Producers Sid and Marty Krofft finally landed a hit show with 1969's "H.R. Pufnstuf," which brought audiences to the oddity of Living Island, inhabited by a mix of fantasy characters and the witch who wanted to kill them all. Trying to capitalize on this creative momentum, the Kroffts quickly put a film version of "Pufnstuf" into production, looking to make some money on the matinee circuit, adding a few guest stars to boost the marquee value of the picture. Director Hollingsworth Morse was put in charge of making magic for the big screen, tasked with opening up the world of "H.R. Pufnstuf" to a certain degree while keeping young audiences entertained with non-stop wackiness. The gamble didn't result in huge box office returns, but it did produce one of the strangest movies of 1970, finding the Kroffts doubling down on weirdness to make the endeavor stand out from the competition, sold with their usual blend of broad performances and floppy, full-body puppetry. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director of "The Student Nurses" and "The Working Girls," Stephanie Rothman is tasked with making an exploitation film with 1973's "Terminal Island," only she has limited interest in the traditional extremity of the subgenre. Also co-scripting the endeavor with Charles S. Swartz and James Barnett, Rothman strives to keep her distance from pure ugliness, more interested in the psychological weariness of the characters as they manage an impossible situation of imprisonment. This creative approach splits "Terminal Island" into two moods, as Rothman labors to make something passably meaningful with the premise, while the other side of the feature plays B-movie games of violence and revenge, content to recycle scenes of confrontation. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

We've watched as Canadian and American filmmakers have created valentines to the old-school world of action cinema from the 1980s, but 2018's "Commando Ninja" comes from France, with writer/director Benjamin Combes trying his hardest to funnel his adoration for everything from that decade and beyond into 68 minutes of silly fun. Blood flows and references fly in the feature, which barely has a plot or a point, simply summoning some mild conflict to help launch a series of inside jokes and cinematic tributes, primarily to the Arnold Schwarzenegger years of baddie-bustin', muscle-pumping mayhem. "Commando Ninja" is no gem, but there's appeal in its goofiness, watching Combes labor to fit something recognizable into every frame of this picture. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"The Vigil" tracks the experiences of a shomer hired to watch over the body of a recently deceased man. The production explains what a shomer is at the beginning of the movie, helping those unfamiliar with Orthodox Jewish rituals to better understand the position, which carries immense importance when protecting the dead from evil spirits looking to claim them. There's a distinct religious angle to writer/director Keith Thomas's picture, but there's just as much pure genre filmmaking in play. "The Vigil" is a ghost story, exploring spooky encounters and darkly lit rooms, and it's a highly effective one, well-crafted on a low budget. Thomas wants a little more from the event than simple frights, weaving in elements of guilt and shame to supercharge the haunting that brings the lead character to the edge of sanity. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

2013's "WNUF Halloween Special" is an offering of strangeness from director Chris LaMartina. Inspired by the business of local television in the 1980s, LaMartina has elected to recreate the viewing experience, using unknown actors and large amounts of stock footage to manufacture a holiday special involving a reporter and his quest to get to the bottom of a murder case by visiting a haunted house. And most of the picture plays out with a great level of realism, exposing LaMartina's quest to trick casual viewers and delight those with fond memories of small-time television production and numerous commercial breaks. "WNUF Halloween Special" is an inspired gem that doesn't offer much more than immersion into a bygone world of evening news and station personalities, with the endeavor toying with the specifics of the business while gradually creating a tale of Halloween horror. It's found footage with purpose, securing knowing laughs and a few blasts of nostalgia while aiming to be weird and real without ruining the whole thing with excessive winks. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Hoping to make his dreaming of film direction come true, John P. Finnegan elected to try his luck with genre moviemaking in the mid-1980s, hoping to ride a trend of spooky tales aimed at young audiences. His initial offering is 1985's "Girls School Screamers," which isn't nearly as relentlessly icky as similar features, aiming to dial down grotesqueries to play up suspense elements of the screenplay (which he wrote). There's a vague sense of Agatha Christie and Alfred Hitchcock in play during "Girls School Screamers," which gets off to a relatively strong start, doing well with character introductions and storytelling, getting things up and running with decent efficiency and personality. Finnegan doesn't maintain early momentum, leading to an underwhelming second half of simplistic scares and kooky gross-outs, but he shows some life with parts of the endeavor, and that's good enough to please when it comes to this style of entertainment. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1971's "Percy" is an adaptation of a novel by Raymond Hitchcock, and let's all be thankful for that. The story of a man who undergoes a penis transplant, emerging from the surgery with a desire to find the original member donor, isn't something that would likely pair well with an original screenplay, as the premise leaves itself wide open for raunchy antics and crude comedy. With some literary guidance, the screenplay (credited to Hugh Leonard, with uncredited work from Terence Feely and Michael Palin, which explains a distinct Monty Python reference early in the picture) actually remains relatively calm considering the weirdness of the story, trying to find emotions to work with, not broad antics involving the cravings of fresh genitals. That's not to suggest "Percy" is a particularly satisfying movie, but it's definitely not the wild ride initial scenes promise it to be. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1985's "Fool for Love" is a continuation of director Robert Altman's interest in theatrical projects, allowing him to keep creating movies that favor his artistic strengths, including his work with actors. Teaming with Cannon Films (in a rare non-Chuck Norris production), Altman turns to a play written by Sam Shepard for inspiration, persuading the playwright to appear in a leading role, co-starring with Kim Basinger and Harry Dean Stanton in this story of an impossible relationship and all the psychological disease contained within it. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1971's "Deadlock" is writer/director Roland Klick's version of a spaghetti western, with the German production heading to Israel to deal with rising tensions among three men looking to take possession of a suitcase filled with cash. However, Leone-esque swells are few and far between in the release, as Klick is pursuing more of a slow-burn endeavor, reveling in extended scenes of intimidation and cruelty. It's not a freak-out from the helmer, but a movie that requires patience it doesn't always earn, finding Klick getting lost in the process of making "Deadlock" instead of working to generate tension within his story. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1976's "Fantasm" was a small movie that made big money, reaching its intended audience with its collection of softcore titillation. 1977's "Fantasm Comes Again" isn't a continuation of the original feature, which tried to sell itself as a psychological experience, but more of a rehash, with director Colin Eggleston ("Long Weekend") and writer Ross Dimsey trying to get away with the same viewing experience, armed with a larger budget and room to experiment with vignettes concerning forbidden desires. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

While Richard Franklin went on to achieve some career success with hits such as "Patrick," "Road Games," and "Psycho II," he started small, exploring a world of softcore entertainment in 1976's "Fantasm." A playful take on the rise of adult cinema in the 1970s, "Fantasm" isn't meant to be heavy, with Franklin (credited here as "Richard Bruce") and writer Ross Dimsey trying to explore the world of female fantasies without reaching the depths of perversion, offering vignettes that detail possible sexual adventures and necessary distractions. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com