Wild Beyond Belief!

Exploitation filmmakers played a significant role in revolutionizing American cinema during the 1960s and early 1970s, churning out a string of independent Westerns, biker films, nudie-cuties and horror flicks in record times and often on shoestring budgets. With titles like Horror of the Blood Monsters, Cycle Savages and The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant, these films pushed the boundaries of acceptable on-screen violence and nudity and kept the American theater industry afloat as several major studios teetered on the brink of financial collapse.
This work tells the story of that “other” Hollywood through interviews with 16 directors, performers, screenwriters, and stuntmen who helped bring these zero-budget films to the screen against incredible odds. The interviews give insights into exploitation filmmaking from the perspectives of pioneering directors Al Adamson and Jack Hill, actors Jenifer Bishop and Robert Dix, and stuntmen Gary Kent and Gary Littlejohn, and others. The work includes more than 50 photographs, including many rare behind-the-scenes images of the filmmakers on set.

Brian Albright is a freelance journalist who has contributed to Fangoria, FilmFax, Alternative Cinema, VideoScope and Shock Cinema. He lives in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

Brian Albright
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 240
Bibliographic Info: 54 photos, index
Copyright Date: 2008
pISBN: 978-0-7864-3689-7
eISBN: 978-0-7864-8250-4
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vii

Preface      1

Psycho a Go-Go: AL ADAMSON      5

Blood Monster Babe: JENIFER BISHOP      14

Kingdom of the Bikers: JOHN “BUD” CARDOS      30

Wild Wheels: ROBERT DIX      47

Hollywood Hellcat: ROSS HAGEN      59

Big, Bad and Bald: SID HAIG      74

Sounds of Silence: MONTE HELLMAN      87

It’s Not Nice to Hate: JACK HILL      102

The Tough Guy: GARY KENT      116

Beyond the Call of Duty: JOYCE KING      134

Put Your (Other) Head on My Shoulder: ANTHONY LANZA      148

Savage Cycles: GARY LITTLEJOHN      159

Axes to Grind: BART PATTON      171

Brain of Blood: SAM SHERMAN      185

The Girl from Thunder Strip: MEGAN TIMOTHY      202

A Thing for Two Heads: JAMES GORDON WHITE      209

Index      223

“essential”—VideoScope; “a very, very good job”—Little Shoppe of Horrors; “essential reading for any horror film fan”—Scream Magazine; “fun…easy-to-digest read”—Video Watchdog; “Albright manages to capture the era, the slap-dash, get-it-shot-and-put-it-together urgency of indy movie making in that era”—Plan 9 Crunch