About

Movies are usually defined by their stars and their directors. Fans of b-movies have a wide variety of favorites. It is easy to find partisans of directors like Ed Wood, Coleman Francis, Doris Wishman, Albert Pyun, Charles Band, and many, many others. And of course, there are numerous fans of actors like David Caradine, Pam Grier, Tim Thomerson, and the vast panoply of future stars, has-beens, and never-weres who inhabit the b-movie realm.

In my years of watching b-movies, though, two celebrities stand out as the top of their field. They are the lovely and talented Shannon Whirry and the prolific and steady Cirio Santiago. Ms. Whirry, best known for her pivotal role in the early-1990s “erotic thriller” explosion could have made it in hollywood at any time. With her glamour girl looks, notably her full pouty lips and perhaps the greatest rack in the history of American film, she would have out-vamped Mae West, inhabited more GI fantasies than Betty Grable, been a lion to Jane Fonda’s sex kitten, and filled out the deflated 70s. Virtually all of her movies are currently out of print and fetch exorbitant bids on eBay and elsewhere when they come up for sale, attesting to her lasting appeal.

Cirio H. Santiago is not a great director. His technique is workmanlike and his films wholly unimaginative. But in a genre with a high preponderance of con-men, you have to admire his ability to bring it, year after year, and film after film. Here is a man who is comfortable with his profession. Completely lacking in artistic pretension, his movies deliver the goods as Joe Bob used to say, “the drive-in way.” When you rent or buy a Cirio H. Santiago movie you know there will be violence, nudity, a straight-forward, comprehensible plot with a satisfying resolution at the end. Though he’s worked almost exclusively in the exploitation genre, Santiago is virtually unique in his ability to work in all the sub-genres: women in prison, post-apocalyptic movies, kickboxing flicks, war movies, and even a little sci-fi. A great range indeed.

This page, in short, is a tribute to two of my favorite artists. I hope you will enjoy reading about and rediscovering their work as much as I have enjoyed watching it.