Pointless post about some new stuff

I received a couple of multo spiffy flicks today! From Roger Corman's eBay store I got THE HAUNTING OF MORELLA (directed by Jim Wynorski which guarantees a high quality film. Or at least boobs) and THE NEST. The latter has a cool booklet/catalogue in the case. I got them cheap from Corman's own shop. HAUNTING OF MORELLA was only $14. On Amazon.com it's listed at 50 dollars! The cheapest second-hand copy is $27!! I also got CUT-THROATS NINE from Code Red. The DVD has a bonus film, JOSHUA, which I've been wanting to see ever since Swedish television had a season of blaxploitation films on back in the 90s. They included a docu on Fred Williamson in which he talked about JOSHUA.

And finally, I ordered two rare HK VCDs! CAGEMAN and MARIANNA. The first won a pile of Golden Horses at the HK "Oscars" a few years back (I couldn't find a DVD release) and the latter is a HK-Filipino co-production filmed in the Philippines. Also pretty rare (and with no DVD release afaik). Read more about it here.

Oh, and last night (actually sometime during the night, haha) I emptied the mailbox and discovered that I'd recived SHOUT! Factory's awesome releases of HUMANOIDS FROMTHE DEEP (aka Monster), PIRANHA, DEATHSPORT, and BATTLETRUCK! (which I reviewed many years ago in "Bloody Darlings" zine!). Oh happy days!

Big in Thailand

He may not be big in Japan yet but Fred and his ATTACKAFANT ENTERTAINMENT is making it big in the homeland of the debut film (i.e. Killer Elephants) from his company! When you're the head-story of Asia's biggest movie magazine it's clear you're certainly going places. Awesome, Fred!!

THE LOSERS (USA/Philippines, 1970)

aka NAM ANGELS




Directed by: Jack Starrett
Produced by: Joe Solomon

Cast: William Smith, Bernie Hamilton, Adam Roarke, Houston Savage, Gene Cornelius, Paul Koslo, John Garwood, Ana Korita, Lillian Margareio, Paraluman, Vic Diaz

Video release: Europa Film (Sweden), fullscreen, English audio, Swedish subtitles


To most fans of exploitation films THE LOSERS is probably seen as an American film. However, to me it's valid to list it as a Filipino film as it was filmed in the Philippines - and it has the one Filipino actor who was in about EVERY Filipino film in it. Yes, Vic Diaz is here! So obviously it's counts as a Filipino film in my book!




The Vietnam War rages. A CIA guy (played by the film's director) has been kidnapped by the red Chinese. The problem to the American army is that the Chinese are cooped up across the boarder in neutral Cambodia. What to do, oh what to do?? The American army could send in some commandos in the night to get him out. Or they could ask their well trained friends in the Mossad. Or they could suggest to the CIA that they get their own man out. Well, I'm sure you've already figured out they ain't gonna do any of that. No sirree, instead they call in a group of Hell's Angels bikers!!!




The Angels arrive and it soon becomes obvious that the army can't control them. As soon as they've got their bikes (sissy ass bikes, not their usual choppers) they start causing havoc in the local villages they ride thru, getting into fights, shooting guns, getting thrown in jail, get romantic and helpful with nice girls... no, wait... hmm, we're obviously dealing with a special branch of cinematic Hell's Angels here, hahaha. In fact they're not actually called "Hell's Angels" in the film but "Devils Advocates"!




I assume the film company didn't want to get into trouble with the real Hell's Angels (I'm sure Roger Corman spewed out a, "Fuck, why didn't I think of that!" after the Hell's Angels sued his company when he distributed Cirio H. Santiago's 1989 film NAM ANGELS!!). And you should think Corman had learnt his lesson; According to Michael Weldon's first Psychotronic book from 1983 Corman's company was sued already by the Angels when they made THE WILD ANGELS in 1966!!




Anyhoo, they plot and they plan how to get into the camp where the CIA guy is held captive. And they customise their bikes into MAD MAX style combat bikes (11 years before that kind of bikes were actually seen in MAD MAX 2!). The local Vietnamese mechanic is played by a young looking Vic Diaz. Gee, I wonder how many films he was in. It seems like he was in about EVERY American-Filipino co-production ever made! I'm not even kidding!!




The last half an hour of the film is all about the drive into Cambodia and the attack on the camp. If you've watched the Australian documentary film MACHETE MAIDENS about American-Filipino co-productions you might remember there's some scenes from THE LOSERS of the bikers attacking the camp and shooting off their machine guns and throwing hand-grenades and stuff.




THE LOSERS is great fun! Michael Weldon mentioned in his Psychotronic review that some people regard the film as the best biker movie there is. I don't know about that though; I mean it sure is a fun movie but that may be stretching it a tad too much. They don't actually ride around that much on their bikes and there's only five bikers in the film. But like I said it sure as hell is a cool flick. There's also a fair bit of gore (mostly from gun shuts) and some nudity as well. The almost pink blood looks silly but, oh well, it's not like you would think it were real blood even if it looked any better now would you. Although I argued for it being a Filipino film it doesn't really belong with the other Filipino Vietnam War movies from the 80s and early 90s. The main character is played by William Smith (who was Falconetti in RICH MAN POOR MAN aka To Brødre). Oh, and there's exploding huts too!




The version I watched is an old ex-rental VHS from Sweden. The tape is presented in fullscreen but it's not pan & scan and it looks alright. The print carries the original title, THE LOOSERS. At some stage the film was re-released in the US re-titled NAM ANGELS.




There's a fairly new DVD from Dark Sky and according to some message board and Amazon comments it seems it's a good release presented in the correct format and with some cool extras. But as I don't have this release obviously I can't judge how good it is. However, the film as such is highly recommended!

"The last group in England to be still angry?"

I've just discovered this fantastic Australian interview of THE FALL from 1982 (it contains a happy Mark E Smith!). I'm sure you know they're still around. Oh, and check the comments section for the usual Commonwealth love ("you Pommie bastard" was mentioned at least once, haha).

1-2-3-4

I was living in room 5A when I first discovered the joys of THE RAMONES playing live. A big Aussie guy, who had been kicked out of Spain and had died three times, was also living in the room. One Saturday afternoon he came back from Camden Market and showed me a bootleg cassette tape. The tape contained a live broadcast from a radio station in New York and it had been (if I remember correctly) broadcast on the 1'st of January 1979, the day after it had been recorded (on New Year's Eve). The tape was just pure ace. It contained the DJ's comments after the last track. He laughed and said something like, "32 songs in 30 minutes!! How do you follow that up!!!" Haha.

I wonder if that recording is out on bootleg CD now, or LP even? I've got a cassette tape copy off that ol'e boot tape. Anyhoo, I'm listening to my new RAMONES live CD, "Live, January 7, 1978 at the Palladium, NYC". The gig was recorded just a week after the one on the legendary "It's Alive" album. There are basically four differences between the two albums: Both set-lists are exactly the same except "Judy is a Punk" isn't on the "January 7" record. The sound is more rough on the "January 7" CD. "It's Alive" war recorded in London while "January 7" was recorded in New York. And finally, I would say "It's Alive" is a "real" RAMONES album whereas "January 7" was a recording made for the "King Biscuit Flower Hour" radio programme.



So do you need "January 7" if you've already got "It's Alive"? Well, if you're a true RAMONES fan of course you do! But do they sound more or less the same? Sure. Some of the short comments between songs are different but basically they're the same. But like I said, if you're a fan you need both records. What if you're not a fan? Why wouldn't you be a fan, what's wrong with you!! >_<

Oh, did I mention that "January 7" is also on vinly with a different cover and that the exact same recording was also released on a different CD called "NYC 1978". Man, I need those too!^_^

Creepy Bernie Wrightson

Dark Horse (2011), 144 pp, £10.84 (incl p&p/Amazon UK).



Yesterday, I ordered this tome of work that legendary Bernie Wrightson did for CREEPY and EERIE horror comic book magazines in the 1970s and early 80s. It's a hardcover deluxe edition and on Amazon it says it's Wrighton's complete work for those two magazines. Very cool! Someone in the Amazon comments section complained about the release being unnecessary as the same stories are (probably) also going to get released down the line when all issues eventually are reprinted in Dark Horse's big reprint series of CREEPY and EERIE.

Well, I beg to differ: It's a VERY welcome release! Firstly, it's most likely that not everybody can afford all the reprints! (they're pretty expensive). And secondly, this book means Wrightson fans get his stories NOW instead of having to wait fuck knows how many years before they're all back in print! And thirdly, it's just great to have them all in one collected volume. So up yours to the complainers! Hahaha. I'm getting the book from Bookdepository via Amazon UK, it was just under £7 (+ £4 postage).

Stone Boy (Philippines, 1982)

Sometimes you keep looking for old tapes for yrs and yrs and never find them, and sometimes you get an automatic email from eBay that says, "Buddy, we found yr tape for ya!" One such tape is the Filipino weirdo movie STONE BOY (aka Boy God/Rocco, Ang Batang Bato). The only two releases I'm aware of are on VHS in the US and in Australia. Yesterday I received the Aussie tape. xD xD xD. So far I've only checked the first 10 min and they look goood! Check Andrew Leavold and Todd Stadtman's reviews here.

...but they were cheap!

I bought a couple of DVDs! Yeah yeah I know! But they were on offer! I couldn't live without them! xD

FRI OS FRA DET ONDE (Ole Bornedal, it stars Lene from Aqua!) ^_^
MÅNGUDEN - "lost" Swedish TV horror movie from 1988. Never released on VHS.
BULLET IN THE HEAD - Fortune Star's new(ish) DVD
A BETTER TOMORROW 3 - new remastered VCD from FS. Still not on DVD (this new version that is).
BAY OF BLOOD (AWE)
NOTHING UNDERNEATH (AWE) - Italian giallo that stars Rene!
SAUNA (AWE)

I ordered them all from CDON except for the two HK films which are from DDDHOUSE.

Edit: A couple of extra titles:
Cut-Throats Nine/Joshua (Code Red reg. 1 dvd)
Ghostwatch (reg. 2/UK dvd)
Creepy Presents: Bernie Wrightson (a big, fat hardcover comic book reprint)

The original BULLET IN THE HEAD ending

If you're not familiar with video-cd's you're bound to get confused by the double audio: Most HK VCDs have two audio tracks, Cantonese and Mandarin. You'll need to switch off the right loudspeaker so you only hear the sound from the left one (which contains the Cantonese dialect, i.e. the HK dialect).


I was talking to Brian of Wildside Cinema about the original ending of John Woo's BULLET IN THE HEAD today. As I'm sure you know the original ending isn't the one that you'll find on the 100s of DVD, VHS and laserdisc releases. The only version that contains the original ending and the original music is the old Mai Ah video-cd from Hong Kong.

To cut a long story short, when John Woo first screened the film at festivals before the ordinary cinema release the film used the ending used on the VCD. It's a shorter, more abrupt and cynical ending. I have no idea as to why John Woo changed the ending before the film was release to a wider audience. I've heard all the speculations, sure, but you can't use fanboy speculations for shit if you ask me.

Maybe Woo got criticised for the ending being too cynical, maybe he wanted a more action movie style ending, or maybe he just wasn't happy with the original ending. Who knows. And why did he (or someone) change the music? Who knows. If you want a 1000 speculative reasons go ask some fanboys.

For the longest time I tried to track down the VCD and I succeed in doing so a while back. It's pretty rare but I'm sure the print is available on YouTube or elsewhere in Cyberspace. For more info on the VCD check this Mark's post here.

In transit over New Zealand or some such place

I hadn't bought anything for a while but during the last couple weeks I've tried to rectify that! So if the mailmen of this world could please hurry up (and spend less time having fun trying to trash my stuff) I'd be happy!

REDEEMER - Son of Satan (reg. 1 dvd)
MIDNIGHT (the John Russo movie) (reg. 2/UK dvd)
GHOSTWATCH (the BBC tv thingy) (reg. 2/UK dvd)
BLACK SCORPION (the Roger Corman superhero movie) (reg. 1 dvd)
NAM ANGELS (the Cirio H. Santoago film, not aka The Losers) (reg. 1 dvd)
RIGHTING WRONGS (aka Above the Law, the Cynthia Rothrock film!) (reg. 1 dvd)
NIGHTMARE: 30th Anniversary Edition (aka Nightmare in a Damaged Brain) (reg. 1 dvd)
EL MONSTRO DEL MAR (Aussie dvd) - whoo-hoo!! Looking forward to this.
SPLIT OF THE SPIRIT (HK dvd)
DEVIL'S TREASURE (HK dvd)
THE HAUNTING OF MORELLA (reg. 1 dvd)
THE NEST (reg. 1 dvd)
BLOOD - THE LAST VAMPIRE (reg. 2/UK dvd) - paid £0,01 for this one!!!
THE ADDAMS FAMILY - complete season 1-3 series set (reg. 2/UK dvd) - supposedly uncut in contradiction to the reg. 1 set (of season 1). Have already received this on and it looks just beaut!
GIRL NEXT DOOR (reg. 1 dvd) - have received this one as well. :D

Anna Calvi (digipack cd)
The Ramones: Live January 7, 1978 At The Palladium, NYC (cd)
C.W. Stoneking: "Jungle Blues" cd + 180g LP!

HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP (reg. 1 dvd from Shout! Factory)
PIRANHA (reg. 1 dvd from Shout! Factory)
DEATHSPORT/BATTLE TRUCK (reg. 1 dvd from Shout! Factory)
- Those 3 Shout! DVDs have reportedly already gone out of print!

TWIN PEAKS Gold Box (reg. 2/Denmark) - contains the complete series plus lots of extras including both versions of the pilot. Some of the other versions only omits the international cinema version of the pilot but have commentary tracks instead. I went for the Danish box as I'd rather have the international pilot on DVD than the commentary tracks (none of them are by David Lynch anyway). According to Dvdcompare.net the international pilot is only available on stand-alone DVD somewhere in Asia (I forget where exactly). I've already got the old version on that obsolete format we used to call "video" back in the day. LOL.

Second-hand from Blockbuster's:
TESIS (aka Snuff) (reg. 2 DVD/Denmark)
BAD GUY (aka Nabbeun Namja) (reg. 2 DVD/Denmark)
KOLLEGIET (aka Room 205, the original Danish film, not the remake) (reg. 2 DVD/Denmark)

reg. 2 DVD releases from AWE:
BLACK PAST
LA SANGUISUGA CONDUCE LA DANZA (The Bloodsucker Leads the Dance)
CASTLE FREAK
FASCINATION
INFERNO
NIGHT OF THE HUNTED
THE SHIVER OF THE VAMPIRE
THE BURNING MOON
PREMOTUS

Second-hand from Amazon UK:
Marilyn Monroe: "Gold Collection - Classic Performances" (cd) + "The Essential Recordings" (cd)

Oh Marilyn!

Gee whiz! I've never seen this clip in its entirety before. Awesome!

You seem to mind you own business - but you don't miss a thing

Check out this cool trailer for Joe D'Amato's TOUGH TO KILL (aka Duri a Morire). Paul Cooke and David Z later used the title for their equally cool book "Tough to Kill". The trailer is culled from a Danish VHS.

Thanks to Hans-Jørn for the upload.

"I love it how if you didn't know him...

...you'd think he were 75 years old, Black, and from the Deep South of America. Instead, he's 25, White and fucking Australian!!"




I was watching "Tracks" on Arte TV a few days ago and they had a feature on this guy. His name's C.W. Stoneking and his music is like as if he'd just stepped out of a timemachine from 1920-something! The above quotation is from the comments section under the YouTube video (it's not quite true that he's 25, actually he's 37 y.o.). There's a link to his webpage and I knew I had to order one of his albums right away! He's got them on both vinyl and CD. I ordered his latest album (in both formats). I can't say I know much about this old music (cos I don't!) but the Arte feature was enough to make me interested.

The Blonde Fury (HK, 1989)

I watched THE BLONDE FURY (aka Lady Reporter) last night. I've only watched it once before (some twenty years back on German television!). This is Cynthia Rothrock's film and it's such an fun flick overall.

The plot is confused, her hairstyle changes from scene to scene (because there was a long gab in shooting the film) but, uh, it's not like we're not used to confused plots in HK films. Haha. The good, good man John Charles* starts off his review in the HK filography book this way: "Awful comedy relief and insipid dialogue detract severely from..." and gives it 4 stars out of 10 (which in regards to his star system renders the film worthwhile only to fans of the director/actors with low expectations!).

The US distributed version from Tai Seng; same cover but with an added sticker.

I don't agree in reg. to THE BLONDE FURY, like I said it's such a fun movie. It's got violence, the usual kind of batshit crazy insanity we're used to with these films, and it's got Cynthia Rothrock in the middle of her best period film wise. And the film is funny too. Highly recommended (in my book anyway!).

Unfortunately BLONDE FURY is hard to find on DVD. The version I got hold of is the old Deltamac DVD from HK. Tai Seng distributed it in the US (reportedly under the alternative title. Interestingly enough, altho the print used for the HK DVD uses the BLONDE FURY title the alternative title is also added in a subtitle under the real title!?). However, despair not, you can get it on VCD from dddhouse and hopefully Fortune Star will rerelease it on DVD at some stage as well.


*John Charles is a "good, good man" cos he wrote "The Hong Kong Filmography 1977-1997". It's thee best HK film book ever. Even if he doesn't enjoy many of the "batshit crazy" films that I do. xD

The Cinema Snob on Video Violence

Here's an old episode of The Cinema Snob. He was pretty funny back in the day but I think he blew it when he started to post out of character. It was more fun when you thought he actually was like in those videos. Oh well.

Three days of silence...

...well if you don't count the screaming psychos on the stereo or the blasting TV set that is! But anyhow, I've been off-line for three days and it's been a bliss! I'm sure my inbox is full and I've got 3000 PMs on various message boards and FB. It's 7 in the morning and I haven't even been to bed yet so I'm not gonna check anything until tonight. HEY JON!! I GOT A NICE PARCEL IN THE MAIL!!! THANKS!!!!!

And I watched the tough French crime flick 36 Quai des Orfèvres (Olivier Marchal, 2004) on TV last night. Argh, awesome! It was everything new American crime films just aren't! I highly recommend it.

Best rendition of a Ramones track, like, ever!

Check out this cover version of The Ramones' old classic "Judy is a Punk". It's pretty cool!! It's listed as being by the The Sullivan School kindergarten classes and if I may take a wild guess here I'd say they're somewhere in Korea. Thanks to Richard Doyle for posting it on Facebook.


Jackie is a punk
Judy is a runt
They both went down to Berlin, joined the Ice Capades
And oh, I don't know why
Oh, I don't know why
Perhaps they'll die, oh yeah [x4]

Second verse, same as the first
[Repeat first verse]

[Third verse, different from the first]
Jackie is a punk
Judy is a runt
They both went down to Frisco, joined the SLA
And oh, I don't know why
Oh, I don't know why
Perhaps they'll die, oh yeah [x4]


It seems they shortened the "Berlin" line and left out the third verse but, hey, they're in kindergarten. I guess it would have been demanding too much. Maybe they'll learn that one once they reach first grade. LOL.

Best toon ever recorded!!!

One man, one Vreten

I've been wanting an Orgel Vreten lamp ever since I first saw one at a big indoor flee market (where I also found these awesome tapes) but their second hand one looked like it had 10 years worth of nicotine plastered onto it - and in addition to that the seller wanted $50 for it! I told him I'd pay him 25 bucks but the cunt argued a new one would be $100 at the store. Gee whiz, I just got an original lamp and it was exactly the same price as he wanted for his old stinkaroo fucker: 50 bucks!!! Only problem: you can only get them at Ikea and I live 3000 miles from the nearest Ikea shop. Anyhoo, my dad was gonna go there and I asked him to pick one up for me. He said what if someone stepped on it, but still, he got me one (yeah yeah yeah my jokes are crappy, next I'll be doing the "I flew in last night, my god my arms are tired"). So why a Vreten lamp I hear ya cry out. Well, cos it kinda gives ya the impression you're downtown Shanghai 1930 or something. It looks mighty cool and it creates a dim'ish light which means you can have it on while watching a movie and it won't be too bright and when you wanna go get a cold one from the fridge you don't have to switch on the bloody lights which are gonna kill the movie's atmos. Yeah-yeah no need to spell it out, brainiac, why don't I just get mah drinks BEFORE I press "play"! Well, COS I DON'T! ALRIGHT!! Haha. You should get a Vreten too!

Garden of the Dead (USA, 1972)

I came home yesterday after my last official day at the newspaper where I (kinda) work. I'd slept exactly one hour the night before and about three hours the night before that so the world was beginning to seem mighty surreal, I put my head on the pillow for two minutes and felt everything spinning and a headache working its way to the upper cortex, "fuck it" I though, I needta CATCH one piecea celluloid before I hit sleepyland. What did I dig out of the dusty archive? Why GARDEN OF THE DEAD naturally!! It's been sitting there unwatched for a couple of years and I figured the thought of ending the day with FORMALDEHYDE ZOMBIES (as the flipside of the cover promises) would be a SPLENDID way to finish the day (where I'd seen one of the editors getting the boot for being "too individual" gee gosh in mah book that's reason FOR HIRING someone!!!), and with a running time of 58 minutes there was even a chance of my actually making it to the end before dozing off. And I did and WOAH... I mean... man, FORMALDEHYDE ZOMBIES!!!

The plot: Inmates from prison camp are gone on smoking FORMALDEHYDE (!!!) and make a run for it only to crash their truck INTO A CEMETERY!! Shoot-outs with pursuing prison guards, lots of dead prisoners, formaldehyde seeps into the ground AT THE CEMETERY and y'all put two and two together and you've got the rest of the plot. Zombies attack the prison camp and they fight it out. Dead people. Zombies. Deteriorating faces. Awesome top of the crop makeup. I wish all films were like this.

The print from Something Weird Video is directly off a fullscreen 35mm print and look just fine. A little ragged at the edges but would you really want it any other way with these kinda trash-flicks!? The director is John Hayes and he also did GRAVE OF THE VAMPIRE which I watched a few years back on VHS. Must rewatch that one soon. GARDEN is definitely recommended! FORMALDEHYDE ZOMBIES!!!

Wild 50s

Awesome high resolution poster. I haven't seen this flick but I'd love to. :D

Great news... and terrible news!

The bad news first: SensAsian in Malaysia has closed down!!! There's a message on their website! Boo-hoo!!!

And the good news: ThaiCDExpress in Thailand has reopened!!!

Maniac bites dog

Check out this awesome new 10 minute American short film called MANIAC. The film pays tribute to the old Belgian serial killer movie MAN BITES DOG (C'est arrivé près de chez vous) about a serial killer who is followed around by a documentary film crew as he bumps off people. They even shot it in French and black & white like the original film (but not surprisingly the drunk monkeys at IMDb got it wrong and listed the language as English!!!). MANIAC is directed by Shia LaBeouf and stars Scott Mescudi and Chris Palko; These people are apparently well known rap artists but on this here BLOG we're gone on garage-rock, 60s punk, and stuff like the Birthday Party from the 80s so obviously we (royal "we" there!) have no knowledge of that! However, that DON'T MATTER NONE as this short film is by NO means a music video or some such but a grim and very violent horror movie. It's a great short and I highly recommend it.

PS: You might want to watch the film directly on YouTube as the picture on the blog is a tad too small to read the subtitles properly.

Chrysalis (Julien Leclercq, France, 2007)

I dvd-r'ed the French sci-fi film CHRYSALIS off Danish TV a couple of weeks back and watched it this morning. I hadn't heard anything about the film and thus had no expectations what so ever, so it was a pleasant surprise when it turned out to be a very cool, dark, violent, and cynical sci-fi film set in what we could call "Neo Paris post Bladerunner"!! The plot deals with this cop who thru out the film has a puss that looks like he was weaned on a pickle. His cop wife is brutally murdered and there's memory loss and shit. Watch the movie and find out. I was certainly entertained 100% thru out the entire film. I checked Amazon.com for a DVD release but several reviewers (who obviously knew French) stated that the English subs suck ass so I think I'm just gonna stick with my TV print; at least the French TV translators on DK TV are good. There's also a UK DVD but I have no info on whether it uses the same subs. I found three different trailers on YouTube, two in French and one in English. However, pretty much like the reported English subtitles the English narrated trailer sucks ass too (notice how they only use scenes without any dialogue in order to hide that it's not an English language film!!). The French trailer that I didn't use spends half of the time on boring credits. The one I'm posting here is alright. Don't ask me why it has subs in Portuguese. ^_^

The Model

My... gawd! This is now my favourite fan made video. Pure perfection!! BIG BLACK's rendition of that ol'e Kraftwerk fave added to this old 3 minute amateur film, MALIBU MERMAID, from the 1950s starring an unknown model (Adele Doleman) is just spitzenklasse!

The footage is slightly censored but you can watch the uncensored complete film here (but without the cool music).

Upcoming SANTIAGO films have a release date

As I've mentioned here before the next DVD set from SHOUT! FACTORY to contain Filipino co-productions is Lethal Ladies vol. 2 which is going to contain FLY ME and COVER GIRL MODELS. Both films are directed by Cirio H. Santiago and now there's a release date: January the 24th!

Like I've said earlier it's VERY exciting that we're getting FLY ME as it's never before been released on DVD and the scarce video releases (only TWO afaik; one in the US and one in the UK, incidentally the latter a double feature with COVER GIRL MODELS) are both as rare as had they vanished off the face of the Earth!

The set will also include the movie THE ARENA which isn't from the Philippines at all but it stars babatious Pam Grier (who were in some very cool Filipino flicks!) so that's not bad at all. xD

Best toon ever recorded!!!

...and you should lissen to it owl nite!

PS: It's not Sonic Youth as the uploader claims but SICCONE YOUTH (which in reality is Sonic Youth, LOLZ).

TRANCEFORMER (Stig Björkman, Sweden/Denmark, 1997)

I bought Stig Björkman's documentary about Lars von Trier on DVD thinking it was something I hadn't seen before - but I realise I had actually already watched the film (and possibly also taped it) when it was screened on Danish TV a number of years ago. Oh well, at least I've got it on DVD now and it was cheap too.

The cover states the director followed Lars von Trier for two years and if that's the case I must say I find it's a pretty weak documentary! It clocks in after a mere 52 minutes and it looks totally like a docu made for television. I guess it was co-produced by Danish and Swedish television but that doesn't mean it has to have the look of it! Von Trier's films are also co-produced with various TV stations but you could hardly claim they look like telly movies!

The interviewer does get to ask Lars questions about his background, phobias, etc. and the film does have some depth - it's just not enough! Quite a few of the people who work with Lars, both behind and in front of the camera, are interviewed but nobody has anything negative to say about him or delivers any embarrassing stories. This is of course fair enough if they all love him but... it would have been nice if the director had included conversations with for instance some of the people who turned Von Trier down when he started out; At one point Lars mentions no one wanted to produce his films. Why didn't they? (obviously cos they were retarded but it would still have made for better documentary to hear their arguments/excuses).

To me the most fun moment is when Ernst-Hugo Järegård talks about one time at the Cannes Film Festival when Von Trier was extra nervous. The reason? He was wearing Carl TH. Dreyer's old suit from 1928 that he'd got hold of somewhere!!

All in all a decent documentary that ought to have been much better in my view. Too much info is left out. And why isn't MEDIA mentioned at all!?

It ought to be compulsory viewing for documentary directors to watch the two hour CRUMB (about Robert Crumb) before they're allowed to film anything! Now, THAT is what I'd call a well made, incisive and gripping documentary film!

The DVD has subtitles in English and Scandinavian. There's no extras. If you're in Denmark you can pick it up from TP Musikmarked at 50 kr. but their stock is low so be quick (I had to actually place an order for my copy).

The easy way out...

Well, out to read BANNED IN BRITAIN #2 that is!! I posted the issue here the other day but this here being a blog means you'll have to click and zoom in on every page. Someone somewhere in Cyberspace has just uploaded the very same issue to a site called Scribd.com and it's actually a much better way to read the mag as you can just flick thru (or scroll) the pages. Thanks heaps to the uploader! You can download the full zine as well but it seems you'll have to upload something first. For BiB #2 go here.



PS: if someone is reading about this for the first time let's just get the legal stuff out of the way: I publish "Banned in Britian" zine and you're allowed to download it for free and to further share it, as long as you don't make any money on it (but if you do please send me some as I'm totally skint!!)

Color Me Blood Red (H.G. Lewis, USA 1965)

I've watched a few of H.G. Lewis' films in the past (and reviewed some of them for STAY SICK! magazine) but the ones I have in my collection are all on VHS (my first H.G.L. film was THE GORE GORE GIRLS on bootleg in Melbourne in the early/mid 90s!). So I thought it was finally time to GET THE LOT and ordered the Something Weird Video box sets THE HERSCHELL GORDON LEWIS COLLECTION (6 films) and the H.G. LEWIS BLOOD TRILOGY (I forget how many films are in that one, haha).

I thought I'd watch them all in chronological order except for the ones I've already watched on VHS (which I'll watch at the end) so today I began with COLOR ME BLOOD RED from 1965 (the third film of the lot). Gee wauw!! It was awesome and I already wanna watch it again.


The ting is I read a review of it in a UK fanzine almost 20 yrs ago and the reviewer said something to the effect that apart from the gore scenes he thought it was rather dull (and he kept miswriting the title as "Colour Me Blood Red", I mean how hard can it be to write "color"!! >_< ). Well, I was part of that whole splatter fan underground scene back then but if there's one thing that annoys me when I look back upon that time it's how some spatter fans could not for the life of them look beyond the gore!!! No gore meant a film was practically worthless. Even without the FUN splatter scenes of COLOR ME the film is great!! The plot is fun, the characters/actors are fun, the music is cool, and the COLOURS OF THE FILM, MAN, OH THOSE KITSCHY COLOURS!!!!!


I could watch this film again for the colours alone (and I'm not referring to the red colour of the title). I watched the film twice as it also has a FUN AND COOL commentary track from Mike Vraney (you know, from SWV), H.G. Lewis, David Friedman, and some other guy. The entire 80 minute audio track is highly enjoyable but the one moment that stands out is when you get the real low-down on what the beef between Lewis and Friedman was all about (thee BEEF that meant they split up both professionally and as friends, and went separate ways!). COLOR ME BLOOD RED is highly recommended to anyone (not just gore film fans) who's into cool and alternative low-budget films.



John Waters with a couple of other Lewis titles.

Chambers

Here's the trailer for Cronenberg's feature film debut RABID from 1977 starring Marilyn Chambers and below is an interesting clip with Marilyn that I stumbled over on YouTube; it's also from sometime in the 70s.

More fun in the bunker...

I should charge that Finn for copyright violation. Not of the Hitler film, obviously, but of MY dogme videos!!! ^_^

Muzak in the mailbox...

I received these fine platters the last couple of weeks:

The Necessary Evils - "The Sicko Inside Me" CD
Spids Nøgenhat - "En Mærkelig Kop Te" CD
Spids Nøgenhat - "En Mærkelig Kop Te" LP
Baby Woodrose - "Love Comes Down" CD
Baby Woodrose - "Love Comes Down" LP + ltd 7"
Ciccone Youth - "The Whitey Album" CD
Pixies - "Boston December 9 2004" 2-CD

Chet Baker CD set:
"Chet Baker Sings"
"Playboys"

Miles Davis CD set:
"Kind of Blue"
"Ascenseur pour L'échafaud"
"Somethin' Else"

Scream of the Demon Lover (1970)

Last night I mentioned SCREAM OF THE DEMON LOVER in connection with my reivew of THE VELVET VAMPIRE as the two films were shown on the same bill in the early 1970s. It seems SCREAM is slightly more difficult to get hold of, at least in a restored version like VELVET. However, it shouldn't be too hard to find as there's DVD releases out from Something Weird Video, Sinister Cinema, Retro Media, and, eh, Sling Shot (!!). I think I'll go for the SWV version. :D

Dr, Ivan Rakowsky (ERNA SCHURER) seeks employment with bio-chemist Baron Janos Dalmar, a scientist who’s been doing experiments with the regeneration of carbonized matter since the death of his brother, Igor, who was burned alive during a dangerous experiment. Rumors abound that the baron is somehow involved in a series of grisly sex murders in the nearby village.

During her first days at the estate, Ivana is plagued by terrible nightmares that some kind of half-human, half-monster brings her to the dungeons of the castle and violates her. Meanwhile in the village, the murder investigations point suspicion to the Baron and warrants further probing at the castle. And as they spend more time together, Ivana and the Baron fall in love and get married. But strangely, she is still told to stay away from one room in particular, which come to find out, harbors a hideous family secret…

Product Details

SKU: 36032
Weight: 0.25 lbs
Format: DVD-R
Year: 1970
Color: Color
Starring: Erna Schurer
Co-starring: Carlos Quiney
Other cast: Agostini Belli
Directed by: JosÈ Luis Merino
Produced by: J.L. Merino

Price: $10.00

Ricky Hui - RIP

Unfortunately I've just learnt that Ricky Hui has died (8/11/11). He was only 65. So sad. :(

Ricky Hui was one of the funniest comedians ever. He was "the human Droopy" and he starred - and was the funniest character - in the Hong Kong movie CHICKEN AND DUCK TALK (and many other films). I taped that film from a now defunct Danish TV channel in the 1990s and I must have watched it at least 10 times if not more. Here's a link to the news bit on ihktv about his passing. The page is translated by Google so it's NOT that all HK translations are in wonky English like the old VHS subtitles. Usually I'd ad a "LOL" but now it's not even funny. Ricky died. RIP buddy.



Above: Someone posted a collection of funny scenes from CHICKEN AND DUCK TALK.



Ricky Hui was also a Canto pop singer and here he is on stage with his brother Sam Hui and some other guy. I accidentally stumbled over a concert on a HK TV channel that I was able to watch (via satellite dish) in the 90s. I seem to remember it was a channel broadcasting from the UK but it was HK TV. The concert was Ricky Hui and I could not stop laughing. He was doing this probably romantic love song but he just had THAT face! He cracked me up.

Scared to Death (USA, 1947)

Nicking a review isn't a very nice thing to do but I'm gonna do it anyway cos this write-up is great fun! Over to you, Michael:

---------------------------

By Michael Weldon
This almost surreal little film is remarkable for three reasons: it's in color, it's narrated by a woman's corpse, and it's the closest thing to a horror movie released in the lean year of 1947. Bela Lugosi (in a crooked, wide-brimmed hat and a Colonel Sanders tie) acts like he's in a trance. He lurks around peering in windows with dwarf pal Angelo Rossitto. Angelo, who was in two other Lugosi movies, also appeared in Freaks and played an alien in Galaxina. With villain George Zucco, idiot Nat Pendleton, one-time star Joyce Compton, and Douglas Fowley (who later directed Macumba Love). It's only 65 minutes long. Watch it closely and decide: Had the actors ever seen the script? Were some of them under the influence of a very disorienting drug? Fascinating in a different way from Bela's Ed Wood films.

- Michael Weldon, from "The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film" (1983)

---------------------------

I watched the film tonight and I wholeheartedly agree with Weldon; Almost surreal! But despite the qualities of whatever film Bela Lugosi was in he always gave his fullest! And I must say 1947 really WAS a lean year!! The year isn't even listed in "The Encyclopaedia of Horror Movies" book!!! O_O

There are 20 different public domain versions of this film out there. If you wanna purchase a copy I recommend you either get the reg. 1 DVD from Miracle or the reg. 2 DVD from Network. Someone who collects Lugosi films told me these two releases are head and shoulders better than the rest of the PD drek out there. I've got the Network DVD and can confirm it's of decent quality. There's no extras other than the trailer.

The Velvet Vampire (Stephanie Rothman, USA, 1971)

I re-watched the weirdo horror movie THE VELVET VAMPIRE yesterday on the new reg. 1 DVD from SHOUT! Factory! I own an old rare VHS but it was awesome to finally be able to watch the film in widescreen and with perfect colours. The print used for the DVD had a slightly crackling soundtrack in places but was otherwise very, very good.

Years ago, I remember reading reviews that would flat out dismiss THE VELVET VAMPIRE as a terrible horror movie but, well, if you expect something and it doesn't turn out to be what you expected needless to say you're bound to get disappointed (unless you're an open minded person - which a lot of reviewers just AREN'T! Or weren't in the old days anyway) and I think most reviewers aren't familiar with (or open to) these weirdo horror films and simply didn't get what they expected.

THE VELVET VAMPIRE shouldn't be viewed as an "ordinary" horror movie like a Hammer horror movie etc. In my view the film is rooted firmly in the WEIRDO horror genre, much like LEGACY OF SATAN (which is basically as if David Lynch had popped some baaad acid and made a horror movie, lol). THE VELVET VAMPIRE is awesome! I really DIG it. And the end... I mean THE END!! How weird is that ending!! (i.e. the scene of people with crosses and the vampire).

The film takes place in a present day setting (well, present day when it was made in 1971 anyway) and is the story about a young couple who're invited to visit a female art collector who lives in the desert. She turns out to be a vampire! There are a few other people in the film but it's a quite small cast, and we never really get to know any of them but the three main characters. From a male pig viewpoint I'd like to point out that the woman who plays the vampire, Celeste Yarnall, could give the dead a boner! Mein gott! The other woman (of the couple) is a babe too but nothing in comparison. Ahm, uh yeah, we were talking about... the plot!!

There are surreal scenes of the couple and the vampire making love in the desert and (not least probably due to the film being set in the "hippie era") a loose moral with the couple that might seem odd nowadays (or not). And very refreshingly the film doesn't blindly follow every vampire rule in the book; Just the fact that most of the film is set in broad daylight would make you scratch your head if this were a Hammer style film. Don't watch this movie and expect to be scared, it isn't very scary at all. And it doesn't have to be because like I said it has other great qualities.

There's a bit of blood in the film but no real gore. But it doesn't matter at all, it's just not needed. The filming is great, the sets are great, and the film's short runtime (under 80 min) makes for a very tight viewing without unnecessary filler. I wish more films were shorter. One more detail that makes THE VELVET VAMPIRE interesting is it was directed by a woman. There weren't that many female directors in those days in the horror genre (are there now?) and the fact that she made a fairly erotic movie (it has both male/female and lesbian scenes) makes it all the more interesting.



The new DVD is part of SHOUT! Factory's "Roger Corman's Cult Classics All-Night Marathon" series which is praised (and rightfully so) by fans for presenting the old films in fantastic versions! In the extras department there's an old scratched trailer (as much as I love these restored films I also love watching old scratched-beyond-belief grindhouse style trailers!) and a very cool commentary track by Celeste Yarnall. A highly recommended film!

It seems no one has yet posted the trailer to YouTube but I found another one from the early 70s from when the film ran as a double bill with SCREAM OF THE DEMON LOVER (which I sadly haven't seen).

The Road (USA, 2009)

I watched John Hillcoat's post-apocalyptic movie THE ROAD last night. I've wanted to get hold of it for a while but you know how it is... THERE'S SIMPLY TOO MANY MOVIES IN THIS WORLD TO KEEP UP!!

Anyhoo, I watched it and all the good stuff I've heard about it was true! It's really, really good. It's about a father and his young son and their travel thru a grey (as in very, very grey) destroyed America after some kind of apocalypse. It's never explained what happened in the last days and it doesn't matter at all. What matters is the result and what they have to go thru. The movie is a lot like STAKE LAND which I also watched recently and which is also about an older guy and a young boy travelling thru a destroyed land. However, altho I totally loved STAKE LAND this seems more grim as it's set in a realistic future that could actually (easily?) happen.

Altho STAKE LAND is also made to look very realistic it is of course within the boundaries of the old Marvel Comics moniker, "What if..." (What if Peter Parker had become The Hulk, etc). In this case it's just "What if we assume vampires really exist" - and due to the lack of, ahm, vampires THE ROAD is just all the more real.

I started off calling it a post-apocalypse film but that label almost doesn't fit! It is set in a post apocalyptic setting but we're missing the ingredients we usually connect with the genre (a genre all perfectly spawned by George Miller and MAD MAX II and the 20 Italian knock-offs that came right after). There are no road warriors, no funny helmets, no hunt for petrol, no funny (cool?) looking biker gangs, etc. etc. And no one wears clean clothes as in those films; In THE ROAD everyone looks like they haven't been washed for three years.

THE ROAD is quite long but doesn't overstay its welcome. Actually it just seemed to fly by and I don't think there was one single moment in the film that could have been omitted. One funny (interesting funny) detail is that this very American film about a fucked up America was made by a British director and the main cast is played by a Danish American and a South African! (Viggo Mortensen & Charlize Theron). The boy is played by Kodi Smit-McPhee (who is perfect for the part). Robert Duvall, the star from the best gang film ever, COLORS, is in there too - altho I didn't actually recognise him till be began speaking!

The soundtrack is awesome too, it's by Nick Cave and whatshisface and I actually got the soundtrack CD way before the DVD.

The trailer that I'm posting here has an introduction from Clever TV and the only reason I'm using that version (as there's also a YT upload without the intro) is that the presenter is just too fucken hilarious!! She doesn't know what the fuck she's talking about and tries to make it look HIP to introduce a grim, bleak and unpleasant film about the end of the world (or the end of American anyway). Haha.

The version I bought is the Danish DVD (50 kr. from Kvickly) which has a Making of, deleted scenes, and a commentary track by the director. I find it extremely annoying they didn't include the trailer but otherwise it's a good release.

I highly recommend THE ROAD (and STAKE LAND!!).