The Grindhouse Returns!

It's time again for another weekend of films that define the genre of "kick-ass cinema"--the Grindhouse Film Festival starts this Friday at the historic Hollywood Theatre!

Last year we showed Portland a rare print of the massively influential classic "The 36th Chamber of Shaolin" and a number of other greats like "Shogun Assassin" and "Lady Snowblood" that Tarantino pulled from to make "Kill Bill." This time things are a bit more diverse, representing KUNG FU, BLAXPLOITATION, SAMURAI VENGEANCE, SPAGHETTI WESTERNS & ZOMBIE genres.

Titles include:
Coffy, Pam Grier's most famous role in a beautifully restored print. I've never seen it so I'm highly anticipating checking it out for the first time on our big screen.

Zombie, Lucio Fulci's legendary take on the zombie genre, where a zombie fights a shark!

Executioners From Shaolin, another Shaw Brothers classic where we see the character of Pai Mei (seen recently as Uma Thurman's martial arts teacher in Kill Bill) defeat foes with his legendary Tiger Style. His crotch grab move is unbelievably awesome.

For A Few Dollars More, Sergio Leone's classic spaghetti western with Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef in a restored print.

Fist Of The White Lotus, which I've been instructed to promote as "an old-school ass-kick-a-thon"--featuring Shaw Brothers legends, Gordon Liu and Lo Lieh. I haven't seen this one, but with those headliners I am super-pumped to check it out.

Shogun Assassin. A fan favorite from last year, Shogun Assassin returns as a blood-soaked samurai revenge tale with amazingly haunting dubbed narration. The blood squirting in this one is insane.

Five Masters Of Death. A lost Shaw Brothers classic directed by Chang Cheh, "the Godfather of Hong Kong cinema." This guy directed over 100 films!

Chinese Boxer. A super-fun/bad-ass hybrid with Jimmy Wang Yu from last year's Master of The Flying Guillotine. For some reason he puts on a surgical mask and oven mitts and goes to work getting revenge for the death of his martial arts master.