Frank Henenlotter

There are few people we would consider an ’exploitation auteur’, but Frank Henenlotter (°1950) most certainly fits the bill. From the age of fifteen, the young Henenlotter spent all his spare time at the grindhouses of 42nd Street, trying to watch as many films as possible, attracted by the lurid posters and titillating titles. He discovered a whole new world and never left. His films show a fixation on bodily mutations, a characteristic sense of humour, a fascination for the sleazy back alleys of New York and the colourful characters that inhabit them. The likeable filmmaker always states that he does not make horror films, but exploitation films. To him, it’s a matter of attitude: exploitation films are a little ruder, a little raunchier and deal with material people don’t usually touch on, like monstrous Siamese twins (“Basket Case”), exploding street prostitutes (“Frankenhooker”) or brainsucking parasites (“Brain Damage”).