If you ever wondered what would happen if you took the DNA of a classic tragedy and stirred it up in a bucket of mid-century French existentialism and Scandinavian folklore, you’d get André Michel’s The Blonde Witch. It’s a film that feels less like a traditional narrative and more like a haunting B-side on a psychedelic folk record. It’s ethereal, earthy and destined to end in a feedback loop of misery.

Drone on, Blonde Witch.

Our protagonist is Brulard (Maurice Ronet), a French civil engineer who arrives in the Swedish backcountry to teach the locals how to chop down trees more efficiently. He’s the embodiment of civilization with a capital C: he’s got the blueprints, the logic and the smugness that only a man in a crisp dress shirt can bring to a primeval forest.

Then he meets Ina (Marina Vlady, The Conjugal Bed). She lives in the woods with her grandmother, talks to animals and possesses a wild, barefoot energy. Vlady plays her with a luminous, otherworldly intensity that makes it entirely believable that a man would throw away his career and his common sense to follow her into the brush. I get it, man.

The central conflict here isn’t just boy meets girl.

It’s industry meets magic.

Brulard falls hard, but because he’s a man of the modern world, he can’t just love Ina for the forest spirit she is. He has to fix her. He wants to scrub the dirt off her feet, put her in a dress, and drag her into the 20th century. It’s the ultimate colonialist romantic move: I love you, now let me destroy everything that makes you unique.

As their affair heats up, the local villagers start sharpening their pitchforks. These aren’t your friendly neighborhood Swedes. They’re a superstitious, insular mob who view Ina as a literal witch. The tension hums like a low-frequency bass note throughout the second act, building a dread that you can feel in your teeth.

Without spoiling the gut-punch, let’s just say that Brulard’s attempt to “civilize” Ina goes about as well as you’d expect. His insistence on bringing her into the village leads to a collision between ancient fear and modern arrogance, and Ina pays the ultimate price.

The ending isn’t just sad. It’s heavy like the sound of a beautiful melody being cut short by a broken string. Brulard is left with his blueprints and his civilization, but the soul of the forest nd the woman he claimed to love is gone, extinguished by the very world he tried to force her into.

I’m shocked this hasn’t shown up on an All the Haunts Be Ours set yet.

You can watch this on Cultpix.

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 Stars: The 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 Ninja, Shaolin 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 Talk: Directed 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 Free: Filmmaker 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 Thumb: In 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.

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.

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.

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 Army: Peter Graves. James Daly. Testuo Tamba. Nino Catelnuove. Bud Spencer.

The Last Gunfight: A 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 Teasers, Under-graduate Girls, Sophomore 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 Shark: This 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 Kick: Are you ready to get your guts kicked out? This was released by Cannon in the U.S.

Destroyer: If you saw Shocker, Prison 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 Dobermans: I 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.