Never was big on the genre as the most well known ones such as Ilsa She Wolf and I Spit on your Grave type films not really my thing, but just was turned on to the fact there a ton of obscure ones available free on various sites, and after doing some research chose a double feature of The Baby (1973) and The Candy Snatchers (1973) and was literally blown away- both are a bit rough, but two of the most brilliantly bizarre films I have ever seen hands down.
The Baby of course is about a grown man whose family treats him as though he is an infant, and as a result his mind has not advanced past the toddler age- and then it gets weird, with a brilliant twist ending.
The Candy Snatchers is extremely vile but strangely riveting- your standard rape and murder for the genre, but kicks it up by adding corpse abuse, severe child abuse and other bits, and features probably the strangest scene I have seen on film- a mute, abused and possibly slow six year old happens along a girl being held captive, and she dispatches him to get the police. He then proceeds to go home, dial a random number reaching a deli in New York, and pulls the string on his talking police doll and holds it to the phone while it says “stop, this the police” several times until the deli guy curses and hangs up on the ‘crank caller’- brilliant demented.
Would enjoy some OBSCURE recommendations for similar films (I have read many lists of the well known standards)- not really big on blaxploitation or women in chains type or ultra-sadistic, more your generic sleaze or horror. Bonnie’s Kids is next on my list, which is known for being an (extremely) heavy influence on Pulp Fiction, and Where You Goin Red Ryder, which seems to be nowhere on the internet- if anyone knows where this one is available free (and legal, of course), I would love that info. Thanks all!
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) Cry Uncle (1971) Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971) Abominable Dr. Phibes/Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1971/72) Bohachi Bushido: Code of the Forgotten Eight (1973) Sex and Fury (1973) Sugar Cookies (1973) Blood for Dracula a.k.a. Andy Warhol’s Dracula (1974) Flesh for Frankenstein a.k.a. Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein (1975) – ONLY IN 3D! Death Race 2000 (1975) Switchblade Sisters (1975) God Told Me To a.k.a. Demon (1976) Master of the Flying Guillotine (1976) Andy Warhol’s Bad (1977) Alucarda (1977) The Incredible Melting Man (1977) Starcrash (1978) The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978)
Well, it’s not obscure, or from the 70’s and it’s based on 70’s blaxploitation, so this probably isn’t really what you’re looking for, but Jackie Brown is really good.
If you want to go with 70’s blaxploitation, but more on the obscure side, Car Wash wasn’t too bad.
The second sequel, Girls Are For Loving is probably the [del]best[/del] least offensive of the three. Cheri Caffaro also starred in Savage Sisters and She’s Too Hot to Handle.
Second this. Don’t miss the sequels: The human Tornado and Avenging Disco Godfather. Michael Jai White made Black Dynamite as a loving parody to these movies.
I recommend Carnival of Souls. Not sleazy, but very strange.
if you want to see a very entertaining documentary on the a lot of the made in the 1970s Philippines stuff see machete maidens unleashed most of the filmmakers don’t even try to justify the stuff they made other than "it was the 70s and we made the cheap but entertaining stuff we were supposed to "
there’s one film where someone says "I don’t even remember doing that flick …probably that was in the couple of years i was stoned and or wasted all the time " Although you do forget how much of top Hollywood got their start with Roger Corman