Zodiac Killer (AGFA / Something Weird) (DVD / Blu-Ray Combo)

A new 4K transfer of the only movie in history made explicitly to catch a serial killer. Directed by Tom Hanson, who had previously owned a chain of Pizza Man restaurants, The Zodiac Killer was made to capture the real-life Zodiac Killer. That plan didn’t work. Instead, we got the most outrageous and compelling “tabloid horror” vortex in the history of planet Earth. And beyond. During theatrical screenings, Hanson constructed in-theater “traps” to lure the killer from hiding. These included the use of an ice cream freezer filled with rent-a-cops and a raffle with a motorcycle as a prize. Y

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Crime, Thriller,

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The Master (1984)

Sometimes even a television series as profoundly dumb as The Master (1984) can fill a void in one's viewing habits. A faux martial arts action-adventure, this short-lived series (13 episodes), rather emblematic of mid-1980s TV action, might turn one's brain into cottage cheese, yet it's oddly appealing in other ways. Predating by six months the unexpectedly popular The Karate Kid, a modest $8 million feature that became a well received $90-million blockbuster, The Master operates from a similar premise. Lee Van Cleef stars as a mysterious ninja guru who takes on 24-year-old pupil Timothy Va

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Steve McQueen: American Icon

In trivia of the personally strange, I tend to gravitate to documentaries on Steve McQueen, as I've watched the one where McQueen labored over years to get his Le Mans film made, and I've also seen the one that examines why McQueen was so charismatic and his life with remembrances by his son Chad. I didn't know what to expect from Steve McQueen: American Icon, but it wasn't without intrigue. There was a point late in McQueen's life that he had discovered spirituality and faith and his love of Jesus Christ. Yes, THAT Steve McQueen! And American Icon spends some exploratory time diving into

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Documentary,

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The Hard Road (1970)

A cautionary tale. At 17, Sherman Oaks high schooler Pam Banner has a baby out of wedlock. The baby is adopted, but Pam's too embarrassed to go back to school, so her dad gets her a job as the receptionist for a talent agent. A rock star takes her to a party, seduces and abandons her; that starts a spiral of partying, free love, and drug use. Pam becomes friends with Jeannie, a hooker who supports Jimmy, a useless druggie. Soon the three of them are living together, and Jimmy seems appealing to Pam. She's missing work more and more often, Jeannie wants out of the life, Jimmy is going throu

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Drama,

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D'Wild Wild Weng (1982)

Weng Weng was christened as Ernesto de la Cruz and was the youngest of the five de la Cruz children (all boys). Weng Weng was born with a medical condition known as primordial dwarfism, which caused him to only grow to a height of 2 feet and 9 inches tall. According to his brother Celing de la Cruz, when his mother gave birth to Weng-Weng, his size was "no bigger than a small coke bottle", this forced Weng Weng's parents to place him in the care of the hospital incubator for the first twelve months of his life. During this time, the doctors were advising the de la Cruz couple that Weng Wen

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Comedy, Western,

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Count Tsakona and His Draculettes (1989)

In this offering, Kostas Tsakonas (a champion of the SOV comedy of the era) as a wimpy poor guy & petty thief who lives with his nephew, is chosen by the arch-Dracula to rule Greece, since he's a long lost relative of the vampire family, and since the current Prime Minister has sucked the Greeks dry (yes, there's some awful not-so-subtle dated attempts at political satire in there as well). What follows is Tsakona's transformation and consequent attempts to adjust to his new vampiric lifestyle, while a clumsy exorcist and some of his fellow villagers are after him. The title says it a

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Comedy, Horror,

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The Ultimate Degenerate/The Lusting Hours/In Hot Blood

"A Shameless Tangle of Carnality!" Director Michael Findlay is Spencer, The Ultimate Degenerate, a crippled psycho in a wheelchair who fills his home with naked women who perform strange sex shows after he injects them with an aphrodisiac that gets them "tuned-up for love." But when Maria, a cheerful exhibitionist, visits his home, she quickly learns that Spencer, like this movie, is "on the verge of insanity," especially after she's given a drug that makes her both paranoid and a tad homicidal.... Another diseased masterpiece from Michael and Roberta Findlay, the twisted team responsible f

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DVD,

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Alice in Acidland / Smoke and Flesh

Another interesting title in the Something Weird series, but interesting mostly only as a late-night curio of sleazy 60's weirdness. "Alice," a low-budget skin flick, is about an ordinary L.A. teen and her swift descent to the looney-bin once she's lured by her seductive female teacher into the world of drink, drugs, sun and sex. That description makes it sound much more engaging than it actually is: Alice is... to put it delicately... not overly attractive and not excessively talented as an actress. The film quality is sketchy (lots of jump-cuts and segments without audio) and the action i

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DVD,

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