Mexploitation (sometimes called Cabrito Western[1] or Mexican video-home)[2] is a film genre of low-budget films that combine elements of an exploitation film and Mexican culture or portrayals of Mexican life within Mexico often dealing with crime, drug trafficking, money and sex.
Mexican narco-cinema
The Mexican narco-cine (Spanish for narco-cinema)[3] or narco-películas (Spanish for narco-films/narco-movies),[4] are a subgenre of the Mexploitation style films,[5] focused solely on the violence and luxurious lives of drug lords and cartels.[6] The title and the storyline of these films are usually inspired by popular narco corridos (drug ballads, drug songs),[7] and are marketed as low budget[8]tie-in merchandising to the narcocorrido songs.[9] Sometimes these films feature famous narco-corrido singers on them,[10] and are rumored to be financed by drug lords themselves. However, only a few such cases have been proven.[11]
Common qualities
Mexploitation movies made in the 1960s and 1970s in Mexico were closer to their American exploitation film counterparts, with low-budget science-fiction films that often starred Mexican luchadores such as El Santo and Huracan Ramirez.
The director Robert Rodriguez has been considered a pioneer of Mexploitation in the United States. His first film, El Mariachi, contains many Mexploitation elements and his 2007 film, Planet Terror, contained a fake trailer which developed into a feature film called Machete (2010), which contains many familiar elements of the genre.[16]
K. Gordon Murray
Exploitation film producer and distributor named K. Gordon Murray acquired a unique collection of horror films in Mexico which began to appear on American late-night television and drive-in screens in the 1960s.[17][18] Ranging from monster movies clearly owing to the heyday of Universal Studios, to the lucha libre horror films featuring El Santo[19] and the "Wrestling Women"[20] alongside the 1959 Christmas classic "Santa Claus",[21] these low-budget films are still notably campy and inspired a small cult following.[20]