Grindhouse, the 2007 double feature encompassing Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof and Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror, is a big-budget tribute to the low-rent exploitation movies of the 1970s and ‘80s. The filmmakers set out to recreate the dirty drive-in experiences of yesteryear, so they recruited some of their director buddies to direct trailers for faux action and horror movies to show before and in between their flicks. Little did they know, every trailer would soon take on a life of its own.
These faux trailers include Jason Eisener’s Hobo with a Shotgun, Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving, Edgar Wright’s Don’t, Rodriguez’s Machete, and – the best one of the bunch – Rob Zombie’s Werewolf Women of the S.S. Zombie’s homage to Naziploitation films, women-in-prison flicks, and creature features is a politically incorrect sleazefest of the highest order. It also deserves to be so much more than a fake trailer.
Werewolf Women of the S.S. depicts a prison camp where Nazis gleefully torture women in an effort to create a race of superweapons. Starring Bill Moseley, Sheri Moon Zombie, Tom Towles, Udo Kier, Sybil Danning, and Nicolas Cage, the teaser is essentially a series of torture vignettes with moments of musical cabaret and a lycanthrope who plays piano and fires machine guns. The closing moments see Cage show up as the pulp icon Fu Manchu to deliver the scenery-chewing madness that’s made him an icon among cult film aficionados for decades. Who knows what’s happening, but it’s entertaining enough to warrant an entire feature.
Grindhouse ultimately flopped, yet it’s created quite the legacy. Hobo with a Shotgun, Machete, and Thanksgiving have since spawned their own films, all of which have expanded upon the demented visions shown in their respective trailers. However, can fans expect Zombie’s Naziploitation effort to follow suit?
Werewolf Women of the S.S. Is Stuck in Limbo
Hot off the heels of directing two financially successful Halloween movies, Rob Zombie went into Werewolf Women of the S.S. with plans to turn it into a legitimate feature. Sadly, factors beyond his control have prevented that dream from becoming a reality.
“I would still love to make it, but it is probably never going to happen because I do not own the rights,” Zombie told SciFiNow in 2013. “The whole Grindhouse thing is owned by Dimension. It is a shame because it would have been a great movie – but when Grindhouse did not pan out to be the success that Dimension were hoping for, that was pretty much the end of it.”
Werewolf Women of the S.S. becoming the next Grindhouse spin-off movie doesn’t look likely. However, fans might eventually get to see a longer version of Zombie’s twisted take on Naziploitation films. According to the Los Angeles Times, he shot enough footage for a 30-minute short film, and it’d be a crime against cinema if it’s left to collect dust in the basement of Dimension Films.
