BOOTBOX047 | Region-Free (DVD)

Title: Diva in the Netherworld (1980)

Alternate Title: Utahime Makai o Yuku

Genre: Science Fiction / Fantasy / Horror

Plot Synopsis
Two aspiring pop idols and their werewolf manager arrive at a mysterious mansion in a dreamlike world. Inside, they face cannibals, a giant stop-motion dragon, and bizarre transformations as they fight to survive the surreal horrors that surround them.

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Cast and Crew

• Director: Takafumi Nagamine

• Writers: Takafumi Nagamine

• Cast:

  • Yôko Kurita as (idol singer)

  • Kiyose Fujiwara as (idol singer)

  • Akira Ōizumi as (the werewolf manager)

  • Yuka Kamebuchi as (hotel proprietor)

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IMDb Link: Diva in the Netherworld (1980) 

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Reviews from Letterboxd

1. BjorkBoobah – ★★★★☆
   A surreal and endearing low-budget oddity filled with stop-motion dragons, vampires, and werewolves. The lack of subtitles only adds to the bizarre charm.

2. Sammy – ★★★★☆
   A quick, funny, and gory trip packed with practical effects and eccentric characters. Short, strange, and incredibly fun.

3. renkls – ★★★½☆
   Feels like a spiritual cousin to House. A chaotic mix of styles and stop-motion weirdness that’s more of an experience than a narrative.

4. threepenny – ★★☆☆☆
   Visually fascinating but emotionally distant. Despite the insanity, the weirdness sometimes overshadows engagement. Great music and charmingly cheap effects.

5. Kai Perrignon – ★★★★☆
   An energetic nightmare of idols, monsters, and pop music. Colorful, s&xual, and strangely empowering, ending in an unforgettable transformation scene.

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Meta Description:
A Japanese cult fantasy where pop idols, werewolves, and dragons collide in a psychedelic horror-comedy from Takafumi Nagamine.

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Title: Highway Hypnosis (1984)

Genre: Horror

Plot Synopsis
A lone driver sets out on an erratic road trip from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and then back again, his car a vessel of silent menace. The mundane pulse of the highway — the hum of the engine, the flicker of passing lights, the vast desert expanse — masks deeper undercurrents of violence. As the journey unfolds, bursts of brutal imagery intrude: the driver becomes a spectre behind the wheel, navigating not just roads but his own dark impulses.

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Cast and Crew

• Director: Ken Camp

• Writers: Ken Camp

• Cast:

  • Leonard Lumpkin as Freeway Killer

  • Curtis Hill

  • Elan Lanier

  • James Robert Baker

  • Glen Meadmore

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IMDb Link: Highway Hypnosis (1984)

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Reviews from Letterboxd

1. Will Sloan – ★☆☆☆☆
   “Truly bizarre shot-on-video trance film, like a mix of The Brown Bunny and Ray Dennis Steckler’s Las Vegas Serial Killer, but gay. Does that description intrigue you? If so… welcome, brother.”

2. Vera Drew – ★★★★★
   “caught this at Whammy courtesy of Muscle Distribution and Hollywood Entertainment and it’s absolutely mesmerizing, dreamy, and truly gorgeous anxiety fuel. the last 10 minutes were so fucking unsettling. like one of the scariest things i’ve seen all year. between this and Shock Video, absolutely obsessed with the way Ken Camp edits.”

3. Christian – ★★★★★
   “Keep giving myself a complex about being chronically unable to synthesize my own original critical thoughts because I’m addicted to falling back on “it’s like [MEDIA] meets [MEDIA]” DVD cover blurb comparisons as easy shorthand but oh well, here goes anyway: this is like James Benning’s Cecelia Condit’s Sombre. This is one of my new favorite movies ever, many thanks to Liz Purchell for her tireless work unearthing, restoring, and programming this.”

4. RocketPops – ★★★★☆
   “legcramp suicide .”

5. Robert Dayton – ★★★★☆
   “This hadn’t been seen in decades and played immediately after the great SOV classic Blonde Death (I had no idea when I first watched Blonde Death last year that it was part of the larger EZTV universe — nor did I know anything about EZTV). Both movies were screened as part of the EZTV week in LA put on by Liz Purchell and Hollywood Entertainment and T.A.P.E. Director Ken Camp was in attendance to introduce the movie as he described how there were three freeway killers out in the world when this was made. It opens with highway driving set to Gerry Rafferty’s Baker Street then goes to the exact same house used in Blonde Death but this movie is very,…”

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Meta Description:
Experimental horror-road-movie shot on video, this 1984 film by Ken Camp follows a “Freeway Killer” on a hypnotic drive from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and back, blending minimal narrative with brutal imagery and a trance-like visual rhythm.