Profoundly Disturbing : The Shocking Movies that Changed History
- Book Review,
by Joe Bob Briggs
From Publishers Weekly
Briggs, host of the long-running cable shows Joe Bob's Drive-In Theatre and Monstervision, is an acknowledged king of cult movie history. From Blood Feast to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Briggs analyzes 20 films and points out their cultural significance. The book is not, as the London Evening Standard put it, "beyond the bounds of depravity," but rather a wryly amusing, informative study of productions that some publicly disparage and privately relish. Roger Vadim's 1956 And God Created Woman broke down sexual barriers. His directorial shaping of Brigitte Bardot into a sex symbol, despite handicaps of coarse voice, cold manner and expressionless face, is a lusty and intriguing French version of Pygmalion. The Svengali theme also relates to Deep Throat, when Linda Lovelace, its star, became a steamy sex goddess in the hands of husband Chuck Traynor. These two movies permanently altered the way the world views celluloid sex, and Briggs demonstrates how Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch did the same for violence. Briggs touches thoughtfully on controversial interpretations that The Wild Bunch film elicited before placing it in perspective as an artistically daring forerunner of modern action films. Shaft unleashed the blaxploitation boom, while The Exorcist turned Satan into a Hollywood high concept. The author also writes with insight and affection about such lurid enterprises as The Curse of Frankenstein and The Creature from the Black Lagoon. The book merits attention from fans tired of high-minded essays about classics such as Citizen Kane, and explains why crass, tasteless pictures often make more impact than those released with the stamp of respectability. 50 illus. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Briggs brings the sensibilities of his late, lamented cable-TV review show, Joe Bob's Drive-In Theater, to the pages of this meditation on how sensational movies have changed film history and day-to-day culture. Briggs discusses the content, box-office success, and cultural effects of movies running the gamut from the mildly necrophilic Cabinet of Dr. Caligari to the fetishistic Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS, and from the clumsy if well-intentioned 1942 facts-o'-life flick Mom and Dad to the pornographic Deep Throat. Of And God Created Woman, Briggs notes that star Brigitte Bardot was "the Pia Zadora of her day . . . all cheesecake and no class" until she and director hubby Roger Vadim collaborated on this film that challenged traditional perceptions of women because "both Bardot and her movie character . . . loved sex." Briggs' persona as an off-kilter yet knowledgeable cineast licenses him to be pithy and amusing. A must-have for those who consider Mike Weldon's Psychotronic film guides essential. Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
"Beyond the bounds of depravity!"-London Evening Standard
"Despicable . . . ugly and obscene . . . a degrading, senseless misuse of film and time." -The Los Angeles Times
"People are right to be shocked." -The New Yorker
Review
"Beyond the bounds of depravity!"-London Evening Standard
"Despicable . . . ugly and obscene . . . a degrading, senseless misuse of film and time." -The Los Angeles Times
"People are right to be shocked." -The New Yorker
Book Description
From the murky depths can come the most extraordinary things. . . . Profoundly Disturbing examines the underground cult movies that have--unexpectedly and unintentionally-- revolutionized the way that all movies would be made. Called "exploitation films" because they often exploit our most primal fears and desires, these overlooked movies pioneered new cinematographic techniques, subversive narrative structuring, and guerrilla marketing strategies that would eventually trickle up into mainstream cinema. In this book Joe Bob Briggs uncovers the most seminal cult movies of the twentieth century and reveals the fascinating untold stories behind their making.
Briggs is best known as the cowboy-hat wearing, Texas-drawling host of Joe Bob's Drive-in Theater and Monstervision, which ran for fourteen years on cable TV. His goofy, disarming take offers a refreshingly different perspective on movies and film making. He will make you laugh out loud but then surprise you with some truly insightful analysis. And, with more than three decades of immersion in the cult movie business, Briggs has a wealth of behind-the-scenes knowledge about the people who starred in, and made these movies. There is no one better qualified or more engaging to write about this subject.
All the subgenres in cult cinema are covered, with essays centering around twenty movies including Triumph of the Will (1938), Mudhoney (1965), Night of the Living Dead (1967), Deep Throat (1973), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Drunken Master (1978), and Crash (1996). Accompanying the text are dozens of capsule reviews providing ideas for related films to discover, as well as kitschy and fun archival film stills. An essential reference and guide to this overlooked side of cinema, Profoundly Disturbing should be in the home of every movie fan, especially those who think they've seen everything.
From the Inside Flap
What the critics are saying:
"Beyond the bounds of depravity!"–London Evening Standard
"Despicable . . . ugly and obscene . . . a degrading, senseless misuse of film and time." –The Los Angeles Times
"People are right to be shocked." –The New Yorker
From the murky depths can come the most extraordinary things. . . . Profoundly Disturbing examines the underground cult movies that have–unexpectedly and unintentionally–revolutionized the way that all movies would be made. Called "exploitation films" because they often exploit our most primal fears and desires, these overlooked movies pioneered new cinematographic techniques, subversive narrative structuring, and guerrilla marketing strategies that would eventually trickle up into mainstream cinema. In this book Joe Bob Briggs uncovers the most seminal cult movies of the twentieth century and reveals the fascinating untold stories behind their making.
Briggs is best known as the cowboy-hat wearing, Texas-drawling host of Joe Bob's Drive-in Theater and Monstervision, which ran for fourteen years on cable TV. His goofy, disarming take offers a refreshingly different perspective on movies and film making. He will make you laugh out loud but then surprise you with some truly insightful analysis. And, with more than three decades of immersion in the cult movie business, Briggs has a wealth of behind-the-scenes knowledge about the people who starred in, and made these movies. There is no one better qualified or more engaging to write about this subject.
All the subgenres in cult cinema are covered, with essays centering around twenty movies including Triumph of the Will (1938), Mudhoney (1965), Night of the Living Dead (1967), Deep Throat (1973), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Drunken Master (1978), and Crash (1996). Accompanying the text are dozens of capsule reviews providing ideas for related films to discover, as well as kitschy and fun archival film stills. An essential reference and guide to this overlooked side of cinema, Profoundly Disturbing should be in the home of every movie fan, especially those who think they've seen everything.
About the Author
Joe Bob Briggs began his career as a film critic for the Dallas Times-Herald and Texas Monthly. In 1986, he started Joe Bob's Drive-In Theater, the highest-rated show on The Movie Channel, which ran for ten years. Later he moved to create Monstervision on TNT, which ran for four years and had a viewership of two million. His last book, Iron Joe Bob, was published ten years ago. A New York City resident, he is currently a columnist for UPI.
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