Cut the Cord: Exploitation III
July 2025. Volume 4, Issue 4.
Welcome back to Cut the Cord.
Just like the last few Julys, this month’s edition will be another exploitation flick sampler.
Every June, genre film fans convene over at FThisMovie.com for Junesploitation, their "month-long celebration of exploitation and genre films." Every day has a different theme, from aliens to kaiju to Italian horror to Bruce Lee ripoffs, and each day folks play and watch along.
2025 marked my fourth Junesploitation and I thought that since sites like Tubi and Hoopla seem to be a great resource for those participating, I would make most of my picks Cut the Cord friendly and pass them along to you.
Death Race 2000 (1975)
In a boorish future, the government sponsors a popular, but bloody, cross-country race in which points are scored by mowing down pedestrians. Five teams, each comprised of a male and female, compete using cars equipped with deadly weapons. Frankenstein, the mysterious returning champion, has become America's hero, but this time he has a passenger from the underground resistance.
Although I enjoy straight-up trash exploitation cinema as much as the next guy, I also love it when movies like Death Race 2000 blow me away with their messaging. If you've been a teenage boy behind the wheel of a car in the last 50 years, you've had an annoying friend point at a group of people on the sidewalk and say, "30 points!" Little does your friend know that the movie that comes from is a prescient, scary, dark comedy about the degradation of our country, our values, and our freedoms. Turning violence into television, long before The Running Man or The Hunger Games, hits hard in the wake of controversies like Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem maybe/maybe not supporting the idea of a reality show where immigrants compete in challenges for a path to citizenship. Ouch.
Coffy (1973)
After her younger sister gets involved in drugs and is severely injured by contaminated heroin, a nurse sets out on a mission of vengeance and vigilante justice, killing drug dealers, pimps, and mobsters who cross her path.
There's no doubt that Pam Grier is on the Exploitation Mt. Rushmore. In Coffy, one of her more iconic roles, she is, according to the poster, "...The baddest One-Chick Hit Squad that ever hit town!" I would probably agree with that. She's a nurse by day, a vigilante by night, and unbelievably sexy all of the time. Going after dope pushers for hurting her sister, she shoots guys in the head, blowing their heads clean off, and in the crotch, blowing only what you can imagine clean off. Directed by exploitation auteur Jack Hill, it was called "a stupid movie" by Gene Siskel - who gave it zero stars! It makes me wonder if one day, 50 years from now, I'll be mocked for giving some 2025 crap on Tubi a half-star on Letterboxd because it turns out it was an exploitation masterpiece.
Tenebrae (1982)
A razor-wielding serial killer is on the loose, murdering those around Peter Neal, an American mystery author in Italy to promote his newest novel.
Sometimes, things just work out perfectly. I don't feel like I'm usually the recipient of kismet, at least no more than the usual person, but the universe threw me a fastball right down the middle last night when my local revival house showed Tenebrae the night before Junesploitation's Giallo! Day.
Tenebrae is a classic, a star example of the genre, for a reason. It's got everything on the Giallo checklist: black gloves, straight razors, huge breasts, Goblin music, awkward dubbing, red herrings and redder blood splatters. Those factors make it great Giallo 101 or a gateway drug to the genre at large. It helps that the plot is actually structured, with forward momentum and aspects of the mystery revealed in appropriate doses, as opposed to a lot of deep-cut Italian shit that's just like, "Let me lick my dead wife's tit for 30 minutes.*"
*I haven't seen that one...yet...
Black Dog (1998)
An ex-con takes a job driving a truck cross country. What he doesn't know is that the truck is filled with illegal weapons and now he must fight to survive and save his family.
Every year, from July through May, I keep a running private Letterboxd list of film discoveries perfect for Junesploitation, which I then save for this annual holiday. Sometimes, it's been so long since I added it to the list, I've forgotten why I did in the first place. Even though I didn't recognize Black Dog right away when referring to the list this year, I knew why I wanted to remember it: a cast led by perfect Patrick Swayze, villainous Meat Loaf, and bearded Randy Travis.
It's a 90-minute semi-truck chase filled with real stunts, plenty of explosions, and Randy playing a character who wants to sing country music but can't sing. It's either for you or it's not.
Wanted: Dead or Alive (1987)
Nick Randall is a Los Angeles-based bounty hunter and an ex-CIA operative who is asked by a former co-worker to help track down terrorist Malak Al Rahim. However, Malak Al Rahim is also looking for Randall, forcing a showdown on the waterfront.
I did a lot of Corman digging for last year's Junesploitation, so I thought I would find something post-Roger for New World Pictures Day. I figured this Rutger Hauer vehicle was a no-brainer, a movie where he's a bounty hunter after terrorist Gene Simmons, but Gene knows Rutger's after him, so he goes after Rutger. Cat and mouse and cat and mouse this isn't. It's kind of a sleeper. Like...sleepy. Rutger isn't convincing as the good guy and Gene isn't mucking it up as much as we know he can as the bad guy. Only for Rutger purists.
Bloodsport (1988)
An American Army Major goes AWOL to Hong Kong for an outlawed martial arts contest called the Kumite.
This was maybe my favorite first-time watch of this Junesploitation, even if that is a bit of a cheat since I've seen about half of the movie before. Most reviews of the movie make fun of Jean Claude's insistence on showing he can do the splits, but I don't know, I can't do that, and you probably can't either. It's silly, it's scary (Bolo Yeung is a force of nature), and it's got just enough plot to keep you invested. I would totally go watch some Kumite ass-kicking (it's damn near as theatrical as pro wrestling) if I was cool enough to hear about it.
The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter (1984)
The Yangs are betrayed by a government official conspiring with the Mongols. All of the Yang family males except the 5th and 6th brother are killed. Fu Sheng loses his mind after the death of his family, while the other brother takes refuge in a Buddhist temple.
I have to admit, I almost turned this off because the copy on Tubi (under the title The Invincible Pole Fighter) looks like a VHS rip by way of a watercolor. My hand hovered over the back button on the remote for a few minutes until I realized that people have had to jump through a lot more hoops to watch Hong Kong cinema that looks a lot worse than this. I'm glad I stuck it out. This is a dynamic family drama disguised in martial arts betrayal and brutal fight scenes.
Vice Squad (1982)
An unlikely Hollywood hooker helps a detective set a trap for a mutilator pimp.
There is plenty to love in this exploitation grab-bag (brutal violence, kinky sex/sex work, neon slime), but Wings Hauser singing the opening tune (called, fitting enough, "Neon Slime,") takes the cake. I don't want to ruin a single thing about this - just trust me that if you've made it this far on the list, this is a movie for you.
Credit: Each plot synopsis comes from Letterboxd via TMDb.