Sold as a softcore curiosity in the midst of the Porno Chic boom (“Women will understand…Men will be shocked,” cried the adline), Theodore Gershuny’s Sugar Cookies (1973) was a commercial and critical flop, and would’ve been little more than a forgotten oddity, had it not been for the uncommon confluence of cult stars that made it.

In early 2023, perennial Genre Grinder podcast co-host Patrick Ripoll and I recorded a two-part piece on the giallo movies released during the genre’s peak year (in terms of theatrical output), 1971 (listen to it here and here). Of the 40-plus gialli and giallo-adjacent films I researched, we covered 12, which I picked based on their accessibility, familiarity of the filmmakers, and particular thematic qualities that I hoped would paint the most complete picture of the genre

A contemporary of Kinji Fukasaku, Sadao Nakajima was another hit-maker for Toei Studios during the ‘70s, who found success across genres, especially softcore and exploitation with titles like Twisted Sex (Japanese: Sekkusu dokyumento: Seitôsaku no sekai, 1971), The Kyoto Connection (Japanese: Poruno no joô: Nippon sex ryokô, 1973), and Girl Boss: Escape From Reform School (Japanese: Sukeban: Kankain dassô, 1973). He grew into an influential figure during a wave of popular jit

The so-called spaghetti westerns were a series of European films set largely in the American west, made mostly by Italians, shot in Spain, and often co-financed by West Germans. They were designed for multiregional release and utilized international casts to aid sales in other countries. These efforts ensured that the spaghettis were popular across Europe, North America, and Asia, especially in Japan, where the genre’s connections to samurai cinema weren’t forgotten, and in H