Book Review: Grindhouse The Forbidden World of Adults Only Cinema

December is Trash Cinema Month at the PorPor Books Blog

'Grindhouse: The Forbidden World of 'Adults Only' Cinema'

 

'Grindhouse: The Forbidden World of 'Adults Only' Cinema' (158 pp.) was authored by Eddie Muller and Daniel Faris, and published as a trade paperback by St. Martin's Griffin in November, 1996.

 

I remember picking this book up from the Border's Books and Records in Towson, Maryland, late in 1996, and finding the book amusing and very readable. 

 

It holds up well when re-read nearly 30 years later.

I should emphasize that 'Grindhouse' is not an overview of trash films per se, but rather, a historical and cultural history of the grindhouse experience in American popular culture. Attention is given to the memorable cast of hucksters and scammers who produced and promoted exploitation movies, and the legal machinations from the various authorities who were in decided opposition to this brand of moviegoing.

 

Chronologically, the history starts in the late 1920s, and goes all the way into the 70s.

 

For each of the reviewed decades, Muller and Faris focus on the particular genres of exploitation films that flourished in that era; for example, the 'nudist camp' films of the 50s, the 'roughies' of the 60s, and in the 70s, the 'swinger' films.

Muller and Faris prudently avoid using a self-consciously 'scholarly' or highbrow prose style. They understand they are writing first and foremost for the trash film aficionado, and keep their narrative flowing and informative. The authors make clear that for many of the films touring the grindhouse circuit, the actual content was considerably tamer, and less titillating, than what the posters and lobby cards promised. Sleaze entrepreneurs like William Kent, Kroger Babb, and Harry Novak always had an eye on maximizing their takes from the rubes, and adjusted the distribution, promotion, and advertising of their films accordingly.

 

 

There's all sorts of little anecdotes and tidbits scattered throughout the pages of 'Grindhouse,' and among my favorites, is an anecdote about Timothy Carey, an eccentric who is best known for his 1962 film The World's Greatest Sinner. A young Frank Zappa did the soundtrack for the film - !

 

For Muller and Faris, the early 70s saw the permanent transformation of the grindhouse circuit, as 'adult' films became mainstream in the wake of the success of movies such as Behind the Green Door, The Devil in Miss Jones, and Deep Throat. Suddenly, 'regular' people, including couples, were going to XXX theaters to take in 'adults only' cinema. And then, in 1975, came the initial notes of the death knell that soon would toll for the grindhouses:

 

....the world was introduced to the video cassette recorder, a device that accomplished what God-fearing prosecutors and Bible-thumping censors never could - it closed down hundreds of Adults Only theaters all across America.

 

One thing I quickly discovered with my re-read of 'Grindhouse' is that nowadays you can access the profiled films pretty easily by going online, unlike the situation in 1996 when you had to peruse the videocasette / DVD vendors to see what they had in their inventory. And the reality is that many of the films referred to in 'Grindhouse,' when viewed outside of confines of the theaters and social mores of the exploitation era, are quite forgettable.......

'Grindhouse' features a color portfolio of film posters and advertisements in the midsection of the book.

 

With used copies of 'Grindhouse' in 'acceptable' -grade condition starting at $50, getting the book is not a trivial purchase, and perhaps is best left to those aging Baby Boomers who constitute the majority of readers interested in things like the Russ Meyer films of the 1960s. I can't see people under the age of 40 being all that engrossed in the narrative of 'Grindhouse,' particularly in our modern age of streaming video. Somehow, the experience of exploitation cinema just isn't the same when viewed from the comfort of your sofa, as opposed to the discount movie theaters and drive-ins of the grindhouse era. 

 

In any event, hopefully this overview will give you a sense of what the book offers, and whether an investment of fifty bucks (or more) is worthwhile.

December is Trash Cinema Month

December is Trash Cinema Month at the PorPor Books Blog

I usually don't review trash cinema here at the Blog, as there are more than a few blogs and websites that do that on a comprehensive basis. However, as a change of scene, especially after reading nothing but horror fiction for my special 'Fall of 2025' postings, I thought I'd devote the month of December to reviewing print media associated with trash cinema (or, if you prefer, exploitation cinema, psychotronic video, sleaze movies, transgressive cinema, etc., etc.). 

These are among the books and magazines that I picked up back in the late 1980s into the early 2000s, an era before streaming, when renting VHS and DVDs was commonplace and fascination with trash cinema was moving from the underground into the mainstream.

Back then I lived in Baltimore, and the major video rental place that stocked trash cinema VHS and later, DVDs, was a six-store chain called 'Video Americain.' They first had a store in an apartment building in the Charles Village neighborhood, right next to where I lived. The shop later relocated a short distance away to a small plaza on Cold Spring Lane. 

 

It was a place I visited regularly, but sadly, it closed in 2014, done in by the advent of Netflix, Redbox, and streaming.

So, let's go back in time 30-40 years, to the days when you got your VHS or DVD rental from Blockbuster (or Video Americain) and you popped it into your console or your dedicated player and you hoped (at least, with VHS) that the previous renter had taken the courtesy to rewind the tape before returning it to the shop, and the film was watchable. 

 

And after you got done watching the tape you of course conscientiously rewound it and popped it back into the plastic box and set it on the hallway table because you knew that if you failed to return it to the rental place by its return day, you'd be charged late fees.......

Or maybe you were lucky enough to have a theater or two that would show 'midnight movies.' Or perhaps a local university, like the Homewood campus of Johns Hopkins, or the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), would screen something offbeat, and non-students were welcome to attend (nowadays you can't even open the front door of a building on these campuses without having an officially issued keycard).

In order to know which films would appeal to you, well, you relied on zines and books about trash cinema to guide your choices.......so here's stuff that I resurrected from the boxes in my basement.

One thing to note is that many of the trash cinema guidebooks first published 20-30 years ago, are long out of print, and copies that come up for sale at the usual online vendors have steep asking prices. With these overviews, I hope to give would-be purchasers some idea of what they might be getting for their hard-earned cash..........  

Book Review: The Cars Let the Stories Be Told

Book Review: 'The Cars: Let the Stories Be Told' by Bill Janovitz

 

5 / 5 Stars

 

'The Cars: Let the Stories Be Told' was published by Da Capo in October, 2025. Author Janovitz has previously published a biography of Leon Russell, as well as performing in the longstanding Boston-area rock band Buffalo Tom. 

At nearly 500 pages in length (there is a color photograph section in the middle of book), 'The Cars' tells just about all there is to say about the band. 

 

Author Janovitz chronicles the band from the upbringing of Ben Orzechowski and Rick Otcasek in the Cleveland area, to the formation of The Cars in Boston in 1976, the advent of the debut album in 1978, their memorable Live Aid appearance, and the breakup of the band in 1988 following the release of Door to Door. 

 

Subsequent chapters cover the post-Cars careers of the band, including the recording of Move Like This, all the way up to the end of 2024. 

Janovitz's prose style flows smoothly and the pages go quickly. The only times I found myself lost were when he discussed the recording of the albums; as a musician himself, Janovitz goes into quite a bit of depth here, well over my (non-musician) head:

 

"Hello Again" is the appropriate leadoff track, swooping in with reverse-reverb a capella vocals. When they disappear between phrases, there is no sense of space, no room sound, no tape hiss, like getting sucked into a black hole. The synths enter, stacatto stereo spikes, while another plays a bass line with a flange-like sound familiar from Def Leppard tracks. The cymbals sound tinny and disappear instantly with no resonance. The guitars sound squelched and buried in the mix..........(page 321) 

 

Along with the discussion of the recording processes of the band's seven albums, 'The Cars' supplies info about a myriad of demo tracks, unreleased tracks, and B-sides that I was not aware of. Some of these songs, such as 'Are You Ready,' are little nuggets of Cars lore, and many are available at YouTube.

 

Janovitz is good about delivering framing observations and anecdotes about the band members, their wives and girlfriends, fellow musicians, and the scenester ecology of the Boston area during the 1970s and 1980s. Some of these anecdotes have a sharp bite: 

 

This was the time when Elliott suggested that Rick's only solo hit, "Emotion in Motion," was a lift of "Everything I Own," a song by Bread, which pissed off Ric. "Ric got mad and upset, and nothing happened, and nothing came of it." (page 374) 

I must confess that I listened to "Everything I Own," and the chorus.......well.........do your own investigation and see what you think....... 

 

There's no avoiding the melancholy attendant to the passing of Ben Orr in 2000 (John Cafferty has a poignant essay about befriending Orr in the later 1990s), and Ric Ocasek in 2019. However, the three remaining Cars members: Easton, Robinson, and Hawkes, continue to team up for music and sustain the band's legacy.

 

Whether you're a Baby Boomer who remembers the magic of listening to the debut album on an eight-track in 1978, or someone a bit younger who is learning about the band for the first time, 'The Cars: Let the Stories Be Told' is the go-to source for the history of the band. It's not just a biography of the group, but an engrossing overview of the advent of the New Wave movement and the role The Cars played in the transformation of the musical landscape of the late 1970s, and 1980s.