Sleaze Artists

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.

“There is a certain thrill inherent in a scholarly anthology that wholly embraces those films usually deemed disreputable, disgusting, cheap, and perhaps even anti-intellectual. . . . A satisfyingly subversive addition to film studies and cultural studies. . . .” - Adam Dodd, M/C Reviews “One of the most intriguing essayists in the book is Kay Dickinson, on how music figured in Britain’s banning of five Italian films from videotape distribution.” - Nina C. Ayoub, Chronicle of Higher Education “Personally, I found the book’s first section, ‘Sleazy Historyies,’ to be the most compelling . . . . The book’s second section, ‘Sleazy Afterlives,’ contains some top-notch retrospective analyses of marginal films.” - Mikita Brottman, PopMatters “Sleaze Artists constitutes an honest attempt to trip the cultural rift. There's a becoming undercurrent of humility to most of the essays, which suggests that even the brightest minds in cultural studies are still refining their approach to what is generally a back-breaking endeavor-elevating the low into the rarefied (and suffocating) air of academic contemplation.” - Adam Nayman, Cineaste “Sleaze Artists represents an articulate, accessible, and thoughtful adventure into the world of cinematic bad taste and low culture. . . . Sleaze Artists provides us with clear, thoughtful discussion about some great sleazy movies.” - Parley Ann Boswell, Journal of American Cultures “Sleaze Artists is an excellent collection, which covers a wide range of topics important to the understanding of sleaze cinema, and is a great addition to both cinema and cultural studies.” - Lyndall Clipstone, Media International Australia “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 “Sleaze Artists constitutes an honest attempt to trip the cultural rift. There's a becoming undercurrent of humility to most of the essays, which suggests that even the brightest minds in cultural studies are still refining their approach to what is generally a back-breaking endeavor-elevating the low into the rarefied (and suffocating) air of academic contemplation.” - Adam Nayman (Cineaste) “Sleaze Artists is an excellent collection, which covers a wide range of topics important to the understanding of sleaze cinema, and is a great addition to both cinema and cultural studies.” - Lyndall Clipstone (Media International Australia) “Sleaze Artists represents an articulate, accessible, and thoughtful adventure into the world of cinematic bad taste and low culture. . . . Sleaze Artists provides us with clear, thoughtful discussion about some great sleazy movies.” - Parley Ann Boswell (Journal of American Culture) “One of the most intriguing essayists in the book is Kay Dickinson, on how music figured in Britain’s banning of five Italian films from videotape distribution.” - Nina C. Ayoub (Chronicle of Higher Education) “Personally, I found the book’s first section, ‘Sleazy Historyies,’ to be the most compelling . . . . The book’s second section, ‘Sleazy Afterlives,’ contains some top-notch retrospective analyses of marginal films.” - Mikita Brottman (PopMatters)

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