The Weird World of Weird
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To celebrate 20 years of Something Weird bringing the world the very best in subversive, disreputable, and cult cinema, SWV made available four exceedingly rare, never-before-released jewels that will make any cinephile’s head light up and spin.
Rosie (b&w) is a failed 19-minute pilot for a TV sitcom about a talking dog named Rosie. It is absolutely horrifying. Why? Because the dog is not played by a real canine (or a puppet or a cartoon) but by a large adult in a mangy dog suit with a creepy dog face, clumsily walking around on his hands and knees.
The Weird World of Weird (1970, color) is a loony 47-minute never-aired TV special in which host RALPH STORY explores psychic phenomena, astrology, witchcraft and “all those mysterious secrets hidden in the mystical world of the occult.” with detours to a psychic “balloon reader” and a spook-filled séance at the Magic Castle. It's got a groovy, late-60s psychedelic feel to it all that makes it a wonderfully bizarre time capsule.
Follow That Skirt (1964, color) is a nasty little 26-minute short that was probably intended to be America’s second gore film. Though not released until 1965 when, according to Dave Friedman, it played a single theater in San Francisco, there’s little doubt that Blood Feast was its influence.
Based on the popularity of its trailer, The Smut Peddler (1965, b&w) is among a handful of currently “lost” films that Something Weird (as well as the rest of the world) has been actively searching for. So we were thrilled when we at least found this much in excellent condition. And, yeah, it’s good stuff. A crude oyster-eating publisher, a lesbian secretary, and a French photographer all love mauling and exploiting their lovely nude models while W.B. PARKER (Olga’s House of Shame) is shocked and appalled. - Frank Henenlotter
The Dance Of Tomorrow
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1950s Archival short subject “The Dance Of Tomorrow,” featuring a glimpse into the future of automobiles.
Daredevil
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Though best known for the Mexican horror films he imported and dubbed into English, as well as numerous foreign children's films sold as"Kiddie Matinees" throughout the Sixties producer K. GORDON MURRAY also dabbled in American-made Southern-style exploitation such as Shanty Tramp (1966), Savages from Hell (1968), Thunder County (1974), and The Daredevil, the last starring role for Hollywood cowboy GEORGE MONTGOMERY. A crazed mix of racing, racism, and drug smuggling, THE DAREDEVIL; another portrait of The Redneck as an American icon with an attitude that's about midway between Thunder Road and Smokey and the Bandit, helped in no small amount by the casting of big George.
High School Big Shot
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Desperate to become popular, a teenager turns to a life of crime in an effort to impress the prettiest - and greediest - girl in school.
Hollywood Babylon
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A faux cautionary documentary that portrays several notorious celebrity sex scandals from the golden age of Hollywood through film clips and often humorous softcore reenactments.
The Atomic Brain (aka Monstrosity)
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Yipes! A veritable banquet of "Bad Cinema," Monstrosity is so gloriously stupid as to be almost brilliant. Surprisingly, director JOSEPH V. MASCELLI, who also shot three Ray Dennis Steckler gems - Wild Guitar, The Incredibly Strange Creatures, and The Thrill Killers - is best known as the author of two excellent works, The American Cinematographer Manual and The Five C's of Cinematography: Motion Picture Filming Techniques, neither of which mentions Monstrosity. Released to television as The Atomic Brain and usually seen in grainy 16mm dupe prints, Something Weird's transfer has been digitally remastered from a crisp 35mm theatrical print - under its original Monstrosity moniker - and is incongruously beautiful.
Incredible Petrified World
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Lovers of true grade-Z schlock either genuflect or run screaming at the mere mention of JERRY WARREN, the auteur of such cheapjack epics as Man Beast ('56), Terror of the Bloodhunters ('62), and The Wild Wild World of Batwoman ('66). (He also imported numerous Mexican films, recut them, added new scenes, and usually removed most of the dialogue so they wouldn't nee redubbing!) The Incredible Petrified World, Warren's second film, is a no-budget "Nightmare of Terror is the Center of the Earth!" - not!
Her Odd Tastes
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A woman's job as a sex researcher takes her all over the world and gets her into some difficult situations.
Classroom Scare Films: Drug Evils
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Awwwwww, freak out! Noted Percocet hound SONNY BONO, replete in shiny orange suit, dishes about Marijuana and how its users are cooler than those "square and unhip alcoholics". Still, the film illustrates the downsides to grass, such as seeing yourself in a mirror with a spooky monster mask, careening off a cliff, or -- in the case of one Nigerian pusher -- executed. You also see a monkey taking bong hits in a lab, which is, quite frankly, priceless.
But Narcotics: The Inside Story shows you a bunch of rats hopped up on pills, which is far more entertaining than watching the computer animated antics of Stuart Little; followed by happy-go-lucky teenagers enjoying a seemingly unrelated beach blanket barbecue featuring a rather milquetoast volleyball game and weenie roast.
Also featuring: Focus on Heroin, Thinking About Drinking, The PCP Story, and more.
Battle of Blood Island
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Two American GIs and the sole survivors of a battle on an isolated island must put aside their differences in order to evade the Japanese and survive.
The Adventures of the Masked Phantom
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Barton's mine foreman is receiving gold bullion from gangsters in the East, putting it through the mine's smelter, and then shipping it out. When Barton finds out, Murdocks men make him a prisoner. Arriving at the same time, Alamo hears the story of the Masked Phantom and then becomes that Phantom fighting Murdock and his men and attempting to find Barton.
The Devil's Joint
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Not a lot is known about this exploitation clip-collage which examines the classic marijuana scare-films of the 1920s through the 1940s. However, the year of release, tone of the narration, and the complete lack of credits indicate that The Devil's Joint may well have been some kind of underground film. After all, it was released around the time when vintage drug films like the 1936 Reefer Madness were being rediscovered by a new generation via midnight screenings at smoke-filled theaters and college universities.
The tone here is cleverly set from the opening text which informs us that the film has been made without the cooperation of the Whit House, FBI, or local police authorities. In case you still didn't get the hint, The Devil's Joint then shows us a clip of TICHARD NIXON stating that he is here to tell us the truth despite his honesty and integrity being under question, before cutting to grisly newsreel footage of Chinese opium users being executed in the 1930s. What follow is essentially a series of extended clips from a number of the most notorious roadeshow drugsploitation films including Reefer Madness (of course), as well as a silent film from the 1920s called The Pace That Kills
For the most part, the film wisely lets these clips speak for themselves, although a narrator does give us a quick rundown of all the propaganda clichés used in the drug scare genre, and during sequences which depict stoned people fighting, Batman-style "Pows!" and "Zaps!" flash across the screen. Occasionally, silent-movie-style text cards pop up displaying lurid pulp blurbs like "An Innocent young virgin under the spell of the Killer Weed! Will she fall prey to man's lust?"
The Choppers
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A gang of teenage criminals vandalize a small community by stealing cars for parts, meanwhile an investigator is hot on their trail.
The Devil's Hand
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Still alive...the ancient cult of Voodoo as it is practiced today! The men she loved, lived to love no others!...It Struck with Savage Fury The Devil's Hand From the director of THE GHOST OF DRAGSTRIP HOLLOW comes this story of voodoo and obsession. Robert Alda dreams about beautiful Linda Christian. He goes to a curio shop run by Neil Hamilton (Commissioner Gordon on TV's BATMAN) who gives him the girl's address after purchasing a doll in her image. She convinces Robert Alda to join a cult and his old girlfriend ends up in the hospital after some voodoo doll pincushioning. Of course, Neil Hamilton is involved in these voodoo rites and he has a sacrifice machine made of sharp swords which lowers from the ceiling onto the table-ready victim below. Sort of a massive voodoo device- sticking one pin in at a time is rather time consuming, after all!
Savages From Hell
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Bikers, beach parties, body painting, death by dune buggy, and a good old-fashioned catfight all gleefully collide in Savages from Hell, the manic followup to Shanty Tramp from producer K. GORDON MURRAY and director JOSE ("Joseph") PRIETO. And while Savages ain't no Shanty-hell, few films are--it's still an exuberant blast from Florida's past which manages to make the entire Sunshine State seem like one of those scary little rest stops somewhere off the main road.
Girl and the Geek AKA Passion in the Sun
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A stripper on a flight to Las Vegas has a stopover in a small Texas airport. She gets taken hostage by two Cuban gangsters on the run from the cops.
All Men Are Apes
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Now here's a title most women would probably agree with. A transitional film for director JOSEPH P. MAWRA -- who would cut his teeth on the depraved Olga films -- All Men Are Apes! has lived in the shadows for too long and deserves to take its place as one of the genuine little nuggets to be mined from the Sixties sexploitation field.
Love Truck
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Teenagers pack a van full of beer and go on the road in search of sexual adventures.
Hercules Against the Moon Men
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Hercules is summoned to oppose the evil Queen Samara, who has allied herself with aliens and is sacrificing her own people in a bid to awaken a moon goddess.
She Should'a Said No!
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“The Film That’s Scorchin’ The Nation’s Screens!”
The She who Shoulda Said ‘No’! is honeypot LILA LEEDS (Lady in the Lake, Moonrise) who was busted for doing doobies with rugged Robert Mitchum just months before this updated upgrade of Reefer Madness. Cashing in on the notoriety of “The Screen’s Newest Blonde Bomb,” KROGER BABB, “America’s Fearless Showman,” promoted the film as “The Story of Lila Leeds and Her Expose of the Marijuana Racket!” (She’s even costumed in the same suit she wore when she was sentenced with Mitchum!)
NFTV 3
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