CULTPIX MONTH: Color Correct My C. Can F. Off! (2017)

I love trailer compilations. I don’t care what the opening sequence is, I only am here for the movies. And here they are. I’ve also compiled a Letterboxd list for this.

Sex With the StarsThe stars here aren’t celestial bodies; they’re a collection of 1970s British sitcom regulars and starlets, including Sherrie Hewson and Sylvia Kristel in archival footage, getting caught in various states of undress and nudge-nudge, wink-wink scenarios.

Parasite: Long before Bong Joon-ho, Charles Band was giving us 3D monsters in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. It’s gooey, it’s sweaty, and it’s got Demi Moore fighting a lemon-shaped organism.

Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo: The ultimate Cannon sequel. It’s less a movie and more a neon-colored fever dream where dance can literally save a community center from developers.

Black Deep Throat: If you’re looking for a sequel to the Linda Lovelace classic, you’ve come to the wrong grindhouse. This is actually a bizarre Italian export (originally Gola profonda nera) that tries to capitalize on two different crazes at once: the Deep Throat name and the Black Emanuelle phenomenon starring Ajita Wilson.

Franchesca’s Sexual Whirlpool: A woman finds herself caught in a cycle of longing and liberation, navigating a series of encounters that are filmed with that soft-focus, hazy glow that makes everything look like it’s happening inside a bottle of cheap perfume. While it lacks the gonzo energy of the Mitchell Brothers or the high-gloss production of a Gerard Damiano joint, it’s an example of the porn chic goal of blending narrative prestige with hardcore in and out.

Heroes of the East: Also known as Challenge of the NinjaShaolin vs. Ninja and Shaolin Challenges Ninja, this Lau Kar Leung-directed film has more Japanese martial arts on display than you usually see from a Hong Kong movie. The Japanese characters are also treated with respect, unlike many of these movies, and Lau insisted that none of the fights ended in death.

St. Ives: Charles Bronson stars as Raymond St. Ives, a crime reporter turned novelist hired by an eccentric billionaire to recover stolen ledgers. This sleek 1970s thriller weaves a web of double-crosses, murder, and high-stakes intrigue. Bronson swaps his usual vigilante grit for sophisticated wit in this stylish, star-studded neo-noir mystery.

10 to Midnight: Charles Bronson versus a naked serial killer. This is the peak of Cannon’s law and order obsession, where the mustache of justice finally snaps. Shot both as a hard R rated and TV-friendly film — in which the killer’s nudity is covered — this movie is wild, with director J. Lee Thompson fully unleashed and Bronson waving masturbatory devices in criminal’s faces screaming, “You know what this is for, Warren? It’s for jacking off!” while Wilford Brimley tries to get him to simmer down. I mean, Roger Ebert called it “a scummy little sewer of a movie” and that seems like him telling me to watch it as many times as I can.

Telefon:Charles Bronson plays Grigori Borzov, a KGB agent sent to America to stop a rogue official from activating brainwashed sleeper agents. These telefons are triggered by lines of Robert Frost poetry to commit sabotage. Bronson teams up with a double agent in a tense, cross-country race against time.

Vigilante Force: Kris Kristofferson and Jan-Michael Vincent go to war in a small town. It’s a gritty 70s explosion-fest that doesn’t hold back.

The Wizard: Corey (Fred Savage) runs away with his gifted younger brother, Jimmy, and Jenny Lewis to compete in a high-stakes video game championship in California. Along the way, they dodge their family and a bounty hunter, culminating in an iconic tournament showdown featuring the debut of Super Mario Bros. 3.

Detroit 9000:After a $400,000 heist at a political fundraiser, a street-smart white detective anda college-educated black sergeant must solve the case. This gritty, on-location blaxploitation classic blends hard-boiled police procedural with explosive action and a cynical, twist-filled ending.

The New York Ripper: Lucio Fulci goes to the Big Apple and leaves a trail of duck-voiced mayhem behind. It’s mean, it’s sleazy and it’s pure Italian soul-crushing horror. It’s also weirder to hear the duck quack in German on this trailer.

Savage Beach:Dona and Taryn are back again, this time flying missions as federal drug enforcement agents based in Hawaii. After a successful drug bust, they are asked to fly a vaccine from Molokai to Knox Island. However, they soon run afoul of nefarious forces within the Philippine government and some double agents at home, who are searching for a sunken World War II-era ship loaded with gold.

Swamp Thing: Wes Craven takes on DC Comics. It’s a rubber-suit romance that feels like a Saturday morning cartoon with a slightly higher body count, David Hess and Adrienne Barbeau.

The Return of Swamp Thing : Jim Wynorski takes over, adds more camp, and gives us a mutant montage set to “Born on the Bayou.”

Vice Versa: Judge Reinhold and Fred Savage swap bodies via a magical skull. It’s the 80s. Just go with it.

Relentess: A William Lustig big budget movie! Sam Dietz (Judd Nelson), a rookie detective and transplant from New York, who is partnered with a cynical, veteran LAPD detective, Bill Malloy (Robert Loggia). They are tasked with hunting down a serial killer who chooses victims at random from the telephone book.

Captain America: Albert Pyun directed this, a film in which Captain America is played by Matt Salinger, the son of the writer of The Catcher In the Rye, and fighting Scott Paulin as the Red Skull, who was a child prodigy that the Axis experimented on, sending Dr. Maria Vaselli (Carla Cassola, Demonia) to America where she creates the Super Soldier Syrum

Overexposed: Catherine Oxenberg stars as a soap opera actress who becomes the target of a deadly stalker. As the obsessed fan’s threats escalate, the line between her television role and reality blurs.

Beyond the Door: There are rip-offs of The Exorcist. And then there are rip-offs where copyright infringement lawsuits lead to Warner Brothers getting a cash settlement and a portion of the film’s future revenue. Beyond the Door would be the latter. It’s $40 million worldwide gross meant that this film would a film draw the ire and call of that most Satanic of all monsters, the suits and the lawyers.

The Sister-In-Law: Despite being called The Sister-In-Law, she disappears halfway through this movie and we never see her again. Instead, this becomes a heroin movie. Yes, there’s a cat fight, but this is really the story of two brothers — one who wants to be rich, another who is hitchhiking across the country — and the women are just in the way. And banjo music. So much banjo music.

Winter Love: A young woman finds herself swept up in a passionate affair with her ski instructor. As their relationship deepens against a snowy backdrop, the film explores the complexities of desire and emotional vulnerability. It remains an obscure relic of early seventies sentimental psychodrama.

The Working Girls: Stephanie Rothman proves once again she was the best director in the Roger Corman stable, giving us a smart, funny, and subversively feminist look at survival.

Porky’s 2: The Next Day: After the success of Porky’s — success is a small way to describe how influential it was on the movies that would follow in its wake, even if it owed so much to Animal House and Lemon Popsicle — the next film was in production quickly. Directed and co-written by Bob Clark, who worked with Alan Ormsby and Roger Swaybill, the results may not live up to the original, but it’s way better than the teen sex comedies that would arise after the first movie.

Evel Knievel: George Hamilton stars as the man who defied gravity and common sense. It’s a self-mythologizing biopic that’s as loud as a Harley.

Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood: A movie about a dog that features approximately 700 cameos from Golden Age stars who probably needed the paycheck.

Salon Kitty:Directed by Tinto Brass, Salon Kitty is a stylized 1976 controversial drama set in Nazi Germany. It follows a high-class brothel used by the Gestapo for espionage, where sex workers are trained to extract secrets from officials. A family film!

Namu, The Killer Whale:A naturalist tames a grieving orca in this 1966 family adventure. Rather than a bloodthirsty beast, Namu becomes a gentle companion to a biologist, defying a fearful fishing community. It’s a scenic, heartwarming precursor to Free Willy, showcasing the bond between man and whale against a beautiful Pacific Northwest backdrop. That said, the trailer is frightening.

The Libertine: Catherine Spaak discovers her late husband’s secret “playroom” and decides to out-degenerate him. Stylish, 60s Italian psychodrama sexiness at its best.

Black Belt Jones: Jim Kelly. A car wash. A karate showdown in soap suds. If you don’t love this, you don’t love movies.

Audrey Rose: Is it reincarnation or just Anthony Hopkins being very intense in the rain? A classy, creepy supernatural drama that avoids the usual shocks for real dread.

Body TalkDirected by Anthony Spinelli, this 1982 adult feature stars Sharon Mitchell as a fitness enthusiast caught in a web of erotic encounters. Set against the backdrop of the early 80s aerobics craze, it combines high-energy workout sequences with explicit scenes, capturing the neon-soaked, synth-driven aesthetic of pre-VHS era adult.

Fearless Fighters: Wuxia madness that feels like it was edited in a blender. It’s the kind of kung-fu flick that fueled a thousand 42nd Street dreams.

High, Wild and FreeFilmmaker Gordon Eastman captures the rugged splendor of the British Columbia wilderness. It’s a high-altitude journey featuring breathtaking wildlife footage, daring mountain climbs and incredible fishing. For anyone who loves the great outdoors, it’s a pure, scenic escape into the untouched heart of nature.

Tom ThumbIn this George Pal musical, Russ Tamblyn stars as a tiny boy granted to a childless couple by the Forest Queen. Featuring Oscar-winning special effects and Puppetoons, the film follows Tom as he outwits bumbling thieves Peter Sellers and Terry-Thomas.

Popi: Alan Arkin stars as a hardworking Puerto Rican widower in New York who concocts a wild scheme to secure a better life for his sons. He sets them adrift off Miami, hoping they’ll be adopted as wealthy refugees.

Ginger: Ginger McAllister takes on a job of infiltrating a gang of criminals. This often means sleeping with men and women, which can often mean using piano wire on a dude’s tallywhacker and threatening to cut it off. This feels like porn without penetration, the kind of porn that was playing the Avon and the rougher theaters, as Ginger is tied up and assaulted several times, yet always comes out on top, even when bad guy Rex Halsey (Duane Tucker) rapes her. After all, the cut to her face assures us that she likes this.

You can watch this on Cultpix.

BLOODSICK PRODUCTIONS BLU-RAY RELEASE: Busted Babies (2024)

Released by Blood Sick Productions, this isn’t just a movie. It’s an analog artifact that feels like it was recovered from a psychic VCR in a basement that hasn’t been opened since 1992. The film follows “______” (played by director Kasper Meltedhair), a character sporting horns, bat wings and polka-dot skin. She possesses a secret capability to turn flesh, specifically babies, into glass.

The narrative (which operates on slippery, non-linear logic kicks off when she trips in the BBQ Salon. This clumsy moment causes “immortal goop” to splatter across the faces of _____ , Movie Star (Erin Caywood) and Character Name (Cody Brant).

From there, the film descends into a party-murder plot involving a green amulet, body-melting chewing gum, and a wood chipper that eventually reveals a dusty trick.

One of the most surreal elements involves a group of men in suits led by Gartan Galtar (Brewce Longo). They don’t just walk; they dance “preciously” through liminal spaces, on a mission to steal glass babies so they can shatter them over themselves and achieve immortality.

At 90 minutes, Busted Babies is a marathon of non-narrative, confrontationally strange imagery. It’s a movie that doesn’t just want you to watch it; it wants to stain your brain with its rusting, immortal goop.

Extras include a short film by Kasper Meltedhair, Behind The Scenes, Outtakes, The Donald Farmer Viewing Experience and trailers. You can buy it from MVD.

BLOODSICK PRODUCTIONS BLU-RAY RELEASE: Blood Bitch Baby (2024)

Blood Bitch Baby relocates Elizabeth Bathory from 17th-century Hungary to modern America. The story follows a specific, dark trajectory. Played by Jessa Jupiter Flux, Bathory is depicted as a servant of Satan seeking to bring his heir into the world. She ensnares Jenny (Angel Bradford), granting her demonic powers that Jenny eventually uses to get revenge on her abusive boyfriend, Kevin (Joe Casterline). The goal? Impregnate Jenny with the Blood Bitch Baby, an unholy, monstrous creature.

Along the way, there’s also a paranormal investigator, some cops who barely get anything done and the always alluring Mel Heflin as a potential love interest for Jenny. Eyeballs will be consumed, women will be assaulted by dark forces, and there will be plenty of gore and perhaps some flesh, as well.

Like many of Donald Farmer’s movies, this utilizes real-world, gritty American locations that contrast sharply with the ancient evil of the Bathory name. Plus, at 68 minutes, it moves quickly and won’t overstay its welcome.

The Bloodsick Productions Blu-ray of this movie includes extras such as a behind-the-scenes photo album, a director’s introduction by Donald Farmer with Kasper Meltedhair, and trailers. You can get it from MVD.

B & S About Movies podcast special episode 23: Olivia Serdy defends Star Wars

Olivia Serdy works with me and we discuss movies quite often. I was excited to have her on, especially because I wanted to see if she could get me to admit that I don’t hate all of the Star Wars prequels. We jump around to a lot of franchises, but I think if you are interested in 2000s culture, introducing movies to your kids and being nerdy, you’ll have fun with this episode.

You can listen to the show on Spotify.

The show is also available on Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Amazon Podcasts, Podchaser and Google Podcasts

Important links:

Theme song: Strip Search by Neal Gardner

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VISUAL VENGEANCE BLU-RAY RELEASE: The Dinosaur Chronicles (2004)

While Mark Polonia famously quips in the intro that the film was finished simply to “fulfill a contract” for a Galaxy of Terror DVD four-pack, the roots of the project go much deeper. The vintage sequences were originally shot on Super 8 by Mark and John Polonia when they were young. In fact, they wrote it in the fifth grade in 1979.

Mark claims this is an impoverished production that at least has some funny dialogue and nice stop-motion. As always, Mark is too modest.

The Dinosaur Chronicles is a quintessential example of the work of the Polonia Brothers: ambitious concepts executed on shoestring budgets, with creative, practical effects and a lot of heart.

There are two stories. In the first, a lottery winner’s dream vacation turns into a nightmare, because all the money in the world can’t buy a way off a rock filled with prehistoric predators. In the second, Dawn of the Dinosaur, two gunmen, Drax and Skorpion, are trapped in a post-apocalyptic world of dinosaurs and zombies. 

This also features some great stop-motion by Bret Piper, who would go on to make many of his own SOV films.

The Galaxy of Terror set originally appeared in the early 2000s, a staple of bargain bins, helping the Polonias secure a generation of fans who discovered them purely by accident in the aisles of Walmart or Suncoast Motion Picture Company. Mark proudly shares that his Pennsylvania Sam Goody store sold out in a day, and I couldn’t be prouder to come from the same state.

You can get this as an extra on the Saurians release from Visual Vengeance. 

Talking Rats The NIght of Terror on the Rad Revival House

I had the awesome chance to be on this podcast and I’ll let Professor Cesare Augusto tell you all about it!

The Rad Revival House explores the gruesome sub-genre of Italian Sci-Fi Exploitation cinema with the bonkers 1984 picture, RATS: NIGHT OF TERROR

Appearing for the first time on our show as Special Guest Lecturer is Sam Panico of the cool AF cult film website B&S About Movies. Along with our host, Professor Cesare Augusto, Sam offers his enthusiastic insight about RATS and its bizarre take on the post-apocalyptic sub-genre of Science Fiction.

After a nuclear war devastates the world, the human race has been split into two: the surface world, and the subterranean world. Making their way through the barren surface world is a diverse gang of misfit bikers, scavengers grabbing everything they can get to survive and enjoying themselves, too. They stumble upon a deserted research facility that is grotesquely infested with hordes upon hordes of disgusting, diseased-filled rats! One by one, the bikers are killed by the genetically-enhanced vermin, until a small few are left to fight for their survival.

Cesare and Sam discuss the nasty yet surprisingly compelling production within RATS, how director Bruno Mattei was able to masterfully create a grim atmosphere despite a low budget, and how the picture’s special effects are effectively performed WITHOUT the use of slick special effects. RATS, as Sam said, is a strong example of how filmmakers can excel at being weird and being memorable, without having otherwise prolifically artistic visions in mind!

Hear it now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and iHeartRadio.

CULTPIX MONTH: Color Correct My C. (2013)

James Bialkowski and Jacob Windatt of Vagrant Video took a bunch of trailers, threw an open and close on it, found some old Canadian ads and drive-in snack bar commercials and tossed this in my face. It’s packed with some trailers you rarely, if ever, see on compilations, as well as a not small amount of all manner of pornography thrown in for good measure.

Here’s what’s on it (you can also see the list on Letterboxd):

Casanova & Co.Listed here as Sex On the Run, this Tony Curtis film has him co-starring with  Marisa Mell, Sylva Koscina, Marisa Berenson from Barry Lyndon, Jenny Arasse, Jeannie Bell (TNT Jackson!), Lillian Müller (the phys ed teacher in Van Halen’s “Hot for Teacher”), Olivia Pascal, Britt Eklund, Katia Christine and Jean Lefebvre from Diabolique. Huh?

Dagmar’s Hot Pants, Inc.: Eurosex film. It’s not Dagmar’s Hot Pants LLC.

White Skin Black Thighs: Jess Franco! I don’t know if this trailer shows how wild this movie is.

Death On the Run: Listed as Django’s Overmand because it’s directed by Sergio Corbucci.

Gus: I love and hate live-action Disney. As I said in my review, “The Disney live action world of the 1970s is the kind of place where a Yugoslavian goat can come to America, get a job in the California Atoms NFL franchise and interact with owner Hank Cooper (Ed Asner) and Coach Venner (Don Knotts) and not a single person mentions how completely on drugs the entire thing is.”

The Killer Condom: This was released by Troma in the U.S.

The Five Man ArmyPeter Graves. James Daly. Testuo Tamba. Nino Catelnuove. Bud Spencer.

The Last GunfightA 1960 Japanese action movie.

Biggi – ein ganz superreifes Früchtchen: German release of the French adult movie Soumises et sodomisées elles aiment ça.

Sonny and Jed: Jed (Thomas Milian) robs from the rich, gives to the poor and treats the woman who loves him, Sonny (Susan George), like dirt. She dreams of him marrying her, which he does, but still abuses her. Anyways, he’s on the run from Sheriff Franciscus (Telly Savalas) when he isn’t trying to woo Linda (Rosanna Yanni, Frankenstein’s Bloody Terror), the wife of land baron Don Garcia (Eduardo Fajardo), who has what he really wants: more money. Distributed by K-Tel!

The Teasers: The High-School Student was released internationally under the titles The TeasersUnder-graduate GirlsSophomore Swingers and Teasers. It’s a commedia sexy all’italiana that introduced Gloria Guida, who would appear in four out of the five films in this series. She’s also incredibly hot in the way that only Italian sex comedy actresses are.

Lady Dynamite: This is sold with the much better name, The God-Mother 2.

The New One-Armed Swordsman: Lei Li (David Chiang, taking over for Jimmy Wang, but playing a new character) was a master of twin swords, but he was also arrogant. This is why he lost a duel with Lung Er Zi (Ku Feng), who wields a triple-staff, after our hero is framed for a robbery he did not commit. Lung Er Zi demands his right arm as his prize, and Lei Li, thinking that he’s fighting an honest man, can only become humble and sacrifice that part of his body. That’s how this movie starts, and it only gets cooler from there.

Tintorera: Killer SharkThis is a shark movie, but it’s also pretty much a softcore adult movie about the three-way relationship between the heroes. As such, this is the only shark movie I’ve watched all week with full frontal male nudity, which is something of an accomplishment.

The Thunder KickAre you ready to get your guts kicked out? This was released by Cannon in the U.S.

Destroyer: If you saw ShockerPrison and House 3/The Horror Show, yet wanted more movies where killers supernaturally survived the electric chair, let me introduce you to 1988’s Destroyer.

W Django!: While this is also called Viva Django!, don’t confuse it with the 1968 Ferdinando Baldi film, which was originally intended to star Franco Nero, but has Terence Hill in it.

The Seven Dwarves to the Rescue: I sette nani alla riscossa is a fascinating 1951 Italian fantasy-comedy that essentially functions as an unofficial live-action sequel to the classic Snow White tale.

The Amazing DobermansI could watch so many of these dog-fighting crime films.

Latitude Zero: A futuristic utopia hidden 15 miles below sea level at the intersection of the Equator and the International Date Line. There, people from all over the world — many of whom were reported missing at sea and have now aged — have lived since the 19th century, assisting humanity in their development.

The Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday: Lee Marvin and Oliver Reed lead this rowdy, slapstick-heavy Western comedy. It’s a chaotic tale of an aging scout looking for revenge and a payday, featuring plenty of 70s-era brawls and battle of the sexes banter.

Madame and Her Niece: A sleek, German erotic drama that reimagines Guy de Maupassant’s Yvette. It’s a stylish, mod-influenced exploration of seduction, social climbing and the complicated power dynamics between a sophisticated mother and her beautiful niece. Of course, in this trailer, it’s sold as sex.

The Daring Dobermans: In this fun-for-the-family heist sequel, a pack of highly trained Doberman Pinschers is used to pull off a sophisticated robbery. Think Ocean’s Eleven, but with more barking and better discipline.

Cracking Up: Also known as The Pity Picnic, this sketch-comedy anthology is a wild, irreverent ride through the absurd. It’s a cult relic of the late 70s indie scene, featuring a series of bizarre vignettes that parody everything from commercials to social norms.

Josefine Mutzenbacher II: This West German sequel continues the fictionalized memoirs of Vienna’s most famous courtesan. It’s a period-piece sex comedy that leans heavily into the ribald, slapstick humor popular in European adult cinema of the era.

The Master Gunfighter: Tom Laughlin (of Billy Jack fame) stars in this unique Western-Samurai hybrid. Heavily inspired by the Japanese film Goyokin, it features a protagonist who favors a samurai sword over a pistol in a quest for redemption along the California coast.

Scorchy: “She’s killed a man, been shot at, and made love twice already this evening…and the evening isn’t over yet!” Stella Stevens, a great poster, was directed by Howard Avedis.

Marco the Magnificent: An international co-production starring Anthony Quinn and Orson Welles, this epic (and slightly fictionalized) retelling follows Marco Polo’s journey to China. It’s a colorful, big-budget adventure spectacle with a surprisingly heavy-hitting cast.

Compañeros: A top-tier Spaghetti Western directed by Sergio Corbucci. This Zapata Western pairs a Swedish arms dealer (Franco Nero) with a Mexican revolutionary (Tomas Milian) for a high-octane mix of political commentary, machine-gun fire and Ennio Morricone music.

The Soul of Nigger Charley: A direct sequel to The Legend of Nigger Charley, Fred Williamson returns as the titular gunslinger. This Blaxploitation Western ups the ante as Charley fights to liberate a group of former slaves from a ruthless ex-Confederate officer in Mexico.

Great trailers, but those who are of a delicate constitution may want to clutch their pearls.

You can watch this on Cultpix.

Murder, She Wrote S3 E21: The Days Dwindle Down (1987)

Jessica investigates the possibility that a man spent 30 years in prison for a murder he did not commit.

Season 3, Episode 21: The Days Dwindle Down (April 19, 1987)

An elderly waitress begs for J.B.’s help in solving a decades-old murder.

Who’s in it, outside of Angela Lansbury?

Richard Beymer (Sydney Jarvis): Best known as Tony in the original West Side Story, cult cinema fans adore him as Ben Horne in Twin Peaks. Here, he plays the man on trial for his life, providing the episode’s central tension.

June Havoc (Thelma Vantay): A true vaudeville legend (and the real-life sister of Gypsy Rose Lee), she brings old-school theatrical gravity to the role of the domineering mother-in-law.

Harry Morgan (Retired Lt. Richard Webb): Before he was Colonel Potter on M’A’S’H, he was Jack Webb’s partner on Dragnet. In a fun meta twist, he plays a retired detective whom Jessica hires to help her dig into the case.

Susan Strasberg (Dorothy Hearn Davis): The daughter of legendary acting coach Lee Strasberg, Susan was a “Method” darling who appeared in everything from Picnic to the psychedelic cult classic The Trip. She plays the tragic wife whose death sets the plot in motion.

Gloria Stuart (Edna Jarvis): Decades before she became a household name (and Oscar nominee) as “Old Rose” in James Cameron’s Titanic, Stuart was a 1930s starlet. She appears here in the present day, while Katherine Emery appears in uncredited archive footage as a younger version of her.

Art Hindle (Rod Wilson): A Canadian legend! If you love 70s/80s horror, you know him from David Cronenberg’s The Brood and the 1978 Invasion of the Body Snatchers. He plays the Wilson family’s son.

Martha Scott (Georgia Wilson): An Academy Award nominee for Our Town, she’s perhaps most famous for playing Charlton Heston’s mother in both The Ten Commandments and Ben-Hur. She plays the Wilson matriarch.

Jeffrey Lynn (Sam Wilson): A former leading man from the 1940s (Four Daughters), he returned to the screen for this role after a period of semi-retirement.

Debbie Zipp (Terry Wilson): A Murder, She Wrote regular. She appeared in several episodes playing different characters, most notably as the wife of Jessica’s nephew, Grady Fletcher.

Tom Dreesen (Peabody): A legendary stand-up comedian who famously toured with Frank Sinatra for years. He steps into a character role here.

Emory Bass (Manager): A character actor staple who you might recognize from 1776 or his numerous appearances on The Love Boat.

Russ Marin (Lt. Sharp): A “that guy” actor seen in everything from The Rockford Files to Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.

Mark Pilon (Male Secretary): A prolific voice actor and performer who appeared in various 80s staples like Knots Landing.

Walter Smith (Restaurant Patron): One of the unsung heroes of Hollywood—a professional background actor who appeared in hundreds of episodes of television, including over 40 episodes of Murder, She Wrote alone!

What happens?

Jessica is living the high life in a luxury hotel suite—probably on the dime of her publisher or some poor sap who didn’t realize inviting J.B. Fletcher to your city is a death warrant for at least one local socialite.

While she’s being pampered, she’s approached by Georgia Wilson. Georgia’s husband, Sam, just got out of the slammer after serving thirty years. He was sent up for the rub-out of his boss, Richard Jarvis. Sam’s story? He was framed. He claims Jarvis’s firm went bust, and the guy offered Sam his last ten grand to make his suicide look like an armed robbery so the insurance company would cough up a fortune for the Jarvis family. Only problem? Someone actually did kill him before the plan went south.

Sam and Georgia’s son, Rod, became a cop specifically to clear his old man’s name. He puts his badge and his expertise at Jessica’s disposal. Along with a retired Lt. Webb, they start digging into 30-year-old forensic evidence.

Naturally, someone isn’t happy about this walk down memory lane. After someone takes a literal shot at Jessica with a matching bullet, J.B. realizes the past isn’t dead.

Who did it?

The victim died by accident. His wife arrived home, caught him mid-attempt and tried to snatch the heater out of his hand because she actually loved the guy. Bang! The gun goes off in the struggle. The big giveaway for J.B. Webb? The fingerprints on the barrel proved it was a wrestling match, not a solo act.

Who made it?

This was directed by Michael J. Lynch and written by Philip Gerson.

Does Jessica dress up and act stupid? Does she get some?

No. I’m wondering if I’ll ever see that.

Was it any good?

Yes, as always.

Any trivia?

The flashbacks are taken from the film Strange Bargain. Jeffrey Lynn, Martha Scott and Harry Morgan reprise their roles from the movie. In the movie, Lt. Webb identifies the murderer, and Sam is saved from prison.

Richard Beymer, who played Sydney Jarvis, was actually 14 years younger than Raymond Roe, who played the same character in Strange Behavior. By this point, he’d retired and was a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy.

Give me a reasonable quote:

Retired Lt. Richard Webb: I figured she was playin’ bedsheet bingo with the boss.

What’s next?

A temporary blackout at a recording studio leaves Jessica in the dark when the wealthy, soon-to-be-owner is stabbed to death.

CULTPIX MONTH: Meteo (1990)

1990 Hungarian cyberpunk, so forget the high-tech, neon-drenched luxury of Blade Runner. This is rust-punk, a world of grime, leaking pipes and CRT monitors held together by spit and prayer. It’s a movie that feels like it’s filmed on a dying planet, or at least a dying political system, and every frame is dripping with an atmosphere so thick you’ll need a shower after the credits roll.

In a sprawling, nameless Eastern European industrial wasteland, a bathtub sits in the middle of a cavernous workshop. Inside is Eckermann (nicknamed Little Cloud), a meteorologist who spends more time drifting through his own psychic internal weather patterns than looking at the sky.

He’s joined by two fellow outcasts squatting in the ruins: Berlioz, a wired, restless hedonist looking for the next rush and Vero, the muscle, a silent factory titan who looks like he could punch through a brick wall if it looked at him funny.

The clock is ticking. The military is moving in to shut down the zone, clearing out the human junk to make way for progress (or just more organized decay). But our trio isn’t leaving empty-handed. They’ve got a plan to hack into the system, manipulate the data, and rig a horse race to secure their exit strategy.

This movie has real, decaying Soviet-era industrial sites. The lighting is sickly greens and bruised blues. It moves at a dreamlike, almost lethargic pace that suddenly spikes into moments of eye-popping, mind-boggling visual insanity. It’s a relic of a very specific time and place about people living in the literal guts of a machine that has stopped working.

Just don’t expect a happy ending. In the industrial zone, the forecast is always bleak.

You can watch this on Cultpix.

CULTPIX MONTH: Teenage Zombies (1959)

Jerry Warren made a career out of buying foreign films, hacking them to pieces, and inserting scenes of people sitting in offices talking about what we just saw. But Teenage Zombies is a special vintage of Warren: it’s one of the few he actually sat down and directed himself from start to finish. And by directed, I mean that he pointed a camera at people and hoped for the best.

A quartet of clean-cut teens (Reg, Skip, Julie and Pam) who decide to go water skiing and end up on an island that isn’t on any map. Why? Because it’s the secret HQ of Dr. Myra (Katherine Victor, Mesa of Lost Women), who isn’t just your run-of-the-mill mad scientist. She’s working for an Eastern country to develop a drug that turns Americans into mindless, obedient slaves. Her current test subjects? A man in a gorilla suit — well, it’s supposed to be an ape — and a bearded zombie named Ivan, played by L.A. jazz DJ Chuck Niles, the only jazz DJ to be on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Niles later said his only direction was to walk like Frankenstein and make gurgling noises.

Speaking of people who did much better after this, Brianne Murphy, who played Pam, was for a time married to Warren, who wrote the script to this on their honeymoon. While working on his movies, she worked as a production manager, which saved money. It also gave her experience as a second unit director. She became a trailblazing cinematographer who shattered gender barriers in a male-dominated film industry. Her career gained momentum in 1975 when she took over as script supervisor on Columbo, and in 1980, she became the first female director of photography on a major studio film, Fatso. 

Initially denied entry to her local union by an officer who swore she’d join “over his dead body,” she successfully joined after his passing, eventually becoming the union’s first female executive board member. To bypass systemic bias, she often used the name “Brian” or her initials “G.B.” on applications and even lowered her voice during professional phone calls to secure work.

Murphy is widely remembered as a pivotal figure who fought for women’s rights and visibility in Hollywood. She won an Academy Award for Scientific and Engineering Achievement in 1982 and an Emmy for her work on Highway to Heaven.

Warren wrote this under his favorite pseudonym, Jacques Lecoutier. He used it so often he actually forgot how to spell it, frequently misspelling his own fake name in the credits.

Because the copyright was not actually registered (despite a 1957 claim), this movie entered the public domain immediately. It’s been a staple of 50 Movie Pack DVDs and late-night creature features for decades.

The poster promises “Young Pawns Thrust into Pulsating Cages of Horror,” but what you actually get is a lot of walking, a sheriff who is obviously evil from the second he appears and a climax involving a gorilla that looks like it was stolen from a high school drama department’s dumpster. I loved it, as you can gather.

You can watch this on Cultpix.