Grindhouse Releasing is proud to be a part of the 2023 Wisconsin Film Festival, running April 13-20 in Madison, WI.
The amazing lineup of films in this prestigious 25th anniversary edition of the festival will include our 4K restorations of Umberto Lenzi’s THE TOUGH ONES, Christina Hornisher’s HOLLYWOOD 90028, and William Grefé’s IMPULSE, starring William Shatner!
“I’m thrilled to be attending the Wisconsin Film Festival,” said Grindhouse Releasing co-founder and president Bob Murawski. “They are showing three of our movies this year, once again proving they are the World’s Coolest Film Festival.”
THE TOUGH ONES screens on Saturday, April 15. at UW Madison Cinematheque.
Tickets: https://wifilmfest.eventive.org/films/63e6a8886df4b000c67307a8
After the smash international success of Hollywood action product like The French Connection and Dirty Harry, a massive wave of violent European entertainments in the spirit of those American hits naturally followed. Italy produced dozens of movies in the cops-and-criminals subgenre that came to be known as poliziotteschi, the best of which, like The Tough Ones, were dubbed into English and released into the U.S. exploitation film circuit. The episodic and sordid story revolves around a mad-as-hell Roman cop (Maurizio Merli), who faces an everyday cesspool of robbery, rape, and murder, and sets his sights on nailing a sadistic, machine gun-toting psycho (Tomas Milian).
“One of the most gonzo, over-the-top Euro crime films you’ll ever see.” – American Cinematheque
“Containing little idealism and much violence for the sake of violence…director Umberto Lenzi keeps his action, cast and cameras moving along at a fast clip.” – Variety
HOLLYWOOD 90028
The long-awaited restoration of HOLLYWOOD 90028 (a.k.a. TWISTED THROATS and THE HOLLYWOOD HILLSIDE STRANGLER) will screen with a selection of short films by the movie’s writer and director Christina Hornisher (1942-2003) on Monday April 17 at AMC Hilldale Cinema 5.
Tickets: https://wifilmfest.eventive.org/films/63e6a986eaa625002fa76b39
HOLLYWOOD 90028 amazed the sold-out crowd at Quentin Tarantino’s New Beverly Cinema when we recently screened an old 35mm print under the title TWISTED THROATS with star Christopher Augustine in attendance. Now Grindhouse Releasing has fully restored HOLLYWOOD 90028 from the original negative, revealing the striking cinematography by Jean-Pierre Geuens.
“One of the most shocking and memorable endings in all of 1970s cinema.” – Jim Healy, Wisconsin Film Festival
“Somewhere between art film and exploitation. A bizarre, lost, and lonely low-budget time capsule of Los Angeles with a final shot that needs to be seen to be believed.” – Ti West, director of HOUSE OF THE DEVIL and X
“An original and unforgettable viewing experience.” — Anna Biller, director of tHE LOVE WITCH
“Powerful arthouse horror from a filmmaker who should have had a prolific career.”
– William Bibbiani, THE WRAP
“HOLLYWOOD 90028 is a standout of the sexploitation thriller genre that should not be missed.”
– M. Lopes da Silva, author of HOOKER
“The sole feature freak-show from female director Christina Hornisher (billed here as “Craig Hansen”) plays more like a proto-feminist psychodrama than the grindhouse nudie-horror-thriller it’s (un) dressed up to be – subverting genre expectations at every head-scratching turn as it twists its meandering way under your creeped-out skin!” – The Deuce
IMPULSE
William Grefé’s IMPULSE screens Tuesday, April 18 at AMC Hilldale Cinema 5.
Tickets: https://wifilmfest.eventive.org/schedule/63f000c63032dd004b9b0895
“William Shatner stars as Matt Stone, a deranged gigolo who preys on rich women, unable to control his murderous psychosexual urges. When Matt makes the moves on young divorcée Ann (Jennifer Bishop), he finds he might not be prepared for the interference from Ann’s whip-smart daughter Tina (Kim Nicholas) and family friend Julia (Ruth Roman of Strangers on a Train). And when Matt’s old partner-in-crime Karate Pete (Harold Sakata, Goldfinger’s Odd Job) shows up looking for a piece of the action, things really start to go haywire! A prolific regional filmmaker based out of Florida, Impulse director William Grefé made a number of successful exploitation films in the 1960s and 1970s, such as Death Curse of Tartu (1966) and Sting of Death (1965), that were booked at drive-ins and grindhouses for years after their initial releases. Impulse, with its exciting camera work, local flavor, and terrific performances, especially from Shatner as the sociopathic main character, just might be the pinnacle of Grefé’s career. It has all of the punchy, violent power of the best films by Samuel Fuller and Robert Aldrich, and Grefé shares with those artists an understanding of a specific kind of sickness in the underbelly of America that is taking its toll on mainstream society.” – Jim Healy, Wisconsin Film Festival
“A grim, unrelenting study of a psychopathic killer. Shatner is surprisingly strong in an enormously demanding role.” – Box Office Magazine
“Well-crafted and effective… flowing with Grefe’s scalpel-sharp direction.” -Alex Ben Block, The Miami News
“Shatner is incredible and frightening during his lapses into insanity. There are a number of vividly horrifying murder scenes which make even adults cringe.” – Perry Fulkerson, The Evening Independent
“William Shatner is very effective in it. It’s a performance right up there with his work in “The Intruder.” – Joe Leydon, Variety
