Godmother of Gore

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The Sin Syndicate

Someone's Favorite Productions

26 episodes

5 days ago

The Sin Syndicate is a podcast hosted by writer Gentry Austin and adult film historian Casey Scott focused on the Golden Age of American sexploitation, when the morals were loose, the laws were murky, and the intercourse was all simulated. Join us semiweekly as we peer into adults only theaters and sticky floored grindhouses looking for colorful nudies, B&W roughies, and softcore sex films.

All content for The Sin Syndicate is the property of Someone's Favorite Productions and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

Godmother of Gore

The Sin Syndicate

1 hour 21 minutes

3 months ago

Godmother of Gore

Doris Wishman. Roberta Findlay. Two of the undisputed female titans of sexploitation. But there’s another name that is often forgotten, and underrecognized, as a sexual pioneer in an industry that wasn’t always welcoming to women—especially those with strong opinions. We’re talking about Louise ‘Bunny’ Downe.

In planning for our episode about “The Girl, The Body, and The Pill,” we learned that Louise, the film's writer as well as assistant director (and former nudie-cutie actress), had just recently passed away. The moment felt right to give her a proper sendoff. So, for Episode 15 of the The Sin Syndicate podcast, we spoke with professor and screenwriter Janna Jones about her Bunny-based screenplay (“Cheap, Sexy and Shocking!”), Louise’s importance as a woman in the field of exploitation moviemaking, as well as her contentious relationship with one of the genre’s biggest names, Herschell Gordon Lewis.

Prepare a 500 page paper on the relationship between men and women, and join us as we discuss the “muddy morality” of the birth control pill, Louise’s creative drive to create something meaningful, and the still controversial topic of in-school sex education. But more than anything, we hope you’ll accompany us in celebrating the life of one of sexploitation’s most underappreciated do-it-all artists, the still mysterious (just as she wanted it), Allison Alma Louise Bunny Downe—the “Godmother of Gore.”

Links:
Read Janna Jones’ essay, Neither the Nudie-Cuties nor the Gore
Watch "The Girl, The Body, and The Pill" on the Something Weird Channel
Instagram with us at The Sin Syndicate
Follow us on Letterboxd: Gentry & Casey
Listen to other podcasts on Someone's Favorite Productions
Contact us: thesinsyndicatepodcast@gmail.com

Timestamps:
(00:00:31) Intro
(00:02:31) Rest in Peace Louise
(00:07:48) Louise in Miami
(00:15:40) Rewriting Louise’s Ending
(00:22:49) Abortion and The Pill Onscreen
(00:31:22) Louise’s Influence
(00:47:18) Breaking New Ground
(00:51:17) Picture Palaces
(00:57:37) Louise’s Silence
(01:02:00) The Cast
(01:19:10) The Lesson for Today