WTF!?: Films You Won't Believe Exist

by Hal C.F. Astell, Dave Trombetti (Illustrator)

What's the strangest movie that you've ever seen?

In Huh? , film critic Hal C. F. Astell provided 26 different answers to the question "Why did someone ever think that making that movie was a good idea?"

In WTF!? , he introduces 26 more unforgettable films that beg even louder for answers. He answers "What?", "Who?" and "When?", covers some "How?" and "Why?", then dives into the hardest one of all to "WTF!?"

And you'll be asking "WTF!?" when you read about sex-crazed babies, cannibalism fetishes and midget westerns. You'll be crying "WTF!?" when you read about sexy anthropomorphic turnips, thalidomide martial artists and Peruvian Barbie porn. You'll be screaming "WTF!?" when you read about 2'9" Filipino secret agents, sex dolls on murder sprees and histrionic sermons about imminent Commie invasions of the good ol' US of A!

And you won't even be able to form words when you read about Christian metaphors dressed up for sexual deviants who like the Power Rangers, locked room mysteries concealed inside soft porn flicks catering to weird Japanese fetishes and the Marquis de Sade conversing with Colin, his giant erection, while locked in the Bastille as an anthromorphic spaniel!

From educational shorts through zero budget art flicks to wild commercial missteps, not forgetting insane vanity projects, these WTF!? films may be the strangest movies that you've never seen!

Films covered

The Sperm (2007)
Eaten Alive! A Tasteful Revenge (1999)
The Dragon Lives Again (1977)
The Fuzzy Fairy A Furry Tale (2000)
The Terror of Tiny Town (1938)
Abducted by the Daleks (2005)
Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? (1969)
Marquis (1989)
One Got Fat (1963)
The Finishing Line (1977)
The Sex Doll She-Bitch (2009)
The Baron Against the Demons (2007)
The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)
The Groper Search for the Black Pearl (1984)
In Search of the Wow Wow Wibble Woggle Wazzie Woodle Woo!? (1985)
Antfarm Dickhole (2011)
Zombies vs. the Lucky Exorcist (2015)
Little Red Riding Hood and Tom Thumb vs. The Monsters (1962)
The Crippled Masters (1979)
Aaaaaaaah! (2015)
The Secret of Magic Island (1957)
The Flying Luna Clipper (1987)
For Y’ur Height Only (1981)
If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do? (1971)
La farándula (1998)
United Trash (1996)

282 pages, Paperback

First published May 26, 2023

About the author

While I still have a day job to pay the bills, I'm a teacher by blood and a writer by the grace of the dread lord, which gradually transformed me into a film critic. I've reviewed the sort of films that most people don't at Apocalypse Later Reviews for fifteen years. I post two album reviews every weekday. I write book reviews for the Nameless Zine.

Born and raised in the rain of England, I'm still learning about the word "heat" over a decade after I moved to Phoenix, AZ, where I live with Dee, my much better half, in a house full of assorted critters and oddities, a library with a ghost guard ferret and more cultural artefacts than can comfortably be imagined. And I can imagine quite a lot.

I run the Apocalypse Later Empire. I have many books in print through Apocalypse Later Press with more on the way, along with many issues of the Apocalypse Later Zine. I hosted six years of ALIFFF (the Apocalypse Later International Fantastic Film Festival, a dedicated annual genre film festival. I bring quality films to new eyeballs at conventions across the southwest through the Apocalypse Later Roadshow.

I'm usually easy to find at festivals, conventions and events because I'm likely to be the only one there in a kilt and my fading English accent is instantly recognisable on podcasts and panels. I haven't been trepanned yet, but I'm friendly and don't bite unless asked.