Jacksploitation!
The Films of Jack Hill
Will be published approx. on 27. August 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
196 pages
978-1-915316-56-1 (ISBN)
Description
JACKsploitation! examines the explosive work of Jack Hill, a journeyman writer and director who changed the face of American horror and exploitation movies forever.
An apprentice of producer/director Roger Corman, Hill helped craft films featuring Boris Karloff and Jack Nicholson alongside collaborator Francis Ford Coppola, before then co-writing and co-directing Karloff's final films. His auteur turn on Spider Baby, Or The Maddest Story Ever Told (1964/67) created one of the most distinctive horror comedies of all time, while the auto racing classic Pit Stop (1969) features Academy Award(TM) winner Ellen Burstyn in one of her earliest roles. In the 1970s, he re-defined the exploitation genre and made a star of Pam Grier with The Big Bird Cage (1972), Coffy (1973), Foxy Brown (1974), and Switchblade Sisters (1975)--Quentin Tarantino's favorite film.
Hill featured minority performers in heroic roles at a time when minority voices were still being suppressed, often against the wishes of distributors. But after directing Sorceress in 1980, and removing his name from the film, Hill walked away from the movie business.
Featuring a cadre of top film writers and with a foreword by Hill himself, JACKsploitation! The Films Of Jack Hill analyzes the work, themes and stars of Hill's defining cinema, and why it is fully deserving of renewed appreciation.
An apprentice of producer/director Roger Corman, Hill helped craft films featuring Boris Karloff and Jack Nicholson alongside collaborator Francis Ford Coppola, before then co-writing and co-directing Karloff's final films. His auteur turn on Spider Baby, Or The Maddest Story Ever Told (1964/67) created one of the most distinctive horror comedies of all time, while the auto racing classic Pit Stop (1969) features Academy Award(TM) winner Ellen Burstyn in one of her earliest roles. In the 1970s, he re-defined the exploitation genre and made a star of Pam Grier with The Big Bird Cage (1972), Coffy (1973), Foxy Brown (1974), and Switchblade Sisters (1975)--Quentin Tarantino's favorite film.
Hill featured minority performers in heroic roles at a time when minority voices were still being suppressed, often against the wishes of distributors. But after directing Sorceress in 1980, and removing his name from the film, Hill walked away from the movie business.
Featuring a cadre of top film writers and with a foreword by Hill himself, JACKsploitation! The Films Of Jack Hill analyzes the work, themes and stars of Hill's defining cinema, and why it is fully deserving of renewed appreciation.