I hope you like Autopsy. Despite its IMDB rating, it's a brilliant homage to Grindhouse and splatter films while simultaneously creating a horrifying exploitative gorefest itself. I'm guessing that the low rating is due to a couple of things:

1. If people who aren't horror fans are watching this movie, then they are going to rate it poorly. This isn't for the casual horror fan or the non-horror fan. This really is for horror fans.
2. This truly does pay homage to grindhouse, including the cliched plot (Spring Break gone bad) and some purposefully bad writing... But as soon as you realize that the over-the-top directing and acting are on purpose... It just clicks and falls into place. The gore just escalates to this level of horror that is nearly indescribable.

...

As for more recommendations, I'll throw out another Horrorfest movie (from last year):

Borderland

This movie is hard to describe. What starts off as "another Spring Break movie" turns into a horror-thriller about a cult in Mexico and how it has control over the town. There's blood, there's gore, and there is legitimate creepiness.

People are split with this film (some love it, some find it boring - be warned; it DOES start slow), but I think that it's a genuine horror film.


Also definitely check out the The Sickest, Gorific, Disturbing and Controversial - HDC's "Visually Challenging" 100 thread. There are a lot of sick movies in there that I haven't even seen. It's a great thread to go through when you're looking for something extreme, cutting edge, and disturbing. Lots of recs in there.

ChronoGrl:

I'll be sure to keep my mind open about Autopsy. Now, I hate sounding like a newb, even though I am. But, what is Grindhouse all about?

All I know about it is Death Proof, which I caught at the movies. Wasn't that some kind of tribute to the genre og era?

I'll try to keep a look out for Borderland. It seems exciting. Seems alot like a Hostel/Turistas kind of movie, but I'm hoping for it to be somewhat more intelligent.

And with regards to the Visually Challenging thread, I've checked it out a couple of times, but I've either disagreed or thought that these flicks weren't for me. The list starts out with Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange - My favorite film of all time, but sick/gorific? no. Then the list pretty much just offers 198x asian movies. I should probably give these a go, but they just seem so.. odd?

I will obviously get flamed for this, but I like my movies to be post 1990. I've probably just had a bad start with the older movies, but stuff like Cannibal Holocaust wasn't for me.

"Grindhouse" films are a sub-genre of Exploitation films. The term characterizes low-budget low-brow action/violent/sexual/horror films with lots of sex and lurid risque themes. Wikipedia does a good rundown of the genre here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grindhouse

Grindhouse the movie(s) that came out in 2007 (Planet Terror, Death Proof) were Tarentino and Rodriguez's homage to the genre (the over-the-top action, sex, themes - the grittiness, etc.).

What makes me characterize Autopsy as "Grindhouse" is the fact that it has a low-budget feel to it, ridiculous amounts of heightened violence, and definite exploitation themes. Also the absurdity of the plot and reveal make it seem like an homage to Grindhouse cinema.


It's definitely more intelligent. It's a tough movie to pitch because all of its descriptions sound as though it's "another spring break flick," but it actually has a lot more going on than that. It captures a whole culture of fear around a cult/drug cartel that has elements of the supernatural/occult to it along with some seriously brutal action scenes. It's gritty, rough, and well-done. It DID take me a while to get into it, but it's worth it once you do.


I know what you mean - I have that problem myself with that thread. Some of those films do not appeal to me at all (Cannibal Holocaust, Hershel Gordon Lewis films), but I think that there are some genuinely gruesome films in there - You just need to dig through it and then do the research; if reviews/summaries do not appeal to you, then you know it's not for you.

Grindhouse is not a subgenre. Grindhouse is a term used to describe the theatres where exploitation flicks screened.

HG Lewis' work is brilliant IMO you're missing out on some classic cinema.
Not really shocking but definitley fun splatter that had a huge impact on the genre.

Yup....

I think people now use the term 'Grindhouse' as they were never aware of types 70's exploitation films that played the Grindhouses and Drive ins...Grindhouses were (usually) the inner city flea pits - 42nd Street was a hotbed of em before the clean up of NYC. Drive-Ins are sorta their rural cousins. In their hayday, they both tended to show the same sort of films - cheap action/exploitaton/kung fu/WIP/horror etc often in double or triple bills.

Weirdly enough Planet Terror is more a homage/parody to the later Zombie genre which really wasn't a staple of Grindhouse/Drive in 's bills.

Well, if they are anything like Death Proof, i'd probably enjoy some of those flicks.

Could you guys recommend me any titles?

Its a horrible hipster term that really gets on my nerves just like Torture Porn or Splatterpunk.
Kinda sad that a great era of film history needed to be legitmized by a mainstream studios homage to gain recognition.

I think Fulci's Zombie made it to the Grindhouse circuit but yeh those flicks were more prominant in the home video realm. Did much of the Italian stuff make it over to the UK? I guess the Video Nasties scare buried a lot of those titles.

Fight For Your Life and Switchblade Sisters are two films I'm pretty fond of.

Yeah I scream when i hear the word 'torture punk'...It worse than the 2 others as its used to 'pigeon hole' and dimiss the horror genre by the critics..

Yeah Zombie was definally part of the drive in/Grindhouse circuit and I City of the Living Dead got a bit of a showing too..

LOL - I love FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE - I can imagine the atmosphere of a screening of that in an Inner city flea pit..

Here's some I like off the top of my head (I tryed vary the genres):

Bronx Warriors (post Apocalypic)

The Street Fighter (Kung Fu - well Karate really)

I Drink your Blood (Manson cults - rabid killers etc)

Maniac (Psycho/Slasher)

Dolemite (Blaxpoitation)

Ilsa SheWolf of the SS (Nazi Exploitation)

Cannibal Ferox (ermm...Cannibal)

The Exterminator (Vigilante)

Nice choices there Ferox those flicks are gold.

...and yeh dude Fight For Your Life is a goodie that covers a bunch of the exploitation subgenres. It would be great to be a fly on the wall while it was being shown. Its quite funny how differently it was marketed to black/white audiences.

Theres an interview with the director in American Nightmares ( i think thats the books name) where he talks about sitting donw with his (black) house keeper and watching the film...

TENEMENT is another quintessential grindhouse film.