The rise of grindhouse TV: ‘Blood Drive’ and more

The movie “Grindhouse,” an homage to exploitation double features of the 1970s, is 10 years old this year. The film by directors Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez has had a big impact on movies since its release and now the gonzo cinematic qualities it celebrated are showing up in television shows.
Rodriguez helped kick off the grindhouse TV trend with “From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series,” an adaptation of his cult movie about Mexican snake vampires. The series ran for three seasons (2014-2016) on cable channel El Rey and is now available on Netflix.
Like its cinematic grindhouse predecessors, “From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series” features nudity, graphic violence and a dark sense of humor.
The Syfy channel’s bonkers zombie apocalypse series “Z Nation” (2014-present) is another example of the genre. It’s the grindhouse answer to AMC’s prestige zombie apocalypse show “The Walking Dead.”
Other recent series that could be classified as grindhouse for their B-movie feel and genre subject matter include “Van Helsing” (2016-present) on Syfy, “The Strain” (2014-2017) on FX, and “Zoo” (2015-present) on CBS.
The latest series that falls squarely into the grindhouse category is “Blood Drive,” which premiered June 14 on Syfy. It takes place in a dystopian future and involves a death race where the cars run on human blood.
Depending on how schlocky it is, “The Mist,” based on the Stephen King horror story, could fall into the grindhouse category. It premieres June 22 on Spike.
Another grindhouse TV series in the works is “Wyrmwood: Chronicles of the Dead,” a sequel to the cult hit Australian zombie flick “Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead” (2014). A teaser for the under-development series is nuts.

Related reading:

Video Explores the Unexpected Legacy of Grindhouse (Geektyrant; June 2017)

Summer Means Time for Television to Go Bonkers (Reason; June 9, 2017)