West German cinema in the 1960s was firing on all cylinders. While international festivals were praising the New German Cinema movement, audiences at home were flocking to see the products of the new wave of pulp genre cinema. Big studios and small entrepreneurs supplied them with local variants of Anglo-American genre flicks, ranging from morbid detective thrillers and spy capers to exploitation flicks and even period horror films. This year’s midnight screenings will delve into the world of phony suspense, run-of-the-mill unexpected plot twists, clumsy action sequences, gentlemanly heroes, handsome women in peril and bad guys set on world domination. All that wrapped in the campy cosy blanket made of sincere naiveté, silly clichés, and unrestrained formalism.