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Shaun Costello

Biography

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

The Love Bus
The Love Bus
Forced Entry
Forced Entry
The Untamed Vixens
The Untamed Vixens
Cheryl's Surrender
Cheryl's Surrender
Teenage Nurses
Teenage Nurses
Joy Of Humiliation
Joy Of Humiliation
The Fury in Alice
The Fury in Alice
The Porn Brokers
The Porn Brokers

Filmography

2021 Hymns from the Abyss
as Self (archive footage)
1990 Enrapture
as Cigar Shop Man
1982 Double Pleasure
as (as Russ Carlson)
1982 Mistress Electra
as Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
1981 Pandora's Mirror
as Waiter / Man in Audition Line
1980 New York Construction Co.
as
1979 More Than Sisters
as Martin Randall
1979 The Two Lives of Jennifer
as Bob O'Connor
1978 Slave of Pleasure
as Richard Anselm / Masked Guy
1978 A Taste Of Bette
as S.R.
1978 Daughters of Discipline
as Bruno
1977 The Fire in Francesca
as Troy Winston
1977 Joy Of Humiliation
as Biker with Cigarette
1977 Cherry Hustlers
as Company Investigator
1977 Betrayed Teens
as Bobby
1977 Schoolgirl's Reunion
as Football Announcer (voice) / Autograph Seeker / Guy at Party
1977 Dirty Susan
as Bob Gilroy
1976 The Dark Side of Danielle
as Bruce / Betty's Master
1976 Tortured Woman
as El Gringo
1976 Water Power
as Police Station Cop / Man at Car Window