I have a real fascination with the marketing of films, and particularly of the marketing of sleaze/grindhouse/blaxploitation/kung fu/gore films of the 60s/70s. While modern trailers often give away a good chunk of the plot, the trailers featured on this disc are devoted to getting people into the theaters (or drive-ins) using any method possible, including threatening that the picture is so scary that they might just die while watching.
If 42nd Street Forever has a fault, it's that it's almost too much of a mix. In two hours we cover ridiculous sci fi (Star Crash, Destroy All Monsters), amazingly offensive Kung Fu (The Crippled Masters), Biker Monster Movies (Werewolves On Wheels), Italian Sex Comedies (Creampuffs), Mondo Films (Shocking Asia, Secret Africa), blaxploitation (Boss Ni**er, The Legend of Ni**er Charley), and Porn (Panorama Blue). And that's just a start, as there are 47 trailers of wildly varying quality on display.
It's sort of an embarrassment of riches, though you may need a shower after swimming through such concentrated sleaze. Some of those nudie films, in particular, look like they appeal to the worst kind of humanity. Still, there is some amazing entertainment on display; some of which is still not available on DVD. But, I should warn that there's a lot of gruesomeness on here, and the politics and morals on shown are quite the product of their time. For instance, The Pink Angels is a biker film about a gay motorcycle gang that is on one hand rather progressive, and on the other just massively offensive.
The video quality is consistent throughout, though very sketchy in parts (which is part of the charm). The disc has no extras, which is to be expected in a trailer compilation.
The complete list of films featured:
- The Undertaker and His Pals
- Flesh And Blood Show
- Women and Bloody Terror/Night of Bloody Horror
- I Dismember Mama/the Blood Spattered Bride
- Corruption,
- The Butcher of Binbrook
- Ginger
- Italian Stallion
- Creampuffs
- The Three Dimensions of Greta
- Hard Candy
- The Centrefold Girls
- Panorama Blue
- Wicked Wicked
- Teenage Mother
- Charlie and the Hooker
- Matango
- The Green Slime
- Destroy All Monsters
- The Crippled Masters
- Werewolves on Wheels
- The Pink Angels
- The Depraved (a.k.a. Exposed)
- They Call Her One Eye (a.k.a. Thriller)
- Maid in Sweden
- Behind Convent Walls
- Secret Africa
- Shocking Asia
- Chappaqua
- Welcome Home Brother Charles
- The Legend of Nigger Charlie
- Boss Nigger
- The 44 Specialist
- The Bullet Machine
- Death Drive
- The Raiders of Atlantis
- Star Crash
- Confessions of a Summer Camp Counselor
- Sunset Cove
- Superfuzz
- Death Will Have Your Eyes
- Death Has Blue Eyes
- A Black Veil for Lisa
- Ironmaster
- The Deadly Spawn,
- The Rape of the Sabines
- The Devil's Nightmare
Highly recommended for fans of the genres. Though, might be hard to take all in one sitting.
Check out these trailers for Star Crash, The Green Slime and Boss Ni**er.
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