The Sin Syndicate

Do you partake?

The Sin Syndicate are preemptively celebrating the Stoner's Holiday with this special 4/20-themed episode which is, let's be honest, just an excuse for us to talk about one of our favorite late 60s sexploitation hang out films, director/cinematographer Joseph Mangine's Manhattan-set story of celluloid swingers and black-clad moto bikers, Smoke and Flesh (1968). After cutting his teeth on quick and cheap nudies for Barry Mahon, the talented Brooklynite directed this directorial debut that more or less acted as a 35mm resume for his skills behind the camera. Never a gloryhound, and more comfortable molding tinfoil to create the perfect bead of light than managing a crew from the big chair, Mangine would only direct one other feature film, the Warriors meets Lost Boys cult horror flick, Neon Maniacs (1986). 

But between these two projects, Mangine lensed everything from Victorian pornos, killer worm horror films to Albert Pyun's genre defining sword and sorcery epic. In Episode 37, "Waiting for the Man," we discuss all this and more, including a special dispatch from our on-the-ground correspondent, Jeffery Petrone, who checks in with us from Wind Gap, Pennsylvania where he attended a Grindhouse Triple Feature that included one of our top 10 most wanted Lost & and in Limbo films. So grab your favorite grinder and your cardboard bong for a turned-on trip to a world of strip Grand Prix, butter brickle munchies and wife exchange research from the cuck chair. We'll bring the whipped cream.

Episode Specific:
Watch Smoke and Flesh on Cultpix
Listen to In the Shadows of the Neon Maniacs
Visit The Gap Theatre
Special thanks: Jeffery Petrone, Michael Drumbore, Stephen Scarlata

Links:
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Listen to other podcasts on Someone's Favorite Productions
Contact: [email protected]

The Sin Syndicate return with another of our Short Ends bonus episodes, this time spotlighting the second release in the Reviver mystery box series from Vinegar Syndrome's Film Archive team. But before that, we've got more sexploitation news, including another update on Secret Places, Secret Things (which was discussed in Episode 31: "Love Land"), a correction on Andy Milligan's Compass Rose (sorry Thrower daddy), a shoutout to a certain special feature on the upcoming Bunny Yeager double feature from Kino Cult, as well as a rare "what are we watching?" segment. If you don't want to be spoiled regarding the contents of Reviver 2, you should stop listening around the 50 minute mark. The music cue from Laure will be your warning to bail.

Links:
Subscribe to our Patreon
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Contact us: [email protected]

Episode Specific:
Buy Reviver 2 from Vinegar Syndrome
Watch Oscar's "Winding Through" on Youtube
Order Endless Exxxtasy Vol. 1 from Ultra Flesh Archives
Order Bunny Yeager's Nude Camera / Nude Las Vegas from Kino Cult
Special thanks: Chris Poggiali

Links:
Join the community on Patreon
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Check out the Something Weird Channel
Listen to other podcasts on Someone's Favorite Productions
Contact: [email protected]

Before she was Valerie in Daughters of Darkness, actress Danielle Ouimet was Valérie in Valérie, a landmark Quebec sexploitation film from director Denis Héroux and producers André Link and John Dunning of the legendary Montreal-based Cinépix Inc. Valérie is a time capsule to a post-Expo 67 Montreal, a city looking to flaunt its new modernity, and with artists looking to stage their own révolution tranquille through boundary pushing, censor challenging works. One of the earliest and most successful of these works was Valérie, which at the time its release, was highest grossing Canadian film of all time. Joining us to talk about this special Québécois film is Toronto-based arts journalist and Canadian film historian Eric Veillette, as well as fellow countryman and sleaze expert, Alex DiSanto. Besides discussing all things Valérie and late 60s Canadian sexploitation, Eric has also provided us an exclusive interview with the Queen of Cinépix herself, Danielle Ouimet! Join us for this exciting sojourn north of the 49th parallel as we organize "A Quiet Revolution" of our own.

Links:
Rent Valérie on iTunes or Vimeo
Subscribe to our Patreon
Instagram with us at The Sin Syndicate
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Listen to other podcasts on Someone's Favorite Productions
Contact us: [email protected]
Visit The Downtown Theatre on Instagram and Substack
Special thanks: Eric Veillette, Alex DiSanto, Elephant—Mémoire du cinéma Québecois

Links:
Join the community on Patreon
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Listen to other podcasts on Someone's Favorite Productions
Contact: [email protected]

After there were two exotic servants (The Nude Vampire), but before there were two backpacking schoolgirls (Girls Without Shame), two shipwrecked ghosts (The Demoniacs), two runaway virgins (The Escapees), and two blind brats (Two Orphan Vampires), there were, according to Harry Novak’s English language trailer, “Two Devilish Nymphets” (also virgins).

For Episode 35 we are joined by the long-suffering Euro Cult expert and author of Sylvia Kristel: From Emmanuelle to Chabrol, Jeremy Richey, to discuss Caged Virgins, a sexploitation import from producer/distributor Novak's Box Office International. It's an odd film in his catalogue. As Casey says, it's probably the "classiest" thing he ever put out, trashy retitling from its original (Requiem for a Vampire) notwithstanding.. As we have documented, this fantastique film with sex and horror elements played American drive-ins under that bold title for years and years, but never truly got the respect it deserved until the recent UHD upgrade through Powerhouse Films, a UK-based film distribution company that been releasing lovingly crafted, thick-boxed restorations of Jean Rollin's work through their Indicator imprint.

Jeremy has been a contributor to several of these releases, and we were able to pick his brain about his long history with Rollin, his evolving thoughts on the sensitive surrealist, as well as discuss his process for putting together audio commentaries which will be heard on disc for as long as we have players to play them, and archivists to archive them (no pressure). We were also able to bond over our mutual hatred for sexless modern filmmaking, and the use of artificial intelligence as a crutch for the uncreative. Tech bros, send all your hate mail to [email protected]. I promise your message will be recieved by wide open, human arms, and read in full, not summarized by a robot. 

Links:
Subscribe to our Patreon
Instagram with us at The Sin Syndicate
Follow us on Letterboxd: Gentry & Casey
Check out the Something Weird Channel
Listen to other podcasts on Someone's Favorite Productions
Contact us: [email protected]
Special thanks: Jeremy Richey 

Episode Specific:
Visit Nostalgia Kinky
Purchase Sylvia Kristel: From Emmanuelle to Chabrol
Purchase Requiem for a Vampire
Pre-order The Grapes of Death with Jeremy's commentary

Links:
Join the community on Patreon
Instagram with us at The Sin Syndicate
Follow us on Letterboxd: Gentry & Casey
Check out the Something Weird Channel
Listen to other podcasts on Someone's Favorite Productions
Contact: [email protected]

To know her is to love her. Meet Francy. Or better yet, meet Curt Ledger, a name you may recognize as being attached to a notorious sexploitation film (often called the roughest roughie) called She Came on the Bus. While that film is a “classic” voice-over narration-style piece of artless trash, Ledger was also involved with another picture, a very different, and surprisingly, very good film, called It’s…Francy’s Friday, a coming-of-age dramedy about a not bad lookin’ chick played by the Teenage Tramp herself, Alisha Fontaine.
 
Joining us to discuss all things Ledger, Fontaine, male co-star Ken Chandler, and everyone’s favorite long-haired business babe, Linda Boyce, is researcher and forgotten film explorer, Shawn D. Langrick. SDL has a personal connection to these two films, especially Francy, but you’ll have to listen to learn more. What I can tell you is that we all agreed this is a special, criminally underseen movie made with real care; a tender-hearted sex film that belies its bonafides as just another quickie Curt Ledger project. So join us for Episode 34, “The Most Popular Gal in Town” as we kick start the ignition, engage in a little backseat action, and discuss all things Ledger, Bus, and Francy. Oh, and there’s also this other side-character named Hal Stone.

Links:
Subscribe to our Patreon
Instagram with us at The Sin Syndicate
Follow us on Letterboxd: Gentry & Casey
Check out the Something Weird Channel
Listen to other podcasts on Someone's Favorite Productions
Contact us: [email protected]
Special thanks: Shawn D. Langrick

Episode Specific:
New Beverly Cinema March calendar
Watch She Came on the Bus on Cultpix

Links:
Join the community on Patreon
Instagram with us at The Sin Syndicate
Follow us on Letterboxd: Gentry & Casey
Check out the Something Weird Channel
Listen to other podcasts on Someone's Favorite Productions
Contact: [email protected]