The Syllabus: A Viewing Guide to Everything We've Been Talking About

Eight posts in, and if you've been reading along, you've absorbed a lot of names and titles and historical context. Now comes the part where you actually have to watch some of this stuff, and the part where I tell you where to find it — because "go to the video store" is no longer an option and "good luck on YouTube" is not a viewing guide.

What follows is a curated list of three to five essential titles from each chapter of this series, with honest guidance on where to find them. The streaming landscape for exploitation cinema is genuinely better than it has any right to be, thanks to a handful of services and labels that have decided these films deserve the same care and attention as anything playing at the art house. I'll introduce those resources first, because they're the map you'll be using.

The Ecosystem You'll Be Shopping In

Amazon Prime / Tubi / Pluto — The MGM and United Artists back catalog, much of which includes the AIP library, lives here in various forms. Amazon Prime has a surprisingly deep bench of this material, some of it available with subscription and some as inexpensive rentals. It's the first place to check before spending money elsewhere.

Midnight Pulp — Specializing in cult exploitation schlock across action, horror, and erotic genres, Midnight Pulp feels like someone scooped up the rights to everything affordable and strange — which is more or less exactly what happened. It's available through Amazon Prime Video Channels, The Roku Channel, and Comcast Xfinity, as well as directly at midnightpulp.com. There's a free ad-supported tier, which is the right entry point. Fair warning from the user reviews: some titles in the paid tier have been reported as edited or cut, so verify runtime before committing to a subscription title. Kowatek Solar BlogPR Newswire

Kino Lorber / Kino Cult — Kino Lorber specializes in art house films, classic and rarely seen films, and world cinema, and in 2021 launched Kino Cult, a free ad-supported streaming channel for genre films. Kino Cult hosts curated categories including Golden Age of Exploitation, Crime & Suspense, 70s and 80s Flashback, and Occult, and for many titles it's the first time they've been available on a streaming platform. Kino Now, their companion rent/buy service, covers the titles that aren't on the free channel. Between the two, Kino Lorber is the most reliable streaming source for the noir and foreign import material. WikipediaVariety

Severin Films — Creating, rescuing, and releasing the world's most provocative cinema since 2006, Severin serves the physical media and collector community by restoring and distributing genre films including horror, action, exploitation, and special interest titles. This is the gold standard for physical media in this space — the Blu-rays and 4K releases come loaded with supplements, scholar commentaries, and restoration work that treats the material with the seriousness it deserves. Their recent releases include restored Russ Meyer titles scanned in 4K from original negatives, and their catalog runs from Bava to blaxploitation to roughies to spaghetti westerns. If you're building a physical collection, Severin is where your money goes. Budget accordingly — the box sets are substantial in both quality and price, and the limited editions sell out. Severin FilmsSeverin Films

The Criterion Channel — Worth mentioning because Detour lives here in a proper restoration, and the Channel's noir and world cinema programming overlaps meaningfully with the material we've covered.

The Lists

AIP / Roger Corman

The Masque of the Red Death (1964) — Corman at his absolute peak, with Vincent Price and Nicolas Roeg cinematography. Start here if you want to understand what the machine was capable of when it was firing on all cylinders. Available on Amazon Prime and for rent/purchase through various platforms.

A Bucket of Blood (1959) — A beatnik busboy accidentally kills a cat and discovers that covering it in clay and calling it sculpture makes him an art world sensation. Mordantly funny, shot in five days, and sharper about artistic pretension than most films with ten times the budget. Kino Cult and Tubi both carry it free.

The Intruder (1962) — William Shatner as an outside agitator stirring up racial violence in a Southern town during school integration. Corman's most serious film, his only financial failure, and one of the most direct American films ever made about racism. Available on various VOD platforms.

The Wild Angels (1966) — The biker film template, with Peter Fonda and a funeral scene that remains genuinely unsettling. Amazon Prime.

Little Shop of Horrors (1960) — Two days, one set, Jack Nicholson in a supporting role, a man-eating plant named Audrey Jr. The original, not the musical remake. Free on Tubi, Pluto, and several other ad-supported services.

B-Movie / Creature Features

Them! (1954) — The template. Giant irradiated ants, the New Mexico desert, the Los Angeles storm drains. Holds up completely. Available on Max.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) — The Don Siegel original. Non-negotiable. Criterion Channel and available for rent everywhere.

Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958) — Bert I. Gordon's accidental feminist document. Free on Tubi and YouTube. The effects will not fool you for a second and it doesn't matter.

Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957) — You have to see it. Free essentially everywhere — Tubi, Pluto, YouTube, Midnight Pulp. It's in the public domain and the internet has made sure you have no excuse.

Glen or Glenda (1953) — The more interesting Wood film, and the one that rewards a second watch once you know his biography. Also public domain and widely available free.

Poverty Row Noir

Detour (1945) — Edgar Ulmer, six days, $24,000, one of the great American films. Criterion Channel. Non-negotiable, full stop.

Scarlet Street (1945) — Fritz Lang slumming magnificently, with Edward G. Robinson as a henpecked cashier undone by a manipulative woman. Kino Lorber physical media; also on Tubi free.

Raw Deal (1948) — Anthony Mann before the prestige westerns, with John Alton cinematography that belongs in a museum. Kino Cult carries this one.

Dillinger (1945) — Monogram's gangster picture with Lawrence Tierney doing something genuinely frightening in the lead. Tubi free.

The Hitch-Hiker (1953) — Ida Lupino directing a road-trip-turned-hostage picture based on a true story, and the only noir of the era directed by a woman. Criterion Channel.

Drive-In Roughies

Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965) — Tura Satana, the Mojave Desert, complete refusal to apologize for anything. The essential Russ Meyer film and one of the stranger masterpieces in American cinema. Severin Films has released restored Meyer titles in 4K UHD, and this is the version you want if you're buying physical. Also available on the Criterion Channel. Severin Films

The Wild Angels (1966) — Listed under Corman above but equally at home here. The biker film as anthropological document.

Motor Psycho (1965) — The Meyer film that came just before Faster, Pussycat and shares its DNA. Severin recently released a 4K restoration scanned from the original negative. Severin Films

The Big Doll House (1971) — The Jack Hill / Pam Grier WIP template, shot in the Philippines. Midnight Pulp carries this and several of the New World Pictures WIP titles.

Switchblade Sisters (1975) — Hill again, female gang picture, completely committed. Criterion Channel.

Blaxploitation

Shaft (1971) — Gordon Parks, Richard Roundtree, Isaac Hayes. The commercial peak of the cycle and a legitimate classic. Available on multiple streaming platforms including Amazon Prime.

Coffy (1973) — The essential Pam Grier film. Jack Hill directing at the top of his game. Amazon Prime and Tubi.

Foxy Brown (1974) — The follow-up, slightly more stylized. Same cast, same director, same answer to the question of whether it will apologize. Amazon Prime.

Super Fly (1972) — Gordon Parks Jr. and Curtis Mayfield. Watch it as a double feature with the soundtrack album playing after. Amazon Prime.

Across 110th Street (1972) — The cycle's most honest and least glamorous entry, a direct precursor to 1970s crime realism. Bobby Womack score. Amazon Prime.

Gore Merchants

Blood Feast (1963) — Herschell Gordon Lewis, the sheep's tongue, the founding document. Free on Tubi and Midnight Pulp. Watch it knowing what it cost and what it made and what it started.

Two Thousand Maniacs! (1964) — The best Lewis film, with actual subtext underneath the set pieces. Tubi free.

Night of the Living Dead (1968) — Romero building something serious on the foundation Lewis poured. Public domain, free everywhere, but the Criterion restoration is worth seeking out for the image quality.

The Last House on the Left (1972) — Wes Craven's debut, deeply uncomfortable by design, the film that understood what Lewis had proven and used it for something that implicates the viewer. Available on Shudder.

Blood and Black Lace (1964) — Mario Bava treating the kill set piece as an aesthetic object. The Italian gore tradition's founding document. Arrow Video has the definitive physical release; Kino Cult streams it.

Imported Product

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) — The cemetery standoff alone justifies everything. Available on Amazon Prime in a solid transfer, but the Kino Lorber 4K physical release is definitive.

Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) — The uncut version is essential; the American theatrical cut removes forty-five minutes that constitute most of the film's meaning. Paramount Plus carries it; verify you're getting the full version.

A Fistful of Dollars (1964) — The beginning of the Dollar trilogy, the film that introduced the Man With No Name. Amazon Prime.

Enter the Dragon (1973) — Bruce Lee, Warner Bros. co-production, the film that broke Hong Kong action cinema into the American mainstream. Max.

The Game of Clones: Bruceploitation Collection — For the completist who wants to go down the rabbit hole of the post-Lee imitation industry. Severin has released an exclusive 8-disc Blu-ray box set covering the Bruceploitation cycle. It is exactly what it sounds like and it is glorious. Severin Films

A Note on Physical Media

Streaming availability changes constantly — titles cycle on and off services, licensing deals expire, and the most obscure material is often available only intermittently. If a film matters to you, owning a physical copy is the only guarantee you'll be able to watch it when you want to.

Severin has been restoring and releasing the world's most provocative cinema since 2006, and their releases are consistently the best available versions of the films they carry. Arrow Video, Blue Underground, and Vinegar Syndrome round out the physical media landscape for this material. Kino Lorber Studio Classics handles the more respectable end of the genre spectrum — their noir releases in particular are authoritative. Severin Films

The films are out there. The infrastructure to find them has never been better. The grindhouse is gone but the cinema it showed is more accessible than it was when the theaters were open.

Start with Detour. Start with the Dollars trilogy. Start with Coffy. Start anywhere — the ecosystem rewards wandering.

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