Best New-to-Me: June 2024/Junesploitation

The Twin Cities in Summertime is traditionally accompanied by an absolute onslaught of activities as we all try to squeeze every last ounce of fun out of the daylit months before the shroud of winter darkness descends. This trend doesn't necessarily lend itself to movie-watching but I have also been participating in the F This Movie! Junesploitation challenge for a few years now - partially because it's fun and partially to keep my movie watching going while I'm otherwise biking around, going to outdoor events, and living part-time on patios throughout the city. This year I wasn't totally successful with my challenge list but I still watched a ton of great stuff that I may not have gotten around to otherwise. I also made it out to the theater a fair amount - though mostly for repertory screenings. I was feeling a little burnout towards the end of the month and found myself doing a lot of re-watches for some other writing I've been thinking about. Hopefully I'll have a chance to move that project forward over the holiday weekend. However, this post is for new-to-me movies and I think these are some great ones so check it out.

Hong Kong Godfather (1985) - Later Shaw Bros Triad rager that features the kinetic ferocity of 80s HK action cinema combined with the chaotic nihilism that reminds me more of 70s yakuza films. The narrative isn't what I'd describe as electric but it hardly matters when the action is this frenetic. The well worn honor code tropes recede to the background amidst a whirlwind of brutal machete fights, hacked off limbs, backbreakers delivered to children, animal attacks, and a gruesome and classically 80s mall showdown climax. While the focus is certainly on mayhem, there are some solid performances here as well. Bryan Leung manages to impart some believability as a reformed hit man who can only be pushed so far and it's a real treat to see Shih Kin (Enter the Dragon) as an aging gang boss who still has some moves.

Money Movers (1978) - Ferociously violent Ozploitation heist flick from Bruce Beresford. It features a young Bryan Brown but it truly is an ensemble piece with somewhat disparate storylines circling each other in a slow boil until they collide in an explosive finale. The opening robbery sets a grim tone when one of the thieves unloads a full shotgun blast into an unfortunate armored car driver. The action slows to a simmer as the plot reveals players on all sides of the armored transport world - inside men plotting the next job, corrupt cops playing the angles, and local mob looking to muscle in on the action. There are also a couple honest men just trying to do their job. Once things pick up again, they are delivered in resolutely hardboiled, take no prisoners fashion that I found irresistible. This one absolutely deserves more attention as a classic of gritty, 70s crime cinema.

Act of Vengeance/Rape Squad (1974) - There's no getting around that this is very much an exploitation picture in a very classically American International Pictures kind of way. There are some harrowing scenes of humiliation and degradation and no shortage of nudity even in the film's lighter moments. However, Act of Vengeance also manages to portray the female protagonists with some genuine empathy and at least some understanding of the institutional misogyny they face. The main thrust of the film is a group of women who form a "rape squad" after encountering the indifference and incompetence of traditional law enforcement. It's a B picture to be certain but it's all done very competently and professionally and the lead actors are totally charismatic and interesting to watch. There are several uncomfortable sequences but there are also a series of great ones as the now-vigilantes beat and terrorize obscene phone callers, would-be date rapists, and even an abusive pimp.

Street Girls (1975) -  Street Girls is a tale of sex and addiction shot almost exclusively on the streets and in the strip clubs of Eugene, Oregon in the 70s. Predating Schrader's Hardcore by a few years, Girls is the story of a concerned father who goes looking for his daughter after she disappears from school. What he uncovers is a world of go-go dancing, prostitution, lesbianism(!), and drugs. It would be a stretch to say the filmmakers (director Michael Miller and an early writing credit for Barry Levinson) handle this with sensitivity but they do attempt to reveal the harsh, sexist world that has been set into motion and they don't seem eager to cast judgement around the sex workers themselves. Queerness is displayed as a kind of oddity in the film but again, those characters aren't necessarily judged as perverse or bad in any way. There's a nearly documentarian lens via Eugene, the strip bars, and it's denizens are being examined. This could be off-putting to some but it's hard for me to resist such a distinctly individual document. I'd love to know more about this production one day.

Family Honor (1973) - Zero budget, hyper-regional crime drama that manages to turn a lack of resources into a palpable atmosphere of authenticity. The basic framework of the plot is a cop being pressured by his family to take revenge on the gangsters who killed his father. However, Family Honor tends to meander through the grimy streets and the characters who populate it's grainy, 16mm world. The onscreen action tends to be brief (though intensely visceral at times) and the film is more focused on tense and sometimes bizarre interactions between all of these New York faces - many of whom only ever had a credit or two. In a uniquely weird turn, blues rocker Leslie West (Mountain) features prominently as a improbably eccentric mafia goon decked out in what must have been his own custom boots and ruffled collars. Maybe not an all-timer crime picture, but absolutely a must watch for fans of scrappy filmmaking and cinematic time capsules.

War Dog (1987) - Positively bonkers dadsploitation action film from Sweden. Ostensibly set in an America where guns are as pervasive as Coca-Cola, it's the story of some kind of super-soldier program gone rogue but that's barely comprehensible in the onslaught of gruesome action that rarely lets up. Bloody squibs erupt left and right, even children are annihilated, and a corpse is hurled down a water slide. This must be absolutely insane to watch with and audience and I have to tip my hat to Erica of Unsung Horrors/The Sweetest Taboo for turning me onto this one.

A Gun for Jennifer (1987) - Another rape/revenge flick by way of 90s NYC instead of 70s California. I was expecting some Sarah Jacobson style punk-fueled indie fury and Jennifer absolutely delivers on that front. What surprised me was how compelling the crime/police procedural elements were, the unflinching gore, and how the on-screen violence is exclusively inflicted on abusive men while any sexual violence is largely implied. My love of NYC films is largely driven by the quality of filmmakers and performers as well as location footage in America's largest film set. Jennifer uses a lot of interior shots but there are still some outstanding (probably guerilla) shots of nighttime streets, Port Authority, and Grand Central. The actors are uniformly solid and especially notable is veteran character actor and long time Spike Lee regular Arthur Nascarella who brings some gravitas as a gruff police lieutenant. The 90s vibes are strong in this one with a lot of sex work-positive feminism, riot grrl soundtrack, and even a Tribe-8 performance that provides a powerful bonding moment for the women involved. I would have been totally satisfied with a scrappy, grimy snapshot of 90s NYC but I think there's a lot to admire with this one.

Bloody Mama (1970) - One of Roger Corman's (RIP) last directorial efforts and a solid one at that. This is undoubtedly meant to cash in on post Bonnie and Clyde interest in American outlaws but happens to feature an absolute barn burner of a performance by Shelley Winters as Ma Barker. Corman underscores the Barker mythos with psychosexual undercurrents and nods towards incest and Winters evokes a complicated portrait of the character. At times vulnerable but flies instantly into wild eyed rages when she feels her boys are threatened. This emotional chaos gives way to commanding professional coolness when Barker has to pull a bank job or dispatch unwanted witnesses. It's Winters' picture through and through but there are some great early performances from Bruce Dern and Robert De Niro as well. I was especially happy to see Pat Hingle who plays a wealthy patriarch the gang captures for blackmail and manages to insinuate himself into their lives before the end. Just as a weird aside, Winters played a comedic version of the Ma Barker character some years earlier on the Batman television show and (at least for people of my generation) Pat Hingle is most recognizable as Commissioner Gordon from Burton's caped crusader films. 

Theatrical Screenings!

Early in the month following a less than outstanding Memorial Day Weekend box office turnout, we heard a lot about the death of movie theaters. Then within a couple of weeks we heard that actually, they aren't so dead, that people were turning out in droves for other movies, and the so-called "flops" actually did okay. I don't know what to make of this other than a) studios are bad a predicting which titles will pop, b) their projected numbers for "success" are borderline idiotic, and c) the pundits enthusiastically pointing out the death of the theater aren't going themselves. When I attended a Monday night screening of The Hunger, not only was there a great turnout for a nearly 40 year old movie - the place was absolutely packed with people eager to see the latest Bad Boys installment. Tim, who programs Cinema of the Macabre, has been noting that the Tape Freaks series that he co-curates has been selling out weeks in advance. I think there's still palpable desire to see movies at theaters (or other spaces offering the cinematic experience) and I don't think for a minute it's limited to one kind of film or one generation of movie-goers. Maybe it's the old punk in me but you are your local cinema scene. We have a fantastic cinema scene in the Twin Cities and it is completely due to the hardworking folks that make it happen. Places like New York or Austin or even Paris have such entrenched film cultures that it's easy to forget how critical independent film societies were to establishing them. If you live remotely near cool theaters that are doing cool programming, you should support them. If there's nothing like that where you live, look into what kind of options there could be for a film club or a screening series. Participation is key and it could be as easy as buying a ticket.

The Hunger (1983) - I've always liked The Hunger even if I'm not as devoted as its most ardent fans. It's cliche to say that it's all about "vibes" but it is definitely a lot about aesthetics. I have to say I found it 1000% more engaging in a theatrical setting. The music and the visuals were so much more riveting to me and my brain was drawing all kinds of weird parallels between it, Ridley Scott's work, HK cinema motifs (probably borrowed to some extent from the brothers Scott), and even batshit Italian horror movies. The cast couldn't be cooler and the opening club scene with Bahaus booming through the speakers will still be the epitome of 80s goth glamour. 

Household Saints (1993) - I have become such a massive fan of Nancy Savoca's Dogfight and I was totally thrilled to hear her following film had gotten a restoration. I admit I wasn't as taken with this film, but it's still such an absolute joy to see such an ambitious 90s indie finding a new audience. The multi-generational New York immigrant story feels very genuine and the cast is excellent - Vincent D'Onofrio, Tracey Ullman, and Lli Taylor especially but also a great supporting role from Michael Imperioli. I was bowled over to learn that this was shot in North Carolina and somewhat crushed to learn that the "Kalina Cinema" where Taylor and Imperioli see Last Year at Marienbad was not a real place.

Eyes of Laura Mars (1978) - This screened at the Walker Art Center as part of a series their programming in conjunction with their Keith Haring exhibition (beyond  highly recommended for anyone in the area). I've only seen Laura Mars once before and recall it not having the strongest plot in the world - that's correct but it's nearly impossible to care with the cast, the music, the locations, and the fever pitch thriller action that plays out. Again, this worked so much better for me in the theater and I have had Michael Zager's "Let's All Chant" stuck in my head ever since this viewing. I'm not going to enter the fray over whether this is an American giallo or not, but suffice to say it is late 70s perfection pulsing with cocaine and fashion and garbage lined city streets. Certainly well within the spirit of the genre.

Robot Dreams (2023) - I knew very little about this other than thinking the trailer looked charming enough to check out. I had no idea this would be such a New York movie or that it would be such a movie lovers movie. Robot Dreams is free from dialogue and takes place in an alternate 1984 NYC that is populated with anthropomorphized animals. The technology level is as you would expect except that companion robots are available for purchase. The dog protagonist buys such a robot to ease his loneliness and the two form a close bond. They are driven apart due to circumstances beyond their control and the rest of the film plays out like vignettes of their lives while separated and their attempts to reunite. There are a ton of film references throughout this - The Apartment, Psycho, Busby Berkeley musicals, The Wizard of Oz, etc. There are also some amazing cultural and musical references that are a lot of fun. Earth, Wind, and Fire managed to dislodge Michael Zager from my brain briefly after seeing this one. Very sweet, but hardly saccharine. I'm going to guess this is better than the new Pixar movie.

Junesploitation/Best New-to-Me June 2023

 Last year I participated in my first Junesploitation - F This Movie's annual film challenge where they provide 30 prompts and we all do our level best to watch at least one movie per category. I had a great time with it so I didn't think long or hard before taking the dive again this year. I often travel in June which can complicate my Junesploitation schedule  (of course last year I made it out to Ex-Fest which was actually pretty helpful in knocking out some categories) but I still managed to watch 29 Junesploitation movies and hit all 30 categories. One of the great things about this particular viewing challenge is the openness in the attitudes of its participants. If you need to hop around the schedule or double up or don't have time to watch everything, it's no problem. As long as you're down to indulge your genre proclivities in some way during the month of June, you're invited. I know there's a lively community of commenters over on F This Movie! and I've done some social media posts for Junesploitation before, but I was really happy to have the Unsung Horrors discord server to blab about what I was watching and follow along with other participants. It's a cool community of movie fans (with interests much wider than horror) so you should definitely be listening to the podcast and then check out their other links.

Me being me, I watched a lot of non-Junesploitation movies in June as well so I think I'll break up this post into challenge related first time watches, other movies that really struck me in June, and then some notes on theatrical screenings I managed to catch. There's plenty to talk about!

Best of Junesploitation 2023

Gina (1975) A vitally potent blend of labor politics, pseudo-documentary, and genre elements set in a very specific time and place. Gina was a "free space" pick for me but would also work for the "revenge" category. It is a rape/revenge film which I realize is not going to work for everyone. Still, I don't think it feels particularly exploitative. Part of that is the storyline parallel to Gina's: an indie film crew trying to make a documentary on the textile workers in the small Canadian town in which it's set. Director Denys Arcand got his start as a documentarian and employs both his experiences and filmmaking techniques to this part of the film. Not only is this a smart way to manage a low budget, but it adds some gritty reality to the proceedings. I don't want to make this sound like a kitchen sink drama, though. Gina delivers the genre goods when it comes to Céline Lomez' dancing (choreographed by Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal founder Eva Von Gencsy), moments of intense violence, or the absolute crackerjack snowmobile chase towards the end of the film. Between this and La Gammick, Canadian International Pictures is becoming a favorite smaller blu ray label of mine and I'm very much here for more Quebecois crime classics!

Freedom (1981) - My choice for the "Teenagers" category this year. Who knew that I would become such a tv movie fan? It helps when you have absolute killers like Joseph Sargent and Barbara Turner behind the scenes and actors the quality of Mare Winningham and Jennifer Warren in front of the camera. Freedom isn't a particularly gritty take on teenage independence or the life of a carny - but it does feel genuine. Turner based the script on her actual experiences with her older daughter and Winningham and Warren really do seem to embody that familial friction so believably. Sargent doesn't do anything too flashy here, but he shoots a carnival midway just as ably as he does a Manhattan street scene. He also includes some nice handheld montages that give this a pseudo-documentary feel in a few sequences. I dragged my feet on Fun City Edition's first set of made for tv movies but have truly enjoyed them after picking it up. I'll be first in line for the new set!

The Last Run (1971) "Cars" can be a tricky category for me. To say I'm no gearhead is a vast understatement and while I love a good chase sequences, I'd just as soon see a bunch of disposable Fiats careening around then any kind of fancy sportscar. Still, there's no shortage of crime films that intersect with driving and The Last Run has been on my watchlist for ages. It's a fantastic slab of European set hardboiled crime action featuring George C. Scott at the height of his powers. Alan Sharp (Night Moves) wrote the script and he had such a gift for this brand of downer 70s neo-noir. There was a bit of behind the scenes hijinks on this film but Richard Fleischer eventually took the helm and delivers the goods very competently. The Last Run has been languishing in Warner Brothers dvd limbo for as long as I can remember and would make for an ideal blu ray upgrade. I almost hope someone else can take the reigns on this as WB tends to do barebones discs and I think there's some great bonus feature potential here. 

Take a Hard Ride (1975) - I had initially picked another movie for the "Fred Willimson" category but swerved towards this Antonion Margheriti western after it was recommended to me due to its dummy drop content! Presumably meant to capitalize on the success of the previous year's Three the Hard Way - Hard Ride transplants Jim Brown, Fred Williamson, and Jim Kelly into a fairly straightforward western tale of a man traveling with some money while everyone tries to take it from him. The plot doesn't break new ground, the details make for some wild viewing. Fred Williamson plays a fancy gambler who throws bags of snakes at people, Jim Kelly is a mute martial artist in a Billy Jack hat, Lee Van Cleef is essentially playing his usual role but teams up variously with corpse-robbing henchmen, religious war criminals, and a pack of mutinous bandits. It's not a profound film, but it's an incredibly entertaining one. Also, dummy drops!

For A Cop's Hide (1981) - Pour la peau d'un flic is not a "great" movie, but it was a fantastic surprise for me. It's the first of Alain Delon's directorial efforts during a period where he was only doing these hyper-masculine crime/action films. This was my "80s Action" pick and I assumed it would be something more along the lines of the Belmondo films from the same period (which I do like). Instead Cop's Hide is more in line with the shaggy, pulpy private eye stories that gained some traction in the 70s. Delon isn't well cast as the hard luck type but the film eventually sidesteps that characterization and he's able to play the kind of charming rogue he's better suited towards. There are twists galore as a missing persons case gives way to murder, crooked cops, conspiracies, drugs, and various unsavory activities. I was fully taken with the mystery though the version I watched had some synching issues with the subtitles. It's a great looking movie - shot by veteran Jacques Tournier - and the supporting cast is terrific. Anne Parillaud as Delon's secretary has to weather some generally shitty behavior and plays the dopey dame to an extent - but her screen presence is still there and she would go on to play some badass ladies (Nikita, for one). I'm curious to see her in Delon's other directorial effort, Le Battant. Brigitte Lahaie also turns up randomly as a nurse - though she never gets the chance to deliver any sinister injections!

The Bride Wore Black (1968) - I still need to shore up some major holes in my Nouvelle Vague filmography and was happy to finally catch up to Truffaut's genre flex for my actual "revenge" choice. Obviously a Hitchcock homage but also incredibly entertaining in its own right. I found Bride to be darkly funny and totally absorbing and I'm still thinking about the final gag. I confess that it has additional layers of interest for me due to the clear influence it had on other filmmakers. Wes Anderson and Quentin Tarantino are the most obvious examples though one would gladly tell you so with a wink and the other claims he'd never seen it (bleargh)

The Dion Brothers (1974) - My "Hicksploitation" choice had been languishing on my watchlist for a while and came heavily endorsed by Erica of Unsung Horrors so I decided to go for it. Unfortunately it also coincided with the recent passing of Frederic Forrest but what better way to celebrate his life than to dig into one of his great co-starring roles. Forrest is great in this along with the excellent Stacy Keach as two rural brothers telling the man to shove it and trying to make it as professional robbers. Crammed with awesome 70s actors, memorable dialogue, and some wild set pieces (shoot out in a building that's being demolished?) - this movie DEMANDS rediscovery, restoration, and re-release. The online copies look like deep fried shit, but you can still see the greatness. Somebody save this one!

Best of the Rest

Cisco Pike (1972) - Another long time watchlist denizen that turned up kind of randomly on YouTube. I've been having good luck with that lately and don't mind if it continues (though I would totally pick this up on blu-ray if I could). The cast for Cisco is the stuff of my 70s obsessed dreams - Kris Kristofferson, Karen Black, Gene Hackman, Harry Dean Stanton, Joy Bang, and others - but this isn't a movie about powerhouse performances. Even though Kristofferson's Cisco is tasked with selling 100 kilos of weed in a single weekend, there's not much urgency in the film. It's a naturalistic, hangout movie about a pack of losers doing what they think they have to and results in some wonderful scenes and moments. Maybe the ultimate 60s hangover movie and very much my kind of deal.

House Calls (1978) - I think it was ultimately my obsession with Art Carney's career in the 70s that led me to track down a dvd for House Calls and I'm so glad I did. This brand of sad/funny/charming love story propelled by amazing performances by Matthau and Glenda Jackson is so completely up my street and I absolutely loved it. Carney and Richard Benjamin are solid here as well but they're truly supporting characters. In an unfortunate theme of this month, I was saddened to hear of Glenda Jackson's passing. She positively lights up the screen in everything she did.

Middletown (1982) - I have not watched all six parts of this public television documentary series but the two I've watched were outstanding. Family Business focuses on a man and his family trying to make a Shakey's Pizza franchise successful. It's a rather striking portrait of people doing all the "right" things and still struggling to keep the lights on in the face of corporations and banks that don't value much of anything beyond the bottom line. My dad worked in pizza parlors like Shakey's in the 80s so it was a deeply nostalgic trip for me as well. Seventeen focuses on a group of high school students in their final year and has to be some of the rawest "coming of age" footage I've ever seen. The kids, though charismatic and kind of sweet, often come off as little sociopaths trying to understand the limits of their own agency. There is some deeply fraught racial context on display as well and some of the things said left me with my mouth hanging open. It was pulled from PBS before it aired for being too controversial and then went on to win the documentary Grand Jury Prize at Cannes a couple of years later. Essential stuff.

Little Murders (1971) - Hilariously nihilistic stage play adaptation that could only exist in those strange transition years between the 60s and 70s. While I find Elliot Gould's apathetic Alfred relatable, nobody is particularly admirable in this one and it goes really dark towards the end. While their characters are mostly terrible, everyone involved in the production is fantastic. Again, this was an unfortunate memorial watch for Alan Arkin who both directed this and makes a phenomenal appearance as a neurotic police detective. 

Theatrical Screenings!

New Jack City (1991) - I was able to catch a screening of this in NYC as part of the Tribeca Film Festival (a first for me) with a filmmakers Q&A. The film holds up beautifully and Mario Van Peebles is impossibly charismatic in person. Listening to Fab 5 Freddy and the RZA talk about 90s hip-hop has to be one of the raddest things to happen for me.

The Dragon Lives Again (1977) - Not only is this a Brucesploitation flick, but it also features low-rent, occasionally inexplicable knock-offs of the Godfather, Clint Eastwood, Zaitoichi, Caine from Kung-Fu, the One-Armed Swordsman, Dracula, Emanuelle(!), the Exorcist, James Bond, and even Popeye. Completely bonkers tale of a post-mortem Bruce Lee who enters the underworld only to get mixed up with this motely crew of weirdos and the horny king who rules over them. I'd definitely recommend seeing this with a crowd and (maybe more importantly) seeing a version with the original scope aspect ratio. By all accounts, the pan and scan bootlegs are horrendous. I was able to see the AGFA scan but there is a new Severin scan/restoration which will probably look even better.

Asteroid City (2023) - I'll probably have to sit with this another time before I have anything really substantive to say about it. I really did enjoy it though and I haven't been quite as enamored with Anderson's last couple films (which I still enjoyed so maybe I'm just a hopeless fanboy). While the puzzle box structure of Asteroid City may be the most convoluted in Anderson's filmography, it's noticeably less frantic and I think that's a good thing. 

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) - I was able to catch a 16mm screening of this Harryhausen classic thanks to our local Cult Film Collective. If you're local to the Twin Cities, you love weird movies, and you're passionate about seeing films on actual film, you owe it to yourself to look the CFC up and become a member. Sinbad isn't my favorite Harryhausen but it has an absolute banger of a skeleton fight and how about that Star Wars chasm swing?

Best New-to-Me: Junesploitation 2022 Edition

 After several years of watching from the sidelines I decided to take the plunge and participate in the annual Junesploitation celebration from the fine folks over at F This Movie! The premise is simple enough — you watch a genre/exploitation film every day in June and you are provided themes/prompts/categories for each day. Then you can share what you’re watching via social media or posting comments on fthismovie.net or letterboxd reviews or whatever moves you. How you interpret the categories is left to your discretion and at the end of the month you’ve managed to watch some — hopefully— enjoyably cheap, violent ridiculousness and cross some items off of your watchlist. My movie watching had languished a bit recently and I was traveling in June so I knew this would be a bit of a challenge for me — I still caught the bug somehow and I’m happy I did it. I have the full list here and I included the films I watch at Ex-Fest though I’ve already written about those. I wasn’t able to watch everything in order and I did miss the “prison” category — but in the end I watched 31 films and several of them featured prison/imprisonment themes so I’m calling that good for my first time. One of the cool things about Junesploitation is the spirit of inclusion — the participants are frequently encouraging and insist that there’s no wrong way to do it. Having fun is the point and I was successful using that criteria. 

Here’s my rundown of top new-to-me Junesploitation watches that do not include the Ex-Fest films I’ve already covered. I watched a ton of great stuff so trimming down the list was more of a challenge than getting the films watched.

Day 2: Westerns! Cemetery Without Crosses (1969) — Directed by and starring Robert Hossein — and featuring a writing credit from Dario Argento — Cemetery Without Crosses is a desperately bleak French/Italian co-production. The dialogue is spare, the locales are desolate, and the brief moments of violence erupt from the screen. Both Hossein and Michèle Mercier are masterful as the haunted gunslinger and his recently widowed former lover. It’s a beautifully shot revenge film that is profoundly sad while containing a seething undercurrent of rage. By contrast it features a killer toe-tapping main theme that stuck in my head for days.

Day 8: Cars! Watch Out, We’re Mad! (1974) — I’ve been aware of Bud Spencer and Terrence Hill for ages and yet their comedies have escaped my attention until now. I’m not always the biggest fan of comedies and it’s hard to know where to start with their extensive filmography. I absolutely adored Watch Out, We’re Mad! The unlikely duo star as rival stunt drivers who tie for first place in an off-road race and have to share the prize - a new dune buggy. The buggy is destroyed by the local mafia and the two form a partnership to get a new car from the gang. What ensues is an absolutely madcap affair of hotdog eating contests, choir practice, dance numbers, motorcycle fights, Donald Pleasance, and a TON of delightfully choreographed brawling. I couldn’t stop laughing and was put in such a great mood watching this one. The De Angelis Brothers’ alter ego Oliver Onions provides the music including the unstoppable earworm “Dune Buggy.” If you’re looking for premium buggy content — Watch Out, We’re Mad! has you covered.

Day 13: Italian Horror! The Long Hair of Death (1964) — There’s a lot of ground to cover with a theme like Italian Horror but I decided to go with some classic black & white gothic featuring Barbara Steele — I can’t ever seem to get enough of these. Admittedly Long Hair of Death creaks a bit in the middle but it’s bookended by truly striking sequences of medieval torture and death. Long Hair is wholly enveloped in atmospheric touches — castles, cobwebs, secret portals, hidden crypts, desiccated corpses, corrupt aristocrats, vengeful curses, and ghosts! There is a distinct lack of murderous tresses — so don’t think you’re going into a 60s Italian version of The Bride with White Hair or anything. Also — The Long Hair of Death has multiple kickass posters. This is an easy recommendation for Steele fans or Italo-gothic enthusiasts and one I’m very happy to have gotten to.

Day 14: Blaxploitation! J.D.’s Revenge (1976) — Upping the sleaze content a bit with this slice of violent supernatural New Orleans revenge. Clean cut college kid Ike is possessed by the spirit of a vengeful 40s gangster — J.D. Walker — during a nightclub hypnotism show. Turns out J.D. was framed and killed for a murder he did not commit and his spirit has been unable to rest. Ike’s life starts to take a downward slide as J.D.’s persona creeps further and further into dominance. Though his grievances are valid — J.D. was still a violent creep and generally awful guy. When he is not pursuing revenge against those responsible for his framing he is taking out his frustrations on everyone around him — particularly Ike’s girlfriend. It’s a sordid affair but Glynn Turman turns in a fantastic performance as he transforms into J.D. Walker throughout the film. It’s also a wonderful snapshot of 70s New Orleans and everyone looks amazing in this. 

Day 17: Fulci! The Conspiracy of Torture (1969) — I finally took the good advice of Erica and Lance over at the Unsung Horrors podcast and caught up to Lucio Fulci’s underseen period piece and I’m so glad I did. Supposedly Fulci’s favorite of his own films — Conspiracy of Torture is in many ways a different side of the maestro but also contains undercurrents of his future work. It’s the story of a tyrannical landowner — Francisco Cenci —  who imprisons and abuses his teenage daughter Beatrice. When she can no longer stand it she enlists the aid of one of her servants — played by a fairly restrained Tomas Milian — in killing her father and making it look like an accidental death. What follows is an absolutely brutal investigation led by officials of the church implicating the entire Cenci family in their patriarch’s death. The narrative is somewhat convoluted at times due to the flashbacks employed but it’s an absolutely gorgeous film. Fulci’s deep seated distrust of power structures — particularly religious ones — takes center stage here and yes, there is a remarkable moment of orbital trauma.

Day 23: Giallo! Nothing Underneath (1985) — Sex! Murder! Fashion! Donald Pleasance eating spaghetti at a Wendy’s! Mid-80s giallo Nothing Underneath really has it all. Park ranger Bob travels from Wyoming to Milan because he has psychic visions of the murder of his fashion model twin sister who has disappeared. Bob’s fish-out-of-water experience in the Milanese fashion world is exacerbated by the fact that nobody seems to readily accept the fact of twin telepathy — outrageous! More models die and the mystery unravels as Bob and Donald Pleasance’s Commissioner Danessi uncover more secrets and conspiracies bubbling underneath a veneer of glamor. I recently picked this up from Vinegar Syndrome and had an absolute blast watching it. It moves quickly and the finale is nothing short of spectacular. This wound up being a Pride weekend watch for me and while I’m not going to say it provides the best LGBTQ+ representation in the world — it does feature a runway sequence set to Gloria Gaynor’s I Am What I Am. I think that counts. 

Day 24: 90s Comedy! Coldblooded (1995) — I’ll fully admit that I watched better movies last month than largely forgotten 90s black comedy Coldblooded — but I wanted to include it in this list because it was such a pleasant surprise. It features Jason Priestly as a low level mob employee — Cosmo —  who is suddenly “promoted” to hitman under the mentorship of a veteran played by Peter Riegert. Cosmo mostly ambles through the world with a blank, almost childlike affect — but it turns out he is an amazingly talented hitman. While Cosmo is celebrated both by Riegert and his boss — dealing with the emotional burden of killing people leads him to try a yoga class where he inevitably falls in love with Jasmine — his instructor. Complications ensue and bodies pile up as Cosmo attempts to find a way to leave his new profession and start a new life. There was an absolute glut of quirky crime and hitman movies during the 90s so I suppose I’m not shocked that Coldblooded got lost in the shuffle somewhere. Still, I found this to be genuinely funny and charming and shockingly violent in moments. The cast is a lot of fun with Riegert, Robert Loggia, Janeane Garofalo, Kimberly Williams-Paisely, Josh Charles, a Michael J. Fox cameo, and Priestly turning in an admirably weird performance. It’s definitely one of those movies that deserves wider rediscovery and appreciation. Part of the fun of doing a challenge like Junesploitation is pushing yourself a little and finding something outside of your normal inclinations that you really enjoy and Coldblooded was very much that for me.