Grindhouse Trash Collection

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Since Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez have given the phrase "Grindhouse" new currency among younger film fans, it's no surprise that several home video outfits dealing in low-budget excess from the past have started using the word to market their product, and Secret Key's Grindhouse Trash Collection, a two-disc set of late-Sixties sexploitation material in their After Hours Cinema Storefront Feature Series, is just one example of this in action. While the three films included here certain fit into one category of the grindhouse mythos, the short documentary accompanying this set (featuring sleaze movie expert 42nd Street Pete) confuses the former burlesque theaters and decaying inner city movie palaces that threw softcore sex and all manner of violence onto their screens from morning 'till late at night (the true homes of the grindhouse tradition) with the 16mm storefront theaters that churned out (then) legally-dubious hardcore material in the late Sixties and early Seventies, thus confounding new fans of this sort of material about what "grindhouse" stands for as a genre or a moment in movie history. Still, this set does offer sexploitation fans three rare films that haven't surfaced on DVD before -- Uta, The Pimp's Primer and The Lusty Neighbors. Uta has been transferred in its original full-frame aspect ratio of 1.33:1, while the other two films are presented in widescreen format, letterboxed at 1.78:1 on conventional televisions and enhanced for anamorphic play on 16x9 monitors. Uta has been transferred from a fine quality print and looks excellent, but the same can't be said for the other two features -- The Pimp's Primer has been taken from a much-abused print riddled with scratches, splices and speckling, and though The Lusty Neighbors looks somewhat better, it's still cursed with mottled color and obvious missing footage. The audio for all three features has been mastered in Dolby Digital Stereo (using the original monophonic sound mixes), and the movies tend to sound better than they look, though little can be done for the murky original audio recording for The Lusty Neighbors. All three films are in English, with no multiple language options or subtitles included. As a bonus, the set includes the abovementioned "Grindhouse History" documentary, witty liner notes from Ed Grant, and trailers for other titles from Secret Key Motion Pictures. It's a bit surprising that this has been released as a two-disc set, since none of the three features runs longer than an hour (and this version of The Lusty Neighbors doesn't even crack fifty minutes), and while the presentation of this package is admirable, the quality of the movies on disc two leaves something to be desired. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Number of Discs: 1
• Audio: Dolby Digital Stereo
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 (Alternate Wide Screen)
• Features:
  • Disc 1: Grindhouse History by 42nd Street Pete
  • UTA (168) Feature Film
  • Disc 2: The Pimp Rimer (1969) Feature Film
  • Lusty Neighbors (1969) Feature Film
  • After Hours Radio Trailer Vault
  • Booklet Featuring Phots and Historical Liner Notes.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Colleen Murphy

• Director:

  Nick Philips