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Released by: Nucleus Films
Released on: June 16th, 2014.
Director: N/A
Cast: Various
Year: Various
The Movies:
The fourth entry in Nucleus Film's ongoing Grindhouse Trailer Classics line of trailer compilation DVD releases is another fine entry in the UK based company's catalogue. The disc gathers together an impressive collection of theatrical trailers, all sourced from 35mm film elements, from a wide range of genres and from countries around the world and while some of these will be familiar to fans of similar releases, just as many (if not more) would seem to be appearing on DVD for the first time.
The disc starts off with Little Cigars, a bizarre midget mobster romp starring the lovely and talented Sharon Kelly in a supporting role. It's the kind of movie that they just don't make anymore and while the trailer is better than the feature itself (it's surprisingly tepid) this is a fun promo and a great way to get the ball rolling. From there, we get a saucy spot for Ernst Haufbrauer's Women For Sale, which looks awesome and is chock full of beautiful Euro breasts. God bless German sexploitation.
From there, things get a bit grittier as we witness the trailer for the Canadian slasher cult classic Curtains, a picture that really does feature some strikingly odd imagery. Keeping that 'gritty' tone going we venture into the world of seventies crime with a fantastic trailer for a movie called Dirty O'Neil: The Love Life Of A Cop, a movie I've personally never heard of prior to the viewing of this disc but one that I now need to see. Blaxploitation low budget classic Willie Dynamite comes up next, which somehow feels appropriate, and then the disc hits you with a surprise left hook by playing the spot for the Robert Quarry picture The Deathmaster, which is all kinds of trippy and weird. Things get a little sleazy after that with Mama's Dirty Girls before we move into hard-ass action movie territory with Hammer Of God (a.k.a. The Chinese Boxer), the Jimmy Wang Yu fight film so popular with kung-fu movie fans (and for good reason as it's a pretty great movie).
The disc switches up genres really quickly as it plays out, so we head back into sex movie territory with a trailer for Swingin' Models before turning off the lights and getting spooky with the ominous trailer for Martino's Strange Shadows In An Empty Room (which is not a horror movie at all but a retitled Eurocop picture). Back and forth and back and forth, this one keeps you guessing - you should probably stop reading now and just watch it yourself as the surprises make this one a lot of fun, but if you hate surprises, we head next into a trailer for The RoomMates, featuring the lovely Roberta Collins, and then Too Hot To Handle starring Cheri Caffaro. It's a pretty rad blend of sexploitation and action shot in the Philippines for Roger Corman and well worth checking out if you haven't seen it yet. This segues nicely into another trashy drive-in movie called The Hitchhikers and then yet another Corman sexploitation picture with Fly Me.
From there? Blood Of Dracula's Castle, the classic Al Adamson crap fest that was part of a Scorpion Releasing double bill with The Hearse a few years ago. It's a fun watch but not nearly as interesting or as eye opening as the trailer for Gary Graver's 1970 softcore opus Erika's Hot Summer starring the inimitable Ms. Erica Gavin. In our interview with her here, she says “the footage shot had been canned and put on the shelf. They most likely ran out of money. After the huge success of “Vixenâ€, "Hot Summer†was sort of pieced together with the hiring of additional actors and actresses and writing a script to incorporate the footage they had of me, close-up. And VOILA! There it is… "Erica's Hot Summer" starring yours truly. So if the film seems fragmented, it is.†And it's true. But it's still awesome to see the trailer for this legitimately obscure picture.
From here we blast through a trailer for Catastrophe, then Eurocult horror classic The Devil's Wedding Night followed by a mafia film called Crazy Joe starring none other than Peter Boyle in the lead. It looks kind of great. Paul Naschy pops up in the trailer for the fun Frankenstein's Bloody Terror, followed by a spot promoting Born To Kill (a.k.a. Cockfighter) starring Warren Oates and directed by the great Monte Hellman. Las Vegas Lady, starring Stella Steven is up next, then some genuine oddities with trailers for Poor Albert & Little Annie and The Late Great Planet Earth, a doomsday documentary based on the book by Hal Lindsey (I remember this book sitting on my dad's book shelf in the late 70s or early 80s and the premise terrifying me).
Then, kaboom, we do a complete 180 with a trailer for All The Loving Couples, a black and white swingers expose style film follow by the great trailer for Denmark's finest cinematic output, the Sinful Dwarf. We get a few horror movie trailers in a row after that with a promo spot for the Udo Kier-less Mark Of The Devil Part 2 and a spot for the 'animal attack movie' Dogs, another trailer that's better than the actual movie it's advertising. Huge Stiglitz shows up in Rene Cardona's Night Of A Thousand Cats (which was missing from the Code Red DVD release but which looks nice here!) and then we start genre hopping again with a trailer for the sexy Cheering Section, the action/biker movie Hells Chosen Few and then Michael Pataki's oddball horror film Mansion Of The Doomed. If you need more Karen Black in your life, and you probably do, the trailer for The Pyx ought to cure what ails you, and while you're at it, stick around for The Sweet Body Of Deborah.
From there we get some more Blaxploitation fun with Trouble Man, some more kung-fu action with Sacred Knives Of Vengeane and then more Crown International sleaze with a trailer for The Sister-In-law. One of the truly odd trailer on this collection of mostly truly odd trailers is Smash-Up Alley, also known as 43 The Story Of The Petty Family. Yep, this is just what it sounds like, a bio-pic detailing the exploits of everyone's favorite race car driving southerners and it looks pretty ridiculous.
From the south, we head to Italy with a trailer for A Black Veil for Lisa followed by The Five Man Army (which Dario Argento penned) and then back to the states for two seventies horror rarities, Nightmare Honeymoon and The Severed Arm. This is followed by the remarkably strange Blaxploitation epic Sweet Jesus, Preacherman, the horror picture Terror In The Wax Museum and then more kung-fu with Bamboo Gods And Iron Men. Blaxploitation cult classic The Hit Man is represented next and then it's back to the dog house with a trailer for The Daring Dobermans after which we step inside The Hot Box, the chicks in chains picture with Margaret Markov in it written by Oscar winner Jonathan Demme. Inside Amy comes after that and from there, check out Lady Kung Fu (also known as Hapkido), a rock solid martial arts movie starring the lovey deadly China doll herself, Angela Mao.
Bringing things to a close is a trailer for Dirty Dan's Women, then a trailer for They're Coming To Get You (which is Sergio Martino's All The Colors Of The Dark under a different name) and then amazing spot for Delinquent Schoolgirls with Michael Pataki, Sharon Kelly in a tight white t-shirt and so much more - truly a trash classic of American cinema. Incoming Freshmen is next and then The French Sex Murders winds up being the last trailer on the disc, ending things in style. There's really something for everyone here, this disc is a total blast. Watch it with some friends and the appropriate mix of snacks and a vice of your choice for maximum impact.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Nucleus presents the different trailers on this compilation in their respective aspect ratios in anamorphic widescreen. Expect scratches and print damage throughout, it's all part of the deal here. These trailers look like the marginally beaten up film sourced promo spots that they are, but you'll still notice decent detail and texture. Quality varies from one spot to the next but overall, yeah, this stuff looks fine on DVD so long as you don't mind a bit of grit with your trailers.
Audio chores are handled by a Dolby Digital Mono track that is on par with the video, so you could probably guess it isn't quite crystal clear but it sounds good for what it is. The various narrators are always easy to understand and the levels are properly balanced. If there's a bit of hiss here and there and the odd pop in the mix, that's okay.
Outside of a menu offering trailer selection, the disc includes a still gallery, a listing of other Nucleus Films releases and a few promo spots for other titles offered by the company.
The Final Word:
If you're a fan of trailer compilations, this one is tops - there are a few familiar pieces included here but so much of this material hasn't made the rounds on other, similarly themed discs, that it's hard not to be impressed with what Nucleus have put together. It's pretty much impossible NOT to have fun with this one…
