Black Devil Doll

I watched BLACK DEVIL DOLL tonight and what an entertaining piece of exploitation / blaxploitation / sexploitation / dollsploitation / whathaveyouploitation it is!!! I got the reg. 1 DVD which is loaded with fun extra stuff (like approx 700 different commentary tracks!!). It's NOT a remake of Chester Turner's BLACK DEVIL DOLL FROM HELL but they were clearly inspired by it and as I've mentioned here before they tried to get Chester's film included on the DVD which I'm sorry to say they didn't succeeded in. Hopefully we'll see the original released on DVD some day. Now watch the trailer. It's the uncut one. :D

Watched "THE BUTCHER OF LA VILETTE" - can't wait for more!

Local television ran the third season of the gritty and very well written French crime show ENGRENAGES a few weeks ago and I don't remember the last time I was that captivated by a cop show!



ENGRENAGES (or "Spiral" as it's re-titled for the international market) is head and shoulders better than anything I've seen from the US for a looong time. I wonder if there's more stuff this good on French television and if there is it's one more reason to shake one's angry fist at Danish TV for having given us nothing but Anglo-Saxon films and TV shows for so many years! It wasn't till two or three years ago that some of the smaller channels began to screen films from other countries in Europe, other than Scandinavia that is.

I have the first season of ENGRENAGES on DVD and as soon as the third season finished (which I dvd-r'ed every episode of!) I could do nothing but race my imaginary sports-car (right out of The Persuaders) to the nearest Amazon store and order the missing season 2 right away! I received it today. xD



All three seasons are released on DVD in France and the UK. Unfortunately, I need the subs so I have to go with the UK sets - word is the quality of the French sets is better as they are 4 disc sets whereas the UK sets are squeezed down to 2 disc sets - but even so they look alright. The English subs are alright altho I wish I'd taped all three seasons from TV as the subtitles are much better translated in the Danish editions (which also means I won't bother ordering the third season on DVD).



Will there be a fourth season? I have no idea but somehow I kinda fear it could be a letdown, I mean how can you top season 3???

If you haven't already checked out ENGRENAGES I highly recommend you do. You'll find a brief beginner's guide from "The Guardian" newspaper here.

Better than the real thing

I bought "The Whitey Album" on CD yesterday and it's thee best SONIC YOUTH record ever. And it's not even a "real" Sonic Youth platter but by CICCONE YOUTH, haha. Why the members of SONIC YOUTH released this LP under the alias instead of putting it out under their real band name I have no idea. I remember reading back then that they felt the music was too different to be on a regular SONIC YOUTH record. Listening to it now - almost 25 years later - I actually think it fits the SONIC YOUTH mould in every respect! (but of course the person who wrote that was probably talking out his arse. Who knows why they decided to use the alternative name (probably because THAT in itself was very Sonic Youth'ian!). xD

PS: watch the video! Es muy magnificento!!

"The Consummata" by Mickey Spillane & Max Allan Collins (late 1960s + 2011)

I received the second latest book from every hard-boiled crime reader's fave publisher, Hard Case Crime; THE CONSUMMATA!! It was kicked off by Mickey Spillane back in the late 60s but he never finished the damn thing and then he croaked. Now his buddy Max Allan Collins has finished it and if nothing else the cover looks ...as always with Hard Case Crime... smashing! I paid £2.14 for my copy!!! It's brand new but has "review copy -not for sale" printed on the front cover (which is kinda neat me thinks). This is the first of the new books from HCC since their one year hiatus (due to being between publishers) that I see and the book format has (at least with this volume) changed from the small paperback size to slightly bigger and with a better binding (or at least so it seems). I'm not sure I'm all that happy with the bigger format, I mean the smaller paperback size is PULP size! But, anyhoo, the contents is the same I guess. But still. But ANYWAY I look forward to getting into this sucker despite size... but, uhhhhh, I've already got way too many unread books!! Argh.

Sorority House Massacre

I had a fucking three day migraine and completely missed Halloween! Major bummer!! Anyhoo, tonite I watched the first of my new massacre films that I received from Corman's eBay store recently; SORORITY HOUSE MASSACRE 1 & 2, and CHEERLEADER MASSACRE. SORORITY HOUSE MASSACRE is from 1986, directed by Carol Frank and Angela O'Neill is the main girl whose brother killed the rest of their family and is now out to get her too. Yes, the plot is nicked from HALLOWEEN! - and that's okay cos we don't watch these movies for their complex plot lines or deep character descriptions but the gore and the naked chicks! And SORORITY had lost of gore and boobs. I was certainly entertained. :D
Next up at Cinema J is the sequel. There's also yet another sequel called HARD TO DIE which I've already watched and which is pure gold. You should watch these films! Available on cheap ass DVDs (fullscreen, hardly any extras, no subs) from the Roger Corman eBay store.

PS: the trailer in this post is uploaded by the official Corman channel and it's the same as on the DVD. Don't ask me why it's got Spanish subs, it's the same on the DVD! @_@

Rowland

There's a new Australian feature film documentary about Rowland S. Howard!! Rowland was the guitar player in The Birthday Party who fell out of grace with Nick Cave and went his own ways. He joined Crime and the City Solution with fellow Birthday Party member Mick Harvey, and later formed his own group These Immortal Souls. I got to see him live once. My gf at the time and I had gone to see The Gun Club (who had just re-formed at the time) at the Town & Country Club in London in 1990. These Immortal Souls were playing support. I remember when they started, Rowland took a step forward towards the microphone, tripped over a chord and banged his head into the mike with a big bang, after which he swore loudly and then said, "It's just not my day". Rowland died recently of cancer. I can't wait to see the film.

Banned in Britain #2 (2004)

About BANNED IN BRITAIN zine: I was a gong-ho splatter movie fan in the late 80s/early 90s and wanted to create a fanzine that only covered that type of movies. I published BIB #1 in 1994 and #2 ten years later in 2004 - and that was it! I thought about re-animating BIB and if I did it would (probably) be the only still running zine that actually had roots all the way back to the original splatter days (1988-93). How cool would that be! But then again... is that enough reason to do a mag. LOL. Anyhoo, here's the old second issue from 7 years back. Enjoy!

PS: click the scans twice to get the full fullpage view.

The flesh that won't die...

Trailer for the upcoming David Cronenberg film, A DANGEROUS MIND! And yes, once again it stars our Danish pride, Viggo Mortensen. LOLZ




Viggo being tough on Danish TV (butting out smokes with his tongue!). Whadda guy. Haha.

Onar memories

Several members of the ONAR Facebook page have posted memories about the ex-rental tapes they bought from Bill Barounis but one thing we haven't really touched upon is that Bill also sold dvd-r bootlegs from his website. I only bought one of these: The Shaw Brothers film COBRA GIRL. It's on a great Celestial DVD now but altho I knew all along I was gonna keep Bill's bootleg as it offers an alternative dub and viewing experience I'm gonna treasure it even more now. I pulled it out yesterday and felt a bit sad again. Bill's handwritten title on the disc is something we're never gonna see again. The cover is a photo copied copy of the Greek VHS and it was originally too large for the case but Bill didn't take any notice of such abnormalities. He just sent it as it were. LOL. The print on the VHS (and boot) is a bashed up English dubbed print which gives the film a cool grindhouse feeling that I doubt you'll get out of the perfect Celestial DVD (which I don't own). Bill, you're much missed, my friend!

Editor Larsen's quest for the last obscure version of "The Mysterious Island of Captain Nemo"

I was just going thru old issues of Henrik Larsen's Obskuriøst zine (the sold out issues are free to DL) and if you're into adventure films you might wanna check out Henrik's article (in English) on "The Mysterious Island of Captain Nemo" and the many different versions of the film + TV series. Henrik tortured his friends with this for years!!! (literal speaking) LOL. It begins on p.10.

And for his old Nemo website go here.