With a major retrospective of the films of John Waters, a favourite director of mine, at the BFI in London next month, I'm doing this thread on Trash cinema. John Waters made this type of cinema his own, being affectionately nicknamed the Pope of Trash. He wasn't the first though. Paul Morrisey's Trash from 1970 gave this type of film its name. Then there was Russ Meyer, Herschell Gordon Lewis, Roger Corman to some extent, Andy Milligan, not forgetting of course the inimitable Ed Wood and many more. What makes a trash film. They are films that deal with subjects not seen in mainstream cinema, They should break taboos. They should comfort and repel the viewer at the same time. They should be photographed without skill, should be inept in every way possible with appalling dialogue and with actors you wouldn't see anywhere else, they should be bad but enjoyable at the same time. My personal favourites are Pink Flamingos, Glen or Glenda which I know Callum hates, Plan 9 From Outer Space and The Ghastly Ones. So your favourite film and or directors.

Lloyd Kaufman, Lucio Fulci.

Troma, trash central. Producer of some truly awful films.

I personally wouldn't include Fulci as a 'trash' director.

I would agree. His films tend to be well directed, he seems to know what he's doing. It's incompetence that is important in a trash film.

Yep. The Beyond is a fantastic film, for a start. Brilliant low-level surrealism. He's like David Lynch for the Grindhouse.

David Lynch of Grindhouse!! I love that description.

Thanks! Spur-of-the-moment comparison, but it seems pretty apt.

I included Fulci in trash cinema as the original poster mentioned

' They are films that deal with subjects not seen in mainstream cinema, They should break taboos. They should comfort and repel the viewer at the same time'.

I like Fulci's films and do not think they are bad. His films though do break taboos, they repel the viewer'.
i.e. Zombie Flesh Eaters and House By The Cemetary' definately break taboos in what they show and they certainly repel the viewer and became banned.

The original poster also said: 'They should be photographed without skill, should be inept'.

Fulci's two films mentioned above certainly do not fall into that category. ZFE is nicely photographed in widescreen with very rich colours.

That is what I meant when I included Fulci in the list. There are a lot of films with bad reputations which I have seen and liked more than the highly regarded, supposed high-art rubbish.

I can fully agree with that. They're definitely, largely, seen as trash... but in reality are so much more than that.

I agree they do cover taboo subjects and quite often get banned. As you also said they are well photographed and produced so don't meet all criteria for a real trash film. Who cares though, they are excellent films.

Ed Wood, Jr.
Roger Corman
Russ Meyer

It would be terrible to fail to recognize the undisputed queen of trash cinema, Doris Wishman. Her films on truly on a whole different plane of existence. Amazing.

Doris Wishman was the mother of sexploitation. I first heard her name on Jonathan Ross' Incredibly Strange Film Show on Channel 4 in the 80s, which dealt exclusively with B movies and had programmes on Ed Wood, Russ Meyer, John Waters and Herschell Gordon Lewis, required viewing for lovers of trash. Channel 4 also showed Nude on the Moon. She was a remarkable woman.

I've been revisiting Troma lately. I'm watching Troma's War right now.

I'm in two minds about Troma, they have made some truly awful films. The Toxic Avenger is a minor classic though.

One think I like about Troma is that they pick some films up and give them the attention they most likely wouldn't receive.

I loves me some Michael Findlay 60s Noo Yawk sexploitation myself. Along with pretty much everyone you mentioned.

I met John Waters last February at a film festival. I saw him do his one man show, and it was absolutely hilarious. He met with everyone after the show, took pictures with us and talked to us. An incredibly nice man.

Svankmajer is even further from trash cinema than Lucio Fulci. Love 'em both, though.

People might find Fulci trash because of his low budget approach and bloody violence. But, I agree, he's not a trash director. I'm not too familiar with Svankmajer outside of Lunacy, but that movie certainly plays with taboos, and is in no way a "glossy" movie.

How about Hobo with a Shotgun? Is that trash or just dumb fun like the Hatchet movies... troma-esque.

Oh, Hobo's definitely trash... but it knows it's trash. Any shortcomings it has are deliberate, I think.

With him coming to the UK for his retrospective, I can't wait to see him, he is a favourite director of mine. What I've seen of him on TV, he does come across as being a decent chap. Lunacy is a very good film, but I wouldn't classify Svankmajer as a trash director, he is very accomplished at what he does. His subject matter is always interesting though.

As a director, I'm not familiar with anything else he's done. However, according to the parameters you posted, I think this movie qualifies, maybe "art house trash".

What the eff do I know? I'm glad you've seen it though, I think it's great.

My faves include anything by John Waters, Russ Meyer, Lloyd Kaufman, Frank Henenlotter, Chris Seaver, Herschell Gordon Lewis, and Harmony Korine.