ChikPapa Very disappointed :(

Sammy-Jo Cervantes There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Roxie The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

moonspinner55 Cheerful, appropriately unfettered documentary on exploitation, sexploitation and blaxploitation movies, from 1913's "Traffic in Souls" to the (would-be) grindhouse movies of the present day (Tarantino's efforts rightly looked upon as homages rather than the real thing). Elijah Drenner co-wrote, co-produced and directed this clip-heavy essay on the names, faces and posters behind the salacious, scandalous, shocking and sometimes successful grade-B features that played in rundown theaters on the bad side of town. Of the celebrity interviews, only directors John Landis and Joe Dante are knowing enough to give us a broad spectrum of the now-cult genre. Drenner loves showing off the title cards and advertisements of the movies his guests are talking about, but there's no exploration into the financing, production or box-office returns of these pictures. It's a facetious, shallow entertainment--which may be purely intentional, as it accurately reflects the sex-drugs-and-gore-infatuated features on display. ** from ****

Dalbert Pringle Always remember - If what you're viewing on screen becomes unbearable to watch, just keep telling yourself - "It's only a movie... It's only a movie... It's only a movie..." Duh!.... Call me a monkey's uncle, but I had always thought (until today) that the term "Grindhouse" referred to those exploitation films that were exclusively from the 1960s & 70s.But after viewing this fairly enlightening documentary on the subject, I am now being told that "Grindhouse" films actually go all the way back to the very first time (1894?) when some bloke with a half-baked perversion in his head picked up a movie camera and recorded "that forbidden thing" on film. (Tsk. Tsk) Anyways - Whether it's bona-fide "Grindhouse", or not, this here documentary sure covered a lot of ground in film history, and it definitely brought my attention to a number of totally "taboo" films out there that I'd sure like to view for myself, such as - Maniac (1934), Mom & Dad (1945) and Scum Of The Earth (1963), to name but a few.From perversion for profit; to scandalous sensation; to challenging censorship; to teenage rampage, and beyond - American Grindhouse is a documentary that's certain to pique the interest of more than just fans of exploitation films.*Note of Warning!" - This documentary contains not only film clips of nudity, but, it also shows the graphic depiction of childbirth, as well.

SnoopyStyle It's a far ranging exploration of the exploitation cinema. It takes a history trip from the beginning of film all the way to today. It doesn't really try to limit the scope, and skims through 100 years. It features several talking heads. The most famous of the experts is director John Landis.This serves as a general documentary of the fringe movie world. The best thing is all the clips of these old movies. The talking heads aren't digging too deep but are generally well informed. Robert Forster does a good job as the narrator. His gruff voice isn't the normal narration but somehow fits the subject matter. This is a steady march through history categorizing all the major movements hitting the big moments. The best interviews are the actual participants who are talking about their own movies. The doc does grind down as the movie has nowhere to go with the arrival of porn. I guess that's another doc. The final section of Hollywood trying to rip off the grindhouse isn't quite as compelling. As a general doc, it hits most of the big points.

Sean Lamberger About as interesting as a loosely-related series of sparse conversations with cult-favorite directors is likely to get. The goal seems to have been the assembly of a "straight from the horse's mouth" oral history of exploitation at large in cinema, but none of the subjects could really nail down the outer limits of what the term meant. So, instead, it became a crash-course history of underground film, decorated at all corners with vaguely familiar old men reminiscing about their glory days. The narrative jumps all over the place, sometimes floating from the '20s to the '90s over the course of a single sentence - that's OK, though, because the sheer breadth of knowledge and a shared recollection of the crazy promotional stunts each film undertook to get noticed makes the journey worthwhile. It's also one hell of a Netflix recommendation engine.