Rocketship Weird Retro Captain's Blog

The Cross & The Switchblade (1972)

9/8/2015

The Cross and the Switchblade was originally a book written in 1962 by pastor David Wilkerson with John and Elizabeth Sherrill. It quickly became a best seller, with over 16 million copies being sold around teh world, with it being translated into 16 languages. The book told the true story of Wilkerson's first five years living and working as an evangelical pastor in New York City. He focused his work on reaching disillusioned young people on the streets, attempting to encourage them to turn away from the drugs and gang violence. In 1970, the book was adapted into a movie, that starred the goody-goody singer Pat Boone as Wilkerson and Erik Estrada (in his screen debut) as Nicky Cruz, the teen gang member whose life was transformed by Wilkerson's ministry. Then in 1972, the Christian comic book publishers Spire Christian Comics under the leadership of Al Hartley, adapted the story as one of their many Christian comic book propaganda pieces produced during the 70s.

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Cult Film Friday: Zeta One (1969)

7/8/2015

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Strange British sci-fi sex comedy, that featured a whole host a renowned comedy actors of the period, and plenty of semi-nudity. A cult classic of British sexploitation, it tells the story of a race of topless, large-breasted women from the planet Angvia (and anagram of vagina), in another dimension, come to earth to kidnap women to repopulate their planet. All lead by an interdimensional sex goddess called Zeta.

The film is low-budget exploitation film-making at its so-bad-its-good best. A cut-rate Carry On type caper, with a blatant James Bond rip-off theme. (With a super-spy character called James Word.) The plot drags, and the one-shot director Michael Cort uses plenty of padding and scenes that seem utterly out of place. It's bright, gaudy and silly. And must have been an influence on Mike Myers when he was creating Austin Powers. The colours are in-your-face trippy 60s, spliced with a Mod aesthetic. Making it a great example of British psychedelic cinema.

The film was a flop on its initial release. Zeta One was released in the United Kingdom in 1970, being described by one critic as, "quite preposterous in illogicality and silliness". It was later released in America by Film Ventures International, briefly in 1973 as The Love Slaves and then wider in 1974 under the title The Love Factor. Despite its failure on initial release, Zeta One has gained a cult following in the subsequent decades.

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Retro Gaming: Cho Aniki (1992)

6/8/2015

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Cho Aniki which translates as "Super Big Brother" is bizarre video game from Japan. The game gain cult status from its surreal graphics, wacky humour and homoerotic overtones. The game is essentially a side-scrolling shoot-em-up, where spend much of the game semi-naked, with other semi-naked muscle men, fighting more semi-naked and oiled-up muscle men. There are pyramids of semi-naked men, rocket powered dildos, and an end of level boss that fires a giant man shaped penis out of his robotic cod-piece. You really can't make this stuff up, and that's all just a brief explanation of the weirdness that is Cho Aniki, that actually spawned a whole series of sequels.

The first game debuted in 1992 for the PC Engine system. The game's many sequels and spin-offs later appeared on the Super Famicom, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, and PlayStation 2.

The game is an example of what the Japanese refer to as "kuso-ge", meaning "shit game". In fact it's classed as a sub-genre, known as "baka-ge", which translates as "idiot game".

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How To Have Cybersex On The Internet!

3/8/2015

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This video clip from 1997 first popped its head up on the Weird Wide Web last year. Originally a brilliantly funny instructional video found by the curators of the Found Footage Festival Nick Prueher and Joe Pickett, in a Minnesota thrift store, on an old VHS tape. With the bad fashion of the presenter, her sudden unexplained appearance topless, and hysterically delivered dead-pan lines like, "I’ll show you how to reach a cybersex climax. We’ll also visit others who have mastered the art of one-handed typing." It's a gem of a find.

Literally the most unerotic video about sex you may ever see. The delay in her typing, and the response, in typing lines like. "I'm very horny and I'm looking for some good cybersex are you interested?" To which our pervert at the other end of the dial-up connection replies, "Yesssssssssss" is classically creepy 90s chatroom/cybersex foreplay.

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Crazy Christian Album Covers: The BEst Of The REst!

2/8/2015

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The crazy Christian album covers have been a popular Sunday feature over the past few months. Starting with the Touched By The Hand Of God series (part 1 and part 2), and God's Dummy: Christian Ventriloquists. All followed by The Further Adventures Of Crazy Christian Album Covers.

There are plenty more out there to be found on the Weird Weird Web, but today's Sunday blog brings you the 12 best of the rest, that I've come across while digging around. Saving some of the best until last, from a Christian ex-wrestler, to the blind Chinese choir for Christ.

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Cult Film Friday: Spookies (1986)

31/7/2015

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How to make a bad b-movie creature feature in the 80s. Start making a movie, fall out over its production. Get someone else to make an entirely different movie, with a different cast. Then splice the two movies together, and tah dah... You have 1986's Spookies.

Spookies started life as a movie called Twisted Souls, back in 1984. Then in post-production the movie ground to a halt, due to disputes with the financial backers. In 1985 the financiers hired another directer to film the extra footage, which was then edited into the famously confusing (badly edited) over-the-top creature feature. The movie is chock full of costumed and animatronic creatures. Check out the trailer below, and you'll see what I mean. One favourite creature is the farting muckmen, that have more than a passing resemblance to Kevin Smith's Golgothan shit demon from Dogma (1999).

Spookies is a bit of a forgotten cult classic, of that particularly mid-80s horror style of gory horror spliced with goofy humour.

Others of the period that spring to mind are the all time classics of the genre, Evil Dead 2 (1987), as well as the earlier Italian horror Demons from 1985, directed by Lamberto Bava. Others that I'd put into this category would be 1988's Night Of The Demons and Street Trash from 1987. But those are just a few, among the many horror movies of the period that were self-referential and aware of their own silliness at times. Which made them all the better.

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Toys: Cymbal Banging Monkey

30/7/2015

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The classic creepy toy, that's featured in many a horror movie. This little fellow always randomly starts banging his cymbals, just before something really bad is about to happen. The startling pre-warning to bigger shocks to come.

The classic version of the manic mechanical monkey was manufactured by the Japanese company Daishin C.K., during the 1950s to 1970s under the name "Musical Jolly Chimp". Over the years a number of other toy manufactures have copied the basic design of the monkey, marketed under variety of names.

The classic monkey, is seen wearing red and white striped pants and a yellow vest with red buttons. The monkeys are often produced with red rings painted around their wide-open eyes, creating an appearance some find disturbing, which could perhaps explain their many appearances in horror, sci-fi and other movies over the years. The earliest known appearence is in 1955's Rebel Without A Cause, when James Dean is shown drunk, playing with one of the monkeys in the middle of the street.

One of the most famous appearances of the monkey is in the 1977 film Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, when one suddenly begins clapping its cymbals as a UFO appears. The toy is featured in "The Monkey", a Stephen King short story from his 1985 book Skeleton Crew, which uses the monkey as its cover image. The monkey has also appeared in computer games, animations, as well as TV shows as diverse as The Simpsons, Dr. Who and Wallace & Gromit.

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More Fun With Your 22 Rifle (1951)

29/7/2015

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Sponsored by the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute, produced by American Visuals Corporations, and all wrapped up in the NRA (National Rifle Association). This one-shoot give-way comic was advertised in the back of many "boys won" magazines and comic books in the early 1950s. Often given away with "How To Be An NRA Ranger" pamphlet, and NRA Ranger targets, for shooting practice.

The comic contains all kinds of insidious NRA propaganda, about "pioneering" Americans, guides of what to and not to shoot, along with all kinds of "fun" with rifles. Which includes "Games and Targets" with your rifle. Sending the message, that while you must be safe with your new rifle, guns are fun, guns are great, guns, guns, and more guns!!!

And us non-American folk still wonder why there is such an ingrained fascination for guns in the United States!

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Retro Gaming: Journey (1983)

27/7/2015

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Don't stop believing that they did actually make a rock band Journey video arcade game in 1983. Not only that, there was even a home video gaming version of it. Both were failures (the home version bombed big time, and the arcade version less so), but hey, that's now why they are being blogged about on Weird Retro.

The game was produced by Bally Midway, following the success of the bands albums Escape (1981) and Frontiers (1983). The release of the arcade game was originally intended to run alongside the band's nationwide tour after the release of the Frontiers album. A big deal was made of the fact the game featured characters made of digitized photographs of the members of the band at the time of release: Steve Perry, Neal Schon, Steve Smith, Jonathan Cain and Ross Valory.

The object of the game was to reunite the band with their instruments, all the while listening the band's song "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)". Which was played on a loop, via a cassette player hidden inside the arcade cabinet. Each instrument is located on a different planet, and the musician must first reach the instrument, then make it back to the band's ship without running into an obstacle. Many of these mini games were weak rip-off versions of popular arcade games of the period. Once all of the instruments have been collected, the band performs a concert (see right) while the player controls, a bouncer whose job is to prevent fans from rushing the stage. Eventually a fan gets past and the crowd steals the band's instruments. Play starts again on a harder level. The game continues until the player has lost all of his or her lives.

An utterly bemusing and confusing review of the Journey arcade game from its TV début in 1983.

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Cult Cinema Sunday: The Blood OF Jesus (1941)

26/7/2015

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Pioneering African-American movie, directed by actor and film-maker Spencer Williams in 1941. Williams was best known for playing Andy, in the Amos 'n' Andy TV show. The Blood of Jesus was produced by Williams' own production company, Amnegro, on a $5,000 budget using non-professional actors for his cast. It was his directorial début, and was a major commercial success, being screened in cinemas and in black churches. It's considered as being one of the most successful "race films" of the period. Time magazine has listed it as one of the top 25 Most Important Films on Race.

The film tells the story of a woman accidentally shot by her husband. As she lays dying, an angel visits her to take her spirit on a journey to the after-life. She is brought to the Crossroads between Heaven and Hell, and initially she is tempted by the slick Judas, an agent of Satan. Eventually the angel arrives to save Martha from Satan, and she witnessed the crucified Christ on the cross. The blood of Christ falls on her face, and she is transported back home, where her godless husband has found Jesus.

Williams filmed and produced The Blood Of Jesus in Texas, for Sack Amusement Enterprises. It's success meant he was able to make two other religious themed films, Brother Martin: Servant of Jesus (1942) and Go Down Death (1944). For years, the film was considered a lost film until prints were discovered in the mid-1980s in a warehouse in Tyler, Texas. In 1991, The Blood of Jesus became the first race film to be added to the United States National Film Registry.

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The Cross & The Switchblade (1972)

Cult Film Friday: Zeta One (1969)

Retro Gaming: Cho Aniki (1992)

How To Have Cybersex On The Internet!

Crazy Christian Album Covers: The BEst Of The REst!

Cult Film Friday: Spookies (1986)

Toys: Cymbal Banging Monkey

More Fun With Your 22 Rifle (1951)

Retro Gaming: Journey (1983)

Cult Cinema Sunday: The Blood OF Jesus (1941)

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