Sleazoid Express

Sleazoid Express chronicles New York City's grindhouse movie theater scene during the 1960s-1980s, focusing on the infamous strip of theaters along 42nd Street. Authors Bill Landis and Michelle Clifford draw from their firsthand experiences covering exploitation films and the surrounding culture for their underground publication of the same name. The book maps the geography and social dynamics of Times Square's theater district, documenting the various venues and the distinct genres they showcased - from kung fu films to horror to adult features. Through interviews and personal accounts, it captures the interactions between theater operators, audiences, street hustlers, and law enforcement during this era. The text features profiles of key exploitation filmmakers and detailed accounts of notable films that defined the grindhouse phenomenon. It also examines the business practices and promotional tactics that kept these theaters operating in a changing urban landscape. As both historical document and cultural analysis, Sleazoid Express preserves an essential chapter of American cinema history while exploring themes of censorship, urban decay, and the relationship between art and commerce at society's margins.

Readers appreciate the firsthand accounts and historical documentation of New York's grindhouse theater scene in the 1970s-80s. Many note the book preserves details about a vanished cultural phenomenon that would otherwise be lost. Fans value the insights into exploitation films and Times Square's transformation. Common criticisms focus on the book's disorganized structure and writing style. Several readers mention it can be hard to follow the timeline and relationships between people and places. Some found the tone too sensationalistic. A recurring complaint is that the book spends more time on the theater scene and characters than on the actual films being shown. Ratings: Goodreads: 3.9/5 (134 ratings) Amazon: 4.2/5 (31 ratings) "Invaluable historical record but needed better editing" - Goodreads reviewer "Great stories buried in messy writing" - Amazon reviewer "Important documentation of a lost era" - LibraryThing reviewer

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🎬 Bill Landis published a DIY fanzine also called "Sleazoid Express" from 1980-1985, covering the grindhouse theater scene in Times Square before writing this book. 🎥 The book documents the final years of New York's infamous "Deuce" - 42nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues - when it was home to dozens of exploitation movie theaters before its dramatic transformation in the 1990s. 👥 Co-authors Bill Landis and Michelle Clifford met at a Times Square theater while watching the exploitation film "I Spit on Your Grave" and later married. 🏛️ Many of the historic theaters featured in the book, like the Victory and the Rialto, were architectural masterpieces from the 1920s that had fallen into disrepair and become venues for exploitation films. 📽️ The book categorizes grindhouse films by subgenre (kung fu, horror, sexploitation) and connects each type to specific theaters that specialized in showing them, creating a cultural map of 1970s Times Square.