Sci-Fi Serials & Black & White 1950s Exploitation

On a scientific expedition to Siam young Billy Batson is given the ability to change himself into the super-powered Captain Marvel by the wizard Shazam, who tells him his powers will last only as long as the Golden Scorpion idol is threatened. Finding the idol, the scientists realize it could be the most powerful weapon in the world and remove the lenses that energi...Read More

When a group of scientists travel to a remote island to study the effects of nuclear weapons tests they get stranded when their airplane explodes. They soon discover the island has been taken over by crabs. But these are no ordinary crabs, they have mutated into giant intelligent monsters. To make matters worse, the island is slowly sinking into the ocean. Can any o...Read More

Following the international hits GRAND SLAM and MACHINE GUN McCAIN, director Giuliano Montaldo set his sights on a different kind of project, a feature for RAI-TV that remains one of the most unique and criminally underseen thrillers of the ‘70s: At the local cinema, an audience watches a Spaghetti Western matinee. During the film’s on-screen climactic duel, a bulle...Read More

Scientists uncover the body of a gladiator from the ruins of Pompeii, a stone-encrusted body is found with a bronze medallion bearing a strange Etruscan inscription. Carlo Fiorillo, Italian archaeologist, speculates the robust body may hold some life But people left alone with the seemingly petrified "faceless man" keep dying of crushed skulls.

RAW GUTS FOR GLORY! FLESH AGAINST STEEL! The most dangerous game ever devised, to pit man against man, flesh against steel - the figure-8 race! Jack Hill (Coffy, Foxy Brown) follows up Spider Baby, once again teaming up with Sid Haig (House of 1000 Corpses) in one of his greatest roles for this action-spectacular crash-o-rama! Richard Davalos (East of Eden) stars as...Read More

Strategic targets on Earth are being destroyed by an unknown weapon. Government security head Henderson suspects it's an "atomic ray" originating from the moon! He assigns Commando Cody, scientist and man of action with a secret flying suit, to investigate. Soon, Cody is battling Earth thugs in the pay of Krog the moon man and making trips in his experimental rocket...Read More

Playfully exploring the outer reaches of cult film fandom, Sex Madness Revealed is both an ingenious twist on the audio commentary and a satire of the wisecrack track (featuring the voice of MST3K regular Patton Oswalt). Using as it foundation a low-budget sex hygiene picture from 1938 (Sex Madness, aka Human Wreckage), we listen in as Jimmy Morris (Oswalt), of the ...Read More

“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,” ...Read More

Before he became known for distributing such drive-­in epics as I Drink Your Blood, I Eat Your Skin, and I Spit on Your Grave, JERRY GROSS directed two fascinating little quickies - Girl on A Chain Gang (’65) and Teenage Mother (’67) - that are textbook examples of classic old-school exploitation. In fact. shot­-on-Long-Island Teenage Mother seems to take its inspir...Read More

Beatniks? What beatniks? Two-bit punks, a closet rock-&-roll star, and an out-of-his-mind psycho: yes. Beatniks: no. Though The Beatniks was probably a last-minute title change to replace a less exploitable moniker, it didn’t make much of a difference to the audiences of 1960. After all, to a world emerging from the Eisenhower era, bohemian artists and beat-generati...Read More

What primitive passions...what mad desires drove him on... Nothing could keep him from the woman he claimed as his own! - A scientist who works in his home lab out of town is rejected by his colleges at the Naturalists' Society when he presents his theory that the size of skull and brain equate with intelligence, and therefore Neanderthal man was equal, if not supe...Read More

"Are you beat?" asks coffee-shop impresario Mr. T. "Oh, sure, man," his sleazy friend Sid replies."Cool, way out, and long gone, dad!" Actually, although they’re right in the middle of Beatsville U.S.A. - complete with beat poets, chess games, bongo-and-flute music, and beatnik babes in black leotards - they’re both phonies. Sidney - played by instantly-recognizable...Read More

Not a zombie in sight... but you will find "Mr. Spock" Leonard Nimoy, who got his start right here! Produced on a minuscule budget, Republic Serial "Zombies of the Stratosphere" offered a weekly injection of action and adventure in the '50s Saturday matinee. Relying on story and creativity, the serial still delivers a punch without earth-splitting explosions, comput...Read More