Forbidden Zone

The Story So Far...
A lesser-known cult favorite, Forbidden Zone has had a relatively frequent publishing schedule on home video, getting a DVD release in black and white in 2004 from Fantoma Films, followed by a color version put out by Legend Films in 2008. There was also an ultimate edition on Blu-ray in 2015, which included a CD soundtrack. All three have been reviewed by DVDTalk.

The Movie
Somehow, until this DVD crossed my path, I had never seen Forbidden Zone, a delirious mix of John Waters and old-school pre-PC cartoons courtesy of film composer Danny Elfman's older brother Richard. That shouldn't be a big surprise, as it's not exactly a well-known film, but for someone who seeks out the fringe of film, it's rare to find something that's personally new and undiscovered. Now that I have, it's a pleasure to say the wait was worth it, as this film is the kind of over-the-top experience so rarely seen in film today.

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Hell of the Living Dead

'Hell of the Living Dead' is the kinda zombie movie you see after you've seen all the good ones. And yeah, this is pretty crappy, and not as amusing on a camp level as a lotta other lousy horror movies. However, if you're the sorta person who is even considering watching this film, you might as well go ahead. You'll probably enjoy yourself, more or less, though you'll probably just wanna watch 'Dawn of the Dead' or The Beyond again for the 10th time rather than watch this again.

Zombie movies have never been too good with plot, and this film is no exception. There's a not too bright seeming journalist lady, who will get naked, a couple a dudes in blue uniforms who are apparently supposed to be SWAT team members, and zombies. A whole zombie conspiracy, as a matter of fact, leading to what has got to be the lamest attempt at social commentary your gonna see in a zombie movie outside of 'Dr.Butcher M.D.' perhaps. (That movie is awesome. Check it out if you haven't seen it, though if you're looking at this, you probably already have.) The film takes place in New Guinea, I believe, which leaves them ample

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Melinda (1972)

The little-known 1972 film Melinda is a blaxploitation gem that is part romantic drama, part revenge story, part mystery, and even part afro-chopsocky flick. It has an interesting pedigree too, coming from the first black men to be nominated for Academy Awards in film editing and screenwriting. After getting the nomination for cutting Midnight Cowboy, Hugh A. Robertson reportedly made a deal that he would go on to edit Shaft for MGM on the condition that they would give him a film to direct afterward. Playwright Lonne Elder III wrote the script, which is tonally quite different from his adaptation of Sounder, the family drama which got him his Oscar nom and which was released in theaters only a month after Melinda.

The hero of this funky little flick is strutting radio DJ Frankie J. Parker (Uptown Saturday Night's Calvin Lockhart), whose first line of dialogue -- spoken into a mirror, but really spoken at us -- is, "I hate to say this, but I am such a pretty motherfucker. Hahaha... YEAH!" It's an immediate indicator that the character is a larger-than-life badass -- or at least, he thinks he is. In the next scene, Frankie talks tough to his instructor in a karate class and gets his ass handed to him. By the way, that instructor is played by Enter the Dragon's Jim Kelly, so Frankie clearly didn't have a chance. Frankie may be a black belt, but he is not Black Belt Jones.

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Weiße Haut und schwarze Schenkel

Also known as: Weisse Haut auf schwarzen Schenkeln ,Weisse Haut auf schwarzen Schenkeln ,White Skin Black Thighs

Description: Robert Kuhn hoped to spend the evening in the brothel. First, watching a strip show, and then he brings the woman to his room. After some time he is arrested, and the girl with whom he spent the night in hospital with severe injuries...

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Messalina

Also known as: Les Orgies de Messaline, Messalina Kaiserin und Hure, Messalina: The Virgin Empress

Description:
In the year 43 AD, Claudius  reigns over the Roman Empire with his beautiful wife, Messalina, at his side.   Messalina is a sex-obsessed woman who mercilessly exploits her husband's power in an attempt to satisfy her insatiable lust. Actively supported by Agrippina, Messalina turns the Roman court into a squalid place of vice and perversion. One day, however, the Emperor finds out what is going on behind his back and takes cruel revenge.

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Take It Out in Trade: The Outtakes

Another lost gem from everyone's favorite cross-dressing director, Ed Wood!  TAKE IT OUT IN TRADE is just waiting for a complete version and full restoration to be released on digital media, but in the meantime, Something Weird Video provides the next best thing - 70 minutes of outtakes from this long lost schlock classic!

One of Ed Wood's final productions, TAKE IT OUT IN TRADE is a sex film that consists of footage discovered by archivists and assembled to make some sort of sense. No audio track was found, so basically all you see are several outtakes and scenes from the movie, set to instrumental music. An ugly guy rolls around with some girls, there's a homosexual couple, and Ed Wood is seen playing the character of a woman.

Naked chicks and Ed Wood in drag.  What else can you ask for?  Well, the full movie would be great for starters.  But unfortunately, this is one of Ed's lost films (although there are some who claim this isn't actually a lost film and that at least one print exists - but it has never surfaced anywhere that I am aware of, so it's lost enough for me).  But what we have here is the next best thing, 70 minutes of outtakes, re-takes, alternate scenes and bloopers from Ed's 1970 porn film debut, discovered during the 1990's in a Santa Monica movie theater.  Thanks to our friends at Something Weird Video, these outtakes were released on VHS in 1995, and then later as a DVD-R which is what you will find here.

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Dad Made Dirty Movies

Also known as: Isä teki roskaelokuvia, Apa disznó filmeket csinált - A Stephen C. Apostolof-sztori, Tata krecil swinskie filmy
Description: Follows the life and films of Stephen C. Apostolof (A. C. Stephen) his escape from Communist dictatorship in Bulgaria, his journey to Hollywood to become one of the finest erotic filmakers of all time.
"Follows the life and films of Stephen C. Apostolof (A. C. Stephen) his escape from Communist dictatorship in Bulgaria"
This one follows the life of Bulgarian sixties "Sexploitation" film maker Stephen C. Aposterof, who made his way to the 'States via Paris and Canada and managed to get Republic interested in his anti-Communist film, launching him on a career of sixteen millimeter nudie movies of which ORGY OF THE DEAD is the best known. The arrival of 35mm. hard core wiped him out.

Lots of clips, with well shaped near naked young women, are interspersed with home movies and interviews with family members and associates, including Ted V. Michels. There's also accounts of working with Ed Wood who Aposterof's son feels got all the so bad glory that his dad should have shared.

They make the man sound like the prototype of the Burt Reynolds character in BOOGIE NIGHTS.

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Schulmädchen-Report Vol 3

This film, third installment in a series totaling 13 entries, is not - as another reviewer mentioned - intended to be "educational". As with the other flicks of the series, the educational frame is only used to display absurdities in the sex life of German "school girls" of the 70s. In fact, it's classical soft porn stuff with a strong comical touch. No one speaks or acts as these "school girls" do; but some wish they would. The product of this fantasy are the "Schulmädchenreports". True, back in the days of their original releases, millions went to the cinema to see them. That, however, does not say anything about their quality, let alone the "educational" effort behind them. Looking at it today, and especially at vol. 3, it's hard not to laugh out loud. Every usual element is included: Incest, suicide, nymphomania and an over-the-top "liberalism" that makes sex look like everyone's single spare time activity. However, this particular film also has some darker moments (which are no less funny, but probably unintended to be so). If you want to see the father seduced by his own daughter to "save" the parents marriage, or want to witness a beautiful girl seducing her 10-year-old cousin(!), this one is the place to go. However funny and/or strange the episodes of the film are, one has to keep in mind that the actors were non-professionals, basically casted "on the street". This alone makes it an interesting reflection on the social reality of Germany in the years following '68. ~ IMDB

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Alessia… un vulcano sotto la pelle

Alessia returns from the convent where she was educated to the farm where she spent her childhood.
As she arrives, she starts to remember the crime that made her and orphan.
The animosity she feels towards her aunt starts to get explained.
Aunt Agnes was responsible for the crime, so she could get the land.
Alessia starts to use her sexuality to manipulate the men around her and set a trap for her aunt as revenge.

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Fire Maidens of Outer Space (1956)

After landing on the 13th moon of Jupiter, the men from Earth debark from their ship to find a forested area containing the last remnant of lost Atlantis: an old man named Prossus, a bevy of nubile young women eager for husbands, and -- The Creature. "The beast with the head of a man," laments Prossus. "It must be destroyed -- yet it is indestructible!"

Francesca, a seventeen-year-old Roman, is finally sure she has found love. Almost sure. She spends the day observing other lovers' behaviors and considering whether she is ready to jump. Her age notwithstanding, this movie is more about coming of age than about improper or illegal romantic relationships.

If Catherine Spaak, beautiful and innocent, acts with brio, the quality of the supporting cast makes the movie. From a fifty-year-old indebted socialite who is having too much fun for her daughter's taste to a jaunty gigolo who turns out to be eaten by unreciprocated love, the minor characters entertain, delight, and subtly teach valuable lessons to both Francesca and the audience.

This film's unpredictability is refreshing. Whether written or filmed, coming-of-age stories often fail to surprise or intrigue the audience. In I Dolci Inganni, most characters seem at first to be crazily entertaining walking clichés, but they later astonish the audience by revealing their depth and their inner struggles. If love is widely accepted as a common human need, it can be expressed in mysterious, unsettling, incomprehensible ways. The variety of its forms in the movie gives the spectator an opportunity to reflect on his or her own endeavors and dreams.

This movie will seem slow paced to Gen-Xers, but anybody interested in human nature should see it.

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Brutal Nights of Linda (1975)

Notorious Jess Franco title starring Alice Arno and Lina Romay. Presented in widescreen and English dub. Contains alternative H/C scenes. Extremely bizarre, poetic and sometimes revolting film from director Jess Franco. A woman (Alice Arno) in desperate need of work goes to a remote Greek Island to care for a man (Paul Muller). The man warns her that his two daughters, one a nymphomaniac (Lina Romay) and the other a cripple, are both dangerous. Soon the nympho is seducing the woman as well as others in the house. This is a Franco film where sex is all over the place ranging from softcore to some hardcore scenes some of which are fairly disgusting to watch. Franco pretty much grabs the viewer by the throat and drags them through the dreamlike world he creates. The brilliant music score by Daniel White also helps the film and its weirdness.

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A Girl Called Jules (1970)

Directed By Tonino Valerri, this coming of age sexual melodrama set in fascist Italy is a superbly well orchestrated tale. Adapted from the 1964 novel written by Milena Milani. Full screen print in English audio. Shocked by an adolescent homosexual experience, Jules begins to encounter many problems with her feminine identity, and ultimately men. She falls in love with a highly promiscuous female and this is where her real problems begin! Based upon the 1964 novel written by Milena Milani, one of the earliest pioneering feminist assessments of sexual differences in fascist Italy. The director Tonino Valerri had previously only made Westerns and does a superb job of crafting out a film from a difficult novel. Highly obscure and very difficult to find these days, A girl called Jules is well worth viewing for fans of Bergman and 60's Italian cult Cinema.

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