Cultpix Radio Ep.24 - Halloween Horror Mega Edition

Django Nudo and the Smut Peddler are thrilled with the reception to the Mike Vraney Memorial Month, with a wealth of new films from Lisa Petrucci - the first Theme Month when we did TWO films each day - and an influx of new members. (There will be more news from Something Weird Video soon.) 'Roughies' such as "Unholy Matrimony" (1966) were definitely a favourite of Mike's.

We discuss why we don't have any 'subscribers', but only MEMBERS, how we do the Jewish Mother guilt trip to get them to stay and why Cultpix is amazing value at $4.92 if you sign up for a whole year, while some people pay $6.66 to just watch one film.

The theme week is the Scopitone, an amazing machine, described as "If a Wurlitzer Jukebox and an old tube television had a love child, it would look like the Scopitone," by Between the Liner Notes (BTLN). It was the tall and grown up version of the jukebox, placed in cocktail bars, where people were prepared to pay a quarter to see a precursor to the music video. The $3,500 machine ($26,000 in today's money) was expensive, but often paid for itself in as little as three months. There was mobster, Kennery and Debie Reynolds connections, all of which we discuss. If you want to dig deeper, look out for Stevenson’s essay, “The Jukebox that Ate the Cocktail Lounge”, in his book "Land of a Thousand Balconies: Discoveries and Confessions of a B-Movie Archaeologist", and while we are on the subject of Jack...

Cultpix is having a bunch of IRL events in the next month, including:
Scandinavian Sin at the Offscreen Film Festival at Cinema Nova 7th March in Brussels, with Jack Stevenson and Christina Lindberg;
Nordic Horror Fest at Husets Biograf in Copenhagen, 17th February;
We will be at the Berlin Film Festival, so drop us a line if you want to meet up and have a beer.

February's theme is Filthy 50th, in which we celebrate the adult films that were released in 1974, right in the middle of the so-called "golden age of American pornography" or 'porno chic'. We kick off with a porn film by Roberta Findlay called "Angel on Fire" (1974), aka "Angel 9", called "The first erotically explicit film ever made by a woman". At least 20 of the films are new to Cultpix.

Also in February, we will have a take-down of Ingmar Bergman (with his black sheep daughter Anna Bergman), some cool and culty films from the Estonian Film Institute (Nazis!! In a lunatic asylum!) and a Spotlight on Echelon Studios. 

We finish with the intro music to "Libahunt / Werewolf" (1968) from Estonia, directed by Leida Laius. "Tiina, the daughter of a woman burned as a witch, grows up on a farm with the orphan girl Mari and Margus, the son of the Tammaru family. Margus loves the hotblooded, energetic Tiina, but his parents want him to marry Mari. Mari thinks Tiina has bewitched Margus, and spreads a rumor that her stepsister is a werewolf."

The Top 10 films on Cultpix in 2023.

Top 10 Nice:

10. Eve and the Merman (1965) - A 60s nudie, with no (famous) talent behind or in front of the camera! 

9. Alucarda, the Daughter of Darkness/Alucarda, la hija de las tinieblas (1977) - An actual classic! Demonic forces and obsession. 

8. Killer Workout (Aerobicide) (1987) - Cheesy 80s outfits in a Jane-Fonda-meets-Jason slasher.

7. Skräcken har 1000 ögon/Fear Has 1,000 Eyes/Sensous Sorceress (1970) - “A study in fear, sex and magic!”

6. Takin' It Off (1985) - 80’s sex comedy, where Kitten Natividad as a stripper who wants to be an actress, but her boobs get in the way.

5. Zero in and Scream (1971) - An extremely obscure film about a lunatic shooter, killing couples in the Hollywood Hills.

4. Kyrkoherden/The Lustful Vicar (1970) - Finally! A restored film! Wonderful nudie classic, in a historical setting and Cinemascope! 

3. 42nd Street Forever, Vol. 1 - Trailer compilation with a mix of genres: horror, sexploitation, blaxploitation, mondo, roadshow, Euro sleaze…

2. Inkräktarna/The Intruders (1974) - Low-budget and all but forgotten sexploitation film by Torgny Wickman, the Swedish sex-ed pioneer.

1. Colour Correct My Cock - Trailer and clip compilation by the Canada's Vagrancy Films.

Top 10 'Naughty':

10. Den k... familjen/Happy Family (1976) - Yet another shoddy Swedish low budget film, by the crappy Heinz Arland (who did Summer With Vanja). 

9. Jag vill ligga med din älskare, mamma/Swedish Confessions (1977) - Andrei Feher is an interesting name in Swedish erotic movie history. This is his debut.

8. SexWorld (1978) - A sex parody/spoof of the films Westworld (1973). Sex animatronics satisfy every need…

7. Teenage Fantasies II (1980) -  Rene Bond! Of course, she has to be on the top 10. 

6. Debbie Does Dallas (1978) - A true classic!

5. The Young Like it Hot (1983) - From Bob Chinn theme week.

4. Sweet Young Foxes (1983) - Vintage 1983 smut! Also Bob Chinn, also Hyapatia Lee! Are we seeing a pattern here?

3. Pretty Peaches 3: The Quest (1989) - Here’s a real erotic classic directed by Alex de Renzy.

2. The Summer With Vanja/Sommaren med Vanja (1980)  Bad, late Swedish sin porn film. Why, oh, why, did you people want to watch this crap?

1. Den svenska synden/The Swedish Sin (2000) - A compilation of scenes from Swedish sexploitation films from 1969 to 2000. 

Santa Nudo and the Smut Peddler (aka Satan's Little Helper) are back in the studio after a long break. Lots of things has been happening while we were of air and busy with other (Cultpix things), including finances, applications and great plans for 2024!

We had a second Rene Bond Theme Week and there are enough of her films to come for two more weeks.

In October we had 31 Days of Halloween, which inspired us to have regular theme months where we highlight existing films and include some new ones.

As part of the October Halloween theme we had a Theme Week of UK Horror and Fantasy in co-operation with our good friends at Stream Go Media. This gave us the chance to show great titles suc as Blood of the Vampire, Circus of Horrors, Devil Girl from Mars, The Gamma People, The Snake Woman and many others.

Also in October we had the second week of South African exploitation films made during the Apartheid era. This is a slice of film history never screened/streamed anywhere else before.

Last week of October we tried something different with a Theme Week of The Golden Age of Gay Erotica, which we thought might upset some members, but which was wel received and (more importantly) watched. 

November was our Noir-vember, with classic titles (some even considered 'quality') and some titles not previously on Cultpix. Sadly the big blog post about it was wiped by the system.

After that we had an interesting find, again thanks to Stream Go Media, in the form of the super-productive Hong Kong director Godfrey Ho, who gave us one-legged hopping Chinese vampires in "Robo Vampire" (1988)  in  and Cynthia Rothrock in "Honor and Glory" (1992).

IN early November we paid tribute to the great Michael Weldon, by looking back of his touring Psychotronic Films festival in Stockholm and Europe at the very start of our careers. He was and remains a huge influence.

The Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute (TFAI) became our 50th content partner when we signed the deal with them in Lyon, giving us access to two great 1960s films.

December was the Cultpix Christmas Calendar theme month, with hand-picked selections of films good enough to hang in your Christmas tree.

December was also the René Cardona Jr theme week, famous for ripping of big blockbusters and for using real animals in a way that Hollywood would never dare.

Last for December was a bit of a break - an intermission, if you will, with Hey Folks, It's Intermission Time! compilation films.

In Januari 2024 we will have a Mike Vraney Memorial Month, to remember 10 years without him, with Lisa Petrucci curating 62 films! Also next year we will have an IRL post exhibition, a new posters coffee table book, the Wickman Week get-together, more theme months/weeks and lots more!

We will also get better at doing the podcast and newspetter, we promise.

So for now, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, you beautiful Cultpix freaks, geeks and c

Count von Nudo and Schmutt P. Eddler do the time warp back to the musical that started a cult phenomenon exactly 50 years ago - The Rocky Horror (Picture) Show. We celebrate the opening song "Science fiction/Double Feature", which name-checks some of the greatest science fiction and horror films of the 1930s, 40s, 50s and 60s.

We have been able to include six of the 11 films mentioned in this theme week. The other five, such as King Kong (1933) and The Invisible Man (1933) belong to big Hollywood studios, making it more difficult for us to get the rights to show them (but we will keep trying).   

Tony Sokol over at DenofGeek.com has a great overview of each song and film reference, from which we have stolen, sorry, quoted extensively. Do read his original article for more context and in-depth insights. It is remarkable how well Richard O'Brien knew his B-movies, given that there was no Internet or IMDb back in the days, but that is a sign of true geek fandom. Respect!

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) -  “Michael Rennie was ill the day the Earth stood still, but he told us where we stand.” A science fiction film with a message for earth to get its s#!t together, by the great director Robert Wise.  “Klaatu barada nikto”.

Flash Gordon (1936) -  “And Flash Gordon was there in silver underwear”. An episodic cinema serial with Buster Crabbe fighting Ming the Merciless. Familiar from television re-runs and of course the more famous 1980 re-make. 

It Came From Outer Space (1953) -  “Then at a deadly pace it came from outer space.” An alien spaceship crash lands in the Arizona desert and people start acting strange. More Cold War paranoia, by director Jack Warner. Originally in 3D but shown here in boring 2D.

Doctor X (1932) -  “Dr X will build a creature.” Doctor Xavier doesn't actually build a creature (Frank N Further does tho), in this pre-code color film by Michael Curtiz, who later directed Bogart again in Casablanca (1942).   

“See androids fighting
Brad and Janet
Anne Francis stars in
Forbidden Planet…”
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
At the late night
Double Feature picture show”

The Day of the Triffids (1963) - “And I really got hot when I saw Janette Scott fight a Triffid that spits poison and kills.” Or as Tony Sokol put it,  "Vegetarians eat vegetables. Humanitarians, like Doctor X, eat humans. Triffids are vegetables that eat humans, vegetarian or not." So don't look up at meteor showers, or you'll wake up all "28 Days Later." Freddie Francis co-directs.

Curse of the Demon aka Night of the Demon (1957) - “Dana Andrews said prunes, gave him the runes, and passing them used lots of skills.” Jacques Tourneur, of Cat People (1942) and I Walked with a Zombie (1943) fame, directs this British demonic chiller.

A special shout-out to RKO Radio Pictures.

We have our biggest Spotify playlist EVER, with over 100 songs. 

Denmark might not be the first country you think of when it comes to science fiction films, but Django and Smut put it on the space map with the latest theme week, celebrating two film makers that made their mark on the genre:  Ib Melchior and Sidney W. Pink. The Dane Melchior was a distinguished World War II hero who was awarded the Bronze Heart, before embarking on writing and directing. He met American producer Sidney W. Pink, who moved to Denmark in 1959, as related in this interview by Ib late in his long and rich life. The two would form an un-easy creative partnership that spanned Denmark and the US across several films - and all because of union issues. 

Already on Cultpix:

"Reptilicus" (1961) - Denmark's first and only Kaiju film sees a giant lizard re-grown from a frozen tail rampage downtown Copenhagen, creating un-Hygge feeling. Dirch Passer sings a song with a bunch of kids about Reptilicus, in a scene cut from the US releases of the film.

"Death Race 2000" (1975) - This car race cult classic was based on the short story "The Racer" by Ib Melchior, which you can hear a great reading of in this radio series episode form MindWebs, which aired on WHA Radio in Madison, Wisconsin from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s.

"Candidate for a Killing" (1968) - Euro-thriller produced by Pink. Ib said Pink eventually became a personan non-grata in both Denmark and Spain.

"13 Demon Street" (1959) - Echoes of "Reptilicus", "Terror in the Midnight Sun" (1959) and "The Thing" (1951) in this TV episode about a women frozen in ice. 

New on Cultpix:

"The Angry Red Planet" (1959) - CineMagic was the process to give this tale of astronauts fighting off carnivorous plants, giant amoebas and a bat-rat-spider-crab creature on Mars a distinctive look. It wasn't quite 3D, but gives the film a unique look. 

"Journey to the Seventh Planet" (1962) - Cue jokes about probes being sent to 'your anus'. But this film has echoes of 'Solaris' in terms of the UN astronauts' memories creating flesh and blood women appear suddenly. Set in the year 2001. 

"Robinson Crusoe on Mars" (1964) - Daniel Defoe's classic story re-told on the red planet.  Byron Haskin directed the Ib Melchior screenplay with great use of Death Valley. Victor Lundin, one of the stars of the film, wrote an eponymous song that he played at sci-fi conventions. 

"Keep Off the Grass" (1970) - Ib's anti-marijuana information film from the era of Nixon's 'War on Drugs'.

Don't miss the next Theme Week: films name checked in Rocky Horror Picture Show's "Science Fiction/Double Feature" song.

There is of course a Danish Dudes Spotify playlist.

Smut and Django are back from their summer breaks, though the films still kept on coming. In this episode, they go over some of the themes, films and fun that happened while Cultpix Radio was off the air.

There was no episode on Hungarian 'Easterns' (aka 'Goulash Westerns') or about director Bob Chinn, which might still get their own dedicated podcasts in the future. Meanwhile we have split the Top 10 lists into two - one 'Naughty' (adult) and 'Nice' (scifi, horror and everything else). We were written about in Variety and had a full spread in Scandinavia's largest broadsheet newspaper Dagens Nyheter. We signed deals for more German sex comedies and a brand new genre of South African blaxploitation films.

We give a taster of the Bob Chinn Theme Week, the porn director who inspired the Burt Reynolds character in "Boogie Nights" (1997), with an intro clip from "Hot & Saucy Pizza Girls" (1978), with John Holmes interviewing Desiree Cousteau for the part of roller skate pizza-delivery girl.  We will definitely return to him, not least with many more of his films beautifully restored by our friends at Vinegar Syndrome.

We had a season of martial arts/kung-fu films with two weeks of 'Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting', with Django Nudo's favourite "Black Samurai" (1976), which is martial arts-meets-blaxploitation and features jet-pack flying. Smut Peddler picks "The Vixens of Kung-Fu" (1978), which is martial arts mashed up with porn. We have knock-off Bruce Li in "Edge of Fury" (1978), but also the real Bruce Lee in "Martial Arts Mayhem Vol 1" (1970), Vol 2 and Vol 3.

Thanks to our partner Echelon Studios and as part of our Theme Week - The 70's Horror Decade, we had two of our biggest films ever, including the original "Halloween" (1978) and David Cronenberg's "Shivers" (1975). We will have a future Rocky Horror 'Science Fiction - Double Feature' films mentioned in the song.

We concluded our Zatoichi third theme week, a film series mentioned in Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" novelisation. There was the Sweden Abroad theme week and Science Fiction Classics, with a current season of Sappho Darling- Lesbian 60's. 

There is a great Spotify summer playlist. 

Django and Smut celebrate Cultpix being named on of the 10 Best New Streaming Services, talks about the next two episodes before the summer break, highlight the launch of the LGBTQ+ sub-genre and mourn the demise of Network Releasing.

We have held what is probably the world's most comprehensive retrospective of the films of Ed Wood Jr, including films that he directed, wrote the script or book on which it is based. All-in-all 20 films, TV shows and shorts that Wood is linked to.

While Ed Wood is often derided as the 'worst director ever', an image that Tim Burton's loving biopic "Ed Wood" (1994) only partly dispels, there is more to him than midnight screening of "Plan 9". We talk to writer and film expert Jim Knipfel, whose article  "Ed Wood: Not Actually The Worst Director in History" goes a long way toward re-appraising Ed Wood, noting that "his films have a unique energy and charm that should be appreciated."

"Glen or Glenda" (1953) - It could be argued that G/G is an art film because it has a visual flair and style of its own that would not shame Bunuel. The film is a heartfelt please for compassion and understanding. 

"Jail Bait" (1954) - Wood's juvenile delinquent film sees several Woods regulars, such as Lyle Talbot, Steve Reeves and Dolores Fuller, with Herbert Rollins replacing Bela Lugosi, only to die on the last day of shooting.

"Bride of the Monster" (1955) - Despite what Tim Burton would have you believe, the giant octopus was not broken and Lugosi gives a great performance despite being in bad health by this stage.

"Plan 9 From Outer Space" (1959) - This Ed Wood film has been screened and discussed to death, but it is far from the worst film ever made.

"Night of the Ghouls" (1959) - A semi-sequel to "Bride of the Monster" and "Plan 9", which completes Wood’s sci-fi/horror trilogy and his Kelton the Cop trilogy. It is a perfectly serviceable horror film. 

"The Sinister Urge" (1960) - Considered Wood's last legitimate film, this crime 'roughie' is fairly bleak, rough but also more sophisticated, as Wood was getter better at his craft, even as he fought with alcoholism and setbacks.

"Orgy of the Dead" (1965) - The film is "an insane, almost artsy, nudie horror picture featuring an endless stream of zombie strippers." In Sweden it was cut up into loop-style single strip numbers. Criswell is also there, but looking worse for wear.

"Necromania" (1971) - An early and interesting example of "soft X" film, where genitals and erect penises are shown, but there is no touching them or action.

While he will probably always be known as 'the Worst Director of all Time', Ed Wood Jr. is having the last laugh, because we are still watching and discussing his films long after his death.

There is a Ed Wood Spotify playlist. 

Smut and Django are at the Cannes Film Festival (technically the Marche - Market) to meet with distributors and sign deals. There was a great article in Variety about the latest batch of Cultpix deals, which mean that we have over 250 more films to add later this year, with some real cult classics. 

This episode is the third devoted to Doris Wishman, focusing on the sun-soaked 'Daylight Years' and early nudist films. As one of the most prolific women filmmakers in the history of American cinema, "writer-director-editor Wishman created collisions between surrealism and exploitation that feel like they materialized from an alternate universe."

Smut interviews film historian Michael J. Bowen who met and knew Doris, as well as having researched her career for years as her biographer. 

The films of The Daylight Years are gorgeously restored by AGFA + Something Weird Video. They include:

"Nude on the Moon" (1961) - Wishman's dreamlike sci-fi triumph about a trip to a nudist-inhabitet moon.

"Blaze Starr Goes Nudist" (1962) - The famous burlesque dancer discovers the joy in nudism and escapes down to Florida.  

"Hideout in the Sun" (1960) - A crackpot nudie-noir in which two gangsters on the run decide to hide in plain sight at a nudist resort. 

"Gentlemen Prefer Nature Girls" (1963) - Tom is fired from his real-estate job when his boss discovers that he is a nudist, but he hatches a very nudist revenge plan.

"Diary of a Nudist" (1961) - Newspaper editor stumbles on nudist camp and commissions young female reporter to write exposé about the sordid lifestyle. 

"The Prince and the Nature Girl" (1965) - A prince escapes his castle and falls in love with a woman who turns out to be a nudist. 

Enjoy all these films and the other Doris Wishman films on Cultpix. 

There is a Spotify playlist of 13 nudie songs from Doris Wisman's films and three clips where you hear Doris speak. 

Django Nudo reports live from sunny California, while the Smutpeddler sits in the cold north of Sweden, discussing with Luca Balbo, in the hopefully sunny Paris!

We celebrate our second anniversary, and discuss how the value for money only increases, great news in this world of recession.

Cultpix is forming new relationships with amazing rights holders and DVD companies all over the place. Recently we’ve had films from Japanese Kadokawa, US Deaf Crocodile, the German label Rapid Eye Movies and this week’s theme week partner – French company Le chat qui fume.

The theme week consists of 10 French erotic classics from the Seventies. Django Nudo and the Smutpeddler discuss four of them, especially enjoying the title "Love Brides of the Blood Mummy" (1973)!

But this episode’s main course is the great, knowledgeable author Lucas Balbo, who’s written among other things about Jess Franco and the French VHS era, but foremost – for this episode of Cultpix Radio – about the French auteur Michel Lemoine (1922-2013), in the book “Michel Lemoine: gentleman de l'étrange” (2020).

Lemoine liked to speak in riddles and keep people guessing about his age, when interviewed. Lucas had the chance to meet the director and to talk to him at length.
Lemoine lead an interesting life, starting out as a theatre actor, then some French films, until he became big in genre films in Italy, Spain and Germany, for favorite directors like Antonio Margheriti, Mario Bava and Jess Franco. Coming back to France he redefined himself as a screenwriter, producer and director, occasionally also acting in his own movies.

Lucas Balbo talks about the many aspects and faces of Michel Lemoine, and goes into detail about the six Lemoine films on Cultpix.

"Les désaxées" (1972) -  Michel Lemoine 's first official film, filmed in 1972, in the midst of sexual liberation, Les Désaxées takes a look at free love, fulfillment in sexuality and the mores of the bourgeoisie. Lemoine’s wife Janine Reynaud came back in The Bitches, The Erotic Confidences of a Bed too Inviting and Don’t Rip My Tights.

"Les chiennes" (1973) - Erotic drama against a background of decadent bourgeoisie. 

"Les confidences érotiques d'un lit trop accueillant/Les Frôleuses" (1973) - Sexy bed stories anthology.

"Les petites saintes y touchent/Jeunes filles en extase" (1974) -  Sexy omnibus film.

"Les weekends malefiques du Comte Zaroff" (1976) - Lemoine’s only horror film, initially banned by the board of censors in France.

"Tire pas sur mon collant" (1978) - Innocent holiday comedy about seduction.

French erotica also on Cultpix, but not by Lemoine:

"La révélation" (1973)

"Le sang des autres" (1973)

"Les mantes religieuses/Les garces" (1973)

"Et avec les oreilles qu'est-ce que vous faites?" (1974)