Exploitation and Video Nasties

[fortunato]

Originally Posted by ZombieDrone

True, but I mentioned Posession because it's a Video Nasty.

Oh yeah, I know. I was just saying for anyone that hasn't seen it.
And actually, I think the version of Possession that was circulated during the Video Nasty era was a horribly edited one that cut out a lot of the plot between Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani; it mainly focused on her [spoiler] seducing men and feeding them to the creature. [/spoiler] Which is a shame.

Originally Posted by Q...

There is also an excellent documentary called Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist which Wiki lists as exploitation (or, more specifically, shocksploitation). I was surprised to see it listed there actually - yes, it's entirely shocking, but it is also real - it doesn't just look real. But anyway, it's great, so I recommend it.

I'd definitely recommend that one, too, and like you said with the caveat that some of the content is rough. Despite the nature of Bob's life, the film is actually quite touching and intimate, and the ending is really intensely affecting.

[Ferox13]

Originally Posted by Thecryptkeeper

Have you guys seen any Nazisploitation at all?

Yah, Fraulein Docktor!!

[Thecryptkeeper]

Originally Posted by Ferox13

Yah, Fraulein Docktor!!

Can ya recommend me any of them

I recently watched The Corpse Grinders, really campy, but a fun movie nonetheless.

[Ferox13]

Originally Posted by Thecryptkeeper

Can ya recommend me any of them
.

Ok here goes***

Despite me being a big fan of the genre 90% of the films are pretty shit.

The best of the bunch by a mile is of course Ilsa She wolf of the SS. (you should have course check out its sequals Ilsa Harem Keeper of the Oil sheiks, Greta the Mad Butcher and Ilsa Tigress of Siberia - though the latter is the weakest in the series). There is an ok rip off called 'Helga, She Wolf of Spilberg'.

Now the standards drop a lot..LOL.

Personally, I like The Gestapo's Last Orgy. Its a bit artier than the others and trys to rip off 'Night Porter'. 'SS Experiment Camp' is worth checking out for the cheesey dialogue (though its pretty tame).

You should watch LOVE CAMP 7 for historical purposes - its (to my knowledge) the first of the genre. Its pretty dull but does have David Friedman as the very camp comander :-)

There were 3 of the genre banned in the UK as part of the Video Nasty witch hunt. The already mentioned 'SS Experiment Camp' as well as 'The Beast in Heat' and 'Deported Women of the SS Special Section'. Beast has some great scenes mostly envolving Sal Boris - a pussy eating caged cannibal. Unfortunelly the rest of the movie is like watching paint dry. Deported Women is slightly better especially to those with a showering/shaving fetish :-).

Prolly the last of the Camp genre should should see is SS Camp 5 and Womans Camp 119 (by Bruno Mattei). As far as I remember the latter was pretty meant spirited. Can't remember much of Holocaust 2 - so that says a lot. I have never seen 'Nathalie, Fugitive from Hell' but its another Camp film. Also never see 'SS Cutthroats'.

Unless desperate avoid 'Achtung! The Desert Tigers' and 'Fraunleins in Uniform'.

Now there is a kinda subgenre of this genre inspired by Salon Kitty - a brothel in Berlin during WW2 that ws used to spy on the Nazi brass. So there is a dozen or so Brothel/Joy Divison type films. And boy are they the dregs.



The only one I can really recommend is Tinto Brass' film Salon Kitty. This followed with a ton of crap like:


Elsa: Fraulein SS (Salon kitty on a on a train)
SS Helltrain (damn Nazi Brothel Trains should be a sub genre)
The Red Nights of the Gestapo
Nazi Love Camp 27
SS Girls


I was considering getting a Tshirt of this ( i dunno if I'd get away with it though):



*** its kinda hard to keep track of all these film as they kinda all melt into one. Also keep in mind lots of these films have been released under a few different titles...

[fortunato]

Originally Posted by Thecryptkeeper

Can ya recommend me any of them

I haven't seen all of the ones that Ferox mentioned, but I would second recommendations on Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS and Salon Kitty. Those are probably the two easiest to find, anyway. I know Blue Underground just re-released Salon Kitty on Blu-ray and DVD. Ilsa, well, you might have to acquire that through other means.

[ZombieDrone]

Deported Women Of The SS isn't on the Nasties list. Gestapo's Last Orgy is (and will likely remain banned in the UK for a long time from what I've seen and heard of it.)

I do have an interest in films around Nazis, although purely in historical and non-exploitative terms (Das Boot and Downfall are two of my favourite war films and from a non-German perspective I'm an Indiana Jones fan and loved Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds, big budget but with a pure explotation ethos). But I've never seen a Nazisploitation film. I remember a few years ago (before I was that much into horror) coming across a copy of SS Experiment Camp and thinking how violent and disturbing a film called that would be. I wasn't alone, as there were a few articles in the news a couple of years ago about films with those sorts of names.

However, from what I've seen, it's remarkably tame. The violence seems almost lacking in gore and there's crazy Dirty Dozen-esque battle sequences. Like TCM, it's a film who's title is far more shocking than what is shown...or rather not shown.

[Thecryptkeeper]

Thanks alot guys, I've been meaning to pick up the SS triple features released by Shriek Show, but sadly they are pretty hard to come by in my neck of the woods :(

On the topic of tame Video Nasties, Lenzi's 'cannibal film', Man From Deep River is a great adventure film. However, there is hardly enough cannibalism to satisfy Gorehounds. I'm guessing the film was banned mostly due to the frequent scenes of animal cruelty. Nonetheless, still a great movie that led to even greater movies. (Cannibal and Jungle Holocaust)

[Sistinas666]

Stupid question time, aren't video nasties a list of movies that were banned in the UK at some time or is this a horror genre? I've only seen a few of the films that have been mentioned. I've seen video nasties mentioned here several times but I've never been totally clear on what they are.:confused:

[fortunato]

Originally Posted by Sistinas666

Stupid question time, aren't video nasties a list of movies that were banned in the UK at some time or is this a horror genre? I've only seen a few of the films that have been mentioned. I've seen video nasties mentioned here several times but I've never been totally clear on what they are.:confused:

Yeah, the "Video Nasties" were a list of films that were banned by the Video Recordings Act of 1984 in England. It was another instance of mass "witch hunt" mentality, similar to what was seen here in the States in the 1950s, with the horror/crime comics. The big difference here is that while the Comics Code was merely self-imposed by the industry, the Video Recordings Act was enforced by law, and people were actually imprisoned. Some proprietors of video rental stores that had maybe one of these on their shelves were put out of business. If you can get your hands on it, you should check out the documentary Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship, & Videotape. I believe it's only had an R2 release, but you might be able to find it somewhere online.

[A.R. Wise]

I know people always bring up Cannibal Holocaust when talking about this type of movie, but I thought that one went a little too far. The animal killing just made the film too disgusting, even for me.