THE ARENA
dir. Steve Carver, 1974
United States/Italy. 82 min.
In English.

SATURDAY, MARCH 2 – MIDNIGHT
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6 – 10 PM
THURSDAY, MARCH 14 – 10 PM
TUESDAY, MARCH 19 – 7:30 PM
FRIDAY, MARCH 29 – MIDNIGHT

When the Roman elite force a group of female sex slaves to become gladiatrices tasked with fighting each other to the death, a Nubian dancer and a Gaulish priestess join forces to mount a vicious rebellion against their male oppressors.

Grier & Markov’s second collaboration landed them in Italy for a T&A-centric take on the story of Spartacus, the pair once again playing adversaries-turned-allies, united in oppression and driven to revolution. Unlike Corman’s previous Philippines-set WIP films, THE ARENA was one of New World Pictures’ few European co-productions, with several of the arena scenes filmed by Carver’s Italian counterpart, Joe D’Amato.

Corman later credited the success of the film to Grier & Markov’s talent on screen, acknowledging that the pair “were beginning to be well known and were emerging somewhat as stars of this kind of film.” Ironically, while the film cemented the duo’s stardom and box office dominance on the grindhouse circuit, its production was also where Markov met her future husband, producer Mark Damon, leading her to retire from acting soon after its release.