GRINDHOUSE Project

I don't know exactly what it is about grindhouse or exploitation films that excites me so much. What disturbs and infuriates me about sexism, stereotypes, violence and racism in real life, pop-culture, and the media is exactly what I find mesmerizing and hilarious in these films. Somehow, I feel empowered watching nymphomaniac stewardess vixens in techni-color.

And gratified watching blood spurt out of the ground, from where below a demon grows.

I have to point out that gore in these films and older horror films is totally different than the gore of, say, Rob Zombie. I can't stomach that stuff as well anymore. It's overkill. New horror has done the same as nu mental has done to met-al and what female reality tv "stars" have done to sexy - they show too much.

Maybe I enjoy grindhouse films because I know we're beyond daily life centering on the sexuality and physicality of women. We are, right? Hmm. Even that's a double edged sword. Or, maybe it's because at least roles in film now exist where women are not victim to something -- their own sexuality, the evil school marm, love or insanity. Other roles do exist, right?

Now I'm thinking of the short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Amazing story written through the point of view of a woman trapped in the ideological expectations and misunderstandings society had of women and by the constraints of her husband. Read it.

OK, back on track -- talking about why I enjoy grindhouse films. Perhaps it is exactly that rampant sexual energy and prowess that excites me. It's definitely the cinematography, the kitsch, the Americana, the vintage style, and a lack of over-produced explosions and high-speed chases in today's Hollywood blockbusters that are merely *yawn* an attempt at filling the void of having an intelligent, dynamic plot or at least bizarre subject matter. The way our culture idolizes famous people, it's even easier for film makers to simply build a movie around a certain cast or a single hottie, neglecting anything good. Yeah, Angelina Jolie. Yack.

What I love about these old-school films is the heavily stylized sets combined with that vintage feel - that sense of tradition and longevity. That sense, when I shoot subjects that remind me of a movie set or a scene in some way or another, is translated into a modern image. I don't mean, literally, that a car or person was created in the present. Rather, that sense, that vintage feel morphs into a modern style that I can only describe as cinematic or grindhouse. A contradiction, but it makes sense to me. It's like mid-century modern design: then it was contemporary but now it's vintage yet the style is still classified as modernism.

It transports me to my pre-teen years when I'd watch movies late at night (movies my mom would not approve of) when everyone else was asleep, hoping I wouldn't be caught or interrupted. Kind of like masturbation. The stylization I refer to earlier is that often seen in B, C, or even Z movies (if we want to get that bad) -- a shock to the senses! It's color, it's music, it's architecture, it's graphic design on retail signs and product packaging.

While I'm talking about stylization, I have to mention my love of horror films (if we're talking about American films - before "Jason Takes Manhattan"), science fiction, and certain spaghetti westerns - Sergio Leone films in particular - the film saturation, sound effects, music, and pace of how the story unfolds are phenomenal. They are beautiful works of art - aesthetically and as meaningful stories.

Grindhouse films are valid as a means to study our culture, film, and how the two relate to one another (art imitates life). They are like kitschy art. And horror films -- well, I view them mostly as art now, although I still find myself stiffening up -- and this has everything to do with the sense of anticipation the selected music creates, the timing, and things not being so graphic that nothing is left to the imagination. Did you ever have the realization that Dr. Suess books were so much more vivid and fantastical than the movies were, even with moving characters and music?

I'll end there.