Ill go ye one better. When i was a kid there was a movie theater in ft worth tx called Isis. They had 1 dollar matinees that us kids were allowed to sit in. Got watch s lot of blacksploitation flicks and really odd “c” grade scifi.
“Blacksploitation”? In… Texas. Do I want to know? i don’t really want that in my search history…
It’s a term for the type of comedy movies in the 70s where they would cast all black actors in these low budget films with cheesy dialogue and visuals. Most jokes heavily relied on stereotypes (e.g. lots of characters speaking “jive”) and were aimed at black audiences.
Think “Blacula” instead of “Dracula”
Most people consider them racist now for perpetuating stereotypes, although some point out that they were beloved by black audiences at the time and offered work to a lot of black actors who weren’t finding it otherwise.
It’s a weird piece of US cinema history…
Labyrinth and The Black Hole.
Labyrinth and The last unicorn were my favorite movies growing up. Oh! Also a very old russian animated film about a magical hunchback pony.
“The Black Hole” is such an interesting case, I really loved watching it as a kid. Reruns were shown on TV every other year or so when I was little. Once I bought the DVD, I realized just how corny it was… up until the point where Maximilian Schell made his Wagnerian entrance. From then on, it became a very different movie, something I could neither understand nor appreciate as a kid.
The evil droid design of Black Hole and the 1981 Star Wars comic #47 were very similar. I don’t know why I’m telling you this.
Zoobilee fucking Zoo…
- I am not from anywhere near North America.
I really liked Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. My parents got it for me on VHS at some point and I watched it so much it literally wore out the tape. Then my parents got it for me on DVD.
Can’t even watch it on streaming because they only ever have the subtitled version, and the dub is vastly superior for the dialogue. The subs cut so much flavor and poetry out of the dialogue that it becomes super boring and just the basic gist of what’s going on.
Before that, the “obscure” VHS my parents had that I watched a lot was Monty Python’s Holy Grail. We spent years trying to understand what the “witch” says when she is found guilty and only knew for certain what it was years later when they released a special edition DVD and we watched it with the subtitles on. “It’s a fair cop.”
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is so good. I have to admit that I’ve only ever watched it with subs though. Maybe I’ll try the dub next time.
Demolition Man for some fucking reason, also Running Man. I dont even know, also my grandmother gets the two mixed up and mishmashed in her head. We still make weird taco bell references.
Still waiting for the michelin star taco bell experience
3 shells. Messed with me to this day.
I don’t think either of those are obscure.
Ok but the Indian in the cupboard came with a key for the plastic VHS case, and a couple of toys from the movie. So my love was justified.
Worst child actor ever though
my class watched it and the teacher had to get parents permission to watch it because of the “girls girls girls” music video that plays for like 3 seconds
An American Tale. Watched it a ton in St Vincent, then I moved to America as a child so there was a close feeling to it. (Just to be clear, I was born in Brooklyn, NY, but my family moved out of the states to St Vincent within 2 years. So my earliest memories are not from the US, despite being born here).
It was the sequel for me, fiefel goes west
they forgot to add “…and is now embedded to your core being.”
For me the more “obscure” ones were The Indian and the Cupboard, Small Soldiers, Jingle All The Way, James and the Giant Peach. Not that I referenced it hard or anything.
The VHS sleeve for Indian and the Cupboard just had the cupboard printed on the opposite side, so child me tried putting his toys into the VHS Clamshell to make his toys come to life.
I had weirdly encyclopedic knowledge of old Finnish comedies because my late father was into that stuff.
Also: Not an obscure film, but to me, the definitive version of Terminator 2 was the one I recorded off TV. I have it on Blu-Ray, but it’s just not the same.
Most times that I’ve watched Terminator 2 were when I happened to catch it playing on TV. It just doesn’t feel right without breaks and tacky commercials.
Puff the Magic Dragon
It’s like a fever dream, but we definitely had it on VHS
I’ll join in on the obscure movies that defined my childhood and teen years…
Texas Across the River, Warriors of the Wind (horrible cut and dub of Nauiscaa of the Valley of the Wind), Sea Prince and Fire Child (we rented the tape so much that eventually they sold it to us because we were also the last ones to rent it), Anime version of The Little Mermaid, animated Hobbit and Return of the King, Fairies, Mio and the Land of Far Away
… That’s all of the obscure ones I can think of at the moment.
Nice profile picture
The thief and the cobbler!
My friend Garrett Gilchrist has spent years restoring it, doing cut after cut, trying to get it as good as he can. He’s not being paid, it’s a labor of love.
I believe his most recent was Mark 5 from last year:
Have no fear, have no fear! ZigZig the Grand Visir is here!
That whole movie is an utter fever dream spectacular.
Sgt. Bilko (movie starring Steve Martin) was a classic at my house
