The landscape of the film industry sometimes seems to stand still. We see ever-present features like multi-million dollar CGI spectacle, recycled IP, and star-studded Oscar bait. While these green-screen goliaths stand unmoving, we may catch something out of the corner of our eye – an apparition in the shape of the industry’s past, haunting but intriguing. This ghost of grindhouse and exploitation still occasionally possesses auteurs, providing forgotten thrills to those who seek it. The campy, sleazy, smarmy b-movies and cult-classics: In fewer words, the Hollywood “other”. Historically, these movies were very important to marginalized communities as their predominant source of weekend entertainment, but their influence was far more expansive. Many modern subgenres and subcultures were cultivated here, living long past the death of grindhouse theater. This ghost now looks like Quentin Tarantino’s entire filmography, Ti West’s Pearl duology, and remakes like Suspiria, to name just a few examples.

Some independent theaters – like Nashville’s Belcourt Theater – still feature films of this era in midnight screenings. If you are lucky enough to go, you will grab your popcorn, your film-themed cocktail, and sit down among a roomful of cult-film fanatics. But as you sit down, you will notice something that is a little hard to describe. A strange, sometimes entrancing, compilation of clips that can range from obvious to cryptic. Some clips are direct film references and promotions while others are subtle tangents that make you feel like you’re missing out on some sort of inside joke. But this pre-show playlist is the perfect oddball mood-setter, and you will be more than ready to enjoy an hour and a half of bizarre b-movie magic with these strangers. But without cultural bastions like the Belcourt nearby, this cinematic experience can be tough to come by. It can be said that home video alternatives like Blockbuster killed them off, but technology cuts both ways. 

In a world of streaming, the grindhouse experience can take a more intimate shape, from grindhouse to grindhome. Take for example the first time I hosted my very own “midnight movie night”. Godzilla vs. Hedorah was the creature feature of the night- a strangely psychedelic, almost art-house entry in the series’ filmography . The natural choice of cocktail was the Midori sour (dubbed “Atomic Breath” to match the night’s theme) featuring an electric green melon liqueur from Japan. All that was left was to curate the pre-show playlist of oddities. But with unlimited content and the vague goal of “weird fun”, where do we even begin? The answer is self-restraint and good old-fashioned rabbit holes.

Like any good researcher, we immediately open up the movie’s Wikipedia page and dig in. Film trivia jumps off the page instantly: an MGM company called American International Pictures (AIP) had originally packaged this Godzilla entry with a hippie-vampire horror movie called The Deathmaster – a true B-Movie that is only available now on DVD (it doesn’t even have a wikipedia page). What’s stranger than the Charles Manson horror allegory is AIP itself. Their so-called ARKOFF formula focused on violence, sexuality, and fantasy exploitation films curated for 19 year old boys- a familiar strategy to our modern Marvel-dominated culture. Our playlist now has two movie trailers and a tangent to focus on – the hippie counterculture. 

The Japanese trailer for Godzilla vs. Hedorah gives a sneak-peek into some of the psychedelic imagery that backdrops the film: a “Swinging London”-style hippie bar complete with Go-go dancers, electric psychedelic rock, and liquid light shows reminiscent of a Austin Powers flick. Our playlist now has a couple psychedelic performances such as WAR’s Spill the Wine and Strawberry Alarm Clock’s Incense & Peppermints. We can also throw in an Austin Powers clip from the “Electric Psychedelic Pussycat Swingers Club” for good meaure. 

If you’re catching on to the game we’re playing here, you may be thinking “Hey, isn’t there a Godzilla reference in the Austin Powers: Goldmember car chase scene?”. Or perhaps you didn’t watch that movie every weekend during middle school like I did. Either way the answer is yes, add it to the playlist.

Now this is where the floodgates open and you realize how ubiquitous Godzilla is in American pop culture. The YouTube sidebar has likely started recommending Simpsons clips, Dave Chappelle’s “Blackzilla” sketch, Blue Oyster Cult’s smash hit “Godzilla”, ads of Charles Barkley getting dunked on by Godzilla, Japanese toy commercials, American toy commercials, beverage commercials – so many commercials. There is going to be a point here where you have to cut back on the vintage ads before they start to lose their luster.

Similarly, you will not be able to use just any old film reference for the sake of time. Godzilla’s roar is so commonly referenced in our media that its Wikipedia section cites more than 30 examples of its use in non-Toho media. The monster itself has appeared in countless TV shows, anime, and film. Even the -Zilla suffix has become so common that it may not even register as a movie reference at all (I learned while writing this that Mozilla is one such example). All that being said, there still is an important connection we can make regarding music.

Kaiju films and other grindhouse influences have long crept into our subcultures and subgenres of music. Take for example Pharoahe Monch’s Simon Says: the bombastic brass stabs which accompany a classic looping drum fill come from Godzilla’s March – a part of the original film’s score. This song has a bonafide MTV music video that we can add to our playlist. Even hip-hop artists frequently draw inspiration from exploitation films- MF DOOM fans may recognize one of his aliases as King Geedrah, inspired by the iconic “King Ghidorah” of Kaiju fame. But the most famous of group of grindhouse inspired artists must be the legendary Wu-Tang Clan. Their founding members created the hip-hop group with direct inspiration from Shaolin Kung-Fu and Wuxia movies from Hong Kong which were frequently screened within action houses. Not only does it inspire the name and aesthetic of the group but also the music itself, with songs filled to the brim with Kung-Fu movie samples.  The astute reader will notice one more through-line: RZA (of Wu-Tang fame) had produced, orchestrated, and scored one of Tarantino’s many love-letter to the grindhouse industry, the Kill Bill series.

While we’ve mostly covered the process of making our off-beat visual potpourri, I want to bring attention to one clip in particular. A clip that deepened my feeling of connection with people of a past generation (nowadays quite a rare feat). I am referring to the animated short Bambi Meets Godzilla from 1969. I suggest taking the two minutes to make sure you see it (It’s the fourth clip in the playlist). Do you notice anything that feels familiar about it? Anything that makes it seem like it was made, maybe 5 years ago as opposed to over 50? It’s two minutes of almost nothing happening, but it’s taking itself very seriously. Then almost in a jump-scare moment, you realize the “meeting” suggested by the title was the punchline. There is almost no semblance of a story, making its only left-field event even funnier. It feels about as online as you can get before entering truly absurd meme territory. Like medieval fart jokes or roman graffiti about screwing someone’s mom, it is a beautiful reminder of the persistence of humor and humanity.

With that, this Midnight Movie Mood-Setter for Godzilla vs. Hedorah clocks in at roughly 40 bizarre minutes across 23 short videos. Plenty of time to serve up some Midori Sours (ahem, atomic breaths), pop your popcorn, chat over the far-out collection of soon-to-be cinematic inside jokes, and ease right into a night of monster mayhem. 

In case you missed it, this playlist (and more to come) are available at the Kudzu League YouTube page, leaving the cocktailing and movie-streaming up to you. Feel free to reach out with any suggestions or requests for future Midnight Movie Mood-setters, it’s a rabbit-hole worth diving into.