What have i done

First....

Welcome to the boards! : - )

As for your reply...

Well, first...I've just heard of this "Grindhouse" film (people keep talking and talking about it) and really don't have a desire to see that particular film (seeing, I feel, there are too many real ones of these out there for me to see before I see another QT movie that reminds us how much we don't understand the history of sick cinema like he or his pal Eli Roth do...)

But, as for why I watch these....

Well, I grew up on horror (child of the '90's...In my 20's now) and over the years I have built up a tolerance to this kind of film. It's certainly not something somebody who didn't grow up on true, 1980's horror would appreciate. But, in the most simple terms...Movies like this DID get made LONG before commercialism took over the mainstream and all movies were released by one of maybe 10 studios.

This film, albeit a touch tame when contrasted against others such as "Caligola" or "Salo", would never be made today and would never see the light of day at a Star Theater. So, I view these types of films as important memories of how much commercial art is now dictated a great deal more than it ever was and how sad it is that if "Freedom of Speech" was always an excuse for not banning these...the corporate studio heads and theater owners banded together and became their own censors and there is nothing small time, trash budget filmmakers can do about it. Except watch these and think of how open minded people used to be.

If this DID, by some miracle, get green lit...The censors would have a field day with it. I'm sure the ending would be ordered to be reshot to have the great American army barge in and free all the folks from the camps and people would throw a fit that they make an SS officer a beautiful woman who sleeps with everything in sight and not a disgusting, homely man who eats babies (lol...J/K..that's just an example).

The thing is...I simply don't like going to the movies and seeing Will Smith or Julia Roberts solve all life's problems in 2 hours and thirty minutes and know that for as sick as this was...there ARE problems in the world and Nazi Germany was one. This is the filmmakers view on it. Sick? Sure, but was it somebody view and did they have a right to view it that way? I believe so. I think that movies like this were intended to be as bad and nasty as possible and not worry a care about what the ratings board thought of it. Movies today are not. They all follow a formula to leave the movie goer smiling and glad to spend his/her 8 bucks.

In the most simple terms: This is art at it's purist. This movie was as it was meant to be. There is no extra cutting to jam butts into a movie theater seat, there is no holding back because the film may get an NC-17 rating...This was a cheap movie, made for small theaters, released in small theaters and that had in no way been compromised by the film maker to become more popular. It embodies free speech and you can, in no way, censor art. So, I'd watch ANY movie like it.

I believe that today..Movies are too cut and dry. Even "Kill Bill" or "Hostel" wer "trimmed" to avoid the "dreaded" NC-17 rating because it's well known that the commercial theaters will never carry those films and those directors crave the commercial success of their picture and therefore compromise their art. These filmmakers did not and thats why they were innovators. These guys today making these lame "tribute" films are not really being innovative more than they are being as shocking as they can WITH compromise to make something more commercial. I assure you this "grindhouse" will play at EVERY commercial theater, it will be touted as a throw back and they'll make tons of concessions to assure it makes $$.

Ilsa, on the other hand, was shot over 3 weeks (as indicated on the DVD) and became a mega hit grossing tons of money, later became a cult drive in movie that spawned 3 sequels. This while being disgusting, obscene and offensive to the public and not caring how sick and twisted it was....It never ONCE compromised ART or the filmmakers vision for the sake of being commercial.

Directors WILL NEVER do that again. And thats why these are amusing and important pieces of American art to me.

I guess I admire a film (because in the end, for all the sickness on the reel, the actors still went home to family at the end of the filming day and more than likely still tried to get other jobs after...seeing it was only a movie) whose makers understand that sometimes striking a nerve with people is not about whats on the cutting room floor and whether or not Lowes will carry your film. It's about putting your vision or view of an event up on the screen.

Even if it is: Ilsa.

Yeah, it is perfectly normal to be freaked out, and disturbed by this film. It only means that you have not been de-sensitized by violent cinema, video games and other things in our culture, and that is a good thing. Consider yourself lucky that you are still able to feel something inside when you see someone else's suffering. 'Ilsa-She Wolf' is somewhat sicker and more disturbing than the standard 'grindhouse' film, as, although exaggerated, it's based on real occurances. "Experiments" like the ones in the film did take place during WW2, and certainly not only in Germany. And the fact that this film was actually made in a way to sexually titillate the viewer, with those leering and lingering shots of exposed breasts and sexy uniforms, is even more twisted. I think we watch these films perhaps because we are fascinated with the dark subject matter. Some people, guys mostly, just want to see nude women. Some watch for the blood, while some can't watch at all. Each person has their tastes and their limits. For instance I appreciate violent cinema, but it has to be artistic somehow, hopefully with some point to it. I like films like "Thriller-Cruel Picture" and some other films that fall into the "rape-revenge category." But I enjoy the "revenge" parts more than the "rape" parts. Also I can't stand the stuff being made today. I can't remember my last trip to the movie theatre. I don't like the films of Tarantino either, although I appreciate his taste in films. But if you have an interest in grindhouse, or exploit cinema, I'm sure there are many people on this board who could give you recommendations. "Ilsa-She Wolf of the SS" is not really a good film to break you in to exploit cinema, as it is one of the more extreme examples. Maybe check out the "Female Prisoner: Scorpion" series, "The Candy Snatchers", or "Hitch-hike" with David Hess. These are some grindhouse titles that are fairly rough, but are also fine films, and not so hard to watch. Once you start discovering these great films, there is no end. Just avoid a film called "Cannibal Holocaust".

The movie may have been slightly cringe-worthy when I saw it (mostly the way the director relishes in the dirty art he has created), but in retrospect is fluff compared to alot of the movies I've seen since then. Even though this movie is pure, unadulterated carnage and heinous acts throughout the entire course of the film, it had a redeeming quality.It's hard to pinpoint what made this movie so appealing to me. It was a perfect emblem of the pure sleaziness and overall decadent atmosphere of the 70's smut prevalent at this time. Like all grindhouse films, it appeals to the baser senses - filled with excess murder and sex. There's an element of immorality felt when watching films like this, but it's a healthy outlet to sublimate impure thoughts. It's sensationalist, yes. Probably no artistic merit either. But it's an appetizer of the 70's Perversia. I do think it's mostly meant to be titillating and gross for the sake of being gross. It's so blatantly in-your-face tasteless and bad that I love it. Stay away from it if you don't have a knack for the depraved.

This is a joke, right?

W.W.E.D?

you thought that was bad...watch men behind the sun!

"Imma Tell You, Like You Told Me, Cash Rules Everything Around Me!"

I thought Ilsa was kind of tame actually.

Welcome to humanity

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