WEIRD WEDNESDAY: The Erotic Adventures of Pinocchio (1971)
If you’re looking for a fairy tale that trades in moral lessons for, well, other kinds of lessons, The Erotic Adventures of Pinocchio is exactly the kind of sleazy, weird and profoundly goofy artifact you seek. Directed by Corey Allen — who, in a bizarre twist of fate, went on to direct episodes of Star Trek: […]
WEIRD WEDNESDAY: Piranha, Piranha (1972)
Piranha, Piranha isn’t the Joe Dante creature-feature you’re likely thinking of, but rather a sweaty, low-budget Venezuelan adventure. Wildlife photographers Art (Tom Simcox) and his sister Terry (Ahna Capri, Enter the Dragon) head into the Amazon, presumably to capture some stunning shots of nature. They hire Jim Pendrake (Peter Brown), an American guide who presumably […]
WEIRD WEDNESDAY: Pracherman (1971)
Shot entirely on location in Monroe, North Carolina, and produced by the local Preacherman Corp, the film is a product of the early 70s Southern Dixie filmmaking boom. Of the seventeen actors on screen, eleven were local Carolinians, lending it a certain authentic regional grit. The whole operation was the brainchild of Albert T. Viola, […]
WEIRD WEDNESDAY: Pinball Summer (1980)
Released at the dawn of the 1980s, Pinball Summer (also known as Pick-Up Summer or Flipper Girls in Germany) follows the Crown International beach movies and precedes Porky’s. Most of the action revolves around a place called Pete’s, an arcade hosting a pinball competition and a Miss Pinball pageant, which I really hope was a thing […]
JUNESPLOITATION: Calendar Girl, Cop, Killer? The Bambi Bembenek Story (1992)
DAY 3. Linda Blair! If you grew up in the early 90s, you remember the headlines. You couldn’t turn on the news or flip through a tabloid without a show about the Playboy Bunny cop who supposedly blew away her husband’s ex-wife and then made a break for it. It was the kind of tawdry, […]
WEIRD WEDNESDAY: Pets (1973)
When you see a poster featuring young women in dog collars and chains, you are braced for a sleazy, depraved descent into S&M nightmare territory. But Raphael Nussbaum’s Pets is a far more bizarre beast. It is a fragmented, episodic odyssey of a young runaway that feels less like a cohesive narrative and more like […]
JUNESPLOITATION: Bubble Bath (1979)
DAY 2. Cartoons! Hungarian director György Kovásznai’s Bubble Bath (also known as Habfürdő) is a wildly idiosyncratic, deeply personal and totally irresistible animated musical that feels like it shouldn’t exist, yet I’m so incredibly glad it does. Zsolt (voiced by Kornél Gelley, sung by Albert Antalffy) is a walking ball of neuroses. He looks like […]
JUNESPLOITATION: Wedlock (1991)
Day 1. ‘90s Action! Also known as Deadlock when released on VHS, this made-for-HBO movie stars Rutger Hauer as Frank Warren. He’s an electronics wizard and a master jewel thief who thinks he’s got it made after orchestrating a massive diamond heist. His crew consists of his gorgeous fiancée, Noelle (Joan Chen), and his long-time buddy, […]
You must be logged in to post a comment.