Gods in Spandex is the follow up to Succubus Press’s Gods in Polyester, which was a ramshackle, entertaining journey through seventies exploitation cinema as recounted by stars and filmmakers who were working at the time. Spandex sticks to the same format – allowing people to tell their stories pretty much unabridged – but moves on to the 80s, and as a result a lot of the films discussed are the kinds of titles that filled the shelves in the video stores while the major studios held their product back from home consumption. Those were the days.
The book takes a vaguely chronological format, with each chapter being dedicated to the discussion of a single film. These range in size from a couple of lines to almost twenty pages (i.e. Lawrence D. Foldes on Young Warriors). The range of films covered is wide; of course, the large majority are American, but there’s a lot of interest to European film fans in there as well. So, for instance, you get Richard Harrison discussing a lot of his later work (often in conjunction with his son Sebastian), Andy J Forrest laking about shooting war films with Umberto Lenzi, John P Dulaney on numerous productions, John Philip Law on Blood Delirium and so on.
The most interesting sections for me were those discussing the cheapjack films shot in the Philippines in the mid 80s, when assorted filmmakers from Europe and elsewhere flooded there to shoot adventure and war films. It’s a period which hasn’t been discussed much, and a vivid picture emerges as you read the stories of those who were involved. Figures like Mike Monty, James Gaines and Romano Kristoff feature repeatedly, and the bizarre lifestyles of those involved is given some clarity.
In all, then, Gods in Spandex is well worth picking up, and a valuable attempt to build up a kind of aural history of exploitation cinema.