Director: Dustin Ferguson
Year: 2020
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Documentary
Plot:
Consisting of interviews and corresponding film footage, a special series highlights looking at the grindhouse films of the 1970s and 80s.
Review:
Overall, this is a pretty solid documentary with a lot to like. The most obvious feature with the doc is the number of films being showcased here, taking on plenty of titles that are both familiar and a surprise to viewers. Cycling through the films shown here in grand succession, the randomness to the order makes the next film a surprise to be covered which keeps it moving forward. Taking a journey into the world of the grindhouse films of the time period, getting to hear stories involving The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Slumber Party Massacre, Spookies, Basket Case and Force of Darkness among countless others brings about a fun sense of nostalgia regarding these particular films. Getting a random order to the whole affair makes these even more surprising as you never know what's coming up next, especially with the interesting tales being told about several of the films featured.
That brings up one of the few overriding issues here. Given the number of films being covered here, it stands to reason that not every film gets equal time so it can shortchange coverage of some of the more underrepresented titles covered. Since most of the films featured are expected to be covered in a project of this nature, the stories about them are not that shocking or interesting especially when there's already feature-length making-of documentaries on that specific film which has more than one individual discussing it which is the case here as each person only talks about the one film. Moreover, the fact that this one just seems to be somewhat chaotic and random about how to present itself means that there's no real structure to this, essentially talking about a certain movie and then going on to the next one in a scattershot order which feels underwhelming. These issues can bring this one down somewhat.
Overview: ***/5
While it's nowhere near the most exhaustive or definitive documentary on the subject given how it approaches itself, as a tribute or starting point into this particular scene this one scores far better due to the whole package on display. Take it more in that regard and you can do well with this documentary but more seasoned fans of the movement might be a little more cautious especially if you're quite familiar with the films being covered.
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