Waters here is captured at the height of his popularity with the mainstream hit Hairspray and the enterprising attitude of the ISFS makers shows; indeed, this is probably the most in-depth and complete episodes of ISFS. All living members of Waters' Wonderland actors are interviewed, including what is probably one of Divine's final interviews. Ross caught Divne at the Hairspray premiere and he seems overjoyed at all the success. Most of his career highlights are touched on, From his early work with Multiple Maniacs and Female Trouble, Pink Flamingos (though Waters' attempts at a sequel are untouched) all the way to the more above-ground spectacles Polyester and Desperate Living. Waters' also mentions his brief career of teaching film making in prison, where he taught the inmates to express their anger in movies.
This is the second episode of this amazing and quirky series, wherein Jonathan Ross profiles Herschell Gordon Lewis, the "Godfather of Gore", director of such classics as "Blood Feast" "Color Me Blood Red" "The Gore Gore Girls" and "2000 Maniacs". Also featured are HG Lewis' producing partner and exploitation pioineer David F. Friedman, fan John Waters, and actor Bill Kerwin.
Jonathan Ross interviews Ray Dennis Steckler, one of the most formidble exploitation flick directors from the heyday of the genre. It was one of his bizarrely-named movies that provided the basis for the title of this show, an early Jonathan Ross venture that is undeservedly almost forgotten. Steckler actually passed away on January 7th this year at the age of 70. As well as interviewing the man himself, the show features clips from some of his more notorious movies, and interviews with other (mostly bonkers) figures on the exploitation scene.
Looking uncomfortable in a cowboy outfit, a young Jonathan Ross continues this late 80s homage to the other side of movies by interviewing Ted V. Mikels, a B-movie filmmaker with long-standing cult status. Filmed around Mikel's Nevada hideaway, the interview reveals him to be as mad as ever, while numerous movie clips demonstrate the eccentric and exploitative nature of his work.
Hollywood is an apt place to meet Russ Meyer for the first time, as Jonathan Ross found out in the fifth of this late 80s series devoted to cult cinema. Meyer is one of the few exploitation flick directors to have gained some measure of mainstream, Hollywood acceptance, and Ross reveals an intelligent filmmaker who made surreal, inventive and often artful works - and then threw in an awful lot of huge-breasted women. Ross also meets some of the man's favourite muses, and talks to some surprising Meyer fans. Plenty of movie clips as usual.
Raimi is interviewed behind a wall of posters for Evil Dead 2 in this piece which offers a nice retropective of his pre-Darkman work (Ross casually mentions that Raimi currently has a few projects in development with Universal). Numerous clips from his early super-8 shorts are shown in addition to choice scenes from the super-8 Evil Dead promo Within The Woods, a film which Raimi presented to prospective investors as proof of his filmmaking abilities. Also included is a visit to the set of Scott Spiegel's Night Crew (AKA Intruder) where Sam is seen playing a cameo role of a doomed butcher. The production nightmares of Raimi's big-budget sophmore effort Crimewave are discussed and the film ends a short segment on Evil Dead 2 where Raimi seems unsure of whether Ash will re-appear in another film again.
The career of superstar Jackie Chan is explored thoroughly in this ISFS, from his early days at the Peking Opera School all the way to his early feature film role as a Bruce Lee imitator in The New Fist of Fury and all the way up to his explosion as a cultural icon in Hong Kong through the Armor of God and Police Story films. Chan is seen on the set of his new film The Miracle, setting up shots and instructing his stunt crew.
Direct-to-video favorite Fred Olen Ray is interviewed on the "set" of his then-new film Bad Girls from Mars. Fred's career is thoroughly covered, from Alien Dead and Scalps all the way up to Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers. The interview with female exploitation pioneer Wishman goes through all her early success in the nudie cuties to the rougher style she adopted in the 70's, all the way up to the Chesty Morgan films.
The Late Mexican wrestler El Santo is profiled in this episode of ISFS which explores the general phenomenon of Mexican wrestling films in general, from El Santo's films and Rene Cardona's series of female wrestling films which starred Lorena Velasquez to the other stars of wresting cinema like Blue Demon. Johnny Legend also pops up and gives his early experiences with the dubbed late-night viewing of the "Samson" series.
Though many documentaries have been made about Wood in the time following ISFS, this is still one of the most extensive and interesting ones ever made. Most of the Wood's stable of actors are interviewed as well as his ex-wives Fuller and McCarthy, both giving sordid accounts of Ed's love of women's clothing. Most of his milestone movies are featured, from his early works like Bride of the Monster and Glenn or Glenda to his masterpiece Plan 9 From Outer Space. Wood's later work in nudie pictures and pornographic fiction is lightly touched upon (a few clips from Orgy of the Dead are shown).
This episode of ISFS profiles both famed Hong Kong Producer/Director Tsui Hark as well as Re-Animator Director Stuart Gordon. The Hark segment is more of an overall exploration of Hong Kong Exploitation in general, with scenes from Centipede Terror and the Mr. Vampire series sprinkled about. Most of Hark's career is covered, from his early controversial Don't Play With Fire all the way up to his Chinese Ghost Story and concludes with an on-set visit to A Better Tommorrow Part II. Stuart Gordon's segment takes us through Re-Animator, lightly touches on some of his other Empire projects like Dolls and From Beyond and ends with a visit to the set of Brian Yuzna's Bride of Re-Animator.
Night of the Living Dead Director Romero is the focus of this episode of ISFS which takes us through his early days in Pittsburgh all the way through Martin and the Dead trilogy and up to the late eighties. Savini is also interviewed and even at this early stage seems to be prepping a remake of NOTLD which he describes as starting in the same way as the first film but then becoming "wildly" different. Lorie Cardille, lead actress of Day of the Dead, is also interviewed and Savini makes Ross up as a zombie.
