Grindhouse Theater: Poor White Trash Part II (1974)

Newlyweds Helen and Paul go to a backwoods cabin on vacation. When Paul goes back to the car for some cigarettes he's not given a chance to ponder the carcinogenic ramifications as an axe blade makes the point moot. Panic stricken, Helen runs into the woods, only to find Odie Pickett as her only savior. He takes her back to his place, where pregnant wife Emmy, dim-witted son Bo, and available since she was twelve daughter Sarah, do their best to give her a "family" welcome. While Helen's immediate danger is somewhat delayed, her newfound shelter begins showing some signs of danger as well.

Poor White Trash Part II (original title "Scum of the Earth") is an American horror/hixploitation film directed and produced by S.F. Brownrigg. It was written by Mary Davis and Gene Ross. The films stars Gene Ross, Ann Stafford, Norma Moore, and Camilla Carr. It was distributed by Dimension Pictures in the U.S. and Ambassador Film Distributors in Canada. Zison Enterprises was the production company in charge of the film. The original music was composed by Robert Farrar, with cinematography by Robert B. Alcott. The film was edited by Brian H. Hooper.

grind

A grindhouse is an American term for a theater that mainly shows exploitation films. It is named after the defunct burlesque theaters located on 42nd Street in New York City, where 'bump n' grind' dancing and striptease were featured.

In the film Lady of Burlesque (1943) one of the characters refers to the burlesque theatre on 42nd Street, where they are performing stripteases and bump and grind dances, as a "grindhouse".

The introduction of television greatly eroded the audience for local and single screen movie theatres, many of which were built during the cinema boom of the 1930s. In combination with urban decay after white flight out of older city areas in the mid to late 1960s, changing economics forced these theatres to either close or offer something that TV could not. In the 1970s these theatres were put to new use as venues for exploitation films, either adult pornography and sleaze, or slasher and dubbed martial arts films from Hong Kong.

Grindhouse films characteristically contain large amounts of sex, violence or bizarre subject matter. One genre of film featured were "roughies" or sexploitation, a mix of sex, violence and sadism. Quality varied, but low budget production values and poor print quality were common. Critical opinions varied regarding typical grindhouse fare, but many films acquired cult following and critical praise. Double, triple, and "all night" bills on a single admission charge often encouraged patrons to spend long periods of time in the theaters. The milieu was largely and faithfully captured at the time by the magazine Sleazoid Express.

By the 1980s, home video and cable movie channels threatened to render the grindhouse obsolete. By the end of the decade, these theaters had vanished from Los Angeles's Broadway and Hollywood Boulevard, New York City's Times Square and San Francisco's Market Street. By the mid 1990s, these particular theaters had all but disappeared from the US. Very few exist today.