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Shaun Costello

Jan 01, 1944 - Jul 05, 2023 (79 years old) in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA

Shaun Costello began directing for "loops" (10-minute scenes shown in coin-operated viewers in adult theaters) in NYC in the early 1970s, and soon was directing (and acting in) full porn movies and other grindhouse "roughies" shown in Times Square's 42nd Street adult theaters. Costello took work where he could get it, often working for the Mob, who owned many adult theaters and distribution, and working under different aliases for different theaters so that no one (at the time) knew that he was his own competition. Eventually moving on to a mainstream documentary career, Costello written and directed grindhouse movies - rough and violent and reflecting of their times - have seen a resurgence as the 2010's have seen these movies be remastered and re-released and often seen for the first time in decades. Anyone interested in the history of American porn or grindhouse/exploitation theater of the late 1960s and 1970s will likely have encountered Shaun Costello's work, often unknowingly due to his prolific use of aliases.

Known For

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Enrapture
Cigar Shop Man
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Hymns from the Abyss
Self (archive footage)
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The Love Bus
George
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Pandora's Mirror
Waiter / Man in Audition Line
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Forced Entry
David
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Cheryl's Surrender
Ray Lavagis
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The Untamed Vixens
Jerry
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Teenage Nurses
Joe / TV Reporter
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Joy Of Humiliation
Biker with Cigarette
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The Fury in Alice
Chip Carson

Credits