American Grindhouse

Feb 4, 2011

1h 22m

★ 6.8

Giving ‘Em What They Want Since the Dawn of Motion Pictures.

Overview

This documentary explores the hidden history of the American Exploitation Film. The movie digs deep into this often overlooked category of U.S. cinema and unearths the shameless and occasionally shocking origins of this popular entertainment.

Genres

Documentary

Production Companies

Lux Digital Pictures

End Films

American Grindhouse Trailers

Cast

Himself - Narrator

Robert Forster

Herself

Allison Anders

Himself

John Landis

Herself

Kim Morgan

Himself

Fred Olen Ray

Himself

Joe Dante

Himself

Herschell Gordon Lewis

Himself

William Lustig

Himself

Lewis Teague

Himself

David Hess

Himself

Bob Minor

Himself

Jack Hill

Eva Ebner is a Berliner who gives the appearance of being rather eccentric. She knows the film business inside out – regardless of whether she’s work- ing behind the camera as an assistant director or in front of it as an actor. Her name is closely associated with a series of now-legendary adaptations of Edgar Wallace’s crime novels which were made in Germany during the 1960s. Upcoming young directors from local film schools have also profited from Ms. Ebner’s unbroken enthusiasm and passion for film. However, this eighty-year-old has a more than broken relationship to the events of her childhood and youth in Gdansk – a time when her life was characterised by an anti-Semitic step-mother and the dangers posed by the Nazi regime. This film portrait does not eschew any of the long dark shadows of that era, nor does it sidestep any friction between portrayer and his subject. (Lothar Lambert)

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7.6

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