Obscure Films

Written by your advisor
(These films are quite weird)

Table of Contents for Film-Related Posts: 

Interviews

My own interviews:

Others' interviews that I translated:

 

Lists

 

Articles


And here is a short explanation of basic terms related to the films I write about:

Cult Classic Films

This term actually means any film that has become popular enough to maintain a community of fans over decades. In many cases, the term is applicable to the movies presented here, but it doesn't define them fully, as, apart from low-budget and commercially failed films, "cult classic" also includes well-known mainstream movies, in which I have little to no interest.
 
Although the term is suposed to mean masterpieces of artistic perfection, many sloppy, cheaply-made, and ridiculous films have become cult classic, because they are so bad that it actually becomes amusing. The other thing that attracts me is the cozy feeling that comes when watching a movie created by a small company of amateurs having fun rather than a professional cast of Hollywood actors and a large crew, which is ordinary.

Exploitation or Grindhouse Movies

"Exploitation" means that a film was made with the purpose of being exploited in movie theaters to make money rather than represent an artistic view of the filmmaker.
 
Such films "exploited" a particular topic just because at the time of production it was popular. Oftentimes, a subject became in demand as a result of a commercial success of a recent mainstream film, so the audience was willing to see more similar stories. Hence the numerous rip off clones of The Exorcist, Jaws, and other cult mainstream films.
 
"Grindhouse" was originally a term for an American movie theater that showed mostly exploitation films.
 
There are numerous types of exploitation:
 

Vampires

Many of them contain the word "Dracula" in the title, as it was, or probably is and will always be trendy.
 

Witchcraft and Satanists

There are a number of films aiming to shock the viewer with portraying sects of devil worshipers performing their weird and blashemous rituals.
 

Sexploitation

Refers to saturating a film with nudity. It was particularly popular in Europe before the legalization of pornography. As hardcore porn wasn't available on a cinema screen and home video wasn't widely-adopted, normal films with erotic elements were the only way to see nudity on screen. Helping to sell a film to a larger audience, it was added to films of various genres: horror films, westerns, comedies, dramas and others, often under pressure of a producer, contradicting with the director's point of view on how a film should tell its story.

Nunsploitation

A specific genre, showing the life of nuns in a different light that it's normally imagined. Devil-possessed nuns, sinful lusty or violent nuns, and other shocking things.
 
There are many other exploitation genres: zombies (living dead), women in prison, rape and revenge, nazisploitation, you name it.
 

Cinéma fantastique

A French term describing films with a plot telling about something that doesn't happen in real life. Any films about magic, vampires or other supernatural things. One of the most outstanding representatives of this genre is Jean Rollin, my favorite director.
 

Eurotrash

Sleazy exploitation films made in Europe. I'm especially interested in European films, so the majority of the ones mentioned here are Euro movies.
 

B-Movies

Originally, this term used to mean cheap films that were a secondary part of a "double feature" program, when a visitor was offered to see two films at the price of one: the main picture and a supplemental one. So the "b-movie" used to be the additional part. Later, it started to mean any low-budget sleazy film. Except for...
 

Z-Movies

Films that are even worse and cheaper than B-movies. I'm not sure if I will get to writing about them here, but sometimes I enjoy to watch these too. One of the examples are films by Polonia brothers.
 

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I created this blog for like-minded people with weird taste for unpopular, obscure, and sleazy films and music. If you feel our tastes are similar, let's be email friends. You can also reach out to me if you need help in finding any rare film or music mentioned in by blog.



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