Grindhouse Purgatory Review from Happy Cloud Media!
There really aren’t that many magazines left these days which have the old school fanzine finesse. Only two spring to mind, Weng’s Chop, and Grindhouse Purgatory. You see, I was never a Fangoria or Darkside (I rediscovered Darkside later in life) youngster. I read Gorezone, the offspring of Fango regularly, but never the original. Seemed too business-like and soft in tone. I preferred the rough rugged and raw – Chas Balun’s Deep Red, In The Flesh (read reviews of In the Flesh 1-11 here) 3rd Eye, Shocking Images, those kind of mags.
Grindhouse Purgatory is the baby of legend and trash cinema hero, Pete Chiarella/ aka 42nd Street Pete, the man behind the book, A Whole Bag of Crazy (read review here) and many late night entertainment compilation hairy nude DVDs. Grindhouse Purgatory was unleashed back in 2013 and has become a sensation for those with certain tastes – unlimited horror, cult titles, memories of theatres, scumatoriums, and wrestling.
Pete Chiarella doesn’t go it alone, he’s joined on a regular by a group of clinically obsessed by movies writers like Dr. Rhonda Baughman, Mike Watt, and many more. In fact, celebrity names jot down an article or two along the way. Rhonda has that dry witty style of Pete down to a tee, even the mention that ‘70s porno films can give you decorating tips for you home had me splutter out my coffee. Brilliant.
Now then, the quality of the magazines are incredible, bound firmly like a book, no staples in these bad boys, no sir. Running at between 80-100 or more pages each, I fell in love with them instantly. The pictures and print are clear and very mellow on the eyeballs. So here’s the icing on the grubby cake – the issues aren’t wasted on reviews (leave that to me and Chris at Severed Cinema, Pete 😃) but are filled with meaty and informative discussions on spaghetti westerns, biker movies, forgotten titles, war flicks, interviews with underground names, Kung Fu movies (Pete admits he isn’t into them so others pen those bits), the list goes on. You want trash and sleaze; it’ll be found in an issue grabbed at random. Lee Van Cleef features more than not, as does one of my childhood heroes, bloody faced wrestling icon, Abdullah the Butcher (in mention only).
Pete writes down his reminisces of the NY streets when the cinemas dripped with human fluids and spilled alcohol, and he writes heartfelt tributes to old school wrestlers who have passed and of the loss of true wrestling in general. His interviews are great. The best of the bunch must be one he conducted a few years back for Something Weird Video with early porn legend, Vanessa Del Rio. It’s very revealing and gives an insight to the days of quick but eye-catching movies filmed for the theatres before videos arrived.
Okay, so I’ll flick some pages and list a few odds and ends that may catch your eyes – John Holmes, Roddy Piper, Bruiser Brody, Top 20 biker films, interview with Linnea Quigley/Michelle Bauer/Brinke Stevens, Grindhouse westerns, The Northville Cemetery Massacre (which I reviewed here), The Blood Island trilogy, Gunnar Hansen, Andy Milligan, Vanessa Del Rio, Eric Stanze, Little Oral Annie, William Hellfire, zombies… that’s just a sample of shizz ‘n’ jizz waiting for you if you’ve never sampled the delights of the Grindhouse Purgatory delicacy.
I’ve only got the first ten issues by the way, so goodness knows what is just around the corner because as of this writing we’re up to issue 17.
Some wannabe self-important ‘reviewer’ on Amazon (snigger) complained about the errors in grammar amongst other things such as Pete being really angry. Hahaha, Mr. 42nd Street has a response to this in issue 4 and takes the fella to school. I mean, I grew up reading chucked together fanzines by real fans of the genres they wrote about, it adds to the realism. The bloke acknowledges this retort by the way and continues onwards to plop ‘reviews’ upon the sale of each issue. Sorry, I’m not taking sides, but I cannot comprehend the importance of an Amazon ‘review’.
Anyhow I digress so let me just say that Grindhouse Purgatory is a series of magazines worthwhile of sitting in any collection. Yes, in this day and age you can find anything in the huge library we call the internet. However, for those folks who like to grab an actual paper made piece of intelligent literature, you could do worse and I guarantee if you’re of a certain age group, buying a few of them will take you on a trip down memory lane – before the web took over, plus you’ll discover films and knowledge which will make your eyebrows raise. Also, it can be quite educational, especially the sit-down chat between 42nd Street Pete, Rhonda, and Josephine Anne Laurent covering the infamous Brock Turner incident.
With Grindhouse Purgatory you’ll feel like you’re back in the days with sticky floor theatres, sat next to a junky who’s staring at the screen, you aren’t sure if the guy is actually dead. Or you’ll go back to the wonderful days of over-copied VHS tapes with handwritten labels and chucked together four-page fanzines again handwritten and photocopied. In other words, the memorable days of grotty films and such things.
Another way to imitate this era in time could be to urinate on the floor a few days before, spill some beer around, and pay one or two homeless guys to sleep on your couch whilst you watch a movie.
Book: Grindhouse Purgatory
Written by: Pete Chiarella, Dr Rhonda Baughman, Ken Brunette, Mike Accomondo, and many more
Edited by: Pete Chiarella, Mike Watt
Year: 2013 onwards
Published by: Happy Cloud Media
Grindhouse Purgatory
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