Britsploitation: The British Cult Movie Trailer Show

Who doesn’t love a classic movie trailer? The coming attractions of old that hyped sensationalism and spectacle, making even the dullest movie seem almost unbearably exciting, dramatic or hilarious feel a world away from their modern equivalents, which often seem determined to do the exact opposite. Jammed with spoilers, the classic trailer is an art form in itself, sitting alongside the movie poster as a way of exciting the public into checking out the sort of film that mainstream critics sneered at.

Some years ago, your Desperate Living editor was working on a project that brought together classic British exploitation movie trailer action from the 1950s to the 1980s. That project eventually didn’t see the light of day but the trailer collections remained in our archives. Recently dusted off, it seems only fair that we share them with you.

This first edition is a heady mix of monsters, madmen and rampant libido, running from trailers for The Fiend (aka Beware the Brethren), through Circus of Horrors, The Woman Eater and Carry On Screaming to Jabberwocky. A few films appear under unfamiliar names, just to keep you on your toes. 71 minutes of movie goodness.

This is just a small part of our archive – there is another British movie trailer volume that we’ll be uploading shortly, the censorial busybodies of YouTube allowing of course. While these trailers for X-rated films were designed to be rated ‘A’ and shown to family audiences at the time (something that the BBFC eventually put a stop to), it’s hard to say just how our world of neo-prudes will react to even the suggestion that someone might at some point take their clothes off. Fingers crossed that we can bring you these collections relatively intact and without the age restrictions that prevent public sharing.

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