Directed By: Herschell Gordon Lewis, et al
Starring: Boris Karloff, et al
Tag line: "A Sampler of the Weirdest DVD Collection on Earth!"
Trivia: This collection has over 100 trailers, and a running length of almost 4 hours
In the past, I’ve taken a look at several trailer compilations, including the 42nd Street Forever series, but unlike those, the Extra Weird Sampler features previews from the home video releases of a specific label, namely Something Weird Video. And after spending nearly 4 hours perusing the over 100 trailers in this collection, I can say the films definitely live up to the company’s name. These are some very weird movies!
Focusing primarily on horror and sexploitation from the ‘60s and ‘70s, Something Weird Video (and, in turn, Extra Weird) offers a wide range of pictures, some of which I’ve already seen. For example, pretty much every Herschell Gordon Lewis film I’ve covered on the blog was released by Something Weird, as was the ‘80s classic Basket Case. In addition, they’ve put out such oddities as Deadly Weapons (starring the incomparable Chesty Morgan), Frankenstein’s Castle of Freaks, and even recent blog entries like This is Not a Test, a ‘60s cautionary tale about nuclear war. Not all of the Something Weird movies I’ve watched have been good (Carnival of Blood was something of a let-down), but, at the very least, they were interesting.
And, of course, like any good trailer compilation, Extra Weird has turned me on to some outrageous-looking movies that I absolutely must check out. Among the stranger titles that caught my eye were 1969’s The Curious Dr. Humpp (“From every act of pleasure comes an equal act of perversion”); director Doris Wishman’s 1961 fantasy Nude on the Moon (not only is the lunar surface littered with trees, but the sky is apparently a bright blue); and 1972’s The Pig Keeper’s Daughter, a comedy that, from the looks of the trailer, has more than a few hardcore-style sex scenes.
Which reminds me: the previews in Extra Weird aren’t for the prudish. A fair number of them feature nudity, sex, and graphic violence, but if you’re a fan of exploitation cinema, or are just looking for a few bizarre films to check out, then Extra Weird will be right up your alley.
