I'd like to take you on a tour through the history of one of my favorite cinematic subgenres,

The Mondo movie.

Loyal listeners will recall that in episode 396, we discussed the pioneering example of this genre,

1962's Mondocane, a shockumentary about bizarre rituals from around the world.

As you all remember, Luke fell instantly in love with this movie.

This film, honestly, I could not think of another example of a film we've talked about

on this podcast or watched that emanates the particular kind of pretension that this movie has.

It is just radiating this kind of smug insistence on its own self-importance,

when really it is the same stupid conceit repeated over and over again,

and which is alternatively used to show you images that are disgusting and disturbing,

or which are just kind of like

extremely softcore stuff that would have been yet titillating in like 1963.

Boy, those were the days. While it's little seen, disgust or admired today, Mondo Kane

sent shockwaves in the 1960s, becoming the most commercially successful documentary

of its time, and codifying the shockumentary form for generations.

Today, the influence of the Mondo boom can still be felt.

If you've seen Mondo Kane, you may be wondering, why would anybody go back for more?

But believe it or not, they did for years.

But just as Night of the Living Dead,

codified but didn't exactly invent the zombie genre,

there are many precedents for the shockumentary before Mondo Kane.

In the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, Hollywood Studios were bound by a self-enforced censorship code,

...