Sleazy Strip-Joints and Perverse Porn Circuses: The Remediation of Grindhouse in the Porn Productions of Jack the Zipper

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

Abstract

Described as the most dangerous director in XXX,9 Jack the Zipper mixes elements of outlier groups (bikers, freaks, sexual outlaws), beautiful women, and hard-core sex. Drawing on cinematic stylings from small-town American horror and the dystopian visions of global exploitation, Zipper’s films are excessively stylish remasterings of the experiences and memories of the grind house. Zipper is one of the “new breed” of directors working for the large studios (Vivid, Hustler, and Club Jenna). Having produced and directed thirteen films in a decade,10 Zipper’s high production oeuvre is understood as “alt-porn” (as defined by industry award-givers, reviewers, and marketeers). In his films he invokes the materiality of the grind house as a particular mise-en-scène for sexual license and fantasy, thus its “alt” sensibility owes more to the director’s utilization of the cultural capital of cult cinema and its cinematicity than to punky stylings.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationGrindhouse
Subtitle of host publicationTranscultural Exchange on 42nd Street, and Beyond
EditorsJohnny Walker, Austin Fisher
Place of PublicationLondon
PublisherBloomsbury
Chapter12
Pages217-235
Number of pages19
ISBN (Electronic)9781628927450 , 9781628927467
ISBN (Print)9781628927498 , 9781628927474
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 22 Sept 2016
Externally publishedYes

Publication series

NameGlobal Exploitation Cinemas

Keywords

  • Jack the Zipper
  • alt pornography
  • Blacklight Beauty
  • Squealer
  • Enter the Peepshow

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