Underground U.S.A.: Filmmaking Beyond the Hollywood CanonXavier Mendik, Steven Jay Schneider Whether defined by the carnivalesque excesses of Troma studios (The Toxic Avenger), the arthouse erotica of Radley Metzger and Doris Wishman, or the narrative experimentations of Abel Ferrara, Melvin Van Peebles, Jack Smith, or Harmony Korine, underground cinema has achieved an important position within American film culture. Often defined as "cult" and "exploitation" or "alternative" and "independent," the American underground retains separate strategies of production and exhibition from the cinematic mainstream, while its sexual and cinematic representations differ from the traditionally conservative structures of the Hollywood system. Underground U.S.A. offers a fascinating overview of this area of maverick moviemaking by considering the links between the experimental and exploitative traditions of the American underground. |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 13 | |
Taste Aesthetic Distinction and Sexploitation | 26 |
3 Curtis Harrington and the Underground Roots of the Modern Horror Film | 40 |
4 Special Effects in the Cutting Room | 51 |
From Execution Videos to Snuff Films | 63 |
6 A Report on Bruce Conners Report | 76 |
Screen Notes and Observations on Warhols Blow Job and I a Man | 86 |
A First Consideration of Harmony Korine | 150 |
13 Underground America 1999 | 161 |
Killer Fans Consumer Activism and Digital Filmmakers | 169 |
Old Soldiers from the Sixties Still Standing in Battle Against Hollywood Commercialism | 180 |
The Colourful Underground Universe of Herschell Gordon Lewis | 188 |
17 Theory of Xenomorphosis | 198 |
Films from the 1960s Underground | 201 |
Waters Kaufman and the Pursuit of Pure GrossOut | 204 |
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Common terms and phrases
actual Addiction aesthetic American Beauty American underground Andrea Andy Warhol art-house artistic audience auteurs avant-garde biker flick biker movie Blair Witch Project Blood Feast Blow Job Bruce Conner camera Co-op Cohen colour commercial Conner contemporary creative critical Cult Film death depictions director documentary Doris Wishman editing experimental exploitation fandom fantasy feature fictional film’s footage gang genre Girls gross-out grotesque Gummo Harrington Hell’s Angels Herschell Gordon Lewis Hitchcock Hollywood horror films imagery images independent Kathleen Keefe Kenneth Anger Killer Korine lesbian Lester mainstream Melvin Mendik Metzger’s films motorcycle murder narrative Neville Neville’s nudist Peebles play production reality roughie scene screen sexploitation sexual short films shot Smith snuff films soundtrack Special Effects studio style stylistic Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song taste techniques television Toxic Avenger transgression Troma underground cinema underground film underground filmmaking vampire viewers violence visual Warhol watching Wishman’s York