Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Prismark10 This is a terrific documentary for fans of exploitation cinema and B movies. The documentary charts the history of US exploitation film from the beginnings of cinema to the modern day.It was Tarantino and Rodriguez that revitalised the term Grindhouse when they made their double feature but it took off in the 1960s with the change of mores and loosening of censorship laws that allowed film- makers to exploit and challenge an area of cinema that was designed for discerning adults that like terror, sex, violence and buckets of blood.The documentary is narrated by Robert Forster and interviews starts, directors and fans of the genre including Joe Dante, John Landis, Don Edmonds, Fred Williamson, Jack Hill, Allison Anders, James Gordon White, Larry Cohen, William Lustig, Judy Brown, Jeremy Kasten, Jonathan Kaplan, Bob Minor, Lewis Teague, David Hess, Fred Olen Ray, Herschell Gordon Lewis.However it is not just talking heads, you have clips from grindhouse films and especially a good representation of clips from films from the 1960s and 70s.

PKazee I really, really enjoyed this. At the same time, though entertaining and informative, it leaves one yearning for so much more. The clips from the films shown are usually VERY short, and quite often, they are not directly discussed by the commentators. Instead, they are used to "illustrate" a more general discussion of one of the sub-genres covered her (ie: pre-code; nudist camp, nudie cuties, etc). I look forward to someone expanding upon this introduction to provide us with a film exploring each of the sub-genres in more depth.Finally, I was pleased to hear John Landis refer to PASSION OF THE Christ as an Exploitation film, as that's exactly how I viewed it... with total delight, I must say. In fact, given it and APOCALYPTO, an argument could be made for Mel Gibson as the greatest Exploitation film director of the past decade... even if he does not exactly see his own films in that light.

Woodyanders Exploitation cinema has been around since the creation of film itself, as this extremely snappy and concise, yet still comprehensive and illuminating documentary astutely points out. Among the subjects covered are the definition of exploitation, the origins of exploitation in the silent movie era, the Hays Code, Tod Browning's "Freaks," educational shock docs (yep, we get to see some disgustingly explicit birth of a baby footage), film noir, 50's juvenile delinquent pictures, nudist camp romps, AIP fare, Russ Meyer, roughies, gore flicks, biker outings, chicks-in-chains movies, the 70's blaxploitation explosion, Nazisploitation, the eruption of porn, and the ongoing legacy of grindhouse pictures in the early 21st century. The eclectic array of interviewees are quite lively and enjoyable, with especially stand-out contributions from film critic and historian Kim Morgan, a highly funny and dynamic John Landis, the ever-charismatic Fred Williamson, a seriously whacked-out David Hess, "Ilsa" director Don Edmonds (who flat out admits he made this notorious cult classic because he was starving and desperately needed the money), screenwriter James Gordon White, director William Lustig, exploitation legends Jack Hill, Larry Cohen, Herschell Gordon Lewis, and Ted V. Mikels, and actress Judy Brown. Zipping along at a constantly brisk pace, perfectly narrated by Robert Forster, and containing a wealth of choice trashy and graphic clips from countless gloriously down'n'dirty nickel'n'dime features, this baby is absolutely essential viewing for exploitation cinema buffs.

Michael_Elliott American Grindhouse (2010)*** (out of 4)This film begins with people debating on what a grindhouse film really is and after the release of the film GRINDHOUSE it seems like everyone was debating the true definition. This documentary, to me, covers pretty much everything that wasn't accepted by the mainstream. We cover a wide range of films starting with some early silents from Edison and then moving to Hollywood movies like FREAKS as well as trashier things like MANIAC, REEFER MADNESS and then going through other decades. Included are the "birth" films from the 40s, the nudist films of the 60s, the gore period starting with Herschell Gordon Lewis and then moving through the 70s with stuff like THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT and the blaxploitation pictures. John Landis, William Lustig, Ted V. Mikels, Herschell Gordon Lewis, Joe Dante, Kim Morgan, Fred Olen Ray, Fred Williamson, Allison Anders, Larry Cohen, David Hess, Don Edmonds and Jack Hill are just a few of the people interviewed here and they too have a wide range of opinions on the films covered here. For the most part I think this is a terrific introduction to those unfamiliar with the genre but if you have a good idea of these films and their history then it's doubtful you're going to learn much here. I think American GRINDHOUSE would best be used as a training tool for those new movie fans wanting to see about this stuff and be able to see countless clips as well as get some nice recommendations for rentals. I think the documentary does a good job at covering various genres but at just 83-minutes there's really no way it can really dig deep into everything. Europeon films are pretty much overlooked and this is somewhat frustrating especially when certain films are made to appear as if they started a sub-genre when in fact it was usually something overseas. The film also does a nice job at showing how certain production rules in Hollywood is what helped change the exploitation filmmakers and how Hollywood eventually had to drop what they were doing and offer people what they wanted.