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Stars: Nick Moriarty, Adele Rein, Carol Baughman, Pluto Felix, Christopher Winters, Penelope Faith, Cathy Crowfoot | Written and Directed by Jack Hill

Jack Hill was an American filmmaker who is no doubt best known for his exploitation films. Probably his most popular and most well-known film would be 1974’s Foxy Brown. Quentin Tarantino even described him as “the Howard Hawks of exploitation filmmaking.” In 1966 he made his directorial debut in the sexploitation drama Mondo Keyhole.

A serial rapist relishes his attacks on women, but are they only fantasy, real though they may seem? A debauched classic of the ‘roughie’ genre, complete with S&m fantasies that probably won’t win any awards from ‘Ms Magazine.’ Jack Hill is the total auteur of this production, so put down your demitasse coffee cup, fasten your seatbelt, and expect the unexpected!

Next year Mondo Keyhole will celebrate its 60th anniversary. So, to get prepared for this epic anniversary,...

Spider Baby: The Novelization: "Jack Hill's cult horror classic is back — in prose. And it's available now."

Buy the book:

Trade Paperback: Link

Retro Mass Market Paperback: Link

eBook (Epub): Link

They're what you'd call “bad blood” — but they don't mean to be.Jack Hill's 1967 cult film Spider Baby was too strange, too funny, too tragic, and too early for its time. Now it's been fully reimagined in prose by author Dayna Noffke — and it's here. This is the first official novelization of Spider Baby, and it doesn't just retell the story — it expands it. New scenes. More depth. The same mix of dark humor and gothic decay that made the film unforgettable, now crawling across the page.

Inside the novel:

A crumbling mansion and the bloodline it's trying to hide A caretaker trying to hold everything together Visitors who shouldn't have come Sisters who don't know what...

Writer/director Jack Hill’s 1967 film Spider Baby or, the Maddest Story Ever Told (watch it Here) – which boasts a cast that includes Lon Chaney Jr. and Sid Haig – ranks up there as one of my all-time favorites, so I’m happy to see that it has finally, nearly sixty years after the film was originally released, been given the novelization treatment! Written by Dayna Noffke, the novelization has been published by Encyclopocalypse Publications and is available for purchase, in paperback and Kindle editions, at This Link.

Here’s the description of the novel, which has a page count of 210: In a crumbling mansion on the edge of nowhere, the Merrye children live a secret life, watched over by their devoted caretaker Bruno and cursed by a rare genetic condition that causes them to regress into violent, childlike states while retaining the strength and appetites of adults. Virginia catches...

Encyclopocalypse has published a novelization of Spider Baby in paperback, mass market paperback, and e-book.

Based on the cult classic from writer-director Jack Hill, the book is written by Dayna Noffke. It includes a foreword by cult film scholar Mike Watt, as well as reconstructed “deleted scenes” and annotations that expand the twisted lore of one of the cult classic.

“In a crumbling mansion on the edge of nowhere, the Merrye children live a secret life, watched over by their devoted caretaker Bruno and cursed by a rare genetic condition that causes them to regress into violent, childlike states while retaining the strength and appetites of adults.

“Virginia catches flies in her imaginary web—then slashes them to pieces with butcher knives. Elizabeth sulks and plots. And Ralph… well, Ralph scuttles in the shadows, twitching, grinning, watching. When distant relatives arrive to claim the family estate, Bruno can only hope the “children” remember their manners.

By the mid-1960s, things were getting weird. At the movies, the French New Wave was reaching America’s shores and inspiring the first move toward experimental filmmaking in Hollywood. On the fringes of this, rogue independent filmmakers were finding ways to be experimental and artistic while also managing to make plenty of money through exploitation films, a charge led by William Castle and Roger Corman. Jack Hill came up through the earliest days of what would eventually be called the “Corman School” and made his debut feature for next to nothing under the title Cannibal Orgy or The Maddest Story Ever Told.

When the film eventually saw the light of day, it retained its subtitle but garnered the new, and perhaps more esoteric, moniker Spider Baby.

The film was made during an unusual time in the history of horror. The classic monster movies had long-since fallen out of vogue...

During the Christmas season of 1997—still hot from Pulp Fiction and a media blitzkrieg that might make a Kardashian blush—Quentin Tarantino dropped the hipster video-clerk attitude and made a “late” movie way ahead of his years. Tarantino was only 34 when Jackie Brown was released, and yet this is a film that’s quite persuasively about the pain and mixed blessings of aging. Correspondingly, Tarantino slowed down his approach to filmmaking, prioritizing lived-in textures over the shock and awe that marks the violence of his earlier work.

The difference in sensibility between Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown can be encapsulated by two respective scenes in cars. In the former, a young man getting his head accidentally splattered against a rear window is treated by Tarantino as comedy. And it is funny, as another display of Tarantino’s brash insistence that moral posturing isn’t a concern of his. Like an...

The Criterion Channel’s at its best when October rolls around, consistently engaging in the strongest horror line-ups of any streamer. 2024 will bring more than a few iterations of their spooky programming: “Horror F/X” highlights the best effects-based scares through the likes of Romero, Cronenberg, Lynch, Tobe Hooper, James Whale; “Witches” does what it says on the tin (and inside the tin is the underrated Italian anthology film featuring Clint Eastwood cuckolded by Batman); “Japanese Horror” runs the gamut of classics; a Stephen King series puts John Carpenter and The Lawnmower Man on equal playing ground; October’s Criterion Editions are Rosemary’s Baby, Night of the Hunter, Häxan; a made-for-tv duo includes Carpenter’s underrated Someone’s Watching Me!; meanwhile, The Wailing and The Babadook stream alongside a collection of Cronenberg and Stephanie Rothman titles.

Otherwise, Winona Ryder and Raúl Juliá are given retrospectives, as are filmmakers Arthur J. Bressan Jr. and Lionel Rogosin.

It’s the summer of “Blaxploitation, Baby!,” the latest festival hosted by Film Forum.

The indie theater announced the upcoming festival which will take place August 16 through August 22. The program celebrates the early ‘70s genre of Black cinema, and features films wth iconic movie stars Pam Grier, Richard Roundtree, Ron O’Neal, Tamara Dobson, Jim Brown, Vonetta McGee, Fred Williamson, Isaac Hayes, and more.

“Blaxploitation, Baby!” is dedicated to author and pioneering film historian Donald Bogle, who collaborated on Film Forum’s first Blaxploitation festival in 1995. Bogle credited Melvin Van Peebles’ filmography for helping to establish the genre. “Blaxploitation, Baby!” additionally ranges from works from directors such as Ossie Davis, Gordon Parks, and Gordon Parks Jr.

As well as the screenings, the festival will include the sales of critic and historian Odie Henderson’s “Black Caesars and Foxy Cleopatras: A History of Blaxploitation” and Donald Bogle’s acclaimed TCM book “Hollywood Black” at concessions.

Part way through Spring and the folks at Arrow have a good lineup of films prepared for the month of May. Next month's programming is led by French horror flick, Pandemonium, which streams on the last week of the month. Jennifer Reeder, director of Perpetrator and Knives and Skin is this month's Selects honoree. Horror icons Tobe Hooper and Jack Hill both have films in the repertoire programming, which include early roles from the equally inconice Sid Haig and Robert Englund. Everything you need to know about May's lineup follows. Arrow Brings Pandemonium to their Streaming Service May 2024 Lineup Announced May 2024 Seasons: Jennifer Reeder Selects, Cunning Folk, The City that Never Sleeps, The Ick, Heaven or (Mostly) Hell ...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Foxy Brown may be the meanest chick in town and Coffy the baddest one-chick hit squad that ever hit it, but Pam Grier is one of the most down-to-earth actresses on the planet. Still going 50 years into her career, Grier has worked with some premiere directors, most of whom wanted to collaborate because they were fans of her iconic work in the ‘70s. Take John Carpenter and Quentin Tarantino, for example, who directed Grier in 1996’s Escape from L.A. and the next year’s Jackie Brown, respectively. But who does Pam Grier prefer when it comes to these genre-loving filmmakers? Oh, she knows what’s goin’ down!

Comparing both John Carpenter and Quentin Tarantino, Pam Grier said, “Quentin is more reality, John is fantasy. Because he got me to play Hershe Las Palmas, where I was a female actor playing a man who becomes a woman,” referring to her character in Escape from L.A.,...

"Petticoat Junction" was the unofficial second part of the Paul Henning Hooterville trilogy, a trio of 1960s sitcoms about the clash between city slickers and country bumpkins. In 1962, Henning created "The Beverly Hillbillies," a series about hillbillies who, when they strike oil, move to Beverly Hills. In 1965, he inverted the formula with "Green Acres," a show about millionaires who move to a farm to learn about country living. Sandwiched in between the two was "Petticoat Junction," which debuted on September 24, 1963. "Junction" took place at the Shady Rest Hotel, overseen by the lovable widowed hayseed Kate Bradley (Bea Benederet). She and her uncle Joe (Edgar Buchanan) would run the hotel and oversee the shenanigans of her three daughters Betty Jo, Billie Jo, and Bobbie Jo. 

"Petticoat Junction" takes place in the same universe as "Green Acres," as both shows make constant references to common fictional cities that the characters visit. There were a few supporting crossovers,...

In his review of the new horror film Immaculate (you can read it Here), JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray said the movie – which reunites Sydney Sweeney with Michael Mohan, who directed her in the erotic thriller The Voyeurs and the Netflix series Everything Sucks! – is “a decent throwback to Dario Argento-style Italian horror movies.” During a recent post-screening Q&a at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Boston Seaport, Mohan also revealed that one particular scene in the movie was inspired by the work one of my favorite grindhouse era filmmakers, Jack Hill – and that same scene also had to be salvaged with the help of Saw X director Kevin Greutert!

Our friends at Bloody Disgusting shared the information from the Q&A, reporting that Mohan said, “The biggest scene that did not work and I’m still not happy with is the scene when Isabelle tries to drown Cecilia. I studied a...

To promote the release of Immaculate, director Michael Mohan participated in post-screening Q&As at select locations throughout the weekend. At last night’s showing at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Boston Seaport, an audience query about post-production challenges led the filmmaker to reveal how the editor of Saw helped save one of the film’s horror sequences.

“The biggest scene that did not work and I’m still not happy with is the scene when Isabelle tries to drown [Cecilia, played by Sydney Sweeney]. I studied a lot of ’70s exploitation movies featuring two women getting in fights, and I wanted it to be like a more direct homage to a genre known as nunsploitation,” Mohan explained.

“I studied some of Jack Hill’s work. Typically what they would do with those types of scenes is they would leave them in a medium-wide shot and just let it play out. The...

Netflix is bringing 1974 back to theaters thanks to rare archival prints, restorations, and select 35mm screenings of the curated “Milestone Movies” streaming collection.

The streaming platform debuts a slew of classic films across its trio of theaters in Los Angeles and New York City. The rarely screened archival prints for Martin Scorsese’s “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” and John Cassavetes’ “A Woman Under the Influence” are among the selected titles, as well as the premiere of the Dcp restoration of iconic Blaxploitation film “Foxy Brown” starring Pam Grier.

The screening series marks the 50th anniversaries of the 1974 films, which were unveiled as part of Netflix’s inaugural (and Criterion Channel-esque) curation channel “Milestone Movies: The Anniversary Collection,” which was unveiled in January 2024. Fifteen films will screen at the Paris Theater in New York from March 22 through 28, as 12 films screen at the Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles from March 11 through...

Following The Film Stage’s collective top 50 films of 2023, as part of our year-end coverage, our contributors are sharing their personal top 10 lists.

In all honesty, the films of 2023 should take a backseat to the images we are seeing every day in Gaza, where journalists and average citizens have been recording and documenting a daily assault on their homes and livelihoods by the Idf. Whatever fakery we watched and enjoyed in the cinema this year should always be kept in perspective in importance with images that are real and actually happening right now. The Palestinians who have documented these important images have been targeted and killed with intent and purpose to silence what their photos and videos are showing and saying.

List of journalists who have been killed.

The below is of lesser note:

Best First Watches:

Angel’s Egg La belle noiseuse Centipede Horror Charley Varrick Coffy Crimson Gold...

Award winning filmmaker Dustin Ferguson’s remake of Jack Hill’s 1967 cult classic horror film “Spider Baby, Red Carpet Premiere hits Los Angeles Tuesday,October 31,2023 5:30pm- Red Carpet Premiere of Spider Baby, or the Maddest Story Ever Told. Celebrities expected from the film: Beverly Washburn ( Walt Disney’s Old Yeller), Brinke Stevens ( Roger Corman’s The …

The post Spider Baby remake premieres on Halloween appeared first on Horror News | Hnn.

Clockwise from top left: Batman Returns (Warner Bros.), A Good Person (MGM/United Artists), Evil Dead Rise (Warner Bros.)Image: The A.V. Club

It’s almost Thanksgiving, which means streaming services are starting to add holiday-themed movies—or just movies set on or around Christmas—to their libraries. Prime Video...

It’s always fun to dive into the homework a director gives an actor prior to filming their collaboration, especially when that director is a religious cinephile like Quentin Tarantino, who just prior to shooting Kill Bill, gave star Uma Thurman three classic action movies from different parts of the world so that she could embody the Bride with all her fury. Earlier this year, Greta Gerwig compiled a 33-film Barbie watchlist that highlighted the unlikely influences feeding into her box office smash. In Tarantino’s case towards Thurman, the list was significantly sparser and more direct, consisting of Jack Hill’s Pam Grier-star making 1973 blaxploitation classic Coffy, Toshiya Fujita’s jidaigeki classic of the same year Lady Snowblood, and action auteur John Woo’s 1989 hitman-with-a-heart-of-gold flick The Killer.

Jack Hill’s 1967 cult classic horror movie Spider Baby is getting a remake from filmmaker Dustin Ferguson (Cocaine Cougar, Mega Ape), and we’ve learned today that the film will be premiering on Halloween night. At The Frida Cinema in Santa Ana, CA on October 31, fans will have their very first chance to see the new take on the maddest story ever told.

The red carpet, general admission premiere is taking place at 6pm, and the special screening will include Director Introduction, Cast/Crew Q&a, plus a Merch table.

Production on the Spider Baby remake is complete, but Ferguson and the team have launched a new Indiegogo campaign to help out with their post-production expenses.

Learn more at the Indiegogo link and check out the brand new official poster below.

The team explains, “The new film promises to reimagine the beloved cult film – which starred Sid Haig and Lon Chaney Jr....

Francis Ford Coppola may very well be the greatest American filmmaker. The Godfather, an epic three-motion-picture coup, redefined gangster movies and film; Apocalypse Now remains the greatest Vietnam War allegory ever made; Bram Stoker’s Dracula is perched atop most lists of horror classics. Coppola hit every genre, created art for art’s sake, and still managed to touch the pulse of moviegoers’ needs, desires, and fantasies.

More than anything, Coppola pursues innovation. This was exemplified in Distant Vision, which presented live cinema, performed twice, broadcast live to select screening rooms in 2015 and 2016, and not included in the list. The 25-minute film was made with students, staff, and teachers at UCLA, Coppola’s alma mater.

Coppola learned his trade at the “Roger Corman Film Academy,” where fresh filmmakers graduated by finishing movies quickly with pocket change for funding. By the time Coppola sandwiched the 1974 paranoid masterpiece The Conversation between The Godfather and The Godfather,...

Linda Haynes, who notably appeared in films including “Coffy,” “Rolling Thunder,” “The Drowning Pool” and “Brubaker,” died July 17 in South Carolina — the news had not spread widely until Friday. She was 75.

“It is with great sadness that I report that my mother, Linda Haynes Sylvander has passed away, peacefully at home,” her son Greg Sylvander wrote on Facebook on Friday. She had moved to South Carolina three years ago to live with Greg. “As an only child, I have dreaded these times my entire life. I find peace in the knowing that my mother was at peace and had the most beautiful life these final years together with her grandchildren, Courtney Sylvander and I. We are going to miss my mom immensely.”

Haynes’ first film was 1969’s “Latitude Zero,” an international co-production directed by legendary Japanese filmmaker Ishirō Honda. The movie co-starred Joseph Cotton and Cesar Romero, among others. It was in the 1970s,...

What would Hollywood be without a good ole Blaxploitation film? And now that “They Cloned Tyrone” has hit Netflix screens, conversations about the Blaxploitation movies that crawled so that “They Cloned Tyrone” could pimp walk have come to the forefront.

Juel Taylor’s film welcomes watchers to The Glen, a normal, everyday neighborhood where its predominately Black residents live out their lives shopping, going to church and enjoying the fruits of their labor. However, beneath the surface, but right in front of their eyes, the government is executing a plot to keep the community in an endless cycle of unhealthy behavior that ultimately blocks them from mental and financial wellness.

Like many Blaxploitation films, “They Cloned Tyrone” creatively calls out and highlights the systemic issues Black community faces while also celebrating Black culture and Black people’s perseverance.

When “They Cloned Tyrone” hit Netflix, people online began discussing the films that influenced it,...

Director Jack Hill’s 1967 film Spider Baby or, the Maddest Story Ever Told (watch it Here) – which boasts a cast that includes Lon Chaney Jr. and Sid Haig – ranks up there as one of my all-time favorites. Rob Zombie clearly took some inspiration from Spider Baby when he was making House of 1000 Corpses, and back in 2007 we heard that a remake was in the works, coming from the Night of the Living Dead 3D team of director Jeff Broadstreet and writer Robert Valding. The one didn’t end up making it into production… but a couple weeks ago, it was confirmed that filming had just wrapped on a version of the remake that’s coming our way from Scs Entertainment and director Dustin Ferguson (Cocaine Cougar). Now our friends at Bloody Disgusting have gotten their hands on a trailer for the Spider Baby remake, and you can check it...

Jack Hill’s 1967 cult classic horror movie Spider Baby is getting a remake from filmmaker Dustin Ferguson (Cocaine Cougar, Mega Ape), and we’ve got the new trailer today.

Bloody Disgusting has been told that the upcoming Spider Baby remake is “set to captivate audiences with a thrilling blend of nostalgia and modern twists.”

The team explains, “The new film promises to reimagine the beloved cult film – which starred Sid Haig and Lon Chaney Jr. – for a new generation of horror enthusiasts.”

The film is now in post-production, with a premiere planned for this October in L.A.

The original film’s director, Jack Hill, served as the Executive Producer for this brand new project, which is said to “ensure a respectful homage to the 1967 cult classic.”

Beverly Washburn, a notable presence from the original Spider Baby as “Elizabeth,” returns to the film in a new role. Also joining the cast is Ron Chaney,...

Director Dustin Ferguson’s remake of Jack Hill’s 1967 cult classic horror movie Spider Baby has wrapped principal photography in L.A. Says Ferguson:

We’ve reached an exhilarating milestone with the completion of the ‘Spider Baby’ remake, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to have worked with an extraordinary ensemble of genre stars such as Robert Mukes, Beverly Washburn, Brinke Stevens, and Ron Chaney. Their immense talent and commitment have breathed new life into this iconic story, infusing it with a fresh and captivating energy. I can hardly wait for audiences to experience the chilling world we’ve created when ‘Spider Baby’ premieres.

The film, from production company Scs Entertainment, tells of a pair of greedy relatives that try to repossess the Merrye Estate. But the inbred children protect their home and bloodline at all costs.

The cast of this new iteration of Spider Baby includes Beverly Washburn,...

A remake of the classic horror film Spider Baby has wrapped filming. Earlier this year, we reported that the remake was in the works with Dustin Ferguson serving as director. Now, Ferguson has confirmed, via Horror Geek Life, that shooting has been finished on the project. Also revealed is the cast of the new film, which includes Ron Chaney — the grandson of Lon Chaney Jr., one of the stars of the original Spider Baby. Beverly Washburn, who appeared in the original movie, is also in the remake.

Along with Ron Chaney and Beverly Washburn, the remake stars Brinke Stevens, Robert Mukes, Peter Stickles, Traci Burr, Jennifer Moriarty, and Vida Ghaffari.

“We’ve reached an exhilarating milestone with the completion of the Spider Baby remake, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to have worked with an extraordinary ensemble of genre stars such as Robert Mukes, Beverly Washburn, Brinke Stevens, and Ron Chaney,...

Director Jack Hill’s 1967 film Spider Baby or, the Maddest Story Ever Told (watch it Here) – which boasts a cast that includes Lon Chaney Jr. and Sid Haig – ranks up there as one of my all-time favorites. Rob Zombie clearly took some inspiration from Spider Baby when he was making House of 1000 Corpses, and back in 2007 we heard that a remake was in the works, coming from the Night of the Living Dead 3D team of director Jeff Broadstreet and writer Robert Valding. The one didn’t end up making it into production… but now, sixteen years later, another attempt to remake Spider Baby has been made. And this one has just wrapped filming!

The Spider Baby remake is coming our way from Scs Entertainment and director Dustin Ferguson. It tells the story of a pair of greedy relatives that try to repossess the Merrye Estate. But the inbred children...

Jack Hill’s 1967 cult classic horror movie Spider Baby is getting a remake from filmmaker Dustin Ferguson, and Bloody Disgusting has learned this week that filming has now wrapped on the upcoming remake that’s “set to captivate audiences with a thrilling blend of nostalgia and modern twists.”

The team explains, “The new film promises to reimagine the beloved cult film – which starred Sid Haig and Lon Chaney Jr. – for a new generation of horror enthusiasts.”

The film is currently in post-production, with a premiere planned for this October in L.A. While you wait, Bloody Disgusting debuts the first official teaser trailer today, found below.

The original film’s director, Jack Hill, served as the Executive Producer for this brand new project, “ensuring a respectful homage to the 1967 cult classic.”

Additionally, Beverly Washburn, a notable presence from the original Spider Baby as “Elizabeth,” returns to the film in a new role.

Marlene Clark, the statuesque actress who portrayed Lamont’s fiancée on Sanford and Son and stood out in such 1970s’ films as Ganja & Hess, Switchblade Sisters and Slaughter, has died. She was 85.

Clark died May 18 in her home in Los Angeles, her family announced. No cause of death was revealed.

Clark also starred as a reptilian seductress in Roger Corman’s Night of the Cobra Woman (1972) and as one of the suspected werewolves in the British horror film The Beast Must Die (1974), and she was an early victim in the Larry Hagman-directed Beware! The Blob (1972).

Clark played John Saxon‘s secretary in Enter the Dragon (1973), starring Bruce Lee, and her big-screen body of work also included Black Mamba (1974), Newman’s Law (1974), Lord Shango (1975) and The Baron (1977), where she appeared opposite her Beast Must Die onscreen husband, Calvin Lockhart.

In the surreal Ganja & Hess (1973), directed by Bill Gunn,...

One of the coolest streaming services out there is Tubi, because it happens to be free (it’s ad-supported) and packed with classic horror movies. This week, we here at Arrow in the Head decided to browse through Tubi’s horror section and compile a list of ten of the Best Horror Movies on Tubi Right Now. Check it out!

Bone Tomahawk (2015)

Director S. Craig Zahler made his feature debut with this excellent blend of the horror and Western genres, which pits a group of men – played by Kurt Russell, Richard Jenkins, Matthew Fox, and Patrick Wilson – against a group of cave-dwelling cannibals who have taken the wife of Wilson’s character captive. With a running time of 132 minutes, Bone Tomahawk takes its time showing the men’s journey to the tribe’s cave… but when the violence breaks out, it’s worth the wait. If you can stomach the gore.

Isn't the saying, "Beggars can't be choosers?"

And yet Magnum and Higgins still debated whether to take a case on Magnum P.I. Season 5 Episode 6.

That was undoubtedly understandable because this wasn't any old case.

An anonymous client sent a bundle of money and a request for Thomas and Juliet to investigate a man as a potential murderer.

Magnum liked having that money in hand, but Higgins was more reserved. Who can blame her? Just sending a pile of cash and an assignment seemed like something a criminal would do.

So naturally, since it was their day off anyway, they did the smart thing, checking out the man, Jack Hill. When Juliet determined he was an ex-cop, that was almost the end of the case.

But curiosity got the better of them. They split up the tasks, with Higgins using the envelope to track the potential client and Magnum, of course,...

Mubi has announced its lineup of streaming offerings for next month, including an epic six-film series dedicated to the brand new restorations of the films of Nina Menkes. The slate also includes a Brian De Palma double bill with Obsession and Body Double as well as Paul Schrader’s Hardcore.

Additional highlights include the Andrea Riseborough-led Please Baby Please, three films by Eugene Kotlyarenko, a Ghost in the Shell double bill, and, ahead of their release of Passages later this year, Ira Sach’s Little Men.

Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.

March 1 – Glass Life, directed by Sara Cwynar | Brief Encounters

March 2 – The Great Sadness of Zohara, directed by Nina Menkes | Phantom Cinema: The Films of Nina Menkes

March 3 – Please Baby Please, directed by Amanda Kramer | Mubi Spotlight

March 4 – Hardcore, directed by Paul Schrader

March 5 – Kedi, directed by Ceyda Torun

March 6 – Magdalena Viraga, directed by...

When there is a Black principal actor in a scary movie, we all know what their fate entails. Enter Dr. Robin R. Means Coleman and vet movie critic Mark H. Harris, who have made it their duty to hunt down the controversial cultural schisms in horror cinema from 1968 on in their teamed text The Black Guy Dies First (out Feb 7). Their prolific 2019 documentary Horror Noire is their first brainchild. Similar to the doc, their second joint dissects the same scary racial truths of early thrillers to modern blood-smearing tentpoles with encyclopedic cognition.

Click here to read the full article.

Paul Glickler, who directed, co-wrote, produced and edited the sex-filled 1973 independent film The Cheerleaders, has died. He was 81.

Glickler died Sept. 19 of a heart attack at his Topanga home in Los Angeles, his sister, Louise G.S. Plaschkes, told The Hollywood Reporter.

The Cheerleaders starred Stephanie Fondue, Denise Dillaway and Jovita Bush in a playful film about Amorosa High School cheerleaders who have sex with the opposing team’s football players the night before a big game to sap them of their strength.

The X-rated movie — eventually recut to an R rating — was made for 120,000, saw a great return on its investment, was name-checked in a John Grisham novel and spawned quick features including The Swinging Cheerleaders (1974), directed by Jack Hill, and Revenge of the Cheerleaders (1976), helmed by Richard Lerner, a co-writer and producer on Glickler’s movie.

Glickler described The Cheerleaders as...

Writer/Director Anita Rocha da Silveira discusses a few of her favorite films with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Medusa (2022)

Switchblade Sisters (1975) – Jack Hill’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Blue Velvet (1986) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Mulholland Drive (2001) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Clueless (1995)

Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)

All That Jazz (1979) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary

The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies (1964)

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) – Darren Lynn Bousman’s trailer commentary

Last Night In Soho (2021)

Carrie (1976) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary

Suspiria (1977) – Edgar Wright’s American and international trailer commentaries, Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review

Kill Me Please (2015)

Blood and Black Lace (1964) – Joe Dante’s trailer commentaries, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Suspiria (2018)

The Virgin Suicides (1999) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Somewhere (2010)

Goodfellas (1990) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary,...

Sometimes it’s like they read your mind—or just notice upcoming releases as you do. Whatever the case, I’m thrilled that the release of Terence Davies’ Benediction played (I assume!) some part in a full retro on the Criterion Channel this June, sad as I know that package will make me and anybody else who comes within ten feet of it. It’s among a handful of career retrospectives: they’ve also set a 12-film Judy Garland series populated by Berkeley and Minnelli, ten from Ulrike Ottinger, and four by Billy Wilder. But maybe their most adventurous idea in some time is a huge microbudget collection ranging from Ulmer’s Detour to Joel Potrykus’ Buzzard, fellow success stories—Nolan, Linklater, Jarmusch, Jia Zhangke—spread about.

Criterion Editions continue with Bertrand Tavernier’s Round Midnight, Double Indemnity, and Seconds, while Chameleon Street, Karen Dalton: In My Own Time,...

Producer Charles Band discusses a few of his favorite films with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Re-Animator (1985) – Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review

Citizen Kane (1941) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Puppet Master (1989)

Dollman (1991)

Trancers (1984)

Corona Zombies (2020)

Cannibal Women In The Avocado Jungle of Death (1989)

Frankenstein (1931) – Joe Dante’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

The Sixth Sense (1999)

The Wolf Man (1941) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review, Alex Kirschenbaum’s Wolf Man power rankings

I Bury The Living (1958) – Joe Dante’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review

Face of Fire (1959)

Hercules (1958)

The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad (1958) – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary

Jason And The Argonauts (1963) – Ernest Dickerson’s trailer commentary

King Kong (1933)

King Kong (1976) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

The Exorcist (1973) – Oren Peli’s trailer commentary

Star Wars (1977)

The Omega Man (1971)

Castle Freak (1995)

Tourist Trap (1979) – David DeCoteau’s trailer commentary

Laserblast (1978)

Crash!

Stars: Morgan Shaley Renew, Senethia Dresch, Shelby Lois Guinn, Mike Amason, Dove Dupree, Micah Peroulis, Cleveland Langdale, Jonathan Benton, Shane Silman | Written by Christopher Bickel, Shane Silman | Directed by Christopher Bickel

We recently reviewed Bae Wolf from writer/director David Axe, a filmmaker who got his start in features writing The Theta Girl, from director Christopher Bickel who – unlike Axe – hasn’t followed up that 2017 film with any further features. Instead Bickel has, in the intervening years, spent his time making shorts and music videos. Now however Bickel makes his return to filmmaking by directing and co-writing Bad Girls, a girl-gang homage to the films of Russ Meyer and Jack Hill.

Bad Girls follows three “troubled” women – Val (Morgan Shaley Renew), Mitzi (Senethia Dresch), and Carolyn (Shelby Lois Guinn) – who, after spending their youth in and out of detention halls and jail, work together at a strip club. However the...

They’re after you, and your wives and children! This Corman/VeSota/Ed Nelson shocker with the excellent poster is a Robert Heinlein knockoff that can’t quite sustain the paranoid pitch of other ‘parasitic possession’ sci-fi horror epics. One of the cheapest of the drive-in cheapies, it remains a must-see title just for the audacity of its ad campaign, and a random moment or two of spooky serendipity. Don’t get your hopes up if you’re coming to see Leonard Nimoy’s performance — unless his voice is enough to satisfy.

The Brain Eaters

Blu-ray

1958 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen / 61 min. / Street Date January, 2022

Starring: Ed Nelson, Alan Frost, Jack Hill, Joanna Lee, Jody Fair, David Hughes, Robert Ball, Greigh Phillips, Orville Sherman, Leonard Nemoy (Nimoy),, Doug Banks, Saul Bronson, Hampton Fancher.

Cinematography: Larry Raimond

Art Director: Burt Shonberg

Film Editor: Carlo Lodato

Written by Gordon Urquhart

Uncredited Executive Producer:...

After a hiatus as theaters in New York City and beyond closed their doors during the pandemic, we’re delighted to announce the return of NYC Weekend Watch, our weekly round-up of repertory offerings. While many theaters are still focused on a selection of new releases, there’s a handful of worthwhile repertory screenings taking place.

Metrograph

A Kurt Russell retrospective—featuring Escape from New York, The Thing, Used Cars and more—is underway, while Tsai Ming-liang’s masterpiece Goodbye, Dragon Inn has been restored, which paves way for a wuxia series featuring films by King Hu, Ang Lee and more.

IFC Center

A Clockwork Orange and Princess Mononoke are available for a double feature, if you’re fucking insane, while a double feature of Scorsese’s Italianamerican and American Boy is underway.

Roxy Cinema

On Friday our friends at Screen Slate are presenting a print of the Japanese nunsploitation...

Stars: Luana Anders, Patrick Magee, William Campbell, Bart Patton, Mary Mitchel | Written by Francis Ford Coppola, Jack Hill | Directed by Francis Ford Coppola

Written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Dementia 13 was one of the directors first films. This makes for interesting viewing, especially when it was also produced by Roger Corman. So does the movie show any of the hallmarks of his future films?

When Louise’s (Luana Anders) husband Peter dies of a heart attack she decides to hide the fact he is dead so she can get her hands on his inheritance. When she goes to visit his families home in an attempt to make sure things go to plan, she is unaware of what awaits her at the family estate that holds a deadly secret.

One of the first things that is noticeable in Dementia 13 is the fact it has a Hitchcockian feel to the film.

One of the best director debuts of the 1960s is Francis Coppola’s earnest effort to deliver a marketable thriller to producer Roger Corman, a gory, sexy horror show that will get past the censor. The 21-year-old student filmmaker comes through in high style. The spirited tale of axe murders on an Irish estate brings back a time when a talented beginner could hit a $40,000 movie out of the park. It’s been reconstituted to Coppola’s preferred cut after sixty years in Public Domain purgatory, and he provides a new commentary that will please his fans as well as lovers of the horror genre.

Dementia 13 Director’s Cut

Blu-ray

Lionsgate / Vestron Video Collector’s Series

1963 / B&w / 1:78 widescreen / 69 min. / The Haunted and the Hunted / Street Date September 21, 2021 / 17.99

Starring: William Campbell, Luana Anders, Bart Patton, Mary Mitchel, Patrick Magee, Ethne Dunne, Peter Read.

Cinematography: Charles Hannawalt

Art Director: Albert...

The comedian and former The Daily Show correspondent talks about his favorite Blaxploitation movies with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Casablanca (1942) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

The Castle (1997)

The Spook Who Sat By The Door (1973) – Bill Duke’s trailer commentary

Pressure (1976)

Robinson Crusoe On Mars (1964) – Mick Garris’s trailer commentary

Boss (1975)

Django Unchained (2012) – Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary

The Thing With Two Heads (1972) – Stuart Gordon’s trailer commentary

The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant (1971)

The Liberation of L.B. Jones (1970)

Last of the Mobile Hot Shots (1970)

Black Samurai (1977)

Truck Turner (1974)

Schindler’s List (1993)

Black Caesar (1973) – Larry Cohen’s trailer commentary

Hell Up In Harlem (1973) – Larry Cohen’s trailer commentary

Judas And The Black Messiah (2021)

Friday Foster (1975)

That Man Bolt (1973)

Blacula (1972)

Foxy Brown (1974) – Jack Hill’s trailer commentary

Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde (1976)

Willie Dynamite (1973) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Billy Jack (1971)

John Wick (2014)

The Matrix (1999)

Cleopatra Jones...

Though relegated to the sidelines for much of her time at A.I.P., Luana Anders could at least point to her starring role in Francis Ford Coppola’s first legitimate feature, Dementia 13. It was after hearing his pitch about a mysterious psycho killer that producer Roger Corman gave Coppola the funds to proceed—and though an unhappy Corman asked Jack Hill to shoot additional footage to spruce up what he considered Coppola’s too-stately efforts, the fledgling director was on his way to a legendary career.

Here’s a new trailer for Coppola’s 4K “director’s cut” to be released by Lionsgate in September! Dementia 13: Director’s Cut (1963 Movie) Official Trailer – Francis Ford Coppola – YouTube

The post Dementia 13 appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

The writer/director returns to talk about his favorite Blaxploitation movies with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Man Bites Dog (1992)

Trick Baby (1972)

The Exorcist (1973) – Oren Pelli’s trailer commentary

The Untouchables (1987)

Predator (1987)

Purple Rain (1984) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

The Loved One (1965) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary

Live And Let Die (1973)

Enter The Dragon (1973) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary, Brian Trenchard-Smith’s trailer commentary

The Green Hornet (1974)

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) – Darren Bousman’s trailer commentary

The Last Dragon (1985) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary

Dead Presidents (1995)

Hell Up In Harlem (1973) – Larry Cohen’s trailer commentary

Black Caesar (1973) – Larry Cohen’s trailer commentary

Shaft (1971) – Bill Duke’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing

Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (1971)

Coffy (1973) – Jack Hill’s trailer commentary

Midnight Cowboy (1969) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Taxi Driver (1976) – Rod Lurie’s trailer commentary

Boxcar Bertha (1972) – Julie Corman...

The always-dynamic director Jack Hill goes teen-gang wild with this absolutely crazy take on Jd pictures, pitched three octaves higher than normal exploitation drama. All the nasty-rasty thrills are here, from an episode of Wip sadism to brutal misogyny to a gang skirmish fought on a roller skating rink. What began as one of those exploitation cheapies with three women, comes alive with the dynamic Robbie Lee, Joanne Nail and Monica Gayle — even with all the sexist cruelty on view, the no-limits performances feel liberating, energizing. Hill’s gang epic is so stylized, it’s almost a fantasy. With some good interview and analysis extras.

Switchblade Sisters

Blu-ray

Arrow Video

1975 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 91 min. / Street Date April 27, 2021 / The Jezebels Available from Arrow Video / 39.95

Starring: Robbie Lee, Joanne Nail, Monica Gayle, Asher Brauner, Chase Newhart, Marlene Clark, Kitty Bruce, Janice Karman, Don Stark, Don Marino, Helene Nelson, Bill Adler, Paul Lichtman,...

“No, let me give you some advice, cop. You can beat us, chain us, lock us up. But we’re gonna be back, understand? And when we do, cop, you better keep your ass off our turf, or we’ll Blow It Off! Ya dig? We’re Jezebels, cop – remember that name. We’ll be back!”

Jack Hill’s Switchblade Sisters (1975) will be available on Blu-ray April 20th From Arrow Video

The Wildest Girl Gang That Ever Blasted The Streets!

From Jack Hill, legendary director of Spider Baby, Coffy, Foxy Brown, and The Swinging Cheerleaders comes another iconic cult classic, Switchblade Sisters!

Lace (Robbie Lee), the leader of inner city girl gang The Dagger Debs, meets her match when new girl Maggie (Joanne Nail) moves into the neighborhood. Mistrust and conflict turn to friendship as the girls end up in Juvenile Detention together at the mercy of abusive guards. Meanwhile,...

Bad Girls is out now – Order Here – and check out this crazy trailer:

Bad Girls is a shocking drug-fueled post-modern female rage-odyssey from acclaimed director of The Theta Girl, Christopher Bickel, and producer Crystal Colligan

Films Colacitta announces the release of Bad Girls, a violent underground film by Christopher Bickel, premiering in early 2021. 2021 is poised to be the year of the underground film. Due to the void of Hollywood content caused by the 2020 pandemic, audiences are clamoring for new and unusual programming. Heading the charge for unique DIY boutique cinema is Bad Girls, an eye-popping artsploitation road movie from acclaimed director of The Theta Girl, Christopher Bickel. The film’s producer, Crystal Colligan, describes Bad Girls as a “shocking drug-fueled post-modern female rage-odyssey.”

Bad Girls gleefully subverts genre tropes in telling its lurid, hyperreal tale. After robbing a strip club, three desperate teenage girls lead a grizzled Federal Agent on a lysergic cross-country chase,...

Jack Hill gives us the lowdown on one of his most belatedly popular movies, which took several years to make it to the drive-ins, largely because it was shot in black-and-white. Filmed under the title The Winner, it’s a gritty, no-frills drag racing saga set around the dangerous Figure Eight Races, which seem designed to promote crowd-pleasing car crashes. Veteran character actor Brian Donlevy’s final film and Ellen Burstyn’s first (under the name Ellen McRea).

The post Pit Stop appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

Article by Jim Batts, Dana Jung, Sam Moffitt, and Tom Stockman

Happy Birthday to one of Wamg’s favorite movie stars! Pam’s iconic movie career began when she moved to Los Angeles in the late ‘60s from her native North Carolina at age 18. After a tiny role in Russ Meyer’s Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls (1970), she landed a job as a receptionist for American International Pictures where she was discovered by Jack Hill, an Aip director who cast her in a pair of women’s prison films: The Big Doll House (1971) and The Big Bird Cage (1972). Soon she was known as the “Queen of Blaxploitation” at a time when film roles for African-American women were, as Grier puts it, “practically invisible, or painfully stereotypical”.

Here, according to We Are Movie Geeks, are Pam Grier’s ten best films.

Honorable Mention: Greased Lightning

Greased Lightning is a biographical...