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Webster University’s Strange Brew film series, the first Wednesday evening of every month, always features a fun cult movie at the Schlafly Bottleworks Restaurant and Bar in Maplewood (7260 Southwest Ave. – at Manchester – Maplewood, Mo 63143). Suspiria, The Twilight Zone Movie, Head, and Tarantula are a few of the movies they’ve screened in the past that went well with some St. Louis-brewed suds and next week, December 7th, they’re venturing into Not Available on DVD territory with the 1974 swampsploitation opus Gator Bait starring ’70s Drive-in goddess Claudia Jennings.

Imagine if Russ Meyer had directed Deliverance and that might give you an idea of the berserk backwoods hijinks to be found in Gator Bait. It’s a simple story about murder and retribution starring the heavenly Jennings as Desiree Thibodeau, a ‘purty’ rural wildcat who hunts down the bunch of toothless hillbillies who had raped and killed her younger sister.

Roller Derby, a sport that peeked in popularity in the early 70’s, is based on formation roller skating around an oval track, with points scored as certain (mostly female) players lap members of the opposing team. Judging by last week’s poor box-office performance of Whip It, it appears that Roller Derby is not a fad currently in vogue, but Drew Barrymore’s new film gives me an excuse to revisit the greatest movie of all about the rough, tough world of this trashy sports phenomenon. That would be 1974’s Unholy Rollers, starring the late Claudia Jennings, a grimy, low-brow slice of 70’s exploitation that perfectly captures the grimy, low-brow sport that is roller derby. From its then-trendy premise, to its goofy use of humor, to its energetic but clumsy execution, Unholy Rollers is truly one hell of an entertaining R-rated 70’s time capsule but one that is Not available on DVD.