Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
Part 1: Sleazy Histories
Pandering to the “Goon Trade”: Framing the Sexploitation Audience through Advertising / Eric Schaefer 19
Women’s Cinema as Counterphobic Cinema: Doris Wishman as the Last Auteur / Tania Modleski 47
Representing (Repressed) Homosexuality in the Pre-Stonewall Hollywood Homo-Military Film / Harry M. Benshoff 71
Pornography and Documentary: Narrating the Alibi / Chuck Kleinhans 96
El signo de la muerte and the Birth of a Genre: Origins and Anatomy of the Aztec Horror Film 121
Art House or House of Exorcism? The Changing Distribution and Reception Contexts of Mario Bava’s Lisa and the Devil / Kevin Heffernan 144
Part 2: Sleazy Afterlives
Troubling Synthesis: The Horrific Sights and Incompatible Sounds of Video Nasties / Kay Dickinson 167
The Sleazy Pedigree of Todd Haynes / Joan Hawkins 189
Para-Paracinema: The Friday the 13th Film Series as Other to Trash and Legitimate Film Cultures / Matt Hills 219
Boredom, Spasmo, and the Italian System / Chris Fujiwara 240
Pure Quidditas or Geek Chic? Cultism as Discernment / Greg Taylor 259
Movies: A Century of Failure / Jeffrey Sconce 273
Selected Bibliography 311
Contributors 321
Index 325

Promotional Information

The impact that non-mainstream and middlebrow film genres have had on popular culture--including sexploitation, horror, cult, XXX, and indie films

About the Author

Jeffrey Sconce is Associate Professor in the Screen Cultures Program at Northwestern University. He is the author of Haunted Media: Electronic Presence from Telegraphy to Television, also published by Duke University Press.

Reviews

"Aztec blood sacrifices! Knife-wielding psychos!! Libido-crazed military men!!! Martin Heidegger!!!! With verve and vigor, Sleaze Artists offers this ... and more! The book boldly rips the lid off the wacky world of sleaze movies with subversive delight and intellectual insight!! Don't go into this volume alone!--unless you are ready for sharp scholarship, rigorous historiography, careful argument, and a deep commitment to an understanding of cinema in all its richness across a variety of taste cultures!!"--Dana Polan, Cinema Studies, New York University