Something Weird's Extra Weird Sampler (2003)

Okay, first of all this is not a shill for Something Weird or any of their subsidiaries. And I also know that, technically, this isn't really a movie so I can't really call what I'm about to give you a movie review.

BUT...

After literally years of seeing this self-same DVD sitting forlornly on the shelf at my local movie/CD/miscellaneous store, I could resist it no longer. I mean, look at the cover, could YOU? I thought not.

So, what is Something Weird's Extra Weird Sampler? Basically, it's a collection of over 100 movie trailers for the movie stock of Something Weird. And for those of you who know what Something Weird is all about, that's a selling point right there. After all, we're talking about what is basically a time capsule for an era (or eras) long since gone.

Let me put it this way: remember a post or so back when I talked about the film Grindhouse? Remember those trailers that they mixed into the fray? Well, the trailers in the Extra Weird Sampler are the real deal, baby; this is the grindhouse that Grindhouse paid homage to. Sex, violence, shock, sensationalism and outright perversity, all in easily-digestible one minute-or-so trailer form.

And a quick look at the back of the case will give you an idea of just what to expect from Something Weird (much less the DVD). These are titles that more-or-less lay it all on the line, take it or leave it...The Adult Version of Jekyll & Hyde, Blood Freak, Color Me Blood Red, Doctor Gore, The Erotic Adventures of Zorro, Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks, The Gore Gore Girls....

The audiences who inhabited the grindhouse theaters lived, ate and breathed such advertisements. For as cheap, tawdry and seductive as some of these "trash films" were, they made money and got loads of repeat business for their theaters. This was the kind of thing that gave way to what it now sadly called "popular cinema". You know: the stuff that stars Ben Stiller and Will Smith.

This DVD was a pure delight for me, the one who literally enjoys to death these kind of movies (would it surprise you to know that I own and/or have seen several of the titles herein?), in spite of the fact that there is not one iota of decency, class or respectability to be found on it. They're cheap and sleazy, sure - and that's what makes these type of movies the treasure they are. You can't turn the corner of a rental shop without bumping into a dozen Flightplans or two dozen Madagascars. But who among you actually scour the same store to find a copy of Wham-Bam-Thank You Spaceman or Psyched By The 4-D Witch?

That's what I figured.

Like I said, I loved watching Something Weird's Extra Weird Sampler as much as some of you love watching Amadeus. Maybe more so, since in my case there's over 100 examples of non-pretension; just clips of movies blaring out in brassy horns, bloody color or stark black-and-white and lurid taglines by the score to vie for your attention. Film-makers just don't try as hard as they used to anymore. So, maybe Steven Spielberg and Ang Lee need to get a copy of this and watch it - think of the trailers we'd see for their movies then, at least.

You want to watch this? Prepare yourself - it definitely isn't a family disc (the Manson Family, maybe...) and there's nudity, blood, gore, naughty language and all kinds of deviant behavior to scar your tender young mind for years to come. Then again, maybe that's what the U.S. of A needs today - a wake-up call. Consider Something Weird's Extra Weird Sampler your own personal wake-up call, America. Embrace the grindhouse, let the sleaze wash over you like a refreshing cold shower in a mountain waterfall, and enjoy it. Party with it. Introduce it to your friends. Make it part of your holiday festivities.

After all, you owe it to yourself to treat your defenseless soul to a trailer for a film like She-Devils on Wheels.

But then, don't we all, America?