caligulathegod

As with most challenges, the goal is to reach 100 movies. Your own goal might be higher or lower. Challenge begins April 1, 2023, 12:00 am EDT (or Dusk March 31) and ends May 1 at dawn.



Sex, violence, torn-from-today's-headlines shockers, fast cars, faster pussycats, psycho killers and kids run wild — throw a few (or all) of these ingredients into a pot, let the whole thing boil over, and you have the recipe for some tasty exploitation cinema.

What kinds of films are we talking about? Well, there is no hard and fast rule. This one is largely up to you.

What is an exploitation movie? Exploitation film is a type of film that is promoted by "exploiting" often lurid subject matter. The term "exploitation" is common in film marketing, used for all types of films to mean promotion or advertising. These films then need something to exploit, such as a big star, special effects, sex, violence, romance, etc. An exploitation film, however, relies heavily on sensationalist advertising and broad and lurid overstatement of the issues depicted, regardless of the intrinsic quality of the film. Very often, exploitation films are of low quality in every sense. However, this has not always been the case. Exploitation films sometimes attract critical attention and cult followings.

Rules

The Goal is 100 films. These type of films tend to be short, but they also might be a challenge to get through. Your personal goal might be higher or lower, depending on your tolerance for this type of cinema.

A film can only be counted once per list with the exception of riffed/commentaried films (see below).

This challenge is for Movies. Although we are not allowing TV shows, Made for TV Movies are allowed as are Direct to Video features.

We are allowing documentaries on Exploitation and Drive-ins and those involved with the production thereof. These should be features over 40 minutes.. We are also allowing trailer compilations, such as 42nd Street Forever and Something Weird compilations. Compilations should be at least an hour.
Throw a viewing party and show trailers between movies.

Mystery Science Theater 3000, Riff Trax, Cinematic Titanic, etc. are allowed. If there is a second riffed version (for example, MST3K did one, then Cinematic Titanic did the same movie) you may watch the second and any additional riffed versions for a full credit each, but I encourage you to just watch another movie, instead.

Commentaries. All commentaries count as views.

B-Movies are still included, but you are on your own with those. If you understand the actual concept of B-Movies and don't need individual confirmations on titles then you are welcome to have this be your challenge.

Films that have been nominated for Oscars are discouraged but not banned. I had originally wanted this to be the only hard rule, but I came across too many exceptions.

Drive-In exception rule: Any film seen in an actual Drive-In during the challenge 2023, regardless of other qualification, counts toward your list.. Please note that it was a Drive-In Movie.

Mini-series and Serials: We will go with the Sci-Fi rule on TV Mini-series (one "night" equals an entry), on Serials (we'll go with an hour's worth per entry), provided they actually were theatrical serials. A serial episode is about 15-20 minutes, so an hour's worth counts as an entry. Four-15 minute ones or Three-20 minute episodes. You can round up. This goes for other shorts and compilations as well.

There are 3 Wild Cards for non-conforming films. These are ones that are close but may have some doubts about.

For fun, keep a running tally of "before they were famous" appearances in your list.

Please number your lists. Also, it is helpful to put a link to your list in your signature. This makes it easier for others to check out your list.

Please tally your totals including "new views" at the end of the challenge.

"I still don't understand what kinds of movies you are talking about."

This list is not exclusive nor definitive, but these are the most representative movies for the challenge:
Italian (or European) films of the following Genres:
* Giallo/Krimi
* Sword & Sandal
* Spaghetti Western
* Cannibal Film
Martial Arts film:
* Bruce Lee-sploitation (Starring any variation on Bruce Li, Le, etc.)
* Hong Kong (or other Asian) film
* American film
* Any "Ninja" film
* Bonus* Actual Bruce Lee film
Asian Action Film
Biker Film
Stoner Film
Carsploitation Film
FADsploitation
Blaxploitation
Sexploitation:
* Any type
* Nudie Cutie
* Roughie
* 70s Porn (film)
* Emmanuelle Film
* Teen Sex Comedy
Nunsploitation
Shocksploitation
Rape/Revenge Film
Vigilante Film
Women in Prison
Nazisploitation
Eschploitation (religious end times, or general religious exploitation)
Hixploitation/Moonshiners
Roadshow Exploitation/30s-40s "Cautionary" films
Juvenile Delinquent Film
60s Beach Movie
Film starring Musical Group or Music Star (that did not become a legit actor)
* *Bonus* Elvis film
Ozploitation
(NEW) Canuxploitation
Mexican Wrestling Film
Foreign "Ripoff" film (such as Turkish cinema)
Eco-Terror Film
Pre-90s Post-Apocalyptic film
Plague-sploitation
Mockbuster
"Mondo" Film
Documentary ABOUT Exploitation/Drive-ins or those involved in their production
Video Nasty
Critical Bomb (Less than 20% Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritic or IMDB Bottom 100 {Bottom 100 archive})
Financial Bomb
Razzie Winner or Nominee
MST3K/RiffTrax (or Cinematic Titanic) version of a film
Trailer Compilation (feature length)
LGBTQ film

Great resource for movies: Letterboxd user Andrew Liverod has curated Genre: Exploitation (100 Years: 1896-1995). The nice thing about Letterboxd is that you can filter to see what's available to stream on your services. For instance, there are presently 205 titles from that comprehensive list presently streaming on Paramount+. In the notes for that list are links to sub-genre lists, including (I think) all the ones in the checklist and several more. Now that Spring has begun, for instance, beach movies come to mind. Selecting the Genre: Exploitation - Beach Party Movies (100 Years: 1896-1995) list shows eleven Beach Party movies streaming on Paramount+.



In the WIKI is a list of filmmakers and actors that by their very presence make a film "safe". While some of these people (actors especially) might have some exceptions in their credits (like Star Trek for William Shatner), generally films with the listed creative talent are safe for the challenge. Questions? Ask in the thread.

caligulathegod

New business? Old business? Back at it for the 14th annual challenge. I've been looking forward to going through the films mentioned in Quentin Tarantino's book Cinema Speculations. Also, bought a few more boxed sets I'll discuss later.

Found a few new streaming channels perfect for the Challenge. NightFlight Plus has a lot of genre flicks, heavily into music films. I think they have a 7 day free trial but it's only $5 a month or $3.33 if you get the year plan. Arrow is another new one that could likely sustain the challenge all on its own. It's a bit more expensive at $7 a month, or $5.83 if you get the year but they have a 30 day free trial perfect for the 30 challenge.

Darkgod

Awesome.

This year i am a VS subscriber... so far lots of stuff.
also Laat Drive in w. JBB announced for a 4/21 debut.

pacaway

I missed last year so I'm doubly ready for this year! I have subs to Arrow, Kino Cult, Shudder and a few obscure ones on my Roku!

caligulathegod

List thread is active.

shadokitty

I was on the fence, but decided that I’m in. I love these kinds of movies anyway.

Darkgod

For those on Letterboxd, there is a weekly challenge that fits this challenge. https://letterboxd.com/kevinsomnia/l...llenge/detail/

I've actually held off watching any cult/b movies the past month so I can save up for this challenge. Really looking forward to it.

mrcellophane

That's an interesting Letterboxd challenge. Even though I've been on the site for several years, this is the first year I've participated in one. I'm doing the 52 Years in 52 Weeks challenge. I'm not sure if I have it in me to do two, but I may give this one a try!

shadokitty

Absolutely perfect timing. I had just woke up from a nap and put a movie on. Within 10 minutes, I lost power.

mrcellophane

Oh no! I hate it when something like that happens. I live in central Oklahoma, and the wind was so bad here that the power kept flickering at my workplace. Hope that your power is back on.

shadokitty

I lost power a couple times in the night, but it came back on about 3:30 in the morning for good.

omike

I started the challenge last night with a Cirio Santiago double feature (The Devastator and Dune Warriors). One was set in Northern California and the other was set in a post apocalyptic desert. Both were shot in the Philippines of course and both were fun. Today I'm going to dive into the Ray Dennis Steckler box set from Severin starting with Wild Guitar. I hope to get through the whole thing before the challenge is over.

Darkgod

Started with American Kickboxer because it was leaving Tubi today. Followed it up with Boss ******.. a blaxploitation western that I can never tell anyone the title. One of them was bad, and one was pretty good.

Chad

On Friday I started with Santo vs. the Evil Brain from the Indicator set, and it's nice to have actual Spanish subtitles unlike the VCI set. Followed that up on Saturday with a WTF Macedonia film (Goodbye, 20th Century), a slightly sexier than usual Cynthia Rothrock flick with a dash of ESP (Sworn to Justice), a Spanish film (Blood Hunt) that's essentially Assault on Precinct 13 meets Most Dangerous Game, and just finished a revisit of Miami Connection for the first time in 4K. I'm off to a good start.

Once again, I plan on digging into a few box sets. I don't wanna focus too much on any particular one and make a repeat mistake of suffering through too much of the same crap (i.e. Andy Milligan). The Shawscope V2 and the Steckler set will probably be the big ones, and hope to squeeze in quite a few more.

shadokitty

I didn't really start until yesterday, due to power outages Friday night, but I started with Godzilla, King of the Monsters ​​​​​​, the original from my Classic Media box set. I was still in the mood for another movie after, so I decided to watch Clue, which was on my DVR. I always enjoyed the late Tim Curry, and remembered reading somewhere, that it was also a cult movie.

Sadly, I didn't get anything else in yesterday, because I ended up losing power for a third time for most of the afternoon. I have a home office too, and that makes movie watching easy to do.

Darkgod

i do two every year, Cult Movie Challenge and History of Horror. I've never finished one...lol. I came close last year, but I mostly do them to just find films i might not have watched before. this year i am ahead of the timefame on both, so maybe this year I do finsih.

coyoteblue

Tim Curry is still alive. Just not working much these days.

After two nights of martial arts, I'll be dipping into Krimi for a night or two.

caligulathegod

I blind bought the Complete Sartana box set. I'd heard of Django, Ringo, Trinity, Man with no Name but I can't believe I'd never come across this name before. So far I'm enjoying them.

Still have box sets of Andy Milligan and Al Adamson to complete and added Ray Dennis Steckler. I'm a glutton for punishment.

mrcellophane

I've behind on the one challenge that I'm doing, but I'm hopeful that I finish.

I started out watching a smattering of movies from sets / collections that I've acquired over the last year. I watched Police Story 2 which I enjoyed more than the first movie. While the action set pieces don't hit the heights of those in the first movie, I enjoyed all the story bits between the action set pieces quite a bit more. Yesterday, I did a double-feature of Unashamed: A Romance and Shaolin Kung Fu which were great. The former is a nudism movie that touches on racism and unrequited love... and ventriloquism. The latter is part of Eureka's "Cinematic Vengeance" collection of Joseph Kuo's movies. It is the most Shaw-Brothers-esque of the Kuo films that I've watched so far.

shadokitty

Didn't get a lot in yesterday, due to having to catch up on a lot of work that I missed from the power outage. I did manage to squeeze in White Zombie on YouTube however. I also discovered to my delight, that B-Movie TV is still very active. I've had to remove so many defunct channels after I got my Roku TV for Christmas.

Chad

Yesterday (4/2) marked the 10th anniversary of Jess Franco's death, FYI.

I was literally coming in here to ask about Sartana! Good to hear.

That also reminds me of a question I've been pondering for awhile - how would you rank these director sets from worst to "best"?


I'm guessing for most either Milligan or Wishman would be the toughest hurdle to get through? I don't think I'd personally be able to fully answer that question for roughly 20 years at the rate I'm going. But in all seriousness, and despite not having completed any just yet (but close on a couple), I surprisingly don't regret buying a single one.

caligulathegod

That's an interesting but difficult question. They are all objectively bad filmmakers. It really depends upon appreciating them on their own level. The only one I can flat out say I can't stand is Doris Wishman. I despise this woman with all my being. I don't own her set but watched a couple of her movies on Criterion channel and wanted to tear my eyes out.

Andy Milligan is kind of like a canker sore in the mouth. It's bad but you keep poking it with your tongue on purpose. There's just something deliciously odd about his films. I watched a marathon of 8 films in a row back in '21. Since he used his house for a lot of his films, you get to recognize it pretty well. He also has a lot of tropes he tends to repeat, like family relationships involving arguments and incest. He really had a passion for telling his stories and they seem really personal. I really gained an affection for his films but there's no way to recommend him to people not already on board with this level of filmmaking. The best thing I can recommend is the Severin Fillms podcast episode about their Milligan set. it kind of sets up how to appreciate him. I think I'm ready to dive back into that set and finish it off. If you want a sample, there are a handful on the Arrow Channel app. 30 day free trial. They also have the complete Shaw Bros vol 1 and 2 on there.

Al Adamson is another one I liked. He's bad and likes to take his films and refurbish them into new films and then do it again, so be prepared for that. I liked that his films are nearly all different genres with an emphasis on Horror. Haven't gotten through them all, so I can't say too much. I don't think he's boring.

I've only watched one Ray Dennis Steckler fillm, the Mixed up Zombie one. I first read about him back when the Golden Turkey Awards books came out. Those books were great if you took them ironically. The descriptions of ineptitude made the movies sound fun. Of course it was years before we all found out what a pill the Medveds were and they weren't being ironic, just bitching about what they thought were bad films. Those books gave me a bad impression of Steckler, though, and I never bothered to see his films. I was tricked into buying the set after listening to the Severin Films podcast dedicated to him. I have almost no hope of enjoying him but will give it a chance. I just really hated Incredibly Strange Creatures that Stopped Living and Became Mixed up Zombies. It was exactly what I expected.

I don't have the William Grefe one, ,but that one really intrigues me. I just ordered it.

I don't have the Bill Rebane one, but I do have an autographed posted of the Giant Spider Invasion hanging in my house. I might pick him up.

Another one I enjoyed was the Norman J Warren set. Sleazy with a touch of Hammer. Insemenoid was a lot of fun.

Take it as you will. My taste is odd. I "enjoyed" Bat Pussy but was angry watching Winnie the Pooh Blood and Honey and would not cross the street to piss on the guy that made that. There's bad, then there's bad.


As to Sartana, I'm not sure why he's not as well known as Django. They were just as entertaining. They aren't Leone level or Corbucci, but they are never boring. I can't say they make perfect sense. But even that made them entertaining. I fully endorse the set.

coyoteblue

Just finished Take a Hard Ride (1975) for the first time. It's a late period Spaghetti Western (directed by Antonio Margheriti). It doesn't really feel like a Spaghetti Western, though. There are Spaghetti Western flourishes all over the place and Lee Van Cleef is one of the leads, but it feels more like an American western. I suppose part of it is because Jerry Goldsmith wrote the film score and Hal Needham had a hand with the stunt work, not to mention Jim Brown and Fred Williamson are the other leads. Jim Kelly pops up in a smaller ass-kicking role. No dialogue, but you could argue it played to his strengths.

omike

I'm two movies (Wild Guitar and The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!?), one commentary, and a few special features into the Ray Dennis Steckler box set from Severin. I hadn't seen Wild Guitar before and I thought it was a pretty good story about a hick singer who gets hooked up with a cheating promoter. I had seen "Incredibly Strange ..." before and liked it then and still do. It's sometimes confusing and always cheap but really a lot of fun. It shows that Steckler can be entertaining even when he's making it up as he goes along.

An interview with Arch Hall Jr. (star of Wild Guitar) got me interested in his movies. Both of his earlier pictures, The Choppers and Eegah are free if you have Amazon Prime. The Choppers is a good, low budget JD film about a teenage gang who strips abandoned cars and sells the parts to a sleazy junk yard owner. This is worth seeing. Eegah is really slow moving and is best seen in the MST3K version. I also watched The Sadist (on Blu-ray under an alternate title, Sweet Baby Charlie) in which Arch does a decent job playing a psychotic killer but what really makes this a good watch is the pacing and cinematography.

For a change, I tried a Maria Ford movie Future Fear. Seeing a lot of Maria was good but the rest of the film was pretty bad. Tonight, a women in prison double feature.

Darkgod

Last night i finished Samurai Cop.... my god is that amazing. Like its real bad.. so bad at times it feels like a parody... but its also amazing and i want to watch it again. Only complaint.. they hide Robert Z'dar's chin with a beard.