'Raze' And 9 Other Films For Modern Grindhouse Fans

With the release of Zoe Bell's new flick, Raze, in theaters and on Video on Demand, we are reminded of all the modern-day grindhouse films that we've come to enjoy over the past 14 years. The genre, named after theaters (in particular defunct burlesque theaters in New York City) that primarily showed exploitation films, plays on its low budget, niche appeal and, often times, lurid subject matter. Raze like the 9 other films on this list, keeps things bloody, raunchy and fun. (Just don't watch these with your mother!)

1. All The Boys Love Mandy Lane

Shelved for several years before finally getting released in October of last year, this flick does its best to flip the horror genre on its head. Alcohol, drugs, sex and plenty of gore come into play when a group of kids decide to spend a weekend at a remote farmhouse.

2. Black Dynamite

Black Dynamite is a Blaxploitation film that blurs action and comedy in a tale of a former CIA agent who must avenge his brother’s death. This critically acclaimed film played on all the Pam Grier and Shaft films of the ‘70s and ‘80s.

3. Death Proof

Director Quentin Tarantino has never been shy about his love for exploitation films. Death Proof is his homage to carsploitation, mockbusters, slashers and giallo flicks. In Tarantino’s version, two groups of women who are terrorized by stunt driver who uses his Chevy Nova SS 396 to lure them in.

4. Drive Angry

Drive Angry is another exploitation film that features Amber Heard in the role of an ass-kicking woman mixed up with an undead criminal played by Nicolas Cage. The carsploitation film does what the title implies: drive angry. With Cage behind the wheel, it’s hard not to get campy, wild and all sorts of crazy.

5. Hard Candy

This 2005 thriller tosses subgenres, such as rape and revenge and sexploitation films, on their head with the role reversal of the young girl and older man. Ellen Page plays the cat to Patrick Wilson’s mouse in a devious revenge flick about child rape. The concept is a hard pill to swallow but expertly acted.

6. The Last House on the Left

The remake of the 1972 Wes Craven film was actually inspired by a Swedish flick, The Virgin Spring, which was based on a 13th-century ballad. Okay, regardless of all that, the film tells the story of parents who attempt to get revenge on a group of strangers. Brutal by nature, Last House on the Left dives into the world of rape and revenge films.

7. Machete, Machete Kills

Originally a fake trailer that aired during the Grindhouse double feature, Robert Rodriguez fleshed out the Mexican exploitation film about a former Federale. The film combines camp, machetes and tons of double-crossing, gun-toting women. The success of the first film spawned a sequel that upped the camp and the Lady Gaga.

8. Planet Terror

Released as a part of a double feature with Tarantino’s Death Proof, Planet Terror represented Robert Rodriguez’s take on zombie films. In an attempt to recreate a genre that nearly died out in the ‘90s, Rodriguez brings together a large cast that fill out all the stereotypical characters: the mysterious woman, the brooding hero, the damsel, the hapless police chief, the sinister doctor, the shadowy military official and, most importantly, zombies!

9. Raze

Starring Zoe Bell and Tracie Thoms, Raze tells the story of 50 abducted women forced to fight to the death in order to protect their loved ones. For nearly an hour and 20 minutes these women kick, punch and slap the shit out of each other in a film that plays on the whole women-in-prison subgenre.

10. Spring Breakers

Not your typical grindhouse flick, Spring Breakers tells the story of four female college students desperate to join in the festivities of spring break. The path to fan includes theft, sex, drugs and murder. One by one, the girls disappear as each reach their breaking point of reality. Harmony Korine’s movie plays on all the female exploitation subgenres, women-in-prison, revenge, sexploitation, and even cautionary tales.