Film

The Deathless Devil

A 1972 Turkish superhero film where a young man inherits his father's Copperhead mantle to face Dr. Satan's world-domination scheme. It's a campy, earnest blend of spy-fi action, broad comedy, and gratuitous cheesecake that treats its absurd plot with complete sincerity. For lovers of cult cinema and international camp.

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Barbarella1968

Space-age camp that matches The Deathless Devil's pulpy energy and willingness to be ridiculous without winking at the camera. Jane Fonda in that outfit, practical sets, genuine thrills mixed with unironic sleaze.

But Some find the sexual politics grating. It's deliberately frivolous about everything, which won't appeal if you want substance.

Barbarella poster

The Italian Job1969

Heist film with the same blend of action, humour, and glossy 1960s aesthetics. Knowing without being cynical, exciting without being serious, and full of character actors having obvious fun.

But The plot is fairly lightweight and the ending is famously frustrating. Not a film to watch for narrative closure.

The Italian Job poster

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang2005

A modern film that gets what makes B-movie pulp work: it loves the lurid premise, the bad dialogue, the contrivances. Affection for trash cinema without condescension toward it.

But Quentin Tarantino's sensibility can feel smug and self-regarding. The fourth-wall breaking exhausts some viewers quickly.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang poster

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The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Lair of the White Worm1988

Both are films that embrace their own weirdness without apology and trust the audience to keep up with their tonal shifts. Neither is trying to be 'good'—they're trying to be *interesting*.

Ken Russell's adaptation of Bram Stoker transforms source material into surreal, sexually charged horror-comedy. Wildly unhinged, visually grotesque, genuinely funny—it swings for the fences every scene.

But It's deeply weird and sexually explicit in ways that will alienate most viewers. The tone whips around so violently it feels deliberately obnoxious.

The Lair of the White Worm poster
More like this (7)

Diamonds Are Forever1971

Bond film that leans hard into camp, complete with over-the-top villain, preposterous plot, and Sean Connery visibly not taking any of it seriously. Late-period spy-fi absurdity at its peak.

But The casual sexism and homophobic jokes haven't aged. Some find Connery's detachment boring rather than charming.

Diamonds Are Forever poster

The Long Good Friday1980

A crime thriller that's equally comfortable being funny, violent, and genuinely tense. British underworld aesthetics with real character work underneath the action.

But Gritty and brutal in ways The Deathless Devil isn't. The darkness might feel like a tonal shift if you're seeking pure escapist fun.

The Long Good Friday poster

Eaten Alive1976

Tobe Hooper's exploitation grindhouse picture: cheap, weird, committed to its own logic, shot with real urgency despite shoestring budget. Pure pulp cinema energy.

But It's genuinely disturbing and nasty. Not fun-campy, but genuinely unsettling. Gore and sexual violence feature prominently.

Eaten Alive poster

Venom1981

A snake-in-a-townhouse thriller that assembles an A-list cast (Klaus Kinski, Sterling Hayden, Lee Remick) to treat snakes as deadly enemies. Gloriously overstuffed and earnest in its silliness.

But The plot is repetitive and the pacing sags. It's never quite exciting enough to justify its own premise, just interesting enough to be frustrating.

Venom poster

In Like Flint1967

James Coburn as a secret agent in a film that knows exactly how ridiculous it is and plays it dead straight anyway. Sixties spy-fi aesthetics with pratfalls and genuine warmth between characters.

But Comedy-action movies from this era often feel dated in their humour. The jokes don't land the same way anymore for most viewers.

In Like Flint poster

The Three Fantastic Supermen1967

Both are non-American superhero films from the late 1960s/early 1970s made outside the Hollywood system, with their own national sensibilities and production constraints that give them a distinctive texture.

An Italian Eurospy film about three men in rubber suits fighting crime in Rome. Cheaply made, earnestly shot, genuinely charming. The same spirit of 'we have no budget but infinite confidence' that animates The Deathless Devil.

But It moves slowly and the action sequences are underwhelming. The humour is accidental rather than intentional, which some find harder to enjoy.

The Three Fantastic Supermen poster

My Name Is Khan2010

Both films take genre templates from elsewhere (Turkish Copperhead, Indian spy film) and inflect them through local idioms, star power, and sensibility, creating something that wouldn't exist in Hollywood.

An Indian film that uses spy-thriller tropes in an entirely different cultural context, with Bollywood scale and sincerity. Proves that these pulpy templates work everywhere and generate new life in new hands.

But It's three hours long. The melodrama is thick and the politics direct in ways that might feel heavy-handed. Requires patience with a very different pacing logic.

My Name Is Khan poster

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