The Early 70's Horror Trailer (1999) User Reviews

Cool idea, well made, but too long

[squeezebox · 6/10 · 21 December 2004]

Damon Packard's THE EARLY 70'S HORROR TRAILER looks exactly like what its title suggests. Packard perfectly captures the gritty, seedy, but oddly surreal quality of trailers for such grindhouse schlock as the films of Andy Milligan and Eddie Romero.

While it will undoubtedly be a bizarre treat for fans of such movies (like me), others will most likely find it boring and repetitive. It's nearly nine minutes long, and could easily be cut by 2/3 of its running time.

If someone out there wants to make a low budget horror movie with the look of an early 70's horror movie, find Damon Packard and have him shoot your movie for you! As far as I know, this is only available as an extra on Packard's brilliantly demented REFLECTIONS OF EVIL, which is next to impossible to find.

A real hoot!

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 11 December 2006]

This hilariously wild'n'wacky send-up of terrifically trashy low-budget early 70's horror exploitation film trailers really hits the sidesplitting spot. Director Damon Packard perfectly pegs the rough, grainy, sleazy and unpolished no-frills cheesy look and sound of low-grade 70's grindhouse fright flick coming attractions. Both the frenzied groovy-wailing psychedelic rock score and especially the gritty, washed-out cinematography accurately evoke the down'n'dirty quality of low-grade scuzzy features made in that particular period (the use of dewy soft-focus, wonky zoom-in close-ups, shaky hand-held camera-work and strikingly stylized slow motion -- the shots of a woman running down a street in a blind panic are truly breathtaking -- are all very amusing and impressive). Better yet, even the costumes, hairstyles and architecture are properly indicative of the early 70's. My sole complaint is that this basically one-joke short wears out its welcome after five minutes and hence becomes a tad monotonous, but that minor criticism aside it's still a real gut-busting gonzo hoot all the same.