About Exploitation Retrospect

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Started by Lou Goncey (left) and Dan Taylor (that's me in the snazzy tartan tux jacket), ER debuted in the fall of 1986 with tons of reviews and an interview with the legendary John Waters. Unknown to us, there was an entire drive-in film zine movement afoot, and we quickly became familiar with publications like Steve Puchalski's great SLIMETIME (the precursor to SHOCK CINEMA), Craig Ledbetter's influential EUROPEAN TRASH CINEMA, Jeff Smith's brilliant WET PAINT and other great examples of B-movie fandom.

Originally intended as a quarterly publication, ER made the jump to a more frequent distribution schedule with issue #3. The review zine format stuck and though we didn’t publish as often as I would have liked, ER did make it into the hands of our subscribers on a regular basis.

By the mid-1990s, the drive-ins we frequented were gone and it was getting harder and harder to find diamonds in the cinematic rough. We'd already tackled such weighty issues as The Guide to Klaus Kinski, Women in Prison Films, and other junk film topics, but found the zine drifting into offbeat pop culture coverage (like horror movies made into Atari 2600 games and conspiracy theories) as well as music reviews. Subscribers were often confused about the publication's direction, especially those who had loyally followed the zine since its blood-spattered debut.

When I moved to Pittsburgh in the fall of 1995, I figured on putting ER to rest, at least as a print publication. Our web site had been launched that spring and the idea of being able to distribute via the internet became more attractive, both financially and personally.

Some zines, however, refuse to die. Friends and fellow publishers Larry Kay and Leslie Goldman approached me with an offer that I couldn't refuse: for as long as I wanted, they would publish ER as a supplement to their excellent art / music / smut / wrestling mag CARBON 14. That arrangement stuck for seven more issues at which point the decision was finally made to let ER go with issue #50. (I hope to eventually compile those C14 issues someday.)

For the next dozen or so years I was content to crank out ER as a website and blog, contribute articles to other print/online publications, publish sister zine The Hungover Gourmet, etc. But when 2011's Revenge of Print movement reared its head and some old zinesters dusted off their long-reach staplers for a return to the trenches, well, I couldn't pass up the chance.

ER #51 was published in the Fall of 2012 and was surprisingly well received for a publication that had been mothballed for more than a decade. The issue showed there was still interest in our blend of "junk culture and fringe media" and ER #52 arrived two years later and is still available directly from our online store.

We blew out all the stops with 2017’s ER #53 — nearly 130 pages, full-color artwork from the great Neil Vokes, perfect binding, the works. Unfortunately, what probably should have been two issues took a lot out of me and I found myself once again burned out on my first zine baby. 

Sadly, my co-founder and movie/music/diner pal Lou died in October 2019, about a year after my older brother John (aka JT), who occasionally wrote about his two passions—basketball and Frank Zappa—for the zine. Losing two such good friends in such a short time made me less interested in continuing.

But that doesn’t mean the itch to publish goes away for good. After a long hiatus, The Hungover Gourmet returned to print, and when the calendar turned to 2026, I knew a 40th (Gasp!) Anniversary Edition of ER couldn’t be far behind.

Just remember, pain is temporary, film is forever.

How to Contact ER

Comments, complaints, criticisms, etc. can be directed to: Dan Taylor (editor@er-online.com)

Physical media and other items for review should be mailed to:
Dan Taylor
PO Box 5811
Lutherville, MD 21094-5811