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Interviews, Pod 366: A Weird Movies Podcast

POD 366, EP. 188: KANSAS BOWLING’S “CUDDLY TOYS” AND MORE WEIRD MOVIES

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Discussed in this episode:

Cuddly Toys (2022): Kansas Bowling‘s firecracker mondo-mockumentary about the dangers facing teenage girls is screening in various cities, No official site, but the movie is available on Blu-ray or VOD (it’s even free now on Amazon Prime).

The Acid Eaters (1968)/Space Thing (1968): Read Alfred Eaker’s review of The Acid Eaters. AGFA/Something Weird pairs the wild low-budget acidsploitation trip with a more obscure 1968 sexploitation movie, Space Thing, about which little is known. Buy The Acid Eaters /Space Thing.

Buffet Infinity (2025): Read Giles Edwards’ Apocrypha Candidate review. Watch a series of local commercials to reveal a secret occult conspiracy in this amazingly inventive (and weird) low-budget comedy; now on Blu-ray with commentary from director and producer Mike Peterson, and lots of bonus features.  Buy Buffet Infinity.

Digger (2026): shoots for an Oscar in ‘s environmental satire that aims to be a modern Dr. Strangleove. In fact, the film has divided critics and preview screeners who see it as a “pretentious” train-wreck—just the kind of Hollywood movie we like to put on our radar! Digger official site.

Donnie Darko (re-release): Read the Canonically Weird entry! A 4K restoration of a true weirdo classic in theaters from Oct 2-4 only, with a new filmed introduction from director reflecting on the film’s enduring legacy. Check out Fathom for showings near you.

Jesus Christ Superstar (1973): Read Shane Wilson’s review. The anachronistic cult rock opera retelling of the Passion gets the 4K treatment (Blu-ray and 4K UHD included). Buy Jesus Christ Superstar.

Studio Ghibli Steelbooks: There are actually too many titles to list here, as it seems that this week Shout! Factory issues a limited edition steelbook Blu-ray of every single Studio Ghibli title (including 2 canonically weird movies). Buy Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, or, for rich folks, buy the entire Miyazaki set.

“Three Films by Leos Carax”: This set includes the early movies Boy Meets Girl, Mauvais Sang, and The Lovers on the Bridge. All star and exhibit at least a moderate degree of French weirdness. Buy “Three Films by Leos Carax.”

WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE:

Next week’s guest on Pod 366 will be young director of the new underground movie My Vegas Eyes. In written content, Michael Diamades covers the new lesbian coyote feature Bouchra, Shane Wilson stays Halloweeny with a deeper look at ‘s Sisters (1972), Giles Edwards reviews the new underground occult mystery When the Sun Stands Still, and, as mentioned in the podcast, Gregory J. Smalley plans to dig into 2026 Oscar hopeful Digger. Onward and weirdward!

366 Underground

366 UNDERGROUND: CUDDLY TOYS (2022)

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DIRECTED BY: Kansas Bowling

FEATURING: Kansas Bowling

PLOT: Professor Kansas Bowling, with a degree in “Teen Age,” draws on myriad examples of girls’ ruined childhoods to explore the dangers of impressionability and sexual predation.

Still from Cuddly Toys (2022)

COMMENTS: There’s a human skeleton arranged on a string, a red backdrop, an old slide projector, and a strange figure: a professor, she tells us, with her field of study situated on the grim intersection of the evil and the mundane. Shattered futures, injured esteem and injured bodies, dogged sunniness, doom, defiance, death, and rape: all these elements, across numerous (“There are 100 actresses in this film”) testimonials, flesh out this frightful and compelling, sometimes experimental and sometimes verité, mockumentary dissecting the teenage girlhood experience in all its harrowing possibility.

These girls’ lives unfold in a murky ’70s-to-’90s era, with postcards sent from the road, nary a portable phone to be seen, and the recurring Scott Walker tune, “It’s Raining Today,” lashing ominously as crooned counterpoint to the poppy Nilsson/Monkees title track. After a brief introduction from the professor, Cuddly Toys dives right into its deadpan-dreadful proceedings with a “Miss Pre-Teen” beauty pageant, setting the tone: we’re in for a nasty ride, made just barely tolerable by the clinical absurdism of our guide and the improbable perkiness of (some of) the girls and women onscreen.

But discomfort—to put it mildly—weighs on the viewer, and appropriately so. As a general rule, I am not prone to guilt by association, but by the film’s end I was truly appalled by the evil potential, and the evil realized by, my fellow men. I had no objections to Bowling depicting this, however. There’s far too great a streak of nastiness in the world, which menaces one sex exponentially more than the other. That said, Professor Bowling slips in a trenchant observation in her closing remarks—one which raises the question as to which sex is actually considered more disposable.

Cuddly Toys is a mind-blowing journey into the casual cruelty found in our culture, weaving harrowing nightmares from grubby dreams. The victims are clear, and the perpetrators—though predominately male—seem to be just about everyone; there is more than enough blame to go around.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY:

“I definitely wouldn’t shade you if this was not your cup o ‘tea, it’s weird. Part shockumentary, part arthouse fever dream, it’s an astutely delivered, if a bit meandering, pitch black mondo-comedy.”–McBastard 2000, Rock! Shock! Pop! (Blu-ray)

I think this movie is weirder than average
I think this movie is better than average
Cuddly Toys [Blu-ray]

Cuddly Toys [Blu-ray]

  • Region Free Blu-ray

New starting from: 17.63 $

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366 Underground, Interviews

366 UNDERGROUND: MATADOR BOLERO (2026)

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Weirdest!

DIRECTED BY: Jonathan Rosado

FEATURING: Yves Tumor, , Jack Irv, Stephee Bonifacio

PLOT: A high-profile murder at a nightclub triggers various factions into action, including a computer intelligence from the depths of space.

Still from Matador Bolero (2026)

COMMENTS:  Matador Bolero looks good in that DIY, retro kind of way, at times feeling like a down-at-the-heel Koyaanisqatsi with a nebulous crime story tacked on. But I would like this filmmaker—and his team—to consider a project stripped of a plot, or at least stripped of explication. The murder of a beloved actress at the beginning isn’t nearly as important as the camerawork capturing the fascinating motion of the topless dancers and their viewers. Yves Tumor is better with ardent bed-dance performances than meekly relaying cryptic “information” to an overzealous detective (Kansas Bowling, whose physicality is not well served by dialogue in this film). And the young blonde pulling a magician’s handkerchief from a notch in the beach? I am on board with all of this—except for one thing,

To clarify, I’m a “style-over-substance” kind of guy. I revel in cinematic excess, be it sets or sound production or costuming, or what-have-you. But Matador Bolero is one of the few films where I actually became somewhat annoyed when substance cropped up. What is this narrative you’re trying to tell? Who are these recurring characters? Shoo, shoo. Rosado is in his element when he’s playing around in post-production to further dreamify his already dreamy shots and vignettes. Three scantily-clad young women in wolf masks pursue a fourth (non-masked) woman down a sinister corridor and tear her dress to ribbons while a purple-glowing super-intelligence orb thing pulsates conversationally? I don’t need a “Why” for that.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY:

“So there’s our justification for the film’s the title, but are we still feeling confused? Almost certainly; Matador Bolero is confusing by design – if we accept that the film is much more about blending moods, impressions and visual styles than telling a story… a bold project but a strange prospect, pushing the boundaries in what feels like both experimental, but recognisable ways, and coming up with something off-kilter, but visually strong.” — Keri O’Shea, Warped Perspective (contemporaneous)

366 Underground, Capsules

366 UNDERGROUND: PSYCHO APE: PART II – THE WRATH OF KONG (2024)

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Weirdest!

Psycho Ape 2: The Wrath of Kong Indiegogo page for more information, including ordering

DIRECTED BY: Addison Binek, Greg DeLiso

FEATURING: Bill Weeden, Kansas Bowling, Floyd Cashio

PLOT: During the trial of Psycho Ape, the filmmakers make a sequel to Psycho Ape.

Still from Pyshco Ape Part II: The Wrath of Kong (2024)

COMMENTS:

Good afternoon, reader, we now take you to the Psycho Ape Part II -the Wrath of Kong review, already in progress:

…and that moment when the presenter is challenged to a staring contest with the camera lens and proceeds to gaze at the viewer for  several minutes—all while clips of this, that, and particularly the other spool out on the in-frame—it’s clear that these jokers (by which I mean Binek and Deliso) are really just doing whatever they want. The scattershot approach to this compelling nonsense keeps you on your toes, because who knows what will happen next? Will it be flashback? Complaints from Psycho Ape actors about not being in the sequel? More courtroom shenanigans? Or maybe it will just be a long segment featuring Bill “Doctor ZOOmis” Weeden getting his right ear pierced after avoiding this for decades?

This mash-up of , , and has everything to say, virtually all of it about how this is a sequel to a film, set twenty-five years before, during, or after the original, an original which…

I’m going to have to ask you to hold that thought as we have just received a live-breaking report from our man in the field, Giles Edwards.

 

[ON THE SCENE REMARKS FROM GILES EDWARDS]

Shocking, if true. We now return to Giles in the studio.

…so I’m not sure what more to say. From the nonsensical trial of Psycho Ape, to the odd nod to prey-predator polyamory, to the direct re-creations of classic film scenes (Titanic, The Dark Knight, and The Temple of Doom, among others), to the regular blasts of product placement, this is goofy, meandering, and defiantly pointless—with a degree of self-awareness not usually becoming for a feature film. But it’s always lively, and wraps up well before interest might wane. The talent gathered for this (presumably from a deep well of friends and acquaintances), though mixed in proficiency, is invariably cheerful, with a deep, deep, deep awareness that while they probably shouldn’t bother with this thing of a movie, they Can, and so, boldly, they Do.

Back to you.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY:

“It does not matter if one finds this to be good-bad, bad-bad, or just plain blah; this is an experience that should be had by everyone interested in low-budget and experimental filmmaking.” — Bobby LePire, Film Threat (contemporaneous)