Now that the season of the witch has passed, let’s admit it... we’ve all indulged in some exploitation movies. But, what exactly are those? Exploitation films are movies that go straight for the jugular, exaggerating popular themes to draw in audiences. They focus on sensational topics—extreme violence, scandalous plotlines or taboos—meant to shock and awe with their often low-budget, edgy appeal. Essentially, if there’s a theme that’s hot at any specific time, exploitation films take it and crank it up to eleven.
Think of them as the renegades of cinema—unafraid to shock, scandalize or entertain by any means necessary. They’re more like experiences; they’re designed to be brash, bold and unforgettable.
“I only have one favor to ask of you tonight. If some of you could throw up or faint, that would be great (laughs). No, really. Enjoy the movie and… I hope you vomit!”, Director Damien Leone at the European premiere of Terrifier 3, SITGES festival 2024.
Exploitation cinema traces back to the 1920s and ‘30s when filmmakers were working outside Hollywood’s strict moral codes and standards. However, the genre really took off in the ‘60s and ‘70s, where a more relaxed production code and the rise of drive-ins and grindhouse theaters created the perfect space for over-the-top content that mainstream studios wouldn’t dare to produce.
This boom gave birth to countless subgenres, each with its own gimmick, like blaxploitation, zombiesploitation and sharksploitation among them. And they are still popular today! Just look at the wave of shark movies since Jaws (1975): the Sharknado franchise, Sharktopus (2010) and 5-Headed Shark Attack (2017), to name just a few.
“The low costs of production allow for quick turnarounds, enabling the exploitation film to address issues of high topicality. This also gives the films a ragged and rickety look that often fits the marginality of their topics”, Ernest Mathijs, Professor in Cinema and Media Studies at the University of British Columbia, who researches cult film, genre cinema, David Cronenberg and European horror.
However, while classic exploitation was low-budget, raw and risky, modern exploitation takes the genre’s core thrills and (sometimes) dresses them up with big budgets, high-end effects and top-tier actors. Today’s “-ploitation” cinema comes in all shapes and forms, but always taps into the same adrenaline and spectacle. This is the case of, for example, the Fast & Furious franchise which has taken carsploitation to blockbuster levels, turning street racing and absurd stunts into an international phenomenon.
Have you heard of hagsploitation? It's a 60s subgenre of horror that casts older women as violent or mentally unstable villains. A recent example is The Substance by Fargeat, though it’s a fine line to walk.And what about superhero movies? If exploitation films are defined by the relentless and exagerated focus on a specific theme, then sup’ movies are undoubtedly in the realm—even if they’re no longer low-budget productions. Originally, these were campy, crime-fighting flicks with capes and catchphrases. But today, Hollywood has squeezed the superhero as much as it can, leaving audiences on the verge of burnout. However, there’s a (kind of) new sup-sploitation that finds fresh life in shows like The Boys and films like Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) or The Suicide Squad (2021 – the James Gunn one), where superhero clichés are twisted with intense violence, dark humor and subversive themes —tapping right back into the essence of what makes an exploitation movie.
Now, we can’t talk about exploitation movies without mentioning the horror genre, which thrives on testing limits, serving up blood, guts and terror to keep audiences cringing (and coming back for more... surprisingly). Enter splatter, aka gore-sploitation, where the rule is more blood, less mercy. Think The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), the Final Destination franchise and, more recently, Terrifier—all films that got very creative with their kills. Terrifier, especially, gave us Art the Clown, a villain as memorable as Freddy Krueger or Jason, with his own creepy, silent vibe and a twisted imagination for disturbing deaths.
"I wanted to create special effects that would be new, fresh and different from what we've seen in slasher movies. I wanted something gross and gore. So I took inspiration from real medieval torture images", Damien Leone, director and SFX artist.
But directors can also dive into regional flavors with ‘country-sploitation’ films. Or haven’t you heard of Mex-ploitation? That’s exactly what Robert Rodriguez did with his movies, bringing an all-Mexican flavor to gritty, action-packed stories. With films like El Mariachi (1992) and Machete (2010), Rodriguez infused his work with Mexican culture, exaggerating familiar tropes—guns, outlaws and larger-than-life antiheroes—while giving audiences pure, high-octane entertainment. The same happened with Mad Heidi (2022), a Swiss-ploitation movie that used every bit of Swiss cheese to create bizarre, fun and explosives deaths. It’s a perfect example of how cultural clichés can be dialed up for maximum entertainment.
So, in the end, what is an exploitation movie? If we summarize it, these films are all about amplifying one element—gore, sex, action or cultural tropes—to extremes, aiming to shock, thrill and/or entertain a niche audience.
Ever-evolving, exploitation cinema may often be low-budget, but it’s become a versatile beast with codes that apply to films of any scale. So, whether it’s an indie gorefest or a superhero splatter-fest, exploitation proves that no matter how much cinema changes, there’s always an audience ready to laugh, gasp and cheer at on-screen extremes—all in the name of a wild ride.
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