Grindhouse XXX: A Double Feature

Dr. Chauntelle does not use a rating system. Five stars is a default setting only.

So I'm still feeling all Halloween-spirited and even though this bit of content isn't as much scary as it is gory and gratuitous, I figure what the heck ? Adam & Eve's Grindhouse: XXX A Double-Feature (2011)!!

Grindhouse XXX consists of two films - Student Assassin and Massacre at Pine Lake - on one disc. Together, the films attempt to invoke an old skool grindhouse cinema aesthetic and feel (I don't know much about this film genre - apologies!!), collectively resulting in a fun and campy experience that made me want to be eating popcorn in my car while watching. Respectively...

Student Assassin

Student Assassin is one of the silliest movies I've ever seen, and I loved it!!

North Hollywood Community College student Teagan (Teagan Presley) is dating a super hott cop (Nina Mercedez). In what's apparently an overzealous bust gone wrong, Teagan's girl gets by bad guys. After another officer pops into her classroom to let her know what's happened, Teagan goes on an assassination rampage. She rescues her girl and presumably makes it home in time to study.

Heeee!!!

Student Assassin was ridiculous - on purpose grainy and silly and choppy and poorly lit. The plot was ludicrous (the sequence where Teagan is assembling her arsenal - oh my!!), and the acting was at the most perfectly purposely bad level to pull off this little homage seamlessly. And the sex (three total scenes in Student Assassin) and nudity and whatnot were shot is a fun campy way that augmented the producers' and director's intended feel. A really cute idea executed very well!!

And then there was the other side of the coin...

Massacre At Pine Lake

Massacre At Pine Lake is the tale of a massacre... that happened at a place called Pine Lake. Camp counselors spend the day readying the facility before the campers arrive. Then, in the evening, some escaped crazy killer picks them off one by one (conveniently aided by a giant machete left lying around). In the end, the head camper boss lady (Alexis Ford) gets the killer with a flare and saves herself.

Of the two Grindhouse XXX flix, this one wasn't as good.

Now don't get me wrong - Massacre At Pine Lake contained three perfectly fine sex scenes and some funny elements. The whole sequence of Alexis working out and boxing and everything in the morning was straight out of Charlie's Angels (1976 - 1981), and it was very entertaining. And the whole "readying the camp" montage was hysterical, especially the juxtaposition of sweet Briana Blair feeding horses with sweeet Andy San Dimas watering plants. And Rocco Reed's short shorts delivering hay almost made everything ok... almost.

I couldn't quite put my finger on it... granted, I'm not an expert in mainstream grindhouse-type film content... but unlike Student Assassin, Massacre At Pine Lake just didn't feel right to me.

...but none of that even matters because as a whole this project was great!! It was a cute idea supported by many authenticating touches (such as Lee Roy Myers' trailer for Easter, which I'm gonna go ahead and subtitle America's Forgotten Holiday - hysterical!!) and plenty of gratuitous nudity and gore. And yes, there's a difference between regular old adult nudity and the nudity contained herein. For example, you never get to see girls getting dressed in porn, and here there's a whole lot of it!!

[amendment: I was just informed via the twitter-sphere that Lee Roy Myers didn't direct the Easter trailer. It was David Lord, who simply put Lee Roy's name on it - even better!!]

As a whole, Grindhouse XXX was just delightful.