The VHS Archives Factsheet Label: Imperial Video Corp. Catalog: IVC109 Box Type: Clamshell Year of Release: 1983 Runtime: 80:01 Print: 1.33:1 / English / No subs Extras: None
About the Film Director: Walter Boos Year of Release: 1973
Country of Origin: West Germany
Stars: Walter Feuchtenberg, Karin Hofmann, Wolfgang Scherer, Alexandra Bogojevic AKAs:Swedish Playgirls
Verbatim Box Synopsis
Get ready to laugh as you've never laughed before, at one of the funniest SEX comedies ever made! You'll be in hysterics at the wild misadventures of a team of "talent" scouts scouring the backwoods for beautiful, "talented" females for a "Girlie Show" at a big-city nightclub. Chased by angry husbands, homicidal fathers, and jealous females, our daring scouts leave no female unturned in their quest for gorgeous women!
U.S. Imperial Video Corp. sleeve!
Looking for Sorry Wrong Bedroom on VHS? It's available on Amazon here. The film is also on DVD from Code Red, double-billed with Lonely Wives.
The VHS Archives Factsheet Label: Mogul Communications, Inc. Catalog: MOG1006 Box Type: Clamshell Year of Release: ? Runtime: 88:50 Print: 1.33:1 / English / No subs Extras: None
About the Film
Director: Mario Siciliano Year of Release: 1984 Country of Origin: Italy Stars: Antonio Marsina, Ketty Nichols, Tony Raccosta AKAs:Rolf: The Last Mercenary
Verbatim Box Synopsis
The Last Mercenary, a thrilling story of violence... of a rare man... a man trying to forget his past.
The story of a man's buring vengence, an avenger who cannot forgive. Neither threats nor traps can stop The Last Mercenary. Stretched to breaking point both physically and morally, a fight until death follows. His Price is death!
A movie full of high suspense and courage born out of desperation.
Label: Imperial Video Corp. Catalog: IVC101 Box Type: Clamshell Year of Release: 1983 Runtime: 81:08 Print: 1.33:1 / English / No subs
Extras: None
About the Film Director: Jess Franco Year of Release: 1975 Country of Origin: Switzerland Stars: Lina Romay, Martine Stedil, Paul Muller, Monica Swinn, Eric Falk AKAs:Women's Penitentiary IV, Caged Women
Verbatim Box Synopsis
Women convicts are doomed to a fate worse than death, in a hell-hole of a prison in a South American jungle. They are ruled by a sadistic female warden with powers of life and death over her charges. Each inmate lives in deadly fear of becoming the next object of the Warden's perverted sexual fantasies. Once sent to the "Torture Chamber," they are never the same again, mentally or physically. Sometimes they are carried out in a box. Three of the most desperate women ultimately kill their tormentors in their dash for freedom.
U.S. Imperial Video Corp. sleeve!
Imperial Video Corp. promotional poster, courtesy of Ed McHale, Jr.!
One of Uncle Jess' more ridiculously sleazy efforts, Barbed Wire Dolls, while certainly no masterpiece, showcases several justifiably famous setpieces guaranteed to stick to your brainpan for the rest of your life. Plotwise, it's your typical women-in-prison offering, but as with most of Franco's work, it's all about the details. Yup, this is the film that, in order to save film-stock, Jess shoots a slow-motion sequence in regular speed, with both him and Lina Romay feigning the lesser frame-rate, and not quite succeeding... Other "highlights" include your usual sadism and torture, with all sorts of beatings, torture and electrocution, but it's the "cigarette masturbation" bit that really drives home this one's level of grubbiness. Worth a look, just to see how grimy the maestro can get.
Looking for Barbed Wire Dolls on VHS? It's available on Amazon here.
Label: Mogul Communications, Inc. Catalog: MOG1034 Box Type: Clamshell Year of Release: 1987 Runtime: 88:16
Print: 1.33:1 / English / No subs
Extras: None
About the Film Director: Chia Chun Wu Year of Release: 1982 Country of Origin: South Korea / Taiwan Stars: Hwang-ki Baek, Jackie Chang, Shan Chen, Eagle Han AKAs:Jackie and Bruce to the Rescue
Verbatim Box Synopsis
Our story opens with two arch-rival gangs who start out as bitter enemies. The leaders decide to fight to establish who will be the new leader. Jackie and Bruce meet on the combat stage and fight to a ferocious draw. Afterwards they become good friends and join forces to collectively combat the forces of evil.
After Bruce Lee's untimely death, Tom Lun, the star of 'Fist of Death', was chosen to finish 'Game of Death' by Golden Harvest. The movie also stars Jackie Chamg who is famed for use of acrobatics to foil his enemies.
U.S. sleeve!
Looking for Fist of Death on VHS? It's available on Amazon here.
THE AMOROUS ADVENTURES OF DON QUIXOTE & SANCHO PANZA
Raphael Nussbaum's The Amorous Adventures of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza (1976)
The VHS Archives Factsheet Label: Imperial Video Corp. Catalog: IVC108 Box Type: Clamshell Year of Release: 1983 Runtime: 103:14 Print: 1.33:1 / English / No subs Extras: Trailer for Office Girls (1.66:1)
About the Film Director: Raphael Nussbaum Year of Release: 1976 Country of Origin: USA Stars: Corey John Fischer, Hy Pike, Roberta Reeves, Haji, Sandy Carey, Maria Arnold AKAs:The Erotic Adventures of Superknight
Verbatim Box Synopsis
This bawdy American musical spoof of the popular Cervantes classic, is hilariously erotic with a marvelous original score of risque songs, including the following:
"Angry"
"Hey, Handsome Knight"
"That's My Wife"
"Itty Bitty Whore"
"When He Becomes A Knight"
"You Come Too Soon"
"Pregnant, You Won't Get"
"Horney And Hot"
"Now That He's A Knight"
U.S. sleeve!
Looking for The Amorous Adventures of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza on VHS? It's available on Amazon here.
The VHS Archives Factsheet Label: Imperial Video Corp. Catalog: IVC105
Box Type: Clamshell
Year of Release: 1983 Runtime: 83:23 Print: 1.33:1 / English / No subs
Extras: None
About the Film Director: Al Adamson Year of Release: 1969 Country of Origin: USA Stars: Russ Tamblyn, Jennifer Bishop, Lon Chaney Jr., Regina Carrol AKAs:A Time to Run
Verbatim Box Synopsis
On a ranch near the Mexican border, a group of beautiful, reckless young women have banded together to become THE FEMALE BUNCH. Involved in smuggling narcotics across the border, they destroy all who oppose them! Using men for their own perverse pleasures, they grow more and more violent until the final gory, breathtaking climax!
Miguel Iglesias' Tarzan y el misterio de la selva (1973)
The VHS Archives Factsheet
Label: Mogul Communications, Inc.
Catalog: MOG1028
Box Type: Clamshell Year of Release: 1987 Runtime: 82:57 Print: 1.33:1 / English / No subs Extras: None
About the Film Director: Miguel Iglesias Year of Release: 1973
Country of Origin: Spain
Stars: Jose Luis Ayestaran, Didi Sherman, Cesar Burner AKAs:Tarzan and the Jungle Mystery
Verbatim Box Synopsis
A story of vintrigue and violence set deep in the heart of the darkest jungle which still remains inaccessible to modern civilization.
The strange Franz lives deep in an underground cavern surrounded by immense wealth and luxury. He causes havoc and unrest amongst the native tribes and a team of skilled multi-national secret intelligence agents are recruited to investigate the uprising and elminate the problem.
Killing follows killing as this movie races to a bloody climax.
Karin Fischer's Schimpo, was macht ein Aff' in Afrika (1979)
The VHS Archives Factsheet
Label: Imperial Video Corp.
Catalog: IVC104
Box Type: Clamshell Year of Release: 1983 Runtime: 96:57 Print: 1.33:1 / English / No subs Extras: None
About the Film Director: Karin Fischer Year of Release: 1979 Country of Origin: West Germany Stars: Chimpo, Willy Kubler, Georg Thomalla AKAs: ?
Verbatim Box Synopsis
This film is the greatest breakthrough in family entertainment since the Disney studios first brought a natural wild-life feature to the public in 1953. Added to the beauty of African natural wild-life is the extra entertaining feature of having CHIMPO, ace reporter for The Primate Press, as the viewer's guide through African deserts and jungles, getting a marvelous view of the wild-life from Beetles to Elephants! You will actually see the birth of a baby seal, and battles to the death between Mongoose and Cobra, and Cheetah and Antelope. You'll laugh hysterically at the antics of CHIMPO and his two chimpanzee cub assistants "The Chump Bros", as they wreak havoc throughout Africa. See CHIMPO ride a camel, drive a jeep, take photographs, fly a plane, as he bravely defies death to bring us the complete story! As entertainingly beautiful as it is educationally enlightening, truly, the whole family will "go ape" over CHIMPO!
U.S. sleeve!
Notes
A totally jaw-dropping children's film from Germany, I can only imagine the scarring this did to its intended audience's collective psyche. Essentially, it's Lancelot Link by way of Black Emanuelle as a clothes-wearing chimpanzee gets shipped off to Africa in search of his scoop. From that point on, it's Mondo City as we watch various animals screw, give birth and kill each other, all of which is narrated by our precariously-placed host, Chimpo, as voiced by some slang-spewing Brit who offers up plenty of off-color comments. At least the back cover's plot summary does its best to sum up the tape's contents! Truth in advertising can be a wonderful thing...
Looking for Chimpo's Wild Animal Safari on VHS? It's available on Amazon here.
New York-based Imperial Video Corp. (not to be confused with the later Imperial Entertainment) was yet another short-lived outfit who specialized in obscurity. Releasing an even dozen tapes over the course of 1983, most of their output seems pulled from the libraries of theatrical distributors International Producers Corporation and Burbank International Pictures, and their twelve titles ran the gamut from German sex comedies to weird documentaries to kid's flicks to low-budget Ameritrash. Showcasing work from directors like Jess Franco, Al Adamson and Claude Mulot, they seem tailor-made for cult film fanatics and the rarity of their tapes ranks their collectibility high among VHS devotees.
Strangely, their address seems to change from Farmingdale, NY to Bethpage and back again over the run of their line. Also, I wonder if they didn't get in some trouble over the self-appointed ratings that adorn several of their covers; later tapes have a supplemental stick-on stating, "THIS FILM NOT RATED BY MPAA."
I'll be frequently updating this list with links to each individual release, including cover scans, exact runtime information, alternate titles, etc. Keep checking back, or become a follower to ensure you don't miss anything!
Label: All American Video Catalog: AAV110 Box Type: Clamshell Year of Release: ? Runtime: 88:26 Print: 1.33:1 / English / No subs Extras: None
About the Film Director: Bruce Le Year of Release: 1980 Country of Origin: Italy / USA / Hong Kong
Stars: Bruce Le, Richard Harrison, Nadiuska, Brad Harris, Bolo Yeung
AKAs:Challenge of the Tiger, Seize the Formula
Verbatim Box Synopsis
When a mysterious doctor is brutally murdered in Spain, it seems just another case for the local police. But when it is discovered that a secret formula, capable of exterminating the entire human race, has been stolen by the murderers, the CIA are immediately notified. Officer Huang Lung is given the task of tracking down the terrorists before they can hold the world to ransom. His dangerous mission takes him from Europe to the rat infested slums of Hong Kong, where rival gangs of Viet-Cong and Chinese take on the Challenge of the Tiger. It's a race against time and Huang Lung meets out his own brand of justice, only to be met with bigger and greater dangers around every alley way.
U.S. All American Video sleeve!
U.K. Stablecane Home Video sleeve!
Dutch PRO Video sleeve, originally scanned by "Harm
Bonus trailer, uploaded by "OurManInHavana"!
Notes
Another one of my favorite finds, it's movies like this that kept me buying every oddball tape I could get my hands on. From its opening sequence, where Richard Harrison plays tennis with two topless chicks in slow motion while an incredibly infectious funk song jams in the background, to its kung fu bullfight finished with x-ray animation, to its berserk sperm-killing plotline that might as well have stepped out of an Arizal film, there's something here to put a smile on anyone's face. When Mondo Macabro first told me they were grabbing some films from Dick Randall's estate I practically begged them to pick this one up. Happily, they were already on the case and unleashed a great looking, properly framed release paired with the insane Filipino midget spy flick, For Y'ur Height Only. Highly, highly recommended. Screenplay by Poon Fan!
Looking for Gymkata Killer on VHS? It's available on Amazon here. Mondo Macabro's excellent, must-have DVD is availablehere.
Urban battles... violent explosions... Terrorism blows up in a large city and soon guerilla warfare escalates into all-out bloodshed... Matial law and curfew are in force.
Frightened ciizens wander around the inner city armed with rifles and machine guns.
The whole metropolis is turned into a burning inferno of suspicion and destruction.