Sizzlin’ Summer of Subterranean Psychotronica 2026: S.F. 3.D Original Video: Nutrocker (1985)
Week 12 (Sept 6 – 12) – Japanese V- Cinema: V-Cinema is shorthand for the Japanese direct-to-video wave of the 90s and 00s. These movies were often produced by major studios on very low budgets, but they allowed the filmmakers a great deal of creative freedom as long as they could deliver the “exploitable elements.” This proved […]
WEIRD WEDNESDAY: S&M Hunter (1985)
Director Shuji Kataoka’s S&M Hunter is a dazzling, wildly inventive pop-art bit of weirdness that pushes the boundaries of cinematic style and good taste. But far from a mere exploitation gimmick, this film is a meticulously crafted manga-style fable that blends traditional Western motifs with avant-garde theatricality, standing as a fascinating artistic artifact of the […]
Sybil Danning’s Adventure Video: Ninja Warriors (1985)
When the 1980s ninja boom swept across the globe, it didn’t just entertain audiences—it birthed a distinct cinematic art form. Directed by Teddy Page (under the alias John Lloyd) and written by its own principal villain, Ninja Warriors stands as a magnificent monument to international action filmmaking. Shot against the lush, sun-drenched backdrop of the […]
Sizzlin’ Summer of Subterranean Psychotronica 2026: You Killed Me First (1985)
Week 9 (Aug 16 – 22) – Cinema of Transgression: “none shall emerge unscathed” -Nick Zedd Lung Leg was born Elisabeth Carr, and for so much of the art I consumed in the mid-80s, she seemed like a poster girl. She’s right there, screaming on the cover of Sonic Youth’s EVOL, all over Richard Kern’s books and movies. […]
Young Lady Chatterely II (1985)
Arriving nearly a decade after the 1977 original, Young Lady Chatterley II trades the solemn, literary melancholy of D.H. Lawrence’s source material for a bright, breezy and unapologetic 1980s sex farce. Directed by Alan Roberts (The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood), the film captures that specific period of the 1980s when softcore movies ruled both video […]
USA UP ALL NIGHT: Porky’s III (1985)
EDITOR’S NOTE: Porky’s III: The Revenge was on USA Up All Night on July 14, 1990; December 31, 1991; July 4 and December 21, 1992 and June 26, 1993. James Komack is best known for producing The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, Chico and the Man and Welcome Back, Kotter. To be honest, his making the third […]
USA UP ALL NIGHT: Fraternity Vacation (1985)
EDITOR’S NOTE: Fraternity Vacation was on USA Up All Night eleven times: March 25 (twice), August 19 and December 30, 1989; August 24, 1990; January 25 and 26, July 20 and November 11, 1991 and February 15 and 28, 1992. We start not just in cold, snowy Iowa, but in black and white. Two fraternity brothers, Larry […]
USA UP ALL NIGHT: Dr. Otto and the Riddle of the Gloom Beam (1985)
EDITOR’S NOTE: Dr. Otto and the Riddle of the Gloom Beam was on USA Up All Night on December 23, 1995. Before the world outside of Nashville (he’s already been doing more than twenty different brands’ ads as Ernest) knew him as the denim-clad, nasally-voiced icon Ernest P. Worrell, Jim Varney was busy playing a mad scientist […]
WEIRD WEDNESDAY: O.C. and Stiggs (1985)
The actual release date for this movie is under some debate: director Robert Altman — yes, the same one who did Nashville — shot the film in 1983; it was copyrighted in 1985, then shelved until it got a small theatrical release in 1987 and 1988. The reason for the 1983–1988 delay was simple: MGM had […]
APRIL MOVIE THON DAY 28: The Nail Gun Massacre (1985)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jennifer Upton is an American (non-werewolf) writer/editor in London. You can listen to her podcast at https://thecinemajunction.com. Her latest book is Japanese Cult Cinema: Best of the Second Golden Age. She writes for Horror & Sons and Drive-in Asylum. She has also appeared on the podcasts Japan on Film, Making Tarantino, Making Scorsese, The […]
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