From the high seas to the high street - the Fighting Furies were some of the most impressive action figures of the 1970s, combining button-controlled sword fighting, extravagant costumes and a unique look. www.youtube.com/watch?v=EawJ...

New vital documentary study: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo2W...

If you enjoyed 'Space' on #TOTP 1977 tonight then the excellent @desperate-living.bsky.social has a insightful video on the real sound of '77 youtu.be/0LHfyY8pQTY?...

Incredible, isn't it? I'd predicted that this would happen, but I'd figured that they would wait six months or so before trotting out the 'loophole' nonsense. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

youtu.be/bBUquZZckFE?... from @desperate-living.bsky.social

Given that this was slapped with the YouTube X-rating, I've followed the grand tradition of American movie making by doing an R (or PG-13) edit. The unrated version remains available but people who can't/won't sign in to YT can now watch it. www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFtv...

Think of glamour girls of the 50s and 60s, and you might think of Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, Mamie Van Doren or Diana Dors. But there was another household name of the era, now all but forgotten - Sabrina. www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8vd...

Passes for this year's Mayhem Film Festival in Nottingham are now available to buy! 4 days of horror, sci-fi and cult cinema - premieres, previews, guest Q&As, archive screenings and other good stuff!

It's 2025 and I've just bought a VHS video recorder. And a cassette player. Of course.

Whoopee, we poor UK residents now have to start verifying our age to do all sorts of things online - including read messages on this site. Scammers and hackers must be over the moon.

While the Satanic Panic peaked in the 80s and 90s, it originated a decade earlier, with a backlash against the Age of Aquarius, RPGs and heavy metal, through a series of books led by a grubby work of fiction masquerading as a true memoir. www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6KP...

Jaws: A Personal History. www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM70...

There's a lot of competition out there for the worst piece of writing about video nasties, so kudos to The Guardian for stepping up and publishing a real contender. www.theguardian.com/film/2025/ju...

As great as Lalo Schifrin's scores were - and his music seems the very definition of 1970s cool - this remains my favourite piece of his. youtu.be/LKx15uDqtd4?...

Well, we did it.

It's a lacklustre Eurovision so far. But never mind. Thanks to The Overlooked Hotel, you can marvel in just how many past winners - more than makes any sense - were banned by the BBC during the Gulf War, lest they triggered radio listeners. www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTz9...

Once upon a time, Reader's Digest regularly sent out flexidiscs promoting their latest record collections. Some of these discs actually played after negotiating the postal system - but not many. A tale of a lost world of hard sell and promotional ephemera. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Libc...

Never mind the bollocks - of which there is plenty... it's

In 1980, a shady German geneticist was carrying out forbidden experiments in a mansion in Hertfordshire. On April 1st, early-evening magazine show Nationwide investigated, revealing startling - and frankly ludicrous - results in cloning. youtu.be/z5Pby3TyGLc?...

The trend towards 'Dark Academia' as a look for trend-chasing dabblers is an annoying vacuous one, with a lack of sincerity and a disregard for the meaning and value of a library of books at its heart. www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1TY...

I bought some books and it's all the fault of @desperate-living.bsky.social #bookworm

In the mid-1970s, Britain was in the grip of monkey fever, with a fanatical Planet of the Apes fanbase unlike anywhere else in the world. Step forward a small fan club operator with big plans to take the film and TV franchise onto the stage. www.youtube.com/watch?v=isdC...

PUMP ME UP! Cult movie icon and model Caroline Munro had a lesser known third career as a would-be pop star, recording several singles from the 1960s to the 1980s. Sadly, none were successful but they are a fascinating 'what if' aspect to her career. www.youtube.com/watch?v=eC5Y...

From superheroes to celebrities to squirrels, nothing was left untried in the campaign to teach kids how to safely cross the road in the 1960s and 1970s. Anyone who ignored the ads must've been out of their tiny minds... www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmLl...

At the height of the disco boom, two oddball cover version/tribute albums appeared that reworked the very serious work of Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd into dance tunes, often bearing very little resemblance to the original tracks. This is their story. www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Lbi...

No hanging around on this: I'm barely catching my breath from doing the commentary track and here is the announcement of this vital - yes, really - Jean Rollin softcore classic. Gird your loins in preparation.

Make-Up effects maestro Dick Smith created a line of kits at the start of the 1980s, aimed at the teengage FX enthusiast, allowing them to become monsters, bloodied horror characters or even a ferocious gorilla! What could go wrong? youtu.be/pjQAEP7PIX0?...

Despite being well into her Sixties, Dora Hall wanted to lauch a career as a pop star. Luckily for her, she was married to a wealthy businessman who could - more or less - make her dreams come true. The fascinating tale of a vanity recording artist. www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhZa...

'Obscure creature features'. Y'know, like King Kong. I hope the writer of this piece is just as appalled by the headline as I am. theconversation.com/a-century-in...

The Purple Gang, led by masked singer Lucifer, released the single Granny Takes a Trip at the height of the psychedelic era in 1967. It MUST be an acid-soaked slice of hallucinatory madness, right? Well... the strange tale of a strange record. youtu.be/tIiedikKbg4?...

Sometimes, interesting people pass on either unnoticed or overshadowed by more famous people or significant world events. Such was the case with director Jeannot Szwarc, who left us on the same day as David Lynch. youtu.be/hC0Ub9UDF34?...

At a time when photography was new, expensive and time-consuming, many people would only be photographed once - and that might not be during their lifetime. A look at a strange memorial practice and the myths that surround it. youtu.be/LlMXX-j7KeQ?...

"We have put her living in the tomb!" The first in an irregular series of reviews exploring Roger Corman's Edgar Allan Poe adaptations for American International in the 1960s. youtu.be/HIv3G61dZss?...

GHASTLY BEYOND BELIEF! Everyone knows about the comic book hysteria that gripped America in the 1950s. But in Britain, there was a similar, widely forgotten panic that led to new laws banning crime and horror comics - laws that are still in place today. youtu.be/ZnMW_d0TsTc?...

`It's Saturday Night and time to slip into your polyester John Collier suit for a night out to remember. Looking back at the days when every chap on the town was a well-dressed fellow - at a bargain price. youtu.be/tWVF8ZoQG7U?...

`It's Saturday Night and time to slip into your polyester John Collier suit for a night out to remember. Looking back at the days when every chap on the town was a well-dressed fellow - at a bargain price. youtu.be/tWVF8ZoQG7U?...

GHASTLY BEYOND BELIEF! Everyone knows about the comic book hysteria that gripped America in the 1950s. But in Britain, there was a similar, widely forgotten panic that led to new laws banning crime and horror comics - laws that are still in place today. youtu.be/ZnMW_d0TsTc?...

"We have put her living in the tomb!" The first in an irregular series of reviews exploring Roger Corman's Edgar Allan Poe adaptations for American International in the 1960s. youtu.be/HIv3G61dZss?...

MONKEY MEN and POTATO HEADS: The Wild World of Amateur Spanish Art Restoration. Cecilia Giménez's unique reconstruction of the religious fresco Ecce Homo was only the tip of the iceberg for cack-handed Spanish art restoration. www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPzD...

MONKEY MEN and POTATO HEADS: The Wild World of Amateur Spanish Art Restoration. Cecilia Giménez's unique reconstruction of the religious fresco Ecce Homo was only the tip of the iceberg for cack-handed Spanish art restoration. www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPzD...

LOVE ME DON'T: as the Beatles conquered America in 1964, so local bands and performers fought back with sneering and satirical diss tracks. Here is a story of impotent fury and laughably misguided boasting as musicians tried to stem the British Invasion. www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLQ_...

Remembering David Lynch: Artist, Iconoclast and Genius. www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPkP...

LOVE ME DON'T: as the Beatles conquered America in 1964, so local bands and performers fought back with sneering and satirical diss tracks. Here is a story of impotent fury and laughably misguided boasting as musicians tried to stem the British Invasion. www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLQ_...

Remembering David Lynch: Artist, Iconoclast and Genius. www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPkP...

Bruce Lee and the Vibrating Palm: How DID Bruce Lee die? All manner of outlandish theories of martial arts rivalries, ninja assassins and Dim Mak delayed-reaction blows have been suggested. The Overlooked Hotel is not convinced. www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVAJ...

Eager Beavers and Cunning Linguists: Your humble editor recently picked up a collection of vintage smutty pulp fiction and relationship guides, and thought that you might like to take a look. www.youtube.com/watch?v=O286...

Do You Believe In Rock 'n' Roll? One of the oddest kids TV shows of the 1970s, Animal Kwackers mixed costumed characters, glam rock stompers, some inappropriate cover versions and blatant plagiarism of the Banana Splits. How has it slipped into obscurity? www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti_L...

Do You Believe In Rock 'n' Roll? One of the oddest kids TV shows of the 1970s, Animal Kwackers mixed costumed characters, glam rock stompers, some inappropriate cover versions and blatant plagiarism of the Banana Splits. How has it slipped into obscurity? www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti_L...

Eager Beavers and Cunning Linguists: Your humble editor recently picked up a collection of vintage smutty pulp fiction and relationship guides, and thought that you might like to take a look. www.youtube.com/watch?v=O286...

Bruce Lee and the Vibrating Palm: How DID Bruce Lee die? All manner of outlandish theories of martial arts rivalries, ninja assassins and Dim Mak delayed-reaction blows have been suggested. The Overlooked Hotel is not convinced. www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVAJ...