Schlock! The Secret History of American Movies

“Schlock” is a fascinating, feature length documentary about the “exploitation” films of the 50s and 60s and their lasting impact upon the film industry. It also provides an insightful look into what the word “exploitation” really means.

“Schlock” introduces the viewer to the world of art-house and grindhouse flicks, everything from Nudie Cuties and Roughies right up to the Gore of Herschell Gordon Lewis. Few of these films ever saw a major theatrical release, but nevertheless managed to lure in viewers by the thousands…and dollars by the millions, influencing a whole new generation of filmmakers including Francis Ford Coppola, Peter Bogdonovich and Sam Peckinpah. Among the interviewed are Roger Corman, the legendary Doris Wishman, Forrest Ackerman, Samuel Arkoff and Maila Nurmi, all of whom provide fascinating glimpses into a world of skin, sin and blood which not even the censors could stop.

Films featured and discussed include “The Defilers” “Bucket of Blood” “The Terror” “The Immoral Mr. Teas” “Carnival of Souls” “Kiss Me Quick” and “Bad Girls Go To Hell” to name only a few. The clips themselves are bright with candy colored lights and lots of healthy T&A, or dark with menacing shadows and splattered with blood. Either way, the viewing experience here is much like indulging in a rich feast, and is almost as good as seeing the original films themselves. From the lasting effects of World War 2, the threat of nuclear annihilation and the bloody upheaval of America in the 1960s, “Schlock” shows us the sometimes ugly, sometimes funny but always entertaining truth about the origins of these powerful films and their own lasting influence upon modern day Hollywood.