Bev Zalcock

This is the 11th book in the excellent "Creation Cinema Collection" from Creation Books. As outlined in the introduction, the book concerns itself with “…the rich vein of film making that features women as powerful and active agents instead of the usual passive objects” and as such runs through a range of exploitation / independent cinema genres including Queercore; street-gangs; women in prison; women on wheels, etc. It provides a good focus on classics such as “Switchblade show more Sisters” and “A Gun For Jennifer” as well as interviewing film-makers such as Vivienne Dick and Deborah Twiss. The tone of the book is a little uneven veering from close textural analysis to broad, superficial overview, but given the breadth of the overall topic this is perhaps understandable. The book provides a good historical perspective and places the movies discussed within the prevailing culture of their times; it is well-referenced and provides an excellent index of movies. It is heartening that there is now greater critical effort being expended on some of the more obscure (and interesting) areas of exploitation cinema. An excellent read. show less

I love the books in the Creation Cinema Collection if for nothing else than as a suggestion list of films that most people haven't heard of. Criticism of these sub-genres aside, I love that they are spotlighted at all. This volume in the series deals with Girl Gang flicks, so all your Women in Prison films, Chick Greaser flicks and girl power Blaxsploitation flicks are generally covered. These books aren't a complete in depth look, but are more than a good starting point for anyone who for show more instance has only seen the recent Charlie's Angels flicks (as featured on the cover) and has never heard of filmmakers like Jack Hill or actresses like Pam Grier or Christina Lindberg.

There's a little bit of filler in the form of reprinted interviews with actresses and such, but all in all hardly a complaint. If you're new to cinema outside of summer movies, dumb comedies and Oscar flicks this series of books is a good place to start. show less

"From boarding school to women's prison, biker packs to urban vigilantes, rampaging girl gangs have long been a staple feature of exploitation/ independent cinema.
Richly illustrated thoughout, Renegade Sisters examines the whole history of girl gangs on film, focusing on B-classics like Russ Meyer's "Faster, Pussycat!" "Kill! Kill!", Herschell Gordon Lewis' "She-Devils on Wheels", and Jack Hill's "Switchblade Sisters"; Women-in-Prison movies such as Stephanie Rothman's "Terminal Island" and show more Jack Hill's "Big Doll House" with Pam Grier; camp SF like "Cat Women of the Moon" and "Queen of Outer Space"; plus many other deviant displays of girl power from various genres, right through to Todd Morris and Deborah Twiss' ferocious, post-Tarantino "A Gun for Jennifer"."
www.amazon.com show less