Hot on the heels of the successful Grindhouse Trailer Classics DVD, comes this follow-up of low-budget over-the-top action, violence and sexploitation film clips from the 1960s and 1970s - compiled by genre movie critic Marc Morris and Razor Blade Smile director Jake West. Stand by for two hours of in-your-face Grindhouse theatre trailers. You have been warned...

I sat down fully expecting not to enjoy this DVD... and I didn’t. Making myself comfortable on the sofa with a mug of tea, it wasn’t long before the monotonous voice-overs and similar imagery (same meat, different gravy) slipped me into a relaxed slumber. When I woke up it was still going on, and at no time did I feel I might have missed out on a treat. I nodded a few times after that, but thankfully the disc played itself out before I reached a comatose state.

There are two main problems with this release. The most obvious is why would you retail a DVD containing nothing but trailers - and third-rate film trailers at that - and promote it as entertainment. Surely that’s a charade. Secondly, the advertised films are all much of a muchness. Aside from a small handful of exceptions which briefly rose to the surface for fifteen minutes of fame, the majority of clips comprising nearly two hours of excruciating running time flounder in a sea of anonymity. Believe me, I’m no prude, but all of these seem to flow into each other to produce one amorphous clump of pointless blood, gore, sex, violence, bad-acting, annoying music, and breast-shaking exploitation.

Apparently, the original Grindhouse Trailer Classics was released to critical acclaim. As I haven’t seen that disc I can’t comment on its viewing appeal. However, if it is as entertaining as the marketing quotes suggest, then I can only assume that all the best clips were utilised on that one, because this follow-up is painful.

As one of the included film tag lines says: “If you’ve ever wondered what hell was like, then this is it.”

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Ty Power