SYSK’s Summer Movie Playlist: How Exploitation Films Work | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

Hey everyone, Chuck here. If you're. wondering why you have uh suddenly 10. new episodes in your feed, it's because. we thought we might group things. together and try a little playlist here. for the summer and see how it went. And. in this case, we're covering summer. movies or movies in general. And I am. setting up our uh semi-reent episode. from oh, I guess it's not that recent. It's from April 2011 on exploitation. films and how they work. It was a really. fun one to do. And if you love cinema. and you love movies, and if you love.

exploitation movies especially, you're. going to love this episode. So, please. enjoy. Welcome to Stuff You Should Know from. how stuffworks.com. [Music]. Hang on there, fella. Oh, yes. I know. what we're doing. Go ahead. Get Get us. going here. Well, Chuck, the other. night, um, you may have noticed, um, I. know you did because I watched you watch. this, which is kind of creepy, but not.

really. Um, you and I were on TV. Yeah. On the Science Channel. Yeah. We did the. little shorts. Uh, and, uh, we're. actually proud of how these turned out, which is a rarity for us when it's when. there's a camera. It is. So, um, we. have, uh, more shorts coming up on. Science Channel. They're running. Saturdays and Sundays um until I think. the first week of May or something, right? Yes. And now they they're all. running between 10:00 and 10:30 now. supposedly. Okay. During the shows, I. think on Saturdays is Oddities. Woo!

Which is an awesome and weird show. It. is. And then Sundays, which is Firefly, which is, you know, everyone loves. Firefly. Yeah. I mean, I actually. consider it an honor to be played during. Firefly. Yeah, me too. Even though the. cast of Firefly has no idea that this is. going on because it's pre-recorded. Exactly, Josh. So, this uh what's today? Thursday, obviously. Yeah. Uh Saturday. and Sunday night, this weekend on the. Science Channel. Mhm. Uh that is the. Science Channel. It's part of the. Discovery Networks between 10 and 10:30,

set your little DVR and then look, they. run uh during the commercial breaks. Or. if you're not so fancy that you have a. DVR, you can actually watch it as it. happens. That's right. And we are able. to run a few of these online now. Not. the ones that are on TV, but there are. three uh funny ones if you know how to. navigate to the video page of. howstuffworks.com. Do that or you can just type in how. stuffuffs video into Google and it'll. take you straight to the video page. You. could also search um stuff you should. know colon large had collider stuff you.

should know colon body farms and stuff. you should know colon mirror neurons. right on a search engine and it should. take you right there. That's right. And. if it doesn't, you tell us and we will. talk to those search engines. And if you. just get to the video page, you can. search uh stuff you should know and. search videos and it'll bring up that. and couple of other little funny things. we've done. Yeah. So that's it. We just. tacked like 10 minutes onto this. episode. I know. We we appreciate your. support. Who mine? No. Oh, everyone that. wants to watch these. Agreed. Okay.

Okay. So, you ready? Okay. Hey, and. welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant. This is. Stuff You Should Know, the podcast and. kind of a special edition. Frankly, I am. a little excited, Chuck. I'm a little. giddy. Shut your mouth. That's Yeah. Okay. Sure. All right. Um, this is uh. this is our first ever movie ccentric. podcast, right? Movie centric for sure. Yeah. We've mentioned uh movies of of.

course all the time, but this one is. like this is all about movies. Yeah. Um, so this is by by popular request to an. extent. people want to see like um uh. want they they want to hear us talk. about movies and just do a movie. podcast. So, we decided to focus on. exploitation films. That's right. This. is also probably the first podcast that. we're going to say if you are a teacher. of children in uh 8th grade or younger. and you're using this as a teaching. tool, you might want to go to the one. before this or the one after. Yeah, we.

don't generally try to alienate. audiences. We're not attempting to now. It's just a natural byproduct of the. exploitation film. Can't talk about. exploitation films without talking about. some lurid subject matter. Yeah. You. can't say exploitation without. ploy. Yeah. They weren't exploiting just. people being nice, right? Nice. exploitation. So, Chuck, I went and saw. a movie the other day called I Saw the. Devil. It's a Korean movie. It's by the. guy who did um The Tale of Two Sisters,

I think. Oh, you said more violent than. old boy. Yeah, the the guy Old Boy is. one of the main characters. And I've. seen Old Boy. I've seen um uh what's the. other one he did? The vampire movie. Yeah. Thirst, something. I think it's. pretty good. It was okay. Um this one is. it's the most violent thing I've ever. seen in my life. It's the most. graphically violent movie I've ever seen. in my life. Um, the only the only reason. it like I was able to complete is.

because I'm like this is it's a movie. I. I know, right? But I walked out of it. like it's so over the top. It's so gory. It's clearly an exploitation film. Yeah. Alive and well. Yeah. But the problem is. is like really if you start to look. around, John Hughes films technically. are exploitation films. The Breakfast. Club is technically an exploitation. film. Yeah. there was a big wave of teen. exploitation films and we'll get to. that, but yeah, you're right. So, one of. the broader definitions of exploitation. films is basically anything that's.

really like over the top that is beyond. reality. um or that maybe focuses on people's. fears. um uh their their sexuality. Yeah. Um. and basically just kind of serves it up. in a larger than-l life manner. That's. one way of looking at exploitation. films. Yeah. You're basically they're. exploiting um some of the seedier uh. aspects of humanity most times. Sure. Like murder or sex, like um weird sex, that kind of thing. Yeah, exactly. Sex.

Weird sex. Teenagers rebelling against. parents. Sure. That kind of thing. Like. weird science. Have you ever been to a. party where a couch shot out of the. chimney and into the pond? I mean, it's. a pretty nice party. I don't think it's. ever really happened, you know. Yeah. Um, so that's the vast definition of. exploitation, but you and I are um kind. of qualified to teach a sim cinema class. at like maybe a a low-level community. college at this point after the amount. of research we've done in this. Sure.

And we found that academically there's a. there's a much more distinct um. definition for exploitation and it's. seemingly interchangeable term. grindhouse, right? Yeah. What's the Is. there a definition? It's It's more like. a time frame. Okay. So, from like 1919. when they really first started making. movies to I think 1960 1959 when the. Hayes Act went away. Yeah. Well, that. was exploitation and then after that it.

was it became Grindhouse. Okay. Gotcha. That's my understanding. Okay. So, let's. do this. All right. Hey. Well, that's. the old joke was that uh in in the. awesome documentary American Grindhouse, which documents this this era of film. making. Yeah. The old joke one of the. guys says is that um exploitation films. began 5 minutes after the camera was. invented, the motion picture camera. because the guy was like the director. was like to his girlfriend, "Hey, would. you mind taking your clothes off of the. camera?" Exactly. So, it's it says. something about the human condition that.

uh you invent the film camera and the. first moving images were often lured. um. Edison's film, it showed clips of like. decapitations and violence and guys. fighting. Yeah. And naked women um as. film tests. So it's just that says a lot. about people like all right now we know. how to capture things so let's capture. sex and violence right first. Right. And. um although that really kind of jived. with public tastes or at least public. fascination. uh it didn't jive with the uh prevailing.

standards the agreed upon standards. Right. Right. Uh I think you said 1919. but the first exploitation film was. 1913. Oh okay. Uh Traffic in Souls or. While New York Sleeps. Right. And that. like you said exploitation often plays. into fears. that played into the fear at. the time of the white slave trade, right? Uh budget of 57 grand and gross. $450,000, which 1913, that's a lot of. dough. That is a ton of dough. And that.

was Universal Pictures. And they went, "Hey, got on to something here." Right. after that was released, the Hayes Code, um Will Hayes was the postmaster general. and a Presbyterian elder. Um and he was. making a hundred grand a year during the. depression. That's unbelievable, right? He uh he basically said like look we. need um we need to apply some moral. standards to film making. There's. decapitation, there's naked breast, there's there's white white slavery.

Like we need to we need to pure this up, right? Well, actually there there wasn't. nudity yet. Like those early test films. there were, but nudity we'll get to that. later. Okay. Uh but yes, that's what. Hayes tried to do. And like um. prohibition didn't exactly quell. drinking. Um the haze code actually sort. of gave rise to the exploitation. movement. Yeah. It's just like just like. prohibition, just like marijuana. prohibition, just like well any drug. prohibition. Anytime you say you can't. do this, you can't have something that.

you want the somebody else is going to. operate in a black market. A black. market's going to spring up. Simple. economics. Yeah. And that's exactly what. happened. And that's where exploitation. cinema came up. It's like, you can't get. this from Hollywood because Hollywood. has to play by the rules. But my. production studio is my Model T and. let's go make this movie. Give me some. money. I'm going to film a child being. born close up and put it in the movies. Yes. And you can do that. You can make.

your movies all day long, but if they're. never exhibited, then what good are you. doing? Or not like they were trying to. do some good, but you're not making any. scratch. So, uh, the 40 thieves they. talk about in the in the documentary. were these, uh, filmmakers and. exhibitors basically that traveled. around like carnese, uh, setting up. these sort of guorilla film screenings. and some places sort of out of the way. where they can't get caught. And that. was uh, for the first time, you know, they were taking films outside of the.

mainstream. Yeah. Different sometimes. they weren't even theaters. They would. show them in like VFW halls. And if you. want to go see Birth of a Baby films, apparently they were popular. Yeah. That. was a whole genre early genre of. exploitation. Well, and so was um early. on a lot of the um films centered around. uh like how to wear a condom in these. sex hygiene films. Yeah. Because there. was no information about that out there. And so exploitation filmmakers whether. um disingenuously or genuinely um were. presenting their stuff like this is a.

public service. People need to know. this, right? and and making movies about. it. But it also and people were going on. that excuse as well, like, well, I need. to I need to know about this, but at the. same time, it's like, I want to see this. the the craziest thing I'll ever see in. my life. Exactly. You know, on screen. Or they argued a lot of times that they. were cautionary tales. If they were. about drugs or violence, they would say, hey, this could happen to you. Yeah. So, you should educate yourself. But what. they really want to do is get their. movie seen and make some money. Exactly.

um Paramount decision of 1948. This is. pretty big. The uh Supreme Court voted. that movie studios could no longer own. their own movie theaters. At the time, you know, there would be like the. Paramount Theater in Hollywood from the. Paramount Film Production Company, right? They would show their movies, right? Supreme Court said no more. And. all of a sudden, um exploitation films. became a little bit more legit because. the haste code kind of fell apart. Yeah. And this is post World War II. So people.

had seen a lot of death recently. Well, a lot of death and then grown up a. little more. They thought ladies uh in. uh suggestive roles were good for morale. and there was a a little bit of. loosening on the sex thing a little bit. post World War II enough that led to. another subgenre. um of exploitation film, the nudist. colony film, which were which were. pawned off as documentaries. Uh-huh. A. lot. Well, most of these were pawned off. as docu documentaries, which legitimized.

them. But really, it was maybe maybe it. actually was filmed at a news camp. Probably not. Mostly they were actors. and actresses just engaged in archery. naked or um long walks naked. There. could be no sex still. That was still. taboo. No, but it was just like naked. pretty people, right? At at a nudist. colony, which is interesting because. you're not a nudist, so come learn about. them. Exactly. Yeah. Uh after that, through the history, we had things like. um the teen, like you said, the teen.

rebellion of the 50s with the Rebel. Without a Cause and Blackboard Jungle. and movies like that all of a sudden. were targeted specifically at teens, which was new. And then drive-in. theaters were built so teenagers could. see movies where their parents weren't. going to be. Apparently, the adults. didn't go to drive-ins a lot at first. Oh, yeah. It's all kids. I didn't know. that. So they showed exploitation films. and then later the beach films which. were marketed as it's silly, it's. Frankie Avalon, but they were decidedly. weird and overtly sexual sometimes. And.

then Chuck, if you if if you'll notice. um we're kind of progressing along in. this um um chronological order and each. thing is kind of being built on the. last. It was very much a step process, right? And um apparently that that was. kind of the the form that exploitation. filmm followed until 1960. It was just. it was centered around drugs, violence, sex, and in a lot of ways they were. presented as documentaries. They might.

not have a plot, right? Um and it. basically it was one person would make. some film and it would just break all. the rules and then a bunch of other. people would make similar films, right? and and the the the same that that was. the way it went. And then um in the. 1960s things just started to go every. which way all sorts of directions, right? So nudity nudity films were a a a. longstanding thread of exploitation. films and then they probably reached.

their pinnacle with Russers, right? King. of the nudies is what he's called. Yeah. He was the first guy to He's significant. because he was the first director to. have films featuring nudity that. actually were uh dramatic narratives and. had plots. Yeah. And characters and they. weren't classified as documentaries. anymore. And then the Ruffies came along. and they offered up violence for the not. the first time but uh big time for the. first time, right? And uh that has a lot.

to do with the fact that it was the 60s. and Kennedy was shot and the United. States was just becoming increasingly. violent. America lost its innocence. Yeah. Um and the other thing that really. happened in the 1960s was the haze code. officially went away, was replaced by. the MPAA, and the the I guess the. longstanding um prohibition on Hollywood. producing exploitation films was it it. was lessened, decreased. And so studios.

were like, "Oh, we can make money over. here too. Well, let's start making. exploitation films." Right? And this is. where Grindhouse is born. So my uh. cinema professor definition, okay, of of. Grindhouse is big budget studiobacked. exploitation films. Okay. Okay. Yeah, that's that's mine. I like it. That's. going to be a quiz question later. Yeah, I'll go with that. Um, actually, back up. one second. We got to mention Hershel. Gordon Lewis. He was a director um who. had a co-director. I can't remember the.

other guy's name. Do you? Uhuh. Anyway, he was he was a co-director and he was. one of these exploitation guys that was. getting frustrated because there weren't. a lot of places to show your movie. So, it was a pretty crowded marketplace. Yeah. So, he said, "What's the one taboo. that like people will pay to see that. you you're allowed to show in theaters, but that uh. studios won't make?" And it was Gore. Oh, yeah. He was the first guy to start. showing really disgusting bloody scenes. in his movie uh Blood Feast. Blood.

Feast. Yeah. Which actually was three. years after Psycho. And Psycho also did. a lot for the mainstream ushering in of. Sure. Little bit of gore in that, but. now a shot of blood following Janet. Lee's murder. That's right. You know, which I imagine is pretty graphic for. Hollywood, right? And that's what you. think of. You're like, "Oh, that's. stupid 60s." But that's, you know, they. were so naive. Like that was. controversial. Not really though. Like. if you step just slightly outside of. Hollywood, you ran into things like uh. Blood Feast, right? Or you know, Last.

House on the Left. Yes. Well, that's. 1972, I think. Yeah. West Craven. So, that was important because um all of a. sudden a drugs started uh well, three. things. Political uh themes started. popping up, right? Sexual freedom, the. youth generation. Uh drugs started. popping up in movies for the first time. Drug use. Well, not for the first time. because we we'll talk about Reefer. Madness. Yeah. Um, but teenagers were. depicted as victims of violence for the. first time. Like Last House on the Left,

I believe, is kind of regarded as the. first teen slasher film. Yeah, West. Craven. It's It was almost a snuff film. It was almost regarded like that. It's. pretty hardcore, but yeah, it definitely. Blood Feast definitely allowed Last. House on the Left to come around, but it. also probably more directly um form the. foundation for um slasher exploitation. like Friday the 13th or Nightmare on Elm. Street. Absolutely. Um My Bloody. Valentine's, another big one. The Crazy. Your Graves. Uhhuh. Yeah, the Crazy. Oh,

yeah. That was an original, right? There's a remake now, I think. Yeah. Yeah. Remakes. Uh so that brings us. We're in the 70s. um politically charged. movies uh brought race into the to the. mix and all of a sudden we had uh black. exploitation or black exploitation uh. movement starting. Yeah. Exploiting the. civil rights movement basically. Yeah. But the cool thing about uh black. exploitation films is for the first time. you had African-Americans as heroes. Yeah. And not heroes in a typical sense,

not even anti-heroes. Yeah. But heroes. that were like they didn't ride into. town on on a white horse or wearing a. white hat, right? They very um clearly. wore black hats if need be. Like they. would engage in crime. They would murder. people if need be. They were um they. they were basically like the um face of. black America coming out of the civil. rights era. Like we're ticked off. Yeah. you know, and we're going to stick it to. the white man. Stick it to the man. And.

we're going to do it in these movies. Chuck, I know the movie you're about to. um to mention. Let's This is it. You keep the faith in me. Are you my. man? You're my favorite man. Can you take it, baby? So, yes, that was uh a landmark film for. a lot of reasons. One, because it.

grossed 4 million bucks. Mhm. And it. made the major studio say, "Hey, you. know what? The Black Hero is. marketable." Yeah. Well, you haven't. said the title yet. Oh, I didn't? No. Okay. You got to say it right, too. Melvin Van Peele's film, uh, Sweet, Sweetbacks, Badass. Song. Nice. That was well done. That was. 1971. Melvin Van Peebles, whose last. name may sound familiar. He's the father. of Mario Van Peebles for you younger. cats listening to this one. Um, Cats our.

age actually. Younger cats because he's. kind of like Okay. So, Cats Our little. Yeah, that's Mario Van Peebles's dad, you know, New Jack City. Yeah, exactly. Um, so Melvin Van Peeles made this. movie. He produced it. He he raised the. money for it. He wrote it. He directed. it. He starred in it. And it was the. beginning of the black exploitation subg. genre which is one of the most important. genres of uh any American cinema. Absolutely. Ever. Absolutely. And so. considering how important that subgenre.

is, this quote from Time magazine's film. critic Richard Corass um should really. hit home. Sweet sweetback uh is quote. without question or competition the most. influential movie by a black filmmaker. So, this is a really big deal, right? Yeah. And it was it was just quickly on. the plot. It was about a uh a black man. who was a jigalo who had which is a male. prostitute for you younger cats. And he. had a deal worked out with the cops. where he he said, "You know, you can. arrest me as much as you want. Release. me right afterward. Fill your quota.

It's all good." And then one day while. the arrest is going down, they um the. cops attack a black panther and sweet. sweet back kills one of the cops and. then just says he just goes on a a. rampage against a white man after that. Yep. So you've got um prostitution, um. tons and tons of nudity and sex, um lots. of violence, um and uh other crimes all. wrapped up into a black power theme. That's right. Uh, and then to top it all.

off, you have what is arguably a child. sex scene starring Mario Vamples, Melvin. Van Peeles's son, at I think age six. Yeah, he's a kid having sex uh as Sweet. Sweet Pack. It's his first sexual. encounter with an older person, right? Um, and in the cult podcast, if he. became a cult leader, he would have. taken a younger bride, remember? Oh, yeah. That's right. So, uh, if you're. interested in in that movie and you. can't get enough of Sweet Sweetback's. badass song, um, you could also check.

out, um, Badass exclamation point, which. is Mario Van Peebles's biopic about his. father making that movie. That's right. And I have not seen that, but I wanted. to at the time, and it just sort of. slipped through the cracks. There's. always Netflix, baby. That's right. Uh, and, uh, what happened with um, Sweet. Sweetback was that, like I said, that. told the studios, "Hey, we can market. this." And so they got a little more. mainstream with movies like Superfly, which were a little safer. Shaft. Uh. Shaft, um movies that wide audiences.

would enjoy as well. Yeah. The ones that. didn't scare the man. Exactly. Like. Shaft's a good guy. He doesn't take any. guff from the man, but the people he's. not taking guff from are the cops who. he's really on the same side as. That's. right. So Chuck, um black exploitation. obviously huge. It it affected. everything from um you know, menace to. society to Blackula. All of that came. from Sweet, Sweet Back. And um we. mentioned the guy who directed this next. movie, Russ Meyers. Um this is probably.

a seminal work. Let's listen to to this. clip from the trailer. Ladies and gentlemen, go for a wild, wild ride with the Watusi Cats. But. beware, the sweetest kittens have the. sharpest claw. For your own safety, see. faster pussycat. Kill. Kill. Wild women. Wild wheels. Race the fastest pussycats. and they'll beat you to death. Superwoman, belted, buckled, and booted.

[Music]. You're wasting yourself on this kid. I'm. hanging up for nothing. For nothing. It's got nothing to do with the money. She has the money. Jack and Jill, they. make the mafia look like brownies. Hey, he's a big one, ain't he? They make the. mafia look like brownies. That's right. That says quite a bit about them. Um, so. this that was Faster Pussycat Kill Kill. Um, in the 1965 Russ Meers um basically. uh women exploitation film, nudie film.

So remember Russ Myers's King of the. Nudies. King of the Nudies. He made 26. movies, but this is probably at the very. least is his best known uh if not like. his masterpiece. Yeah. and he hatched a. slew of uh I mean not that he wasn't. legit, he was but what mainstream people. would call legit filmmakers were came up. through the Russ Meyer film camp. basically. Yeah. So it's pretty cool. Yeah. Um and uh Russ Meyer also little. known fact.

another movie that's mentioned in this. article. There's an article on the site. by the way called 10 noteworthy. exploitation films that this is based. on. Yeah. Written by you. Yeah. Um which. I strongly recommend going to read. because it has a lot of extra stuff. we're not going to cover in this one. Yeah. Or at least extra movies. But um. Russ Meer directed a movie called Beyond. the Valley of the Dolls 2, right? Which. was the bastard son of the legitimate. film Beyond the Valley of Dolls. It was. a jiggle fest written by none other than.

Roger Eert. That's right. Yeah. Only. movie Roger Eert ever wrote. Yeah. And. he had a um Yeah. It was a very brief. career, but that's that's an illustrious. one really. Uh yeah. So, if you're going. to talk about the plot of Faster. Pussycat, kill. Um, and I say that. because there's three exclamation. points. Faster Pussycat and a comma. Exclamation point. Kill. Oh, no. Is it. three exclamation points? Yeah. Okay. I. thought it was a comma then two. All. right. Either way, that's a lot of. punctuation for a film title, right? And. uh it was about three bisexual go-go. dancers. They go on a crime spree out in.

the desert. And uh what do they do? They. end up killing a man and a or no, they. kill the man and a couple girl. They. basically empower her. Yeah. Say, "Come. on with us." By murdering her boyfriend. and she ends up on the crime spree with. them. And they basically end up uh going. to a isolated house with a. wheelchairbound old man and his sons. who's a lech. They're all leches. They. want these women. Yeah. But they don't. know that these women are tough. No. Tough ladies. And the the the men and. his son the man and his sons apparently. um are allegedly have a large amount of.

cash stashed in this house. So it's kind. of like a a standoff of of. gaul to see who will come out on top, you know. Well, and you know who comes. out on top. Yeah. Uh and this film was. uh noteworthy uh for one big reason was. that uh there was a lot of dualism. toward gender. So on one hand he's. exploiting these women and apparently. got women in their first trimester of. pregnancy so they were more voluuptuous. Yeah. not in this film, but in his other. films, he he would hire um I can't. remember the lady's name, but the star.

of Faster Pussycat Kill Kill was in. other Russers films. And um he made sure. that she was like well into her third. first trimester to to enhance her um. natural bustiness. That's right. Yeah. Her bosom, if you will. Uh but the. script, like I said, it was dualism. because while he did that, it also. empowered women because the women in his. films bowed to no man. No, they were the. champs. They were the they were heroins. really for the first time, but they were. they were objectified very clearly, but. at the same time, if you follow the.

script and really look at their. characters, then yeah, they're they're. powerful women. And this uh kind of. kicked off a big slew of women. exploitation films, sex exploitation. films, the women in prison movies. Yes. Switchblade sisters, very big at the. time. Uh women were lead actors for the. first time. They were aggressors for the. first time. uh still nude often while. they were doing this stuff spawned the. television show The Facts of Life.

But the interesting thing is they found. that these movies appealed to men and. women because men would go see it for. obvious reasons. Yeah. Women would go. see it because it was empowering and uh. they didn't mind, you know, looking at. the naked ladies because women are much. more grown up. Sure. Than men are. Yeah. But Josh, the 70s also got a little. schllocky, which in a sense was true to. the exploitation model. They like they. really went over the top. No more. political statements, no more advancing. of uh women's gender or or.

African-American Americans. It just got. really schlocky and outrageous at that. point. Well, what happened starting in. the 60s but really took hold in the 70s. and then from that point on was. exploitation cinema early on showing a. live birth nudist camps. These were all. geared toward adults. Yeah. In the 60s. and then later on big time in the 70s. the audience became almost exclusively. teenagers, right? Like those drive-in. teenagers or um teenagers anywhere, who. cares? Um, but they the the audience was.

teenagers and the cast started to become. teenagers. So, it had a little more of a. bent on what teenagers were having to. deal with like bullying like the the the. kid in in this next clip. Right. Which. is, I have to say, one of my favorite. movies from way way back. Here we go. with Toxic Avenger. Yeah. Meet little. Melvin. He's a 90 lb weakling. Everyone. hated Melvin. I'm going to take this mop. and shove it down your throat. They.

teased him. I'm going to do it with you. Okay. They taunted him. They tormented him. until he had a horrifying accident and. fell into a vat of nuclear waste. Transforming little Melvin into a. hideously deformed creature of. superhuman size and strength. Melvin became the toxic Avenger. So Josh, the toxic Avenger movie was.

unique in that its film production. company Trauma Mhm. is very popular in. their own right. Have you ever seen Surf. Nazis Must Die? I haven't, but I know. about Trauma. I mean, they are master. self-promoters and marketeteers. They. have they were one of the um first. production companies to have a website. Oh, really? Like a really comprehensive. website. You should go on their website. Their whole catalog. It's um really just. well done. It's It's schlocky, but it's. well done, right? And Toxic Avenger uh.

follows the story of a 98 pound weakling. uh who was picked on, released the same. year as Ghostbusters. Do you notice. that? 1984, right? Yeah. So, it was it. occurred at zero year at the year zero. Yeah. Uh we'll just put the null set to. represent that. And um this kid gets uh. pushed out of a window into a vat of. toxic sludge, which that's beyond. bullying really. Yeah. Yeah. I mean that. this basically it's a more twisted. version of Modern Problems, the Chvy. Chase film from a couple years earlier.

Okay. I haven't seen that one. Oh, you. never saw Modern Problems? No. It's very. silly. But he got toxic sludge dumped on. him and had special powers from years. earlier or prior or after? What when was the movie? Yeah, it was. two years before Toxic Avenger. But. Toxic Avenger took it into a gore. special effects uh way that that Modern. Problems never did. So, the the uh. janitor Melvin, I believe his name is, um becomes toxified. He becomes Toxy, the toxic avenger. Yeah. Who um beats.

the tar out of people at the health club. where he was abused and and mutated. Um. and uh has tons of sex as the Toxic. Avenger because his um newfound manhood. is just irresistible to women. And um. one one of the things that's noteworthy. about the Toxic Avenger is that they. actually tried to make decent effects. Yeah. It wasn't just it wasn't horrible, I guess you could say. Well, for the. time, you know, it wasn't bad. No,

they they remain bad and they probably. were kind of bad even back then, but for. for for grindhouse films, yeah, there. you go. They were they were great, right? Um and uh it was also noteworthy. because it came out of Troma Productions. or Troma Studios. Um, and it led to a. whole line of toxic Avenger movies and. schllock in general, which is basically. like some crazy horrible thing has. happened. But we're not going to dwell. too much on that. Let's see what Let's. Let's see where the action takes us.

Yeah. Exactly. So like um Bad Taste, the. Peter Jack Peter Jackson's first film is. a great example of schlock that came out. of Toxic Avenger. And he had the uh film. that followed Peter Jackson Dead Alive, which was at one point supposedly the. goriest film ever made. really. Although. it sounds like your new Korean movie has. surpassed that. Yeah, I I think it. probably has. I haven't seen Dead Alive. I've seen Bad Taste and Bad Taste was. horribly gory, but I think this has a. beat. Yeah, but I bet you if anything I. mean I haven't seen the one you're. talking about, but is it more realistic. gore? Yeah, with bad like these are.

aliens that are having their heads blown. off, so that definitely takes you at. least a um a a degree away from caring. This is happening to human beings in in. um I saw the devil. So, it definitely is. driven home a little more. Well, and and. the violence, even the gore back then, it was so over the top. Right out of. Fangora magazine, it's like, you know, dude, Fangoria is still around. Is it? Yeah. I figured it was. I I I'm glad it. is. We follow it on our Twitter feed. Oh, we do? Yep. Yeah. Like a head will.

explode in scanners and, you know, it's. not disturbing because it's so clearly. over the top, but these new movies are. much more disturbing if you ask me. I. agree wholeheartedly because they're. more realistic. Yeah. Um, so carrying on. with Chucks and My Cisco and Eber act. Uh, this is uh the second to last movie. in our little list today. And um, this. one's from way back from the 30s. So, let's talk about Reefer Madness. These high school boys and girls are.

having a hop at the local soda fountain. Innocently they dance, innocent of a new. and deadly menace lurking behind closed. doors. Marijuana, the burning weed with its. roots in hell. or watch case. If you want a good smoke, try one of these. You will meet Bill, who once took pride in his strong will. as he takes the first step toward. enslavement.

[Music]. Of course, it feels safe. [Music]. So that was the excellent Reefer Madness. which was an exploitation drug. exploitation film. Yeah. And very much a. cautionary tale. It it even shaped the. drug culture and how uh people looked at. drugs is is you know marijuana at the. time as this really evil thing that can. make you crazy and kill people. Yeah. And actually in in very much the uh vein. of early exploitation films, it was. produced and distributed um as a uh a.

public service like the the alternate. title for it was um tell your children. and the whole thing set in a PTA meeting. where this guy is relating this story. and it's a story about lost lives about. murder about um guilt and paranoia and. all of it is fed and based on rampant. drug use, which is really just a lot of. pot smoking, um, which can turn you into. a fiend. And, um, it it's apparently the.

director, uh, his name is Dwayne Esper. He did, uh, other exploitation films. from the 30s like Sex Madness, Psychotic. Connections. um and he made a name for. himself. Basically taking these things. that may have originally been written as. a public service, right? And making them. so outlandish that he exploited the. people who were making these movies, right? And and created this legacy of. like just insanely over-the-top.

exploitation films from the 30s. Well, and ironically, Reefer Madness uh years. later would become um not so much an. anti-drug propaganda film. How should I. say this? But a film that college. students would sit around and watch. while partaking and laughing at this. whole thing. Yeah. An a cult film. Yeah. Because it it it puts drugs so far out. there that um if you despite all the. warnings take drugs anyway and you. realize that you don't turn into a fiend. and murder somebody, um you uh re Reefer.

Madness basically dares you to go. further. So it's kind of an it's the. opposite. It has the opposite effect of. what I think its original intent was. before Dwayne Esper got his hands on it. And as a side note, I had trouble. deciding between Reefer Madness and. another 1930s film by a guy named Todd. Browning called Freaks. Oh yeah. Well, that was um that was huge because it was. the first big exploitation film pre Haze. Code or and last. Yeah. First and last.

And it was it was an MGM film. Yeah. And. it's widely considered a masterpiece. Yeah. I mean, it looks great. It's It's. not It was well done. It's a huge um. It's a It's a revenge movie, which is a. very common theme in um exploitation. films. Yeah. Especially violent ones. But it's it it featured Browning dared. to um have real freaks, I guess, if. you'll Yeah. Circus sideshow freaks is. what it was about. Um star in this. Uh. and they basically exact their revenge. on people who've mistreated them. Yeah.

And uh I have not seen it. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. I I I want to. I hear it's. just awesome. I can't wait. It ended his. career though, unfortunately. Did it. really? Yeah. And he was a a popular. filmmaker at the time. Well, hats off to. him for for staying true to his art. Chuck just took his hat off on the old. cabin. All right, Chuck. Here's the last. one that we've got a clip for um which I. think everybody will notice um or. recognize without even a word. There's. not even a word in this clip and you. will understand what's going on. So, uh.

here we go. [Applause]. [Music].

So Josh, those are the unmistakable. sounds of Fist The Fury of Mr. uh when. Mr. Bruce Lee Bruce Lee Kicking Bottom. his first movie. Yeah. Um which uh was. originally titled Well, it's still. titled I think in Asia the Big Boss. Um. and uh in America it is. It's it's. titled Fist of Fury. Yeah. It was on the. other night on cable. I saw part of it. Oh yeah. Yeah. I didn't realize it was. his first one though. I would have tuned. in. Yeah. And it was first of what um. five five major films, right? Uh, and. basically it's the story of a martial.

arts student who's investigating the. murder of his teacher. And um, it began. uh, the martial arts exploitation. subgenre, which later would become just. martial arts films, right? Or was it. still considered exploitation? It's all. the same. Okay. They're one and the. same. Anything that even remotely. resembles a Bruce Lee movie, specifically The Big Boss or any of. them, is martial arts exploitation. technically. Um because again we arrive. at that one definition, it's over the. top. Like Bruce Lee's taking on scores.

of anonymous thugs um for two hours, one. after the other for two hours, just. beating the tar out of all these people. without tiring really. Um everybody's. kind of waiting their turn politely in a. circle around him and he has to beat. everybody, right? And then he works his. way up and it's over the top. So it is. exploitation, but um it led to other. films like Samurai Exploitation. remember American Ninja. Remember the. whole ninja film thing that that came. out in the mid 80s? That's from Bruce. Lee's um that's Bruce Lee's doing. Well,

yeah. And you go to these at the time. when I was first going to New York many. years ago, there would be uh you know, you go to Time Square and this was still. when Times Square was kind of gross. And. there would be just the the martial arts. movie store where it was all that stuff, man. Like thousands of movies about. ninjas and samuris and martial artists. and uh very big. Yeah. I was inspired by. American Ninja to become a ninja. Remember I entered a ninja training with. Tommy Roer who had like more throwing. stars than any kid I've ever known. What.

did you have like one throwing star? I. borrowed his. Okay. I was not allowed to. have throwing stars of my own. Oh, I. wasn't either. Yeah. Baptist. No. No. That was very violent. No nunchucks. I. think that even that transcends like. religious background. It's like if. you're a good parent, you shouldn't let. your kid have throwing star. It's a good. point. Uh, and as you pointed out in the. article, this actually led to another. subgenre, which was Bruce Lee lookalike. movies. Yeah. So, he made five movies. and then died at age 32. Yeah. In 1973.

So, Big Boss released in 1971. He dies. two years later. Everybody's like, "No.". So, let's find some guys that look like. him. Which is really kind of. stereotypical and racist for the West, but name him Bruce Lee. L I instead of L. E or L E or just L E there. Well, Bruce. Li or Bruce Le um uh I don't think there. was ever like uh Bruce Li Gh. I don't. think it ever got that far, but I mean. they released dozens of Bruce Lee and I.

just made air quote films there. So. Bruce Lee created the martial arts. exploitation genre and subgenre and he. inadvertently created the Bruce Lee. exploitation subgenre of the martial. arts exploitation subgenre by dying. young. Yeah. And being very popular. Yeah. And uh which one was the one he. had Kareem Jabar in? Was that Enter the. Dragon? Enter the dragon. Yeah. Yeah. If. you've never seen a like seven foot plus. guy do martial arts, you should check. that out. And uh if you can't get enough.

Bruce Lee and you have a uh a good sense. of humor, check out Kentucky Fried. Movie. Yeah. Made by one Jerry Zucker. who we met in in Los Angeles recently. Um and who used an expletive de was one. of the high points of my life. It is. Um. but yeah, Kentucky Fried Movie. Awesome. Actually, when we met Jerry Zucker, we. told him that our little speech we were. given that night was one of the. highlights of our career thus far. And. he says, "Well, that doesn't say much. about your career, does it?" like the. first thing the dude does say something. funny and we just like kind of fawned.

over him after that. Uh we should. mention briefly and it's in the article. but uh just as a teaser uh the late '7s. we got Nazi exploitation movies Nazi. exploitation as a subgenre. Yeah. And. one of the major players there moviewise. was Elsa Shewolf of the SS. Yeah. Which. led to Elsa um Siberian Tigris and Elsa. Harm Keeper of the Oil Chic. Really? There's a whole sex violence franchise, dominatrix franchise that was based out. of the Nazi exploitation film. You know,

one could argue that QT, Mr. Tarantino, has made nothing but exploitation films. since. Pulp Fiction. because the Kill Bills were definitely. martial arts exploitation. Definitely. The uh Jackie Brown was a riff on uh on. black exploitation. Uh Death Proof, obviously that was what they were trying. to do there. Death Proof is car. exploitation which follows in the. tradition of Vanishing Point, right? Um. which was released the same year as.

basically its rival to the um the. founder the founding movie of. Carloitation, Twolane Blacktop, right? Great movie. Yeah, if you want to start. an argument with a an exploitation film. buff, tell them Vanishing Point was the. the beginning of Carloitation. They'll get mad at you. And then. finally, Tarantino with the uh in. Glorious Bastards, which was clearly a. riff on the Nazi exploitation films. Yeah. Beating Nazis to death with a. baseball bat. That's about as over the. top and lured as it gets. It's awesome. Yeah. Um so, uh and then Machete, I.

hated it, but Robert Rodriguez, um it. was terrible. And of course, he was the. other half of the uh Rodriguez was the. other half with his Planet Terror of the. Grindhouse double feature. Yeah. Okay. And Machete was born from one of the. little fake trailers they made in that. movie. Oh, is that right? Yeah. It was. one of the the fake uh movie previews. It is even as far as like a purposefully. be movie. Not good. No. Well, Death. Proof was okay, but I didn't like. Planetar that much. Yeah. Um, and then. Chuck. Well, first of all, before we get. to today, we also have to give a shout.

out to Pornos. Porno came out of the. exploitation film genre. And it arguably. had a lot to do with killing um the ex. or pushing it into the mainstream. because once you had the movie. and all of a sudden. pornography was on the screen, it's like. you can't do an exploitation film about. it anymore if there's the real deal. going on, it it loses all its power, right? And then a little movie called. Jaws came along and all of a sudden a. quote unquote bem movie style movie made.

gobs and gobs of money and that put a. little bit of uh mainstream. respectability on the map all of a. sudden. And so one might argue Josh that. uh movies like Jaws and pornography kind. of shoved exploitation films even though. they still exist, they're sort of. mainstream movies now. Yeah. Well, yeah. I guess another word for grindhouse. these days is blockbuster. Jaws was the. first blockbuster movie, summer. blockbuster. And now you have to have. summer blockbusters and they're always. over the top, right? And exploitive of.

viewers tastes and not only Tarantino, there's other filmmakers out that are. trying to capture that 70s vibe with. overt exploitation films. Again, shot. that way, shot on uh uh 35 or I'm sorry, uh 16 millimeter film, stuff like that. Yeah. So, um, Chuck, I say our message. to everybody is number one, go on to the. site, read, uh, 10 noteworthy. exploitation films. Um, number two, if that interests you, like.

even the 10 noteworthy exploitation. films I chose, um, don't cover even I. think a third of the exploitation subg. genres. So, there'll probably be another. article forthcoming at some point. If. there is, we'll let you know. And then. go watch some exploitation movies and. enjoy them. Yeah, watch uh the. documentary American Grindhouse, too, if. you're into that. Yeah, it's a great. one. It's free on Hulu, actually. Um. there's ads, but hulu.com has American. Grindhouse for free. It is not safe for. work. No. In no way, shape, or form. I.

was watching it at work and I was like, whoa. Okay. Oh, really? Yeah. If you are. watching it at work, tabbed browsing is. what you want to be doing, right? and. keep your your finger over the mouse and. uh keep the cursor over the other tab, right, and stay sharp. Or in our case, you can just say it's research, but you. can't do that if you if you're an. accountant at uh JP Morgan. You're just. a sicko, a weirdo. That's right. That. weird guy in accounting. Um so look up. 10 noteworthy exploitation films. You. can type that into the handy search bar.

at howstuffworks.com. And now at long last, it's time for. listener mail. Joshers, I'm going to. call this uh it's a small world after. all. Uh dear guys, I'm a longtime fan. from Minnesota and enjoy spreading stuff. you should know goodness wherever I go. My co-workers at a local coffee shop. know me for the trivia and information I. abound in. Uh but after giving Wait, what? That he he says he abounds in. I. guess he's proficient in. Okay. Did he. misuse that?

No, I don't know. It sounds hilarious. It does. Um, after giving credit where. credit is due, which means us, uh, several of them decided to subscribe to. your podcast. Uh, listening to the. podcast has also given me an advantage. at work for thinking of the coffee. shop's daily trivia question, which. saves people 10 cents on their drink if. they know it. That is awesome. Uh, after. relisting to how Legos work, I set the. trivia question for which company. produces the most tires on a yearly. basis? A Bridgestone, B. Goodyear, C. Lego Bricks. You know the answer, Josh?

Most people were surprised and pleased. to find out it was Lego Bricks, uh, reminding them about the little playsets. that their kids enjoy. Uh, this is where. it gets weird. One of the customers read. the trivia question, looked at me, and. said, "It's a puny scheme." Nice. That's. awesome. In the best Italian accent he. could muster, everyone else gave him an. odd look. I started laughing. He. apologized and then say and said he just. heard it on a podcast. Um, he had just. listened to Legos followed by Ponzi.

schemes. Long story short, we were both. pleased to find out that we were both. fans. Uh, we are now on a first-name. basis, eager to discuss the most recent. episodes. So, these dudes in. Minneapolis, Daniel. That's awesome. Thanks, Daniel. And his friend, now his. new friend, his unnamed friend. Yeah, he. didn't name him. You wouldn't know him. He met him at camp. That's right. Band. Camp. Thanks, Daniel. That's really. awesome. Um, wow, that's really cool. Let let us know if you tweet um those. daily facts for your uh coffee house.

because we will start following you. Indeed, that'd be very cool. Um if you. want to follow us, we have our own. Twitter feed. Seriously, it's called. Sysk Podcast. One word, 10,000 strong. plus. Yeah. Um we're on uh No, we're up. to like 11 and change. Well, that's plus. 10. That's true. Um we're also on. Facebook. Facebook.com/ stuff you should. know. Yep. We have a KA team, right? We're trying to get to half a million. dollars. That's right. Uh that's. kivva.org/team/.

stuff you should know. Uh and then you. can always send us a good oldfashioned. email. Um we want to know what your. favorite um exploitation film of all. time is. Uh, you can send that in an. email to stuffpodcast@ousstuffworks.com. [Music]. For more on this and thousands of other. topics, visit housestuffworks.com. To. learn more about the podcast, click on. the podcast icon in the upper right.

corner of our homepage. The House Stuff. Works iPhone app has arrived. Download. it today on iTunes.