SEX AND HORROR

Exploitation generally chooses one of two lines of attack: sex or horror—both often mixed with gratuitous helpings of violence and over-the-top drama.

“Gratuitousness” or excessiveness is an important characteristic of all exploitation, being the antithesis of the restraint usually associated with respectability and “good taste.”

When it comes to examples of pre-'70s sexploitation—the kind that played in seedy grindhouses prior to the arrival of XXX—the best is probably offered by the Something Weird Video line, which proudly emphasizes the psychosexual or “deviant” sexual elements of its “product.”

A characteristic of exploitation films in general was that it tackled “taboo” subjects. In sexploitation, these would be the advertised psychosexual elements. Examples of “aberrant” sexuality include D/s (as in the Olga series), fetishism, prostitution, lesbianism (and homosexuality, in general), and swinging (as in “Sin in the Suburbs”).

“Nudism” is also considered an expression of deviant sexuality. Or at least it was, at the time. Which of course makes it pretty funny, today.