Exploitation films

Boardinghouse

The first shot-on-video horror feature, blown up to 35mm and just as ugly as that sounds.

Penitentiary

Prison-boxing blaxploitation that out-grossed every indie of its year and got forgotten anyway.

Petey Wheatstraw

Rudy Ray Moore makes a deal with the Devil to come back from the dead. Deranged and delightful.

She-Devils on Wheels

H.G. Lewis hands the gore to a real biker gang. The acting is a crime; the piano wire is the point.

TNT Jackson

Cirio Santiago's Manila blaxploitation at full tilt, remembered for one fight staged in the dark.

Werewolves on Wheels

Exactly what it says, at half the pace you want.

Bad Girls Go to Hell

The definitive Doris Wishman roughie: grimy, deranged, and edited by someone allergic to faces.

Macon County Line

One of the most profitable independents ever made. Nastier than its reputation.

Satan's Sadists

Al Adamson's grimiest, shot partly where the Manson family was living.

Willie Dynamite

A flamboyant pimp fights to stay on top as everything closes in. Sharper and sadder than most.

Detroit 9000

A biracial cop pairing hunts jewel thieves in Detroit. Tarantino re-released it for a reason.

Rituals

The Canadian Deliverance, and grimmer than the nickname promises.

Scum of the Earth

Herschell Gordon Lewis invents the roughie the same year he invents gore. Busy man.

Three the Hard Way

Brown, Williamson and Kelly against a plot to poison the water supply.

Maniac

Dwain Esper's roadshow lunacy. A man eats a cat's eye. Not the 1980 film.

Sugar Hill

Revenge via Haitian zombies. The best of the blaxploitation horror crossovers.

The Lickerish Quartet

The most elegant film ever filed under sexploitation, and the reason Metzger belongs in the canon.

The Mack

Half drama, half documentary of 1970s Oakland. The real players are in it.

The Violent Years

A girl gang robs, kidnaps and worse. Written by Ed Wood, which explains everything.

Women in Cages

Pam Grier as the sadist for once. Bleaker than its stablemates.

Angels Hard as They Come

Jonathan Demme's first script, produced by Corman. Rashomon on bikes.

Ganja & Hess

An art film that was sold as a vampire picture. Recut and buried for decades.

J.D.'s Revenge

A dead 1940s gangster possesses a mild law student. Blaxploitation crossed with the supernatural.

Love Camp 7

The film that invented nazisploitation six years before Ilsa made it a genre.

Messiah of Evil

Made by the couple who then wrote American Graffiti. A nightmare that never explains itself.

Spider Baby

Jack Hill's first, Lon Chaney Jr's last good role. Very odd and very fond.

The Big Bird Cage

Funnier and better than the first. Sid Haig is having an excellent time.

The Gore Gore Girls

Herschell Gordon Lewis signs off with a meat tenderiser and a gag about chocolate milk.

The Wizard of Gore

A stage magician whose tricks are real. Lewis's most interesting idea.

Abby

The blaxploitation Exorcist. A minister's wife is possessed by a sex demon. Warner Bros sued.

Chained Heat

Linda Blair goes to prison. A sleazy 80s update of the formula, with a corrupt warden and a hot tub.

Dolemite

Technically inept and completely irresistible. Boom mics in every other shot.

Reform School Girls

The women-in-prison film as its own punchline, fronted by the lead singer of the Plasmatics.

Scream Blacula Scream

The rare sequel that adds Pam Grier and a shred of dignity.

Switchblade Sisters

Jack Hill doing Othello with teenage gangs. Much smarter than it needs to be.

The Big Doll House

Jack Hill and Pam Grier invent the modern formula in the Philippines.