Not everyone owns a Steinmann, or has seen one for that matter. They are an acquired taste, much like doing a deep scrub on your tongue with a Brillo pad, or massaging pickle juice into your eyes. They’re not for everyone, is what I’m saying. I’m of course referring to writer/director Danny Steinmann, former porn auteur (and still quite dead), helmer of Savage Streets (1984), Friday the 13th: Roy’s Boy (‘85), and today’s topic of discussion, The Unseen (1980). To say that a film about a killer inbred man-baby is his subtlest work is testament to his next level commitment for producing entertaining sleaze. Were it not for bad taste, he wouldn’t have shown any at all.

Released in Japan and Denmark in late ’80 with a September ’81 rollout stateside from World Northal, The Unseen came and went, well, unseen by most. Steinmann himself disowned it; he...