All posts by Michael Diamades

List Candidates

APOCRYPHA CANDIDATE: HAIR HIGH (2004)

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DIRECTED BY:

FEATURING: Voices of Eric Gilliland, Sarah Silverman,

PLOT: A middle-aged bartender recounts a tragic tale of doomed love to a young couple.

Still from "Hair High" (2004)

WHY IT MIGHT JOIN THE APOCRYPHA: Plympton’s trademark animation style, verging on surrealism, meets a personal take on familiar rom-com and high school drama tropes.

COMMENTS: Bill Plympton is a major name in American adult animation today, especially for those preferring the offbeat and the bizarre. His raw and expressive style, full of crude jokes and grotesque yet hilarious visual gags, balances gross-out humor with a lighthearted and wholesome tone. Nowhere is that blend more apparent than in High Hair, a unique take on high school rom-coms with a esque twist.

A barman recounts the tale of Cherry and Stud and their unexpected, passionate love affair to two young students. We trace the teen drama tropes from the beginning: Cherry is the popular girl, and Stud is a nerdy, friendless loser. Cherry already has a boyfriend, the muscular Rod, another reason Stud shouldn’t have a chance with her in real life. However, when Rod “punishes” Stud by forcing him to become Cherry’s slave, something sweet and slightly kinky blossoms between them.

A love affair starting as a power game or a conflict is another well-worn trope of romantic comedies. But Plympton’s approach offers something different than what you’d might expect. The first half of the movie is full of crude, if admittedly inventive, jokes. Disturbing imagery is played for laughs, with even a hint of animated body horror. Gradually, a sweet love affair blooms, one that, surprisingly, doesn’t feel uneven or forced at all. The second half of the film follows Cherry and Stud falling in love, until a final twist combines the dark and macabre with an unexpected, yet not unwelcome, dose of tenderness.

Among the visual gags of special note—and there are many—are jokes about the characters’ hairstyles.  As the title hints, hair is a rich symbol in this movie. Follicles can express femininity or masculinity, and even take the form of a phallic symbol. Here, hair indicates hierarchy and social status.

All in all, this is a whimsical film, a perfect date movie for weirdos. Those who aren’t turned off by some bad-taste humor will be rewarded with a touching narrative. Behind the weirdness and grotesquerie beats a heart.

Hair High [Blu-ray]

Hair High [Blu-ray]

  • Acclaimed animator Bill Plympton’s (THE TUNE, MUTANT ALIENS) cheerfully unhinged tribute to 1950s teen romance and musicals like GREASE and HAIRSPRAY

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CAPSULE: THE MOVIE ORGY (1968)

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DIRECTED BY: Joe Dante

FEATURING: Ann-Margret, Ngo Dinh Diem, Dwight D. Eisenhower

PLOT: A compilation of B-movies, ads, infomercials and TV shows from the American landscape of the 1950s and 60s.

Still from The Movie Orgy (1968)

COMMENTS:  Even within the weird, surreal, and WTF cinematic canon, The Movie Orgy is not your typical cinematic experience. It has more in common with experimental non-narrative cinema, although it will alos appeal to fans of the obscure. This mammoth compilation lasts around five hours and, if taken in from start to finish, is truly a demanding watch. It is the debut of the acclaimed Hollywood director Joe Dante, and what an ambitious debut it is. From the first minutes self-referential humor is over-the-top, as introductory segments from a variety of shows welcome the viewers. For the next few hours alien invasions and creature features parade over the screen, along with the most random advertisements, problematic infomercials showcasing the mindset of a different era, and many other oddities.

The Movie Orgy is a true treasury, a time capsule of Cold-War anxieties—manifested mostly in giant monsters—along with American puritanism. It will appeal to those loving obscure, long-forgotten, and lost media. And be sure, there is an audience for this kind of content. Niche streaming service Eternal Family even has a category for this type of media called “Lost & Found Oddities” with works provided by archives such as A/V Geeks or Found Footage Fest Archive.Tthis aspect of the movie doesn’t make it bizarre, however, just nostalgic, and tailored to a specific interest.

The weirdness here mostly is found within the included movies themselves. These flicks are, in the majority, disasters, with the most notable of them  being the iconic Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958). In fact, Attack is used as a thematic axis of sorts for the disparate structure: segments accompany the viewer throughout the entirety of Orgy, creating a sense of continuity despite the chaotic style of this post-modernist collage.

The editing is subversive, reminding us we are in the liberal late 1960s after all. A parade of soldiers from a military propaganda video gives way to a beauty sergeant and a pageant of sexy models. An underlying political commentary can be found in many such moments.

As mentioned above, there is no narrative here. There is, however, a kind of climax towards the last hour, where many action scenes from monster flicks rapidly follow one another. Then, as an epilogue, we see a long list of farewells and conclusions, selected from a variety of shows.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY:

“The Movie Orgy isn’t really a movie. It’s more like a hallucinatory party for the certifiably movie mad.”–Dennis Cozzalio, Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule (2004 screening)

The Movie Orgy [Blu-ray]

The Movie Orgy [Blu-ray]

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CAPSULE: BAD LUCK BANGING OR LOONY PORN (2021)

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DIRECTED BY:

FEATURING: Katia Pascariu, Claudia Ieremia, Nicodim Ungureanu

PLOT: Scandal erupts as a young teacher’s homemade sex tape leaks online.

Still from Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (2021)

COMMENTS: When a movie starts with hardcore imagery of a pornographic nature, you know you’re in for a wild ride. Bad Luck Banging is an emblematic work that put its creator, Radu Jude, on the map as one of the most controversial, subversive and uncompromising visionaries in the current cinematic landscape. It also dramatically changed our perception of contemporary Romanian cinema: by revealing a completely different direction than the social realism associated with the Romanian New Wave, it laid the groundwork for even more ambitious cinematic achievements like Dracula (2025).

After the brief albeit graphic introduction, the movie divides into three distinct parts. For the first, we follow our teacher protagonist, Emi, around Bucharest as she buys groceries and runs errands. The  almost documentary-like pacing of this section may not be ideal for casual viewers. The camera takes its time revealing  cacophonies and pathogens of the heroine’s urban environment. It’s a subversive “city symphony,” with Bucharest portrayed as it is, not in a celebratory light. It’s a subtle yet caustic commentary on the ethos of a post-industrial consumerist society.

Then, the second section begins. It is an interlude of sorts, disrupting the main narrative while taking the form of an abecedary and a collection of anecdotes and fun facts. Its playfulness and essayistic nature remind the viewer of and the experimentation of the in general. At the same time, it expresses a deeply cynical view of humanity, and especially of Romania.

The third part—slightly longer than the two before it—focuses on an official meeting between our teacher and frustrated parents regarding the online leak of the teacher’s homemade erotic videos, which transforms into a trial of sorts, with every parent acting as an archetype of Romanian society, judging our protagonist’s deeds. Each, from a leftist intellectual to oppressive figures representing the Church and the Army, express long-established opinions, mostly of the conservative kind. Taking place in an enclosed space, the whole segment maintains theatricality, with corresponding lighting. In the end, three possible endings are proposed (let’s just say that the last is the weirdest).

Music plays a major role, underlining the ironic moments. Paeans accompany atrocities, while battle hymns go along with pornographic imagery. Upbeat tunes signal the transition between parts. And let’s not forget M. A. Numminen’s catchy yet seemingly random Wittgenstein-based song “In Order to Tell” (1970) in the closing credits.

Bad Luck Banging can be discussed today not only as a satiric view on western society’s pathologies, but also as a relic of the Covid era. Everyone wears masks and social distancing is all around the news.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY:

“It’s a methodology combining the horrific with the absurd, blending academic inquiry with farcical social critique, à la Buñuel.”–John Kupecki, Austin Chronicle (contemporaneous)

Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn [Blu-ray]

Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn [Blu-ray]

  • Region A Blu-ray

List Price : 36.98 $

Offer: 36.97 $

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CAPSULE: EXIT 8 (2025)

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Exit 8 is available to purchase on-demand.

DIRECTED BY: Genki Kawamura

FEATURING: Kazunari Ninomiya, Yamato Kôchi, Naru Asanuma

PLOT: An expectant father finds himself trapped in a seemingly never-ending subway corridor.

Still from Exit 8 (2025)

COMMENTS: In recent years, an increasing number of movies and TV shows have attempted to adapt video games. At the same time, there is a trend inside the indie gaming landscape of making psychological horror adventures set in liminal spaces, transitional places with an unsettling vibe. The 2023 game “Exit 8” by Kotake Create is an iconic short game of this subgenre. 2 years later, collaborating with the original work’s creator, Genki Kawamura translates this piece for the cinematic medium.

The backstory becomes apparent from the beginning, with the setup explaining our main character and his anxieties as an expectant father. The protagonist is then trapped inside a unique one-way subway labyrinth where he needs to spot “anomalies” and then immediately change his direction if he wants to escape. This begins a surreal odyssey not dissimilar from space-bending cinematic tales in the vein of ’s The Incident (2014) or ’s Vivarium (2019).

We can also trace aesthetic influences from video games, and not only from the eponymous game this work is based upon. For starters, there is a segment early on where POV shots recall the first-person perspective of the original game and many other survival horror titles. The “Silent Hill” game franchise is a clear influence. As in that series, the supernatural anomalies our hero encounters are a distorted reflection of his scarred psyche, bringing narrative depth and character development to the table. The original “Exit 8” game had nothing like that.

Another change from the original is the introduction of secondary characters. Our hero encounters other trapped souls inside this endless corridor, each with his or her own identity and backstory. While one person’s journey was enough to sustain the short experience of the original game, more characters are necessary for a meaningful feature-length experience.

From a technical perspective, this work is astonishing. The environments are the perfect recreation of the original game’s virtual spaces, with uncannily vibrant reflected light. There are also great body horror effects that will entertain fans of the weird and grotesque. Maurice Ravel’s “Bolero” underlines our protagonist’s inner conflicts and his transformative journey.

In the end, it is better to approach this movie as a stand-alone piece rather than an adaptation. It offers something completely different from the work that inspired it, using its predecessor’s simple formula as a metaphor for insecurities, anxieties, and existential angst, creating a unique narrative in the process.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY:

“The film mines tension from the absurdity of the Lost Man’s confinement, and in ways that recall Vincenzo Natali’s Cube, perhaps the granddaddy of escape-room horror. To that end, Kawamura at times pushes the original game’s subtle eeriness into full-on scares, introducing spooky apparitions and a horde of mutated creatures that would feel at home in Silent Hill.”–Mark Hanson, Slant (contemporaneous) 

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CAPSULE: PINK LADY’S MOTION PICTURE (1978)

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Pinku redi no katsudo dai shashin

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DIRECTED BY: Tsugunobu Kotani

FEATURING: Keiko Masuda, Mie, Isamu Ago

PLOT: A director, a producer, and a folklorist seek the perfect idea for a movie to promote the pop band “The Pink Lady.”

Still from Pink Lady's Motion Picture (1978)

COMMENTS: How to promote a pop band cinematically? Through a musical, of course, but what kind? This movie takes this question as its starting point, exploring it through three distinct tales that traverse genres and styles.

The subject here is the iconic, albeit obscure, pop musical duo “The Pink Lady,” mad up of two girls singing as one. According to Wikipedia, they were a short-lived, briefly popular act from the late-70s and early-80s, featuring Mie and Keiko Masuda (formerly known as Kei). The movie makes clear from early on—especially through its exaggerated acting—that it will retain a lighthearted comic tone, while at the same time being self-conscious and self-referential.

This aspect of self-parody becomes apparent as we watch a film director, a folklorist, and a producer come together to brainstorm ideas for an upcoming movie about the duo. Each one of them has his own idea of what this movie should be, and chaos ensues. For viewers, this results in a fun romp, a mix of genres, each depicting a different take on the musical they want to create. We have an old-fashioned romantic melodrama, a cheesy sci-fi monster movie, and a western. Mie and Kei are always the protagonists, with playful musical numbers accompanying the story beats.

Pink Lady’s Motion Picture isn’t afraid to embrace absurdism. It doesn’t always makes perfect sense, and it doesn’t need to. But it’s not subversive or transgressive in any serious way; it’s harmless, mindless entertainment for mass consumption by a local, albeit westernized, Japanese audience. The flick is also of sociological interest, depicting, through the juxtaposition of disparate cinematic genres, a society divided between tradition and foreign influence.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY:

“…[the production] consciously emulated the breezy stream-of-consciousness aesthetic of A HARD DAYS’ NIGHT (1964), and can also be viewed as a forerunner to SPICE WORLD… The film overall is colorful and energetic, but bears the marks of a hasty and ill thought-out production… fans of Mei and Kei will likely be satisfied.  Everyone else, however, is advised to turn their attention elsewhere.”–Adam Groves, The Bedlam Files

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