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STUDIO: Synapse Films
MSRP: $19.95
RATED: NR (Adults Only)
RUNNING TIME: 128 Minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES: Two hours of amazing trailers
The Disney Store is out of Times Square, but its spawn remain. The area, once known as the seediest place on Earth, is a Blade Runner-esque landscape of billboards and neon, and the squalor and degeneracy it was once famed for is gone. That’s the way of New York, though – Times Square had once been a wonderful center for visitors before the city’s economic downturn turned it into a haven for junkies, criminals and scum.
Times Square was littered with theaters, places that had once been beautiful palaces that fell into disrepair. These theaters turned into grindhouses, showing three or four movies on a bill to a crowd who paid a few bucks to have a place to nod off, get sex, hide from the cops or latch key kids who came in on the subway from Queens looking for the creepiest people and movies.
The films that played at these grindhouses – the Rialto, the Lyric, the Globe – were usually advertised as shocking, horrifying, disgusting, and offensive. And often they would live up to that.
The Flick
42nd Street Forever captures the feel of a grindhouse experience by collecting some truly astonishing trailers (often the worse for wear) on one DVD. Part of the joy of the exploitation films that played in Times Square (and I use that term to cover the whole gamut from sexploitation to blaxploitation to goresploitation and everything inbetween) was the over the top advertising that heralded their arrival. The trailers would condense the best moments of these films into a minute or so of pure bliss – hacking, slashing, fucking, bleeding, screaming, dying… all in a delirious minute or two.
The selection of trailers on 42nd Street Forever (wonderfully titled Volume 1, giving us the promise of more to come) is top notch. Not only do the films run the gamut of the kinds of movies you might catch in a marijuana-hazed Times Square theater, there’s a lot of thought given to the order the trailers play in. It flows like a good mix-tape, which is important when you’re sitting down to watch two hours of depravity, perversion and barely competent filmmaking.
In general the DVD is a treasure trove. The trailer for Panorama Blue, a porn film shot in 72 mm, opens with a couple screwing on a roller coaster. The Undertaker and His Pals have a hilarious “The worms crawl in” chorus laid over the action. The I Dismember Mama/Blood Spattered Bride double feature trailer is honestly brilliant, including the announcer who is handing people Dixie sized vomit cups. Welcome Home Brother Charles truly uplifts the race.
These trailers also serve as a great introduction to the world of the grindhouse, which has loomed over the filmography of people like Quentin Tarantino. Watch the trailer for They Call Her One Eye, and try not to be reminded of Kill Bill. The disc also serves as a way to get up to speed for Tarantino and Rodriguez’ upcoming Grindhouse, which will have faux trailers very much based on these.
42nd Street Forever is a DVD that you must have in your collection. It’s perfect to watch alone or to have friends over – it’s great background for parties. But most importantly it’s a great piece of cinema history that is in danger of being whitewashed away. Modern genre fans owe a lot to these cheap, nasty little films. And when I say that this is a must-own – I mean it! Order it from CHUD.com right here, right now.
10 out of 10
The Look
The picture quality of many of the trailers included here is terrible. Downright awful. Somehow I think that enhances the experience. These trailers, and the films, would travel the drive-in and grindhouse circuits around the country, and there was lots of wear and tear along the way. To me the classic exploitation films are muddy and scratchy.
That said, some obvious effort was put into cleaning some of these up, although the ends and beginnings of the trailers, where they were spliced and respliced, are often disasters.
5.8 out of 10
The Noise
The sound quality isn’t any better than the picture. That starts with the films themselves, many of which were barely recorded by one mic. Still, the phrase “Women and Bloody Terror” will stick with you for days, echoing in your skull.
5 out of 10
The Goodies
This is where the set falls to pieces. There isn’t a single extra. I would love to have a commentary by a grindhouse expert (how much could such a person really cost?) or a filmography of the included trailers.
I know that Synapse Films are good people, but by not including any information or background they’re treating these trailers more as a comedic relic than anything else. Even a booklet insert with an essay would have been nice!
0 out of 10
The Artwork
The cover art’s not bad. It does sort of look a little generic – and from a distance I thought it was a jukebox and not the marquee of a movie theater.
8 out of 10
(because seriously, you must own this DVD)