Grindhouse Memories

Hello mates, it has been quite awhile since I surfaced in the blogosphere. Needless to say, all is well. It's just that I'm expending a lot of energy in my job. And yes, I am loving my job.

Last week, when I was in the movie theatre, I caught glimpse of the new Tarantino/Rodriguez brainchild, Grindhouse (Planet Terror/Death Proof). Brought back some interesting memories. Now the definition of a grindhouse is a movie theatre that specialize in playing movies that feature over the top violence and sexual imagery. How nice. That's what I love about America. We've got something for everything. Unfortunately, growing up in Guyana, the one main theatre in our town served not only as a grindhouse but also family entertainment. During the course of a month it was possible to catch Emmanuelle in Bankok, I Spit on Your Grave and The Sound of Music at the same theatre. And yes, for a single admission we were always treated to a double feature. Which explains why I was baffled at the concept of paying a ton of money to see ONE movie in the US. Alas, I've adapted. Sure many of these were adult features, however, hanging out with my aunt, mother's cousin or father got me into many of those ditties. There are several that stand out in my mind. One such grindhouse feature that is ever so present in my mind was a feature called They Called Her One Eye. The storyline was was relatively simple and it scares me that I remember it this day. Teen girl misses school bus. Teen girl accepts ride from stranger. Stranger kidnaps teen girl and carries her to some house. Teen girl is forced to perform sex acts but strikes out at a john. Teen girl gets her eye cut out for attacking john. Girl works as a one eyed sex slave. Girl saves money from sex trade and learns judo, hot shoot guns and drive. Girl eventually breaks away and wreaks bloody vengeance on all those who violated her in grisly ways. I think I was ten when I saw this movie and that it was the coolest movie. Would let my future kids watch this ... a resounding NO. Then there was Savage Sisters. Feel free to spot the sexploitation. Three women (one black, one white, one Asian) are locked in a women's prison in the Philipines are presided over a sadistic female warden with the usual string of male sleazy prison personnel. Need I say more. And of course there were those grindhouse trailers. I remember there was an actual movie called Ravage that I sooo wanted to see. All through the trailer there was some woman screaming and some bloke saying "Ravage" repeatedly. None of that "in this world" bollocks. There was another one that featured car chases, jiggly girls, gun play and explosions that was followed by that movie announcer bloke screaming "kill, kill, kill". I've never learned the name of the movie though I'm sure it had something to do with killing. Just a hunch. For whatever reason, my father never did take me to see those two particular movies. Who could forget those Peter Cushing/Christopher Lee horror trailers and that was the real scary stuff. Not that teeny crap that passes for "horror" today that's only good for putting you into a coma.

The one good thing about They Call Her One Eye was that it enforced that "don't take a ride with a stranger" message. And this was way before that McGruff doggie. Back home there were no public mandated rating systems, and if you were two years old and showed up with an adult that was an EZ pass into grindhouse type flicks. The other cool thing about it was those moments walking home with my father and having discussions about what I saw in the movies. Aye, we actually did stuff like that. And I suspect along the way, the world of consequence and actions were subliminally outlined to me which probably explains why I haven't grown into a frothing psychopath. The verdict is still out on my constantly resurfacing dark humour. Small potatoes, mate. Hey Tarantino and Rodriguez, thanks for the memories and nostalgia.

Tags: Grindhouse, Quentin Tarantino, Planet Terror, Death Proof, movie, entertainment