GRINDHOUSE TRAILERS CLASSICS VOLUME 3

Nucleus Films are back with another well-presented collection of trailers for some of the weirdest and wildest exploitation films of yesteryear.

This time around, we’re treated to 52 titles, which rattle along in the space of an agreeably brisk 102 minutes.

We kick off with the surprisingly well-edited and tantalising preview for ACT OF VENGEANCE, which is probably better known to readers under its more salacious title, RAPE SQUAD. The film is a gritty little beggar, and the trailer conveys this nicely.

From there, the fun keeps on coming with the hilariously repetitive voiceover that punctuates THE DOBERMAN GANG (successfully disguising the fact that the film itself is painfully mediocre), ropy shocks in FLESH FEAST and an entertaining vintage reel for SCHIZOID (best known these days as A LIZARD IN A WOMAN’S SKIN).

Other titles that are sure to strike a chord with those who remember the halcyon days of pre-cert video first hand, includes the likes of TERMINAL ISLAND, WITHOUT WARNING, SHRIEK OF THE MUTILATED (one of the more amusing horror trailers on offer), DON’T OPEN THE DOOR and CANNIBAL APOCALYPSE – shown here under its alternative title, INVASION OF THE FLESH HUNTERS.

The criminally under-seen BLOOD AND LACE gets coverage via its rare American trailer, while it’s great to see the likes of BLUE SUNSHINE, THE CANDY SNATCHERS and THE VAMPIRE’S NIGHT ORGY being included ... serving as enjoyable reminders to revisit these overlooked gems sometime soon.

Alongside the horror/thriller fare – which also takes in curious delights such as THE NIGHT EVELYN CAME OUT OF HER GRAVE, LINDA (aka LORNA THE EXORCIST), CANNIBAL GIRLS and BEWARE THE BRETHREN (aka FIEND) - we also get good smatterings of sexploitation, Blaxploitation and even the odd Western (A TOWN CALLED HELL – "odd" being the operative word) and car chases (A SMALL TOWN IN TEXAS – an early Susan George film that I simply MUST catch up with).

THE SWAPPERS (aka THE WIFE SWAPPERS), SWEDEN HEAVEN AND HELL, MOTHER GOOSE A GO GO (in which a bloke is cured of fainting when aroused, by taking LSD!), THE LOVES AND TIMES OF SCARAMOUCHE, BLACK GUNN, THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR, SWEDISH WIFE EXCHANGE CLUB ... all films with trailers as preposterously entertaining as their titles suggest.

NAZI LOVE CAMP 27 is made to look like fun, and the trailer is amusingly cheeky in the manner that it censors the best bits ... then promises them uncut if you go to see the film. Elsewhere, look out for the likes of Robert Shaw, Martin Landau, Timothy Bottoms and Telly Savalas turning up in trailers for films that they no doubt tried to erase from their CVs.

All in all, then, despite perhaps not offering as much fun as the first two Nucleus trailer compilations (and certainly lacking the finesse and focus of their brilliant 3-disc VIDEO NASTIES set), this is a fantastically edifying journey back to the trailers that really made the 1970s, and the early days of video in the 1980s, so much fun.

Whether taken as an insight into a bygone age of shameless marketing or as a simple party disc, GRINDHOUSE TRAILER CLASSICS VOLUME 3 does its job well.

The disc opens to an animated main menu page. From there, a static scene-selection menu allows access to the main feature via – wait for it – 52 chapters. Of course.

Picture quality is 16x9 enhanced and is generally good, although it’s only fair to go into these 70s grindhouse trailers expecting a fair amount of scratches and grain. Somehow, I doubt they’d suit looking any better. Having said that, most of the trailers on show are surprisingly clean and bright for the most part.

English mono audio is good throughout, and optional English subtitles are a nice addition to the disc.

DVD extras begin with a 26-minute featurette, wherein Kim Newman speaks enthusiastically about the era the films in this set appertain to. He’s on form, and exhibits even amounts of knowledge and humour while dissecting some of the more colourful trailers on offer.

Next up is a well-designed gallery showcasing the gorgeous poster art that each of these films originally benefitted from. Set to the main menu’s audio montage of clips from featured films, this runs for just over 2 minutes.

Finally we get a plethora of other trailers from within the Nucleus and Naughty stables. The 19 that come under the Nucleus banner include the likes of CHILDREN SHOULDN’T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS, DEAD OF NIGHT and NIGHT OF THE BLOODY APES. The 11 Naughty titles include CRUEL PASSION and FANTASM.

The disc is defaulted to open with a trailer for VIDEO NASTIES: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE.

Recommended.

Review by Stuart Willis