Here we are back making blogs for another semester of cinema, with a focus on Cult Movies. I am excited for the next round of this class. I found it funny that Prof. S mentioned how this class may offend and that is the point of these films. After my first time taking this class, I felt like I had a new appreciation for films I would never have seen. I am not sure what to expect with some of the movies on our watch list. My parents did let me know there are a few good ones to look forward to. So all I can say is that I am excited for another year of films. Our first film of the semester was an interesting choice. Maniac by Dwain Esper was something different to say the least. With questionable acting and parts that didn’t make sense. The movie could be called a cluster F***. So much of this film was not needed for the end plot like the heart, the women, and the maniac. With random cat fights and stolen parts from other movies, it was confusing to watch. They mentioned how it was loosely based off an Edger Allen Poe story and loosely is quite a stretch. I think barely would be better use of his novel. I was a little excited because the last film I watched based off of Poe was a lot better than that. I guess the only film I can use for comparison would be “The Room” due to a lack of story line and acting. The acting in the “Maniac” was just laughable and laugh we did.

With the screening of “American Grindhouse”, I felt as if I got a quick refresher of everything that happened almost a year ago last spring. We went over so many topic and films that we discussed. Seeing American International pop up reminded me of my project working with a Roger Corman film for my project. I wish we had a class that might focus on AIP and Roger Corman. So many of his films had a small budget, but still produced a great project. I remember watching “The Pit and the Pendulum” and even thought it was older, I still loved watching the film. It’s funny how I could relate to a few of these “Exploit Films” and how the changed over the years. The film is a great watch to see the progression of the exploit industry over the years. I am not sure if this is a better as an intro for History of Cinema or as a quick look back.

The film spoke about 42nd street and how this was the hub for all of these movies. I don’t know which era of film would be cooler to see between the first exploit films in the theaters or the teenage rebellion films at a drive in. I might consider some of the AIP films at a drive in. It is funny how much I now enjoy their films and get excited to see Roger Corman on our discussion. Even reading his intro to the start of our book was exciting. I think this year will go well as long as we don’t have any films like “The Fly”, which was pretty gross at times.