 SLEAZOID
EXPRESS: A Mind Twisting Tour Through the Grindhouse Cinema of Times
Square (Fireside) by Bill Landis and Michelle Clifford. Nonfiction.
2002. 315 pages. I must admit, I’ve always wondered what New York’s
Times Square (and Boston’s Combat Zone) was like in its filthy
grindhouse, porno days back in the 60s, 70, and even 80’s. However,
after reading Sleazoid Express, my curiosity is no longer piqued as I now
realize that at least Times Square wasn’t the place for me. Not because
of the movies that played at the cinemas (hell, I’ve reviewed a number
of movies discussed here), but because of how Bill Landis (grindhouse
attendee, employee, and creator of the legendary grindhouse zine Sleazoid
Express) and Michelle Clifford describe the grindhouses makes me want to
bathe in a tub of Lysol. Beginning each chapter with detailed description
of various grindhouses, Landis and Clifford set the dangerous, sleazy, and
germ infested atmosphere that constantly surrounded the showing of these
often critically snubbed movies. Words repeatedly used to describe these
places; sticky, smelly, BO, hustlers, pimps, drug addicts, bullet holes,
and pickpockets. After so eloquently and effectively setting the
atmosphere of the playhouses, Landis/Clifford go into in-depth reviews of
many movies that played in Times Squares’ grindhouses and offers
biographies on people who made them.
Devoting a chapter to a certain cinema and genre of movie, the
authors detail Eurosleaze, gender-benders, “roughie” porn,
butcher/horror flics, the Ilsa series, black exploitation films, etc.
Amongst others, filmmakers Andy Milligan, the Findleys, and The Ameros are
also dissected. Although this book isn’t for cinema buffs who are not
into this type of movie culture, anyone who is remotely interested in or
just long for the grindhouse heyday will find Sleazoid Express
fascinating, informative, and most definitely detailed enough to make your
shoes stick the floor. – Denis Sheehan
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