In the book Customs and Cultures of Mexico by Peter Standish and Steven M. Bell, the authors refer to the films of director Arturo Ripstein’s films as ones that “highlighted characters beset by futile compulsions to escape (their) destinies.” As such, many of his films feature bleak colors and pathetic characters who struggle to retain any scrap of dignity. The Harvard Film Archive referred to him as the link between “Mexico’s studio-era and the new generation of auteur directors.”

The title of this film was given to Ripstein by Mexican surrealist Octavio Paz by way of a seminal essay on Marcel Duchamp. In it, Gabriel Lima (Claudio Brook, Simon of the Desert, Licence to Kill) imprisons his family from the temptations of the rest of the world, dominating them and subjugating them in the same way that a totalitarian government would hold them against their will. Meanwhile, the family struggles to subsist with their homemade rat poison business. It was based on a real life story.

The father is the ultimate in evil, as despite him abusing his sons for not memorizing passages about how a man should be, he does not follow them. In the outside world that he has forbidden them from ever seeing, he is a continual debaser of virgins while in his own domain, he continually attacks his wife for knowing any man before him.

The film was nominated for ten Arial Awards, winning Best Picture (in a tie with Mecanica Nacional and Reed, Mexico Insurgente), as well as awards for Arturo Beristain for Best Suppoting Actor, Diana Bracho for Best Supporting Actress, Ripstein and José Emilio Pacheco for Best Original Screenplay and Manuel Fontanals for Best Scenography.

In 2009, the film Dogtooth was a critical and commercial success for Greek director Giorgos Lanthimos, but to many, it seemed that it outright stole the story and several key moments from Ripstein’s film. The director’s response? He considered sending him a message that said, “I hope we win” when the film was nominated for an Oscar. Such is life, as many Mexican films are truly lost on the world stage and unacknowledged at best.

It’s hard to call this a horror film. It exists in its own strange universe, beyond the world of normal man while at the same time it struggles to inform us in a parable-like way of what happens when pride comes before the fall.

As I started watching this movie, I thought, “This is the exact kind of movie Mondo Macabro would put out.” Which makes sense, because it was volume one in their Greek Collection.

The Tango Club is where the swinging characters of this movie spend their tome. There’s Rosita (Dorothy Moore, who is one other movie, another Greek giallo Death Kiss), who uses drugs and her womanly wiles to get Joanna (Erika Raffael, Four Dimensions of Greta) into bed. Stathis (Lakis Komninos, using the boring Western name Larry Daniels) reacts to this as no man before or since has. He flips out and beats both of them, killing Rosita. Things are just starting, trust me.

Meanwhile, rich voyeur Joachim is filming the killer while he brings home other women from the club. And then there’s Joachim, who was impotent until he discovered the dead body of Rosita and now, he’s in love.

We covered Dangerous Cargo, another Kostas Karagiannis movie, a few weeks ago. Needless to say, this movie makes that one look tame by comparison. Drugs, fuzzy psychedelic music, rampant nudity, sex, murder, gratuitous dance numbers and all manner of perversion, including romantic fantasies between the living and the dead abound. Yep, this one has something for every member of the family.

You can order this from Mondo Macabro.

I get it. This movie isn’t a giallo. But what is it, really? It was sold under so many titles, from the more horror-centric Cauldron of Death (complete with completely insane poster) to the more crime-oriented Gangland, the great Italian title Un Tipo Con una Faccia Strana ti Cerca per Ucciderti (A Guy With a Strange Face Is Looking for You to Kill You), The Dirty Mob, Mean Machine and even O Exolothreftis (The Terminator) in Greece.

It was written by Jose Gutierrez Maesso, who wrote Django and was an uncredited writer for the magical Pensione Paura. He’s joined by Santiago Moncada, who wrote A Bell from Hell, Hatchet for the Honeymoon and The Corruption of Chris Miller, along with Mario di Nardo (The Fifth Cord, Five Dolls for an August Moon). Directing all of this mayhem is Tulio Demichelli, who made the utterly insane Assignment Terror, as well as The Two Faces of Fear,  Espionage in Lisbon and the well-named There Is Someone Behind the Door.

Make no mistake — this is a movie awash with exploitation, gore, aberrant behavior and no real heroes. In short, it’s exactly the kind of movie you come to this site to read about.

Rico Aversi (Chris Mitchum) has just got out of jail, two years after Don Vito (Arthur Kennedy, the inspector from The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue) killed his father. Everyone wants Rico — notice that his named is spelled completely unlike the title of the movie — to kill the boss off, but Rico just wants to enjoy life outside of prison.

Malisa Longo (Cat in the Brain) plays his girlfriend — and who used to love Rico’s woman — and she enjoys sleeping with the hired help, which gets one unlucky member of the workstaff castrated in shocking detail. Then, his John Thomas gets shoved in his mouth and he’s dipped into acid and turned into soap. This movie is not interested in being unoffensive. Plus, you get Paola Senatore (Eaten Alive!) as Rico’s sister, whose death sets him finally on the path to revenge.

Robert Mitchum is one of my favorite actors ever, so it kind of pains me to admit this his son kind of slumbers through this leading role. But then again, everyone else in this movie is going to seem boring next to Barbara Bouchet, who pretty much sets the screen on fire, dances on the flames and sets it ablaze all over again in this movie. Anyone could show some leg to get the attention of some criminals. Bouchet goes all in, dancing nude on the roof of a car, covered in fog, giving her all no matter how grimy this scumfest gets. Without her, this movie would be passable. With her, it’s transcendent.

So yeah. It’s not a giallo. But man, if you’re coming in looking for bad behavior, gorgeous women and great clothes, it has all of that covered.

Wrestling Queen is less about Vivian Vachon, the titular rassling royalty, than it is about early 1970’s pro wrestling. This movie near-instantly puts a lie to the rewritten Vince McMahon Jr. history of wrestling that big crowds and families didn’t attend wrestling shows until the rock and wrestling connection of the early 80’s.

Vivian comes from the legendary Vachon family, which includes Paul the Butcher and Mad Dog Maurice, both of whom show up here. They’d eventually come into the WWF fold at the start of the USA Network era and Vachon daughter Luna would become a memorable part of the Attitude Era.

The most important reason to watch this movie is to see a behind the scenes and in-ring portrait of some of the most famous names of wrestling’s past, including Andre the Giant, Baron Von Raschke, Dory Funk Jr., Dick Murdoch, Bill Watts, Danny Hodge, Blackjack Mulligan, Killer Kowalski and more.

There are some interesting moments with fans, who compare it to other sports like baseball, while some opine that women are there to hook up and the son of a female wrestling explains why he still thinks that it’s real. It’s not the best documentary on wrestling that I’ve seen, but still a fascinating time capsule.

You can watch this on YouTube:

Pete Walker (Die Screaming, Marianne; Frightmare; House of the Long Shadows) directed this movie, which is based on the comic strip by Pat Tourret and Jenny Butterworth. It fits nicely into both the comic book and spy genres.

Anouska Hempel was one of the Angels of Death in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, plus she had roles in Scars of Dracula and Black Snake before becoming an interior designer and a member of British society.

Here, she plays Tiffany Jones, a model by day and secret agent by night. This movie lives up to the tagline, “Presidents want her, Revolutionaries seek her, And that’s why she’s always taking off!”

Perhaps that’s why Hempel bought the UK rights to the film, preventing any future DVD releases or TV showings. I’m sure she’s very unhappy that it’s on Amazon Prime now.

It’s not great, but it is a time capsule of London in 1973 in a way that the Austin Powers films can only hope to create.

Dr. Tsu (Nancy Kwan, The World of Suzie Wong) and her army of women have captured 14 of the worlds greatest athletes, selling their organs, body parts and even bodies to rich old men who want to live forever.

Mike Harber (Ross Hagen, The Hellcats) is the insurance investigator who stumbles in on her mostly nude, all female, all karate kicking army while investigating a missing jai-lai player.

Roberta Collins (Unholy Rollers, Death Race 2000) is in this, which makes it worth watching. Shirley Washington, the first black Ms. America, is in this as well. She was also in Darktown Strutters. There’s also Sid Haig, playing someone named Gregarious. And one of the girls is played by Maria De Aragon, who was Greedo. Yes. That’s correct. And Vic Diaz! Oh man!

There are also cockfights — Hagen would later make Supercock — and something called brainsex. Ah, the Philippines. May the movies that come off your island always be so strange.

This was directed by Robert Vincent O’Neill, who was also behind the first two Angel movies. He also wrote Deady Force and Vice Squad.

If the theme song sounds familiar, you probably own a bunch of Vinegar Syndrome blu rays.

You can watch this movie with Rifftrax commentary on Tubi.