Grindhouse returns for another round at IPH. Grindhouse to the Arthouse 4: The Third Chapter starts Friday, Nov. 22, and will continue with a film a month through April. The series features a Christmas slasher, zombie revenge and more. Programmer Ryan Martel gives us details.
Please explain the series title.
Well, it is the third installment, but it’s called Grindhouse to the Arthouse 4. That’s a little joke, because back in the day, movies would come out that seemed to be sequels, but they weren’t. They didn’t have a predecessor.
How would you define grindhouse?
To me it’s low-budget movies or movies that were under-appreciated when they came out. But for the most part, it’s a low-budget, independently made movie that might not be the best quality as far as lighting, cameras or acting goes, but has a certain charm about it.
Let’s start with the first film, Alice’s Restaurant, directed by Arthur Penn and released in 1969.
It was like an art-house film, even back when it came out, because they do off-the-beaten-path things. It plays like an album, because it’s based on a song. The song itself is one of the longest folk songs ever written, and Arlo Guthrie plays it even longer. It’s a quirky movie, to say the least.
The Christmas entry, Silent Night, Deadly Night, comes in at a compact 79 minutes, which seems very grindhouse.
It is, actually. The shorter a movie is, the more you can play it in a day, and the more money you can make off of it. Silent Night, Deadly Night has a killer that’s dressed like Santa Claus, and that was unheard in 1984, when it came out. Mickey Rooney protested the movie. It was insane. It’s a Christmas slasher movie; I don’t go into it expecting to see a high-art movie because it’s not that. It’s low budget, but a lot of fun.
Next is Death Race 2000. It’s the 50th anniversary of that film.
I didn’t know that when I picked it. But Jay [Morong], the program director for IPH, had mentioned trying to grab a Roger Corman movie for this run, because he passed away this summer. What better pick than Death Race 2000? It’s got Sylvester Stallone before Rocky. It’s got David Carradine before he was a big deal. It’s an insane movie about a rally race where you ride around and kill people for points.
The following film is Sugar Hill, released in 1974. Tell us about that.
Sugar Hill is a revenge movie. It’s a blaxploitation movie in which Pam Grier’s character gets revenge on the people who killed her boyfriend, She uses zombies to get her revenge. They’re not Romero zombies, where they’re reanimated corpses. Well, they kind of are. It is difficult to explain. You have to see it.
How do blaxploitation and grindhouse films connect?
Blaxploitation is a type of grindhouse film, usually made for Black audiences. The term grindhouse comes from when the old theaters played these movies so much that they damaged the film. It would put a grind on the film, so it would end up scratchy when it went to the next theater.
Tell us about the final two: Sons of Steel, which came out in 1989, and Rumpelstiltskin, in 1995.
Sons of Steel is a heavy metal, semi-futuristic Australian musical. It’s a bit of Mad Max with a bit of Rocky Horror Picture Show. I picked Rumpelstiltskin because I was looking for a fairytale movie. I’ve wanted to watch it since I was a kid, because the VHS cover stuck out to me.
Are grindhouse movies still being made?
I think the spirit of grindhouse movies remains alive. A lot of people are making low-budget horror movies. That’s because people will watch low-budget horror before they’ll watch a low-budget movie in other genres. Are grindhouse theaters still out there? Maybe not. IPH is not a grindhouse, but they keep that spirit going with this series and special screenings. This is fun for me because these are movies I love and that I think people should see.