AGFA gold
"The Naked Witch: Was she a witch or a widow wronged? We'll never know, but this bad movie has a load of regional charm and just enough to its visual elements (including the TX hill country backdrop) and musical score (delightfully atmospheric organ) to make this fun to watch. It helps that it fulfills both with witches and nakedness as an exploitation film. Almost entirely consisting of voice-over narration this is also silent-film adjacent. I can't decide if I would have preferred it just being a silent film, or if the terrible voice acting is essential to the B-movie charm of this. Violated: Proto-slasher with commonalities to proto-giallo. . . a bit of exploitation and a dash of noir. . . whatever this serial killer film qualifies as, it's worth watching for genre fans and shots of the NYC streets, but doesn't stand out to offer much special. Ghosts of Hanley House: "They were evil in life, so they're evil in death. " A low-budget movie with imperfections, but a ton of atmospheric soul, interesting visuals, and earnestness. A unique take on The Haunting and inspired in some ways by the original film of that story, The Ghosts of Hanley House could easily be taken as inspiration for other haunted house themed works. The 'frights' within the house amount to far less than what the famous 1963 pulls off, but this one does really land a good ending. Passion in the Sun: Z-grade regional exploitation fare with nary any dialogue and a minimalist chaotic score. It is absolutely terrible, yet weird enough to be interesting at least once. It's a showcase of burlesque/stripper stars from I assume a local Texas club with some half-baked narrative quasi-plot built around. A feral circus geek escapes his cage into the TX countryside. Police are after two criminals coming in a flight from Cuba. The criminals get off their plane at the airport and take a woman (who happens to be a local stripper) hostage. The criminals fight, the woman escapes, and the surviving man chases her, as she loses clothes. Midway through the chase she decides to go skinny dipping. After some more running she decides to sun bathe. Just as she escapes from the criminal though, that escaped circus geek is there after her. The police eventually save the day and get their reward, drinks and entertainment at a good table at the strip club. Interspersed with all of this we get dance numbers from the woman's fellow work colleagues as they await news of what happened to their kidnapped friend. I don't know why I bothered typing all of this out other than it is so bizarrely random and convoluted just to provide padding for some filmed burlesque numbers. It's a bit noir, a bit horror, and a lot sleazy. Definitely Something Weird."