LA COMTESSE PERVERSE - Jess Frenco - three versions - three upcoming releases!

I have no knowledge of this film but it's what the cool teenagers talk about when they smoke in the school-yard so I'd better write about it (i.e. pretend I actually know what I'm talking about).

No, seriously, Jess Frenco's LA COMTESSE PERVERSE (France, 1973) is going to get no less than three releases from two different video labels in the very near future; in May it'll come out as both a 1-disc and a 2-disc release from Edition Tonfilm in Germany (or maybe they're in Switzerland I'm not entirely sure), and in June Mondo Macabro are putting it out as a 1-disc release.

Now, bear in mind I've never watched the damn film but this is the info I have from a German forum where one of the people behind Editon Tonfilm posted about it. One of the things he said is that he reckons LA COMTESSE PERVERSE is among the 10 best films from Jess Franco's golden period of the 1960 & '70s!

LA COMTESSE PERVERSE was released in 1973 under that exact title. The original film has never been released on video tape or DVD and it's been a very sought after film (a fan subbed copy of the French tape is being passed around in fan circles).

Then in 1974 it was re-edited and new footage was added to the film. It had a cinema release and came out on VHS in France under the title of LES CROQUEUSES.

BUT there more! In 1975, it was yet again re-released with new erotic scenes (HC I believe) under the title SEXY NATURE.

So THREE different versions of the film exist!!! However, obviously, only the first version is Jess Franco's original director's cut version.

On Edition Tonfilm's 2-disc release they'll be including the original cut on disc 1 and the third version in full on disc 2. The footage from the second version will be included as extras on disc 1. This release will be a world premiere as, like I said, the original edit has never been released to home cinema in any format anywhere! The 1-disc release will contain the SEXY NATURE edit of the film.

Mondo Macabro are releasing the film under the new re-title of COUNTERSS PERVERSE. The disc will contain the original director's cut version only. I have no info about the extras.

Both labels are releasing the film with its original French audio, the MM disc with English subs while Edition Tonfilm's release is going to be subbed in German only.

Specs for the Mondo Macabro release are yet to be announced.

Specs for the Editon Tonfilm releases (from a forum post by the label and yes it's in German, you figure it out):

Amaray-Case mit Alternativcover im O-Ring Schuber

DVD 1
La Comtesse Perverse
Frankreich 1973
Regie: Jess Franco
Darsteller: Robert Woods, Alice Arno, Lina Romay, Howard Vernon u.a.
Länge: 73 Minuten
Sprache: Französisch
Untertitel: deutsch
Format: Originalformat 1.33

Weltpremiere der Originalfassung, erstmalig aus dem Originalarchiv und über lange Zeit gemastert. Seid 40 Jahren gilt dieser Film als einer der gesuchtesten Franco-Filme überhaupt und überzeugt durch eine perfekte Mischung aus Horror und Erotik. Franco bediente sich dem klassischen Stoff „Graf Zaroff – Genie des Bösen (The most dangerous game, 1932)“ und machte seine eigene Version daraus.

Extras:
- Bonusszenen Les Croqueusses (18:32)
- Rohvorspann Comtesse Perverse (1:16)
- Bonusszene Sexy Nature (5:03)
- Restaurationsvergleich (5:01)
- Alternativvorspann Comtesse Perverse (1:08)
- Werbematerial Les Croqueusses (1:34)

DVD 2
Sexy Nature (Les Croqueuses)
Frankreich 1974/1975
Regie: Jess Franco
Darsteller: Robert Woods, Alice Arno, Lina Romay, Monica Swinn, u.a.
Länge: 97 Minuten
Sprache: Französisch
Untertitel: deutsch
Format: Originalformat 1.33
- Bonusheft „Gräfin Zaroff – Genie des Bösen“ 8 Seiten mit Schnittbericht, Bildern und Informationen über Jess Franco und seinem Schaffen.

Disc 2 mit dem Film Sexy Nature ist auch als große Buchbox mit dem original Kinoplakat erhältlich.

Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion - trailer

Coming from Camera Obscura at some stage. According to their Facebook page they won't set a date until they've got the extras ready.

Strike of the Tortured Angels (HK, 1982)

I watched this film tonight and... ahhhh, what a wonderful movie!!! "My kind of movie", as Steve Mayhem would say. xD
So inept it ventures into the bizarre world of the surreal. You look at your glass thinking WHAT AM I DRINKING THIS CAN'T BE REAL... but it is real. It's... STRIKE OF THE TORTURED ANGELS!!!

Released on VHS in Denmark (as "Tortur i Kvindefængslet"), Sweden, USA, and I thiiink there's a Dutch tape as well. The Danish VHS was used on at least one public domain DVD box set in the US! (one reviewer mentioned it has tape-roll so I'll bet my own original VHS looks heaps better! LOL). The YouTube upload (from Member-X) is from the Swedish tape.

And good thing I understand Danish; I wouldn't have wanted to be without those subtitles! They're so badly translated it adds an entire extra level of comedy to the viewing experience!


"Well, at least you had a good go. It's just unlucky for you that you messed it all up."

= Men du har jo en go' skyder! Et held for dig, du ikke tabte den!

[Well, at least you have a good gun! Your luck you didn't lose it!]

ATTACKAFANT on the rampage in Thailand

(March 2012)
FRED ANDERSON (r) with his bf on the left and CHRISTOPH KLÜPPEL in the middle. Klüppel looks like he could crush them both in one go if he wanted to!


A while ago I posted about how Fred Anderson has recently set up his small DVD label ATTACKAFANT ENTERTAINMENT to release forgotten, overlooked, lost, and not least exciting worldweird films and that his first (and so far only) release is the wild Thai-Hong Kong production THE KILLER ELEPHANTS. In the past I have also posted and linked to Fred's interview with Christoph Klüppel, a big (very big) German actor who starred in a number of Thai action films many years ago.

The thing is Fred is a true fan of worldweird cinema and not least the crazy Thai action films. Not only does he watch heaps of these movies, he also reviews them on his blogs and, like I said, he has launched a label to release these forgotten films... but if you think it ends here then you'll just have to think again cos as we speak Fred has actually gone to Thailand to hook up with every soul and his brother who was anything in the old Thai action film industry!!!

Check the above photo; It's aforementioned Christoph Klüppel that Fred has tracked down and went to visit two days ago! Fred and his bf stayed with Klüppel for most of the day. But it doesn't end there; Like I said Fred's first DVD on the ATTACKAFANT label is THE KILLER ELEPAHNTS so needless to say Fred hooked up with Yodchai Meksuwan who played one of the main characters (and strings to meet with the director the next time Fred is down Thailand way have already been pulled!).

Fred with YODCHAI MEKSUWAN.

You can check out some of Meksuwan's many (over a hundred!!) films here.

And here's one more photo of Fred with a celeb who also practically starred in hundreds of Thai movies (and some HK productions); Pawana Chanajit (aka Lau Laan Ying in HK movies). According to Fred she's working as a broker these days. Check some of her films here.

Fred and PAWANA CHANAJIT (aka Lau Laan Ying).

- and finally... someone gave Fred THIS awesome book of mostly stills from GHOSTS OF GUTS EATER!!! No, I'm not green with envy here!




PS: Check my review of GHOSTS OF GUTS EATER on this site if you're not familiar with the film. The only place it's released outside of Thailand is actually on VHS in Sweden (but no, Fred had nothing to do with that ... I don't think. LOL).

Christoph Klüppel on the cover of the rare DARK DAY EXPRESS.

"Frank Agrama - a member of that select group of directors who currently have three separate IMDb entries"

Female Gang aka Essabet el Nissae (Lebanon/Turkey/Egypt, 1968)

I know nothing about Frank Agrama (aka Farouk Ajrama aka Seyfettin Tiryaki) other than he directed DAWN OF THE MUMMY which I've seen. But I stumbled over the above poster at an Lebanese eBay store and thought I'd better check out if there were any DVD releases of the film. I didn't find a DVD but what I did find was a pile of posts about this director and his films, all posted by one fanatical film fan ("Doctor Kiss") on the Classic Horror Film Board (of which I'm not a member).

If you've seen DAWN you might think, "meh" but check out this YouTube collection of clips from Agrama's 1960s films were apparently were much better, or at least more fresh/energetic/youthful (and one of the posts provided a link to a DVD so that was cool. Unfortunately it seems it's un-subbed). And do check out the original posts on the Classic Horror Film Board here.




Kudos to Doctor Kiss for the thorough and detailed work he's provided in that thread.

Got change for a penny, mate?

I bought a pile of stuff for a penny each on Amazon UK! ONE pence!! Mickey Spillane's "The Big Bang" was secondhand but "The Goliath Bone" was brand new. THE NINJA KILLER has a terrible cover that doesn't actually tell you it's a Turkish film starring Cuneyt Arkin. LOL. The old VHS cover is much better.

Hey hey lets go it's Saturday so here's THE RAMONES

Live from 1995 from the end of their career. Short interview segment at the end.

Uhh, baby, come to daddy

I woke up with a blasted headache. Popped a headache table. Waited an hour. Felt fine. Got out of bed. Though I might as well log on and get it over with... i.e. look at the auction I MOST LIKELY did not win during the night. Logged on... and there is was... the ebay auto message, "You won this item, now pay up, fucker".

Gott im himmel!!! I can't believe I'm finally going to get the original Hong Kong release of the very multo mucho rare'o Taiwan film LAST BREATH. It's insane. I hardly place any money on this (in collector circles that is. Ordinary people would certainly think £45 ($71) on an auction for an old video tape is more than enough). The final bid came to £31 ($49).

The tape I won is the HK VHS in Cantonese with English subs. There's one other release, the Chinatown tape from the US. The film has never been released in any other format.

There exist two different cuts of the film, one made for the Chinese markets and an English dubbed version for the international markets. I should point out the English dubbed print is an alternative version they made at the same time that has different scenes with Gwilo actors in it - BUT it's not a cut & paste film! Both versions were official versions made by the film studio simply to cater to different markets. The international version is fairly easy to come by as it's been released on DVD (unfortunately the DVDs are cut, including the German one. And beware, I've seen bootleg sellers advertising copies off the German DVD as being "uncut". Well, it's not uncut!). The video releases are uncut and the best one is the Japanese tape with is fully letterboxed.

"The Girl in Room 2A" from Mondo Macabro

Here's the trailer for MM's new DVD, William Rose's THE GIRL IN ROOM 2A (aka La casa della paura, Italy, 1974). Certainly looks like something we'd like to watch around these shores!! ^_^

Hmm, reminds me I used to live in room 5A for about a year twenty years back. LOL.



Thanks to Jared for the screen grab. Posted on Cinehound.

Excuse me, miss; Do you speak Tamil?

YAVARUM NALAM

I'm not sure if the headline is a great pick-up line or not but in any case I've just ordered this bunch of Indian genre films. These films deviate from the Indian horror films I've watched previously in that they're not from the Hindi spoken Bollywood but from the Tamil language part of India. Originally I really just wanted to order the above film, YAVARUM NALAM, which is a horror movie that a Cinehound member posted about. However, altho the price of the DVD was only Rs.175 ($4.50) on eBay India, the postage to Euroland was Rs.800!!! But the seller said I could order more DVDs for the same postage fee, so I picked the other three out of which two of them are horror movies and one is a sci-fi movie. They all have English subtitles.

NANJUPURAM

ARUNDATHEE

ENTHIRAN

By the way, remember how they would sometimes make different language versions of films simultaneously in Hollywood in the old days? For instance, the 1931 version of DRACULA was filmed twice; During the day they would shoot the English language version starring Bela Lugosi and at night they'd film a different version for the Spanish language markets. This was before dubbing was invented obviously. However, they still do this practice in India! No, I'm not making that up! The horror movie YAVARUM NALAM was filmed twice at the same time, on the same set, and by the same director. The difference is one is in Hindi and the other - the one I bought - is in Tamil. But why not just dub them? Well, apparently religious and other customs are too different, a dub simply isn't enough.

The Hindi language version of the film is called 13 B and is also released on DVD. Actually the Hindi version is much easier to get hold of (hence my wanting the other dvd OBVIOUSLY! LOL). I intend to get hold of the Hindi version as well though. Oh, and there's even been some talk about a Hollywood remake.

Game of Death - promotional documentary

I've just discovered Bey Logan posted this on Facebook. It's his own upload to YouTube and what it is is a very rare early short documentary film that was made to promote Bruce Lee's GAME OF DEATH - but made after he had passed away.

A Book of Heroes - Yukari Oshima

After having waited much too long for my recent parcel from Hong Kong to turn up (the bloody customs kept it for two weeks!!) I've finally just got it, opened it, and marvelled at the wonderful VCD beauties! Yes, bloody VCD!! None of the four films are out on DVD anywhere so this was the only option. But, hey, I'm not complaining and if anything I am grateful that at least Fortune Star have released these films is any format at all.

One of the films is A BOOK OF HEROES (Taiwan, 1986) starring cutie & tough ass kicker YUKARI OSHIMA. Woo-hoo! Any new Yukari Oshima film is welcome in this house not matter the qualities (or non-qualities) of the film otherwise.

I haven't watched it yet (like I said, I've literally just new received the parcel) but it's directed by the same guy who made the highly entertaining FANTASY MISSION FORCE, PINK FORCE COMMANDO and GOLDEN QUEEN'S COMMANDO. Here's the description from Yesasia (big kudos to Yesasia for actually hiring a HK film aficionado to do their film descriptions!! The writer is Ross Chen from Love Hong Kong Film.

From director Kevin Chu, the madman behind such entertainingly incomprehensible oddities as Fantasy Mission Force and Golden Queen's Commando, comes A Book of Heroes (1986). Chu's talent as filmmaker may be highly suspect, but his "best" movies are tremendous fun despite (or because of) their thematic and technical shortcomings. A Book of Heroes has all the usual Chu earmarks: an impossibly convoluted plot, confusing editing, cartoonish humor uncomfortably coexisting with visceral violence, and a bevy of butt-kicking beauties (including Oshima Yukari in one of her earliest roles). This is one movie not to be missed by Mystery Science Theater fans, or those who like their action movies highly fortified with corn.

Rival underworld gangs from all over Asia are waging war for a treasure map and a bunch of gold, and it's Officer Hu Pai's job to intercept the loot. After failing miserably at his assignment, Hu finds himself demoted to directing traffic. But the down-on-his-luck policeman gets a shot at redemption when he crosses paths with a Japanese agent (Oshima) on the treasure's trail. Joining forces with a ragtag group of mercenaries - including Hu's wannabe-cop sister and the owner of the local gas station - the heroes pit themselves against a wild assortment of underworld fighters in a bid to recapture the gold.

Hmm, that YouTube upload does have a great picture quality but I haven't been able to find any info about any DVD releases. Meaybe it's from a laserdisc.

Oh Nina

I taped this song off the air sometime in the mid to late 80s. The difference is it was David Bowie's cover version. The same programme played an early Martin Hall track as well. Taped them both. Man, I must have played and re-played that cassette tape over and over again. Now some 20 odd years later I finally hear the original version. It's probably good it took so long, I wouldn't have liked Nina Simone's version back then. Now I love it.

Nina Hagen - Ziggy Stardust

The East German queen of punk doing Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust" on Swedish TV in 1980. Awesome! Me and my cousin Ronny were big Nina Hagen fans back then. Unfortunately it seems she's had too many smokes in the years in-between. Oh well, we'll always have Rio, ehh, YouTube. ^_^

Rammstein - Das Modell

Here's RAMMSTEIN with a cover of that old KRAFTWERK fave "Das Modell" (aka The Model). The video is pretty cool! xD