction was restricted by the requirement that genitals should not be shown. Still, there was a subversive element to them, as the nudist camps inherently rejected modern society and its values regarding the human body. These films frequently involve a criticism of the class system, equating body shame with the upper class, and nudism with social equality. One scene in ''The Unashamed'' makes a point about the artificiality of clothing and its related values through a mocking portrayal of a group of nude artists who paint fully clothed subjects.
Ozploitation
The term "Ozploitation" refers broadly to Australian horror, erotic or crime films of the 1970s and 1980s. Changes to Australia's film classification system in 1971 led to the production of a number of such low-budget, privately funded films, assisted by tax exemptions and targeting export markets. Often an internationally recognised actor (but of waning notability) would be hired to play a lead role. Laconic characters and desert scenes feature in many Ozploitation films, but the term has been used for a variety of Australian films of the era that relied on shocking or titillating their audiences. A documentary about the genre was '' Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation!''. Such films deal with themes concerning Australian society, particularly in respect of masculinity (especially the
ocker
The term "ocker" is used both as a noun and adjective for an Australian who speaks and acts in a rough and uncultivated manner, using Strine, a broad Australian accent.
Definition
Richard Neville defined ockerism as being "about conviviality: ...
male), male attitudes towards women, attitudes towards and treatment of
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...
, violence, alcohol, and environmental exploitation and destruction. The films typically have rural or outback settings, depicting the Australian landscape and environment as an almost spiritually malign force that alienates white Australians, frustrating their personal ambitions and activities, and their attempts to subdue it.
Notable examples include ''
Mad Max
''Mad Max'' is an Australian post-apocalyptic action film series and media franchise created by George Miller and Byron Kennedy. It began in 1979 with '' Mad Max'', and was followed by three sequels: ''Mad Max 2'' (1981, released in the Unite ...
'', ''
Alvin Purple
''Alvin Purple'' is a 1973 Australian sex comedy film starring Graeme Blundell in the title role; the screenplay was written by Alan Hopgood and directed by Tim Burstall, through his production company Hexagon Productions and Village Roadshow ...
'', ''
Patrick Patrick may refer to:
* Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name
* Patrick (surname), list of people with this name
People
* Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint
*Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick ...
'' and ''
Turkey Shoot
A turkey shoot is an opportunity for an individual or a party to take advantage of a situation with a significant degree of ease.
The term likely originates from a method of hunting wild turkeys in which the hunter, coming upon a flock, intention ...
''.
Rape and revenge films
This genre contains films in which a person is raped, left for dead, recovers and then exacts a graphic, gory revenge against the rapists. The most famous example is ''
I Spit on Your Grave
''I Spit on Your Grave'' (originally titled ''Day of the Woman'') is a 1978 American rape and revenge horror film edited, written, and directed by Meir Zarchi. The film tells the story of Jennifer Hills (Camille Keaton), a fiction writer based ...
'' (also called ''Day of the Woman''). It is not unusual for the main character in these films to be a successful, independent city woman, who is attacked by a man from the country. The genre has drawn praise from feminists such as Carol J. Clover, whose 1992 book '' Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film'' examines the implications of its reversals of cinema's traditional gender roles. This type of film can be seen as an offshoot of the vigilante film, with the victim's transformation into avenger as the key scene. Author Jacinda Read and others believe that rape–revenge should be categorized as a narrative structure rather than a true subgenre, because its plot can be found in films of many different genres, such as thrillers (''
Ms. 45
''Ms .45'' (also known as ''Angel of Vengeance'' as ''Ms. 45'') is a 1981 American exploitation thriller film directed by Abel Ferrara and starring Zoë Tamerlis.
Inspired by films such as ''Thriller – A Cruel Picture'' (1973), ''Death Wish' ...
''), dramas (''
Lipstick
Lipstick is a cosmetic product used to apply coloration and texture to lips, often made of wax and oil. Different pigments are used to produce color, and minerals such as silica may be used to provide texture. The use of lipstick dates back t ...
''), westerns (''
Hannie Caulder
''Hannie Caulder'' is a 1971 British Western film. The film was directed by Burt Kennedy and starred Raquel Welch, Robert Culp, and Ernest Borgnine. The screenplay was rewritten by Kennedy, who was not credited.
Plot
Hannie Caulder (Raquel Welch ...
''), and art films ('' Memento''). One instance of the genre, the original version of ''
The Last House on the Left
''The Last House on the Left'' is a 1972 American exploitation horror film written, directed and edited by Wes Craven in his directorial debut. The film follows Mari Collingwood (Sandra Peabody), a hippie teenager who is abducted, raped, and ...
The Virgin Spring
''The Virgin Spring'' ( sv, Jungfrukällan) is a 1960 Swedish rape and revenge film directed by Ingmar Bergman. Set in medieval Sweden, it is a tale about a father's merciless response to the rape and murder of his young daughter. The story was a ...
'', recast as a horror film featuring extreme violence. ''
Deliverance
''Deliverance'' is a 1972 American survival thriller film produced and directed by John Boorman, and starring Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, and Ronny Cox, with the latter two making their feature film debuts. The screenplay was adapt ...
'', in which the rape is perpetrated on a man, has been credited as the originator of the genre. Clover, who restricts her definition of the genre to movies in which a woman is raped and gains her own revenge, praises rape–revenge exploitation films for the way in which their protagonists fight their abuse directly, rather than preserve the status quo by depending on an unresponsive legal system as in rape–revenge movies from major studios, such as ''
The Accused
Accused or The Accused may refer to:
* A person suspected with committing a crime or offence; see Criminal charge
** Suspect, a known person suspected of committing a crime
* The Accüsed, a 1980s Seattle crossover thrash band
*''The Accused'', a ...
''.
Redsploitation
The redsploitation genre concerns Native American characters almost always played by white actors, usually exacting their revenge on their white tormentors. Examples are ''
Billy Jack
''Billy Jack'' is a 1971 American action drama independent film, the second of four films centering on a character of the same name which began with the movie ''The Born Losers'' (1967), played by Tom Laughlin, who directed and co-wrote the scri ...
'', ''The Ransom'', the ''
Thunder Warrior
''Thunder Warrior'' ( it, Thunder, also known as ''Drug Traffikers'') is a 1983 Italian action film written and directed by Fabrizio De Angelis (credited as Larry Ludman). It had two sequels, one released in 1985 and the other in 1988. The prem ...
'' trilogy, ''
The Manitou
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'', ''
Prophecy
In religion, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a '' prophet'') by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain divine will or law, or pr ...
'', ''Avenged'' (aka '' Savaged''), '' Scalps'' and ''
Clearcut
Clearcutting, clearfelling or clearcut logging is a forestry/logging practice in which most or all trees in an area are uniformly cut down. Along with shelterwood and seed tree harvests, it is used by foresters to create certain types of forest ...
''.
Sexploitation
Sexploitation films resemble
softcore pornography
Softcore pornography or softcore porn, is commercial still photography or film that has a pornographic or erotic component but is less sexually graphic and intrusive than hardcore pornography, defined by a lack of visual sexual penetration. So ...
and often include scenes involving nude or semi-nude women. They typically have sex scenes that are more graphic sex than mainstream films. The plots of sexploitation films include
pulp fiction
''Pulp Fiction'' is a 1994 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, who conceived it with Roger Avary.See, e.g., King (2002), pp. 185–7; ; Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Vin ...
elements such as killers, slavery, fem-dom, martial-arts, the use of stylistic devices and dialogue associated with
screwball
A screwball is a baseball and fastpitch softball pitch that is thrown so as to break in the opposite direction of a slider or curveball. Depending on the pitcher's arm angle, the ball may also have a sinking action. The pitch is sometimes known ...
comedies, love interests and flirtation akin to romance films, over-the-top direction, cheeky homages, fan-pleasing content and caricatures, and performances that contain sleazy teasing alluding to foreplay or kink. The use of extended scenes and the showing of full frontal nudity are typical genre techniques. Sexploitation films include ''
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
''Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!'' is a 1965 American exploitation film directed by Russ Meyer and co-written by Meyer and Jack Moran. It follows three go-go dancers who embark on a spree of kidnapping and murder in the California desert.
The fi ...
'' and ''
Supervixens
''Supervixens'' is a 1975 American film directed by American filmmaker Russ Meyer. The cast features Meyer regulars Charles Napier, Uschi Digard, and Haji. The film also features Shari Eubank (in a dual role) in one of her only two film roles a ...
'' by
Russ Meyer
Russell Albion Meyer (March 21, 1922 – September 18, 2004) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, and editor. He is known primarily for writing and directing a series of successful sexploitation films that fea ...
, the work of
Armando Bó
Armando Bó (3 May 19148 October 1981) was an Argentine film actor, director, producer, screenwriter and score composer of the classic era. He is mostly known for his drama and sexploitation films of the 1960s and 1970s starring his favorit ...
with
Isabel Sarli
Hilda Isabel Gorrindo Sarli (; 9 July 193525 June 2019), nicknamed Coca, was an Argentine actress and glamour model who was known for starring in several sexploitation films by Armando Bó, especially in the 1960s and 1970s. She began her caree ...
, the ''
Emmanuelle
Emmanuelle is the lead character in a series of French erotic films based on the main character in the novel '' Emmanuelle'' (1959), created by Emmanuelle Arsan.
Character history
Emmanuelle appeared as the pen name of Marayat Rollet-Andri ...
'' series, ''
Showgirls
''Showgirls'' is a 1995 erotic drama pulp noir film directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Joe Eszterhas. The film stars Elizabeth Berkley, Kyle MacLachlan, Gina Gershon, Glenn Plummer, Robert Davi, Alan Rachins, and Gina Ravera.
Produ ...
'', and '' Caligula''. ''Caligula'' is unusual among exploitation films in that it was made with a large budget and well known actors (
Malcolm McDowell
Malcolm McDowell (born Malcolm John Taylor; 13 June 1943) is a British actor, producer, and television presenter. He is best known for portraying Alex DeLarge in ''A Clockwork Orange.'' He was born in the Horsforth suburb of Leeds and raised i ...
,
John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, (; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Brit ...
, Peter O'Toole, and Helen Mirren).
In the 1970’s LesbianErotic Sex was questioned on the political social implications of lesbianism about women's sexuality. To this day it's still a concern of feminist film criticism. Some critics have pointed out lesbians on screen
sex
Sex is the trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing animal or plant produces male or female gametes. Male plants and animals produce smaller mobile gametes (spermatozoa, sperm, pollen), while females produce larger ones ( ova, of ...
are a clear expression of chauvinism and male power as the images are portrayed for male pleasure.
Casting pornstars and hardcore actresses is not uncommon. Sexploitation films may contain
sex shows
A sex show is a form of live performance that features one or more performers engaging in some form of sexual activity on stage for the entertainment or sexual gratification of spectators. Performers are paid either by the spectators or by the ...
intended to shock or tantalize their audiences.
Slasher films
Slasher films focus on a psychopath stalking and violently killing a sequence of victims. Victims are often teenagers or young adults. Alfred Hitchcock's '' Psycho (1960)'' is often credited with creating the basic premise of the genre, though Bob Clark's '' Black Christmas'' (1974) is usually considered to have started the genre while John Carpenter's '' Halloween'' (1978) was responsible for cementing the genre in the public eye. ''Halloween'' is also responsible for establishing additional tropes which would go on to define the genre in years to come. The masked villain, a central group of weak teenagers with one strong hero or heroine, the protagonists being isolated or stranded in precarious locations or situations, and either the protagonists or antagonists (or possibly both) experiencing warped family lives or values were all tropes largely founded in ''Halloween''.
Black Christmas was first
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
movie to break the American market. It was the only film being shot in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
at the time. It was also their final opportunity to produce their first blockbuster hit. The film was marketed for women and teenage girls. It’s debatable that MPAA-members became less interested in targeting female audiences compared to previous decades. The subplot of the character Jess played by
Olivia Hussey
Olivia Hussey (born Olivia Osuna; 17 April 1951) is an English film, stage, and television actress. Her awards include a Golden Globe Award and a David di Donatello Award. The daughter of Argentine opera singer Andrés Osuna, Hussey was born i ...
wanting an abortion may have struck a chord for American women since abortion was a hotbed issue. Black Christmas was a success in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
but was not a hit in the
USA
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. In later years the film became and developed into a
cult classic
A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...
John Carpenter
John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American filmmaker, actor, and composer. Although he worked in various film genres, he is most commonly associated with horror, action, and science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s. He ...
A Nightmare on Elm Street
''A Nightmare on Elm Street'' is a 1984 American supernatural slasher film written and directed by Wes Craven and produced by Robert Shaye. It is the first installment in the ''A Nightmare on Elm Street'' franchise and stars Heather Langenka ...
'' (1984). Many 1980s slasher films used the basic format of ''Halloween'', for example '' My Bloody Valentine'' (1981), '' Prom Night'' (1980), ''
The Funhouse
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' (1981), ''
Silent Night, Deadly Night
''Silent Night, Deadly Night'' is a 1984 American slasher film directed by Charles E. Sellier, Jr., and starring Robert Brian Wilson, Lilyan Chauvin, Gilmer McCormick, Toni Nero, Linnea Quigley, Britt Leach, and Leo Geter. The story concerns a ...
'' (1984) and ''
Sleepaway Camp
''Sleepaway Camp'' (released as ''Nightmare Vacation'' in the United Kingdom) is a 1983 American slasher film written and directed by Robert Hiltzik, who also served as executive producer. It is the first film in the ''Sleepaway Camp'' film ser ...
'' (1983), many of which also used elements from the 1974 film, '' Black Christmas''.
Spacesploitation
A subtype featuring
space
Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually cons ...
,
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...
and horror in film. Despite ambitious literary works that depicted space travel as a component of more complex plots set in elaborately constructed civilizations (such as the Frank Herbert’s Dune series and the works of Isaac Asimov), for much of the 20th century space travel has been mostly featured in cheap “B films” that often had in their core a simplistic plot typical of another exploitation subgenre, such as slasher or
zombie film
A zombie film is a film genre. Zombies are fictional creatures usually portrayed as reanimated corpses or virally infected human beings. They are commonly portrayed as cannibalistic in nature. While zombie films generally fall into the horror ...
s. Spacesploration films feature a scientifically inaccurate and inconsistent depiction of space travel and are usually set in traversing spaceships and deserted planets, partially due to the films’ limited resources. Such films include ''From the Earth to the Moon'', '' Robinson Crusoe on Mars'', ''
Planet of the Vampires
''Planet of the Vampires'' ( it, Terrore nello Spazio, lit=Terror in Space) is a 1965 Italian-Spanish science fiction horror film, produced by Fulvio Lucisano, directed by Mario Bava, that stars Barry Sullivan and Norma Bengell. The screenplay ...
Saturn 3
''Saturn 3'' is a 1980 British science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Donen, and starring Farrah Fawcett, Kirk Douglas and Harvey Keitel. The screenplay was written by Martin Amis, from a story by John Barry. Though a British p ...
''. During one of the peaks of space travel films, the 1979
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...
film ''Moonraker'' featured outlandishly unrealistic scenes of
space warfare
Space warfare is hypothetical combat in which one or more belligerents are situated in outer space. The scope of space warfare therefore includes ''ground-to-space warfare'', such as attacking satellites from the Earth; ''space-to-space warfa ...
Spaghetti Westerns are Italian-made westerns that emerged in the mid-1960s. They were more violent and amoral than typical Hollywood westerns. These films also often eschewed the conventions of Hollywood studio Westerns, which were primarily for consumption by conservative, mainstream American audiences.
Examples of the genre include ''
Death Rides a Horse
''Death Rides a Horse'' ( it, Da uomo a uomo, lit=As man to man) is a 1967 Italian Spaghetti Western directed by Giulio Petroni, written by Luciano Vincenzoni and starring Lee Van Cleef and John Phillip Law.
Plot
Bill ( John Phillip Law), a boy ...
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'' ( it, Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo, literally "The good, the ugly, the bad") is a 1966 Italian epic spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood as "the Good", Lee Van Clee ...
''; ''
Navajo Joe
''Navajo Joe'' is a 1966 Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Corbucci and starring Burt Reynolds as the titular Navajo Indian who opposes a group of bandits responsible for killing his tribe.
Plot
Having massacred an Indian village with h ...
The Great Silence
''The Great Silence'' ( it, Il grande silenzio) is a 1968 revisionist Spaghetti Western film directed and co-written by Sergio Corbucci. An Italian-French co-production, the film stars Jean-Louis Trintignant, Klaus Kinski, Vonetta McGee (in ...
The Big Gundown
''The Big Gundown'' ( it, La resa dei conti, lit=The Settling of Scores) is a 1966 Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Sollima, and starring Lee Van Cleef and Tomas Milian.
Plot
Possessing a reputation for bringing criminals to justice, ...
''; ''
Day of Anger
''Day of Anger'' ( it, I giorni dell'ira, lit. "The Days of Wrath") is a 1967 Spaghetti Western film directed and co-written by Tonino Valerii and starring Lee Van Cleef and Giuliano Gemma, and features a musical score by Riz Ortolani. The film c ...
Duck, You Sucker!
''Duck, You Sucker!'' ( it, Giù la testa, lit. "Duck Your Head", "Get Down"), also known as ''A Fistful of Dynamite'' and ''Once Upon a Time ... the Revolution'', is a 1971 epic Zapata Western film directed and co-written by Sergio Leone and ...
''; ''A Fistful of Dollars'' and ''Once Upon a Time in the West''. Quentin Tarantino directed two tributes to the genre, ''Django Unchained'', and ''The Hateful Eight.''
Splatter films
A splatter film, or gore film, is a horror film that focuses on graphic portrayals of gore and violence. It began as a distinct genre in the 1960s with the films of Herschell Gordon Lewis and David F. Friedman, whose most famous films include ''Blood Feast'' (1963), ''Two Thousand Maniacs!'' (1964), ''Color Me Blood Red'' (1965), ''The Gruesome Twosome (1967 film), The Gruesome Twosome'' (1967) and ''The Wizard of Gore'' (1970).
The first splatter film to popularize the subgenre was George A. Romero's ''
Night of the Living Dead
''Night of the Living Dead'' is a 1968 American independent horror film directed, photographed, and edited by George A. Romero, with a screenplay by John Russo and Romero, and starring Duane Jones and Judith O'Dea. The story follows seven pe ...
'' (1968), the director's attempt to replicate the atmosphere and gore of EC's horror comics on film. Initially derided by the American press as "appalling", it quickly became a national sensation, playing not just in drive-ins but at midnight showings in indoor theaters across the country. George A. Romero coined the term "splatter cinema" to describe his film ''Dawn of the Dead (1978 film), Dawn of the Dead''.
Later splatter films, such as Sam Raimi's Evil Dead (series), ''Evil Dead'' series, Peter Jackson's ''Bad Taste (film), Bad Taste'' and ''Braindead (film), Braindead'' (released as ''Dead Alive'' in North America) featured such excessive and unrealistic gore that they crossed the line from horror to comedy.
Women in prison films
Women in prison films emerged in the early 1970s and remain a popular subgenre. They usually contain nudity, lesbianism, sexual assault, humiliation, sadism, and rebellion among captive women. Examples are Ted V. Mikel's "10 Violent Women", Roger Corman's ''Women in Cages'' and ''The Big Doll House'', ''Bamboo House of Dolls'', Jesus Franco's ''Barbed Wire Dolls'', Bruno Mattei's ''Women's Prison Massacre'', Pete Walker's ''House of Whipcord'', Tom DeSimone's ''Reform School Girls'', Jonathan Demme's ''Caged Heat'' and Katja von Garnier's ''Bandits (1997 film), Bandits''.
Zombie Films
White Zombie (film), White Zombie was considered the first movie to use the word Zombie. It’s not a flesh-eating zombie movie but about mind controlling slaves. The film was inspired from Culture of Haiti, Haitian culture where voodoo is one of the religions. Revolt of the Zombies, Revolt of the Zombie from 1936 is a sequel but was not a hit like White Zombie. In 1936, another Zombie film, The Walking Dead (1936 film), The Walking Dead is not about flesh eating but is a crime drama.
Small independent film studios made zombie movies taking risk.
Producer Val Lewton, fresh off his success with Cat People (1942 film), Cat People (1942), filmed his next movie I Walked with a Zombie (1943). It was another Zombie movie not about flesh eating. The plot concerns a man whose wife is a sleepwalker, and she can’t wake up. Zombies on Broadway (1945) failed and Get Along Little Zombie was made for laughs and not taken seriously.
War World II ended, and the economy had recovered from the depression and the war. Drive- in movie theaters were popular for families having a fun experience. Zombie movies were not taken seriously, they were made for teenagers. Teenage zombie movies were made on a small budget and were made rapidly. These movies today are looked upon as metaphors for the early stages of the Cold War. People were afraid of being infiltrated and nuked by the Russians.
''Creature with the Atom Brain (film), Creature with the Atom Brain'' (1955) was directed by Edward L. Cahn and reflects on early influence of atomic bomb anxiety on sci-fi horror flicks. Because of the booming economy, teenagers had money saved from their allowance or got part time jobs to go to the movies with friends or borrow their parents car to take their girlfriend to the movies.
1957 Hammer British studios released The Quatermass 2
Plan 9 from Outer Space, Plan 9 From Outer Space is one of the worst movies ever made. It was horror icon Bela Lugosi, Bela Lugosi's last movie he died during production of the movie.
1960s
The 1960’s independent horror movies were beginning to change the horror industry. It attracted a lot of young teenage audiences at the time. Teenagers changed but so did Zombie movies. Classic horror monsters from the past were no longer considered scary. Zombies' movies became psychedelic, weirder, and goofy. By the end of the decade
Night of the Living Dead
''Night of the Living Dead'' is a 1968 American independent horror film directed, photographed, and edited by George A. Romero, with a screenplay by John Russo and Romero, and starring Duane Jones and Judith O'Dea. The story follows seven pe ...
was groundbreaking and changing the Zombie Subgenre.
In 1968 George A. Romero, George Romeros
Night of the Living Dead
''Night of the Living Dead'' is a 1968 American independent horror film directed, photographed, and edited by George A. Romero, with a screenplay by John Russo and Romero, and starring Duane Jones and Judith O'Dea. The story follows seven pe ...
changed was groundbreaking for Zombie movies considered to be the first ever flesh-eating Zombie movie. Despite the title they are not referred to as Zombies. Social commentary on racism and Vietnam was going on at the time of the movie's release. This was appealing to audiences at the time of its release. Because many people were opposed to the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
. George Romero was inspired from Richard Matheson, Richard Mattheson 1954 novel I Am Legend (novel), I Am Legend. Romero’s movie was a very graphic, gross-out movie for its time.
George Romero makes sequels to his Night of the Living with Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead.
By the turn of the 21st century, 21st Century, Zombie movies became popular from being inspired by George A. Romero, George Romero’s
Night of the Living Dead
''Night of the Living Dead'' is a 1968 American independent horror film directed, photographed, and edited by George A. Romero, with a screenplay by John Russo and Romero, and starring Duane Jones and Judith O'Dea. The story follows seven pe ...
. 28 Days Later and the Dawn of the Dead (2004 film), Dawn of the Dead remake were about incurable diseases.
2010 The Walking Dead (TV series), The Walking Dead TV Show was popular Zombie TV show in AMC (TV channel), AMC.
Minor subgenres
* Actionploitation: Parody of 70s and 80s action films, usually a high-octane power fantasy that features Machismo, macho pride, low-brow humor, cringe humor, bumbling and screwball buddy cops, martial-arts, western boxing or street fighting, exaggerated rapport and/or bonding between villain and protagonist, intermittent melodrama and romance, plot elements that may be dropped and picked up again at random times to emphasize protagonist or villain's brilliant planning and concludes with a drawn out final fight sequence. Films such as ''Megaforce'', ''Full Contact'', Crank (film), ''Crank'', ''Samurai Cop 2'' and ''Kung Fury'' is restoring actionsploitation to the small screen and big screen.
* Britsploitation: exploitation films set in Great Britain, sometimes in homage to the Hammer Film Productions, Hammer Horror range of films. Examples are ''Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (film), The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue'' (1974) and the Academy Award winning American film ''An American Werewolf in London'' (1981).
* Bruceploitation: films profiting from the death of Bruce Lee, with look-alike actors who often took similar names, like Bruce Li and Bruce Le. Examples include ''Enter Three Dragons'' and ''Re-Enter the Dragon''. Another example is New Fist of Fury, which starred Jackie Chan before he became known for his "slapstick" fighting style.
* Cinema of Hong Kong#Category III films, Category III films: Hong Kongese films aimed at audiences 18 years or older, named after the Hong Kong motion picture rating system, age certificates they would receive in Hong Kong. These films are estimated to make up 25% of Hong Kong's film industry, and as in exploitation film itself, every genre of filmmaking is represented. Films made in the west, such as ''Wild Things (film), Wild Things'' and ''Eyes Wide Shut'', often receive the Category III rating. Category III films are grouped into three classes based on censorship criteria: "quasi-pornographic" softcore pornography such as ''Sex and Zen'', "genre films" that present adult-oriented versions of every genre of Hong Kong filmmaking, and "pornoviolence" films such as ''The Untold Story'', which depict sexual violence and are often based on actual police cases.
* Chopsocky: Martial arts kung fu movies made primarily in Hong Kong and Taiwan during the 1960s and 1970s, such as ''Hand of Death (1976 film), Hand of Death'', ''Master of the Flying Guillotine'', ''Five Deadly Venoms'' and ''Legend of Shaolin Temple''.
* Christploitation: Exploitation films with overtly Christian themes. Whereas films such as ''The Passion of Joan of Arc'' and ''The Gospel According to St. Matthew (film), The Gospel According to St. Matthew'' are serious, thoughtful examinations of faith and spirituality, the Christploitation film delivers through condescension and heavy-handed delivery, the purpose of which is to make the non-Christian viewer feel guilty for not converting to Christianity. Christploitation films have existed for many decades, but only recently have achieved wider viewership. Modern examples include ''God's Not Dead (film), God's Not Dead'', the Nicolas Cage remake of ''Left Behind (2014 film), Left Behind'', ''Unplanned'', and ''Last Ounce of Courage''.
* Deepsploitation: Between 1989 and 1990, numerous films with similar plots were released. All films show an underwater crew that has to fight with sea monsters in the deep ocean. ''Deep Star Six'', ''Leviathan'', ''The Abyss'', ''The Evil Below'' and ''Lords of the Deep'' were released in 1989, and ''The Rift (1990 film), The Rift'' was released in 1990. While most of these films are low-budget, some are big productions, like ''The Abyss''.
* Gothsploitation: A small number of films generally from the year 2000 onwards featuring members of the Alternative or Goth subcultures of the UK, usually London, such as ''Learning Hebrew: A Gothsploitation Movie'' showing situations such as drug use, unusual sexual practises and wild parties, often with a heavily intellectual plot. Hicksploitation an exploitation film subgenre based on stereotypes of the people and culture of the Southern United States. Examples of this subgenre include '' Child Bride'', ''
Deliverance
''Deliverance'' is a 1972 American survival thriller film produced and directed by John Boorman, and starring Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, and Ronny Cox, with the latter two making their feature film debuts. The screenplay was adapt ...
'', ''Two Thousand Maniacs!'', and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, ''The Texas Chainsaw Massacre''.
* Hippie exploitation films, Hippie exploitation: 1960s films about the hippie counterculture, showing stereotypical situations such as marijuana and
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known colloquially as acid, is a potent psychedelic drug. Effects typically include intensified thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception. At sufficiently high dosages LSD manifests primarily mental, vi ...
use, sex, and wild psychedelic parties. Further examples are ''The Love-Ins'', ''Psych-Out'', ''The Trip (1967 film), The Trip'' (1967), and ''Wild in the Streets''.
* Martial arts films: action films or historical dramas that are characterized by extensive fighting scenes employing martial arts. The genre was originally associated with Asia but gained international popularity owing to Bruce Lee. Examples include ''The Street Fighter'' and ''Sister Street Fighter'' series, and the Bruce Lee films ''The Big Boss'', ''Fist of Fury'', ''Way of the Dragon'', and ''Enter the Dragon''.
* Mexican sex comedies film genre: the Mexican sex comedies film genre, generally known as ''ficheras'' film, is a genre of sexploitation films that were produced and distributed in Mexico between the middle 1970s and the late 1980s. They were characterized by the language game called "albures" (comparable to "playing the dozens" in English), and their sexual tone was considered "risque," though they weren't always particularly explicit.
* Mexploitation: films exaggerating Mexican culture and portrayals of Mexican underworld, often dealing with crime, drug trafficking, money and sex. Hugo Stiglitz is a famous Mexican actor of this genre, as are Mario Almada (actor), Mario and Fernando Almada, brothers who made hundreds of movies on the same theme.
* Ninja, Ninja films: these are a subgenre of martial arts films that center on the historically inaccurate stereotype of the ninja's costume and arsenal of weapons, often including fantasy elements such as ninja magic. Many such movies were produced by splicing stock ninja fight footage with footage from unrelated film projects.
* Nunsploitation: films featuring nuns in dangerous or erotic situations, such as ''The Devils (film), The Devils'', ''Killer Nun'', ''School of the Holy Beast'', ''The Sinful Nuns of Saint Valentine'', and ''Nude Nuns with Big Guns''.
* Pink film, Pinku eiga (pink films): Japanese sexploitation films popular throughout the 70s, often featuring softcore sex, rape, torture, BDSM and other unconventional sexual subjects.
* Pornochanchada: Brazilian naïve softcore pornographic films produced mostly in the 1970s.
* Rumberas film: Musical film genre that flourished in the called ''Golden Age of Mexican cinema'' in the 1940s and 1950s, and whose plots were developed mainly in tropical environments and the cabaret. His main stars were the actresses and dancers known as "Rumberas" (Afro-Caribbean rhythms dancers).
* Sharksploitation films: a subgenre about sharks. The most popular film in this genre is ''
Jaws
Jaws or Jaw may refer to:
Anatomy
* Jaw, an opposable articulated structure at the entrance of the mouth
** Mandible, the lower jaw
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Jaws (James Bond), a character in ''The Spy Who Loved Me'' and ''Moonraker''
* ...
'', and the subsequent Jaws (franchise) but many other films have been released. The sharksploitation films ''Sharknado'', ''The Shallows (film), The Shallows'', ''Bait 3D'', ''The Reef (2010 film), The Reef'', ''Shark Night'', ''The Meg'', ''Mega Shark Versus Crocosaurus'' and its sequels, ''Deep Blue Sea (1999 film), Deep Blue Sea'', & ''Open Water (film), Open Water'' are all examples of recent films in this genre. Sharksploitation films have been accused of spreading misinformation about sharks causing inflated fear of the animal, contributing to the worldwide decline of sharks
* Stoner film or Stonersploitation: a subgenre that features the explicit use of marijuana, typically in a comical and positive light. Cheech & Chong collaborations are a good example; a more recent series in this genre is Harold & Kumar. Other movies in this genre include: Pineapple Express (film), ''Pineapple Express'', ''Knocked Up'', ''The Big Lebowski'', ''Half Baked'', ''Dude, Where's My Car?'', ''Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back'', ''Super Troopers'', & ''Get Him to the Greek''.
* Swimsploitation: a subgenre of the sports film genre which focuses on water sports. An early example includes Bathing Beauty, the acclaimed documentaries ''The Endless Summer'' and ''Big River Man'' as well as the cult classic film The Swimmer (film), ''The Swimmer''.
* Teensploitation: the exploitation of teenagers by the producers of teen-oriented films, with plots involving drugs, sex, alcohol and crime. The word ''teensploitation'' first appeared in a show business publication in 1982 and was included in ''Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary'' for the first time in 2004. ''River's Edge'', inspired by the murder of Marcy Renee Conrad, is a highly acclaimed instance, featuring early performances by Crispin Glover and Keanu Reeves and a cameo appearance by Dennis Hopper. The Larry Clark films ''Bully (2001 film), Bully'', ''Ken Park'' and ''Kids (film), Kids'' are well-known teensploitation films. American International Pictures made films for the teenage market from the 1950s on. The Pom Pom Girls was the inspiration behind slasher horror films and The Beatniks (film), The Beatniks is a film with "familiar tropes found in straight-up 1950s juvenile delinquency teensploitation." The depictions of American teens, female relationships and free-flowing narrative, topics are featured like dating, sex, hanging out, disobedience e.t.c. of "Halloween and The Pom Pom Girls became standard elements of the slasher film." Teensploitation films, an era of teen sex comedies from the 80s, featuring gratuitous nudity. Some of the films are: The Last American Virgin, Private Lessons (1981 film), Private Lessons (1981), Animal House (1978), Heaven Help Us (1985), Spring Break (film), Spring Break (1983), Hot Resort (1985), Porkys, Surf II, Meatballs (film), Meatballs (1979), Summer Camp (1979), King Frat (1979), Private School (1983), Screwballs (1983), and Loose Screws (1985). The teen-adjacent sexploitation genre was born out of teensploitation, B-movie director Roger Corman was inspired to make many films about sexy teachers, sexy nurses, and many more. The Stewardesses (1969), Swedish Fly Girls (1971), The Swinging Stewardesses (1971), The Swinging Cheerleaders (1974), Fly Me (1973), Flying Acquaintances (1973), Blazing Stewardesses (1975), The Naughty Stewardesses (1974), Stewardess School (1986), The Bikini Carwash Company (1992) and Party Plane (1991). Lesser known: Computer Beach Party and Hamburger: The Motion Picture.
* Turksploitation: Turksploitation is a tongue-in-cheek label given to a great number of unauthorized Turkish film adaptations of popular foreign (particularly Hollywood) movies and television series, produced mainly in the 1970s and 1980s. Filmed on a shoestring budget with often comically simple special effects and no regard for copyright, Turksploitation films substituted exuberant inventiveness and zany plots for technical and acting skill, although noted Turkish actors did feature in some of these productions. Examples of this genre have gained popularity in Turkey, such as ''
Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam
''Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam'' (English: ''The Man Who Saved the World'') is a 1982 Turkish science fantasy martial arts superhero adventure film directed by Çetin Inanç, and starring actor/martial artist Cüneyt Arkın. It was first released in ...
'' ("The Man Who Saved The World"), colloquially "Turkish Star Wars" (1982), which includes footage from '' Star Wars'' and music from many sci-fi films; or ''Ayşecik ve Sihirli Cüceler Rüyalar Ülkesinde'' ("Little Ayşe and the Magic Dwarves in the Land of Dreams", 1971), based on ''The Wizard of Oz (1939 film), The Wizard of Oz''.
* Vigilante films: films in which a person breaks the law to exact justice. These films were rooted in 1970s unease over government corruption, failure in the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
, and rising crime rates. They reflect the rising political trend of neoconservatism. The genre is believed to have originated with the 1970 film ''Joe (1970 film), Joe''.Novak, Glenn D. "Social Ills and the One-Man Solution: Depictions of Evil in the Vigilante Film". International Conference on the Expressions of Evil in Literature and the Visual Arts, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, Nov 1987. N.d. The classic example is the Death Wish (film series), ''Death Wish'' series, starring Charles Bronson. Vigilante films often deal with individuals who cannot find help within the system, such as the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Native American protagonist of ''
Billy Jack
''Billy Jack'' is a 1971 American action drama independent film, the second of four films centering on a character of the same name which began with the movie ''The Born Losers'' (1967), played by Tom Laughlin, who directed and co-wrote the scri ...
'', or characters in blaxploitation films such as ''
Coffy
''Coffy'' is a 1973 American blaxploitation film written and directed by Jack Hill. The story is about a black female vigilante played by Pam Grier who seeks violent revenge against a heroin dealer responsible for her sister's addiction.Gary A. ...
'', or people from small towns who go to larger cities in pursuit of runaway relatives, as in ''Hardcore (1979 film), Hardcore'' (1979), ''Trackdown (film), Trackdown'' (1976) and Next of Kin (1989 film), ''Next of Kin'' (1989). There are "vigilante cop" movies about policemen who feel thwarted by the legal system, as in the ''Walking Tall (disambiguation), Walking Tall'' series, ''Mad Max'', and the ''Dirty Harry'' series of Clint Eastwood movies. These are not considered to be true vigilante films in the classic sense, because they do not involve ordinary citizens seeking justice for a personal hurt. Similarly, Martin Scorsese's ''Taxi Driver'' does not fit the category, because of its mentally disturbed protagonist.
* Zaxploitation: The exploitation films of South Africa.
See also
* Aestheticization of violence
* B movie
* Cult film
* Midnight movie
* Video nasty
* Z movie
References
Citations
Sources
*
* Eric Schaefer (1999). ''Bold! Daring! Shocking! True!: A History of Exploitation Films, 1919–1959''. Duke University Press.
*
* Cathal Tohill and Pete Tombs, ''Immoral Tales: European Sex & Horror Movies 1956-1984'', 1994. .
* V. Vale and Andrea Juno, ''RE/Search no. 10: Incredibly Strange Films''. RE/Search Publications, 1986. .
* Ephraim Katz, ''The Film Encyclopedia 5e'', 2005. .
* Benedikt Eppenberger, Daniel Stapfer. ''Maedchen, Machos und Moneten: Die unglaubliche Geschichte des Schweizer Kinounternehmers Erwin C. Dietrich.'' Mit einem Vorwort von Jess Franco. Verlag Scharfe Stiefel, Zurich, 2006, .
External links
The Grindhouse Cinema Database International & classic exploitation cinema magazine and encyclopedia.
''Salon'' article about Rapture films as Christian exploitation filmmaking.
Paracinema Magazine – Quarterly film magazine dedicated to B-movies, cult classics, indie, horror, science-fiction, exploitation, underground and Asian films from past and present.
Boulevard Movies — Exploitation films on DVD & Blu-ray
{{DEFAULTSORT:Exploitation film
Exploitation films,
Film genres
Midnight movie