Whether defined by the carnivalesque excesses of Troma studios (The Toxic Avenger), the arthouse erotica of Radley Metzger and Doris Wishman, or the narrative experimentations of Abel Ferrara, Melvin Van Peebles, Jack Smith, or Harmony Korine, underground cinema has achieved an important position within American film culture. Often defined as "cult" and "exploitation" or "alternative" and "independent," the American underground retains separate strategies of production and exhibition from the cinematic mainstream, while its sexual and cinematic representations differ from the traditionally conservative structures of the Hollywood system. Underground U.S.A. offers a fascinating overview of this area of maverick moviemaking by considering the links between the experimental and exploitative traditions of the American underground.

Whether defined by the carnivalesque excesses of Troma studios (The Toxic Avenger), the arthouse erotica of Metzger and Wishman, or the narrative experimentations of Ferrara, Van Peebles, Smith, Harmony Korine, underground cinema has achieved an important position within American film culture. Often defined as "cult" and "exploitation" or "alternative" and "independent," the American underground retains separate strategies of production and exhibition from the cinematic mainstream, while its sexual and cinematic representations differ from the traditionally conservative structures of the Hollywood system. Underground U.S.A. offers a fascinating overview of this area of maverick moviemaking by considering the links between the experimental and exploitative traditions of the American underground.

About the Author
Xavier Mendik is the director of the Cult Film Archive at University College Northampton, and he is the general editor of the AlterImage series. Steven Jay Schneider is author of The Cinema of Wes Craven.


Book Information
ISBN 9780231162791
Author Xavier Mendik
Format Paperback
Page Count 224
Imprint Wallflower Press
Publisher Columbia University Press