Eddie Romero on pre-cert

Original English title: MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND

I'll be getting a bunch of EDDIE ROMERO directed Filipino films on old pre-cert VHS from the UK. Awesome covers!!

Original English title: BEAST OF BLOOD

Different aka-title and different UK release but this is also BEAST OF BLOOD!

Original English title: BEAST OF THE YELLOW NIGHT

Poem from my upcoming book "Bow before me, mortal" (Dead Penguin Books)

I killed a rat today. He was still alive. He looked at me with big sad eyes. He said "Oh, please no". I bid off his nose and sucked out his brains. Oh, what a wonderful rat. Oh, what a wonderful plot. Oh, what a wonderful skat. Hey, I ain't talkin' 'bout no brown stuff. That's honey in Viking jargon. Skat, hat, baas, no that does not make sense but that's what you get when you're drunk on a dead rat's blood. Don't be a mouse. Buy a house. Of juicy rats called Claus!

PS: My previous book, "Take me to your leader, skitstövel" is still in print.

360 - "Boys like you" (featuring Gossling)

I'm not really into rap music at all but this video is pretty cool. It's a mix of rap and 60s pop music, and the accent helps too. Actually, I've had it in my head for the last couple of days. LOL. It's 360 from Melbourne with a track called "Boys like you" and the girl singer Gossling is also featured in the song. It's funny to see them walking around the streets of Melbourne, it used to be my home for quite a while in the 90s. The girl who plays 360's girlfriend is Ruby Rose who's a model and vj in OZ. She took her last name from a distant relative, the boxer Lionel Rose, which didn't make his widow too happy. But, hey, she looks great in the video. ^_^

If you want more there's also a (filmed) live version and an interview from (the way cool radio station) Triple J's studio.

MOM (USA, 1991)

Here's the trailer for an unfortunately rarely seen horror/splatter movie from 1991 called MOM. It's directed by Patrick Rand who (according to IMDb) has only directed this one movie. Fortunately - since it IS his only film - the movie is good fun!

The plot: Brion James (the nasty replicant from BLADE RUNNER who utters the immortal line, "Time to die!") is a vampire/demon who is in need of a place to stay. So obviously he rents a room in the private home of an elderly lady. At some stage he gets hungry and, well, you figure out the rest.

There isn't one boring moment in MOM but I reckon the title is rather unfortunate as I'm sure it causes a lot of people (myself included originally) to mistakenly think it's probably a lame horror comedy. Well, it's not! It's a horror flick in the tradition of the late 80s splatter genre. Something else equally unfortunate is the fact that there's no DVD release. You'll have to find a VHS! If I remember correctly, I found my own copy in a Video Netto store in Copenhagen quite a few years ago. The tape is from Holland and is presented in fullscreen.

Trailer:



I couldn't find a trailer on Youtube so I found one on some other site and reposted it on Youtube. Thanks to the original uploader.

More cool reprints from HARD CASE CRIME books

"BLOOD ON THE MINK" - By Robert Silverberg. This cool reprint from HARD CASE CRIME (2011) is the first reprint since the novel was originally published in the last issue of the American pulp magazine "TRAPPED" in 1960. I've just today received it. In the new afterword the author says he hadn't thought about that story for 50 years until the guy behind HCC found an old copy of the magazine. I love all HCC's covers. They're not old but new and made for these books. I wish more covers looked like in the 50s and early 60s. Covers today suck ass.

All-important Facebook updates...

Yesterday:
"A rotten day at the beach. I had imagined women would gather around yours truly with offers, and men would be eager to tell me how much they admire my work, and dogs would roll around. Flies were buzzing around my head and that was about all that happened. Damn beach."

Today:
"Poor Man's Air-conditioner (aka wet washer on your head). It's hot as hell here. Scandinavia is supposed to be eternal ice winter. They said on the news they expect 95% of all Scandinavian penguins to croak from strokes caused by the heat. Poor penguins. And poor polar bears. Will we ever see a snowman around here again. Probably not."

Bonnie's Kids (USA, 1973)

(click poster for full size)

I watched Arthur Marks' entertaining BONNIE'S KIDS on Danish VHS tonight and oh what a joy! Two young sisters kill their stepdad when he becomes a tad too horny and they set off to seek out their uncle who turns out to be just as rotten an egg as the stepdad. Oh, and you'll see where Quentin Tarantino got the idea for the one white/one black hitman team in PULP FICTION! At least the two guys in BONNIE'S KIDS look remarkably like the ones in Quentin's film. There's violence, nudity, cool action, and the acting is good. And the ending is pretty good (in a downbeat way) too!

The Danish VHS from VIDEO INTERNATIONAL is fullscreen but there's a letterboxed DVD out from DARK SKY FILMS. The two sisters are played by Tiffany Bolling and Robin Mattson who both played in other psychotronic films in the 70s. Among others Bolling was in CENTERFOLD GIRLS and THE KINGDOM OF SPIDERS, and Mattson was in lots of TV stuff like The Hulk. One of the hitmen is played by Alex Rocco who was in tons of stuff, often playing unpleasant characters (and he was good at that!). Highly recommended.

Hmm, I did a google and found a thread about the film on DVDMANIACS and it seems it was actually a good thing I watched the film on an unmatted video tape instead of the letterboxed DVD. Apparently the DVD cuts off way too much!

Unmatted VHS:

DVD from 35mm presenting the film in 1.85:1

Check the thread here (despite the lack of boobs in the 1.85:1 version I HAVE ordered the DVD anyway!). For a (great) longer review go here (that's also where I nicked the poster scan from).


Short trailer (incl. alternative footage to long trailer)

 

Long trailer (including old drive-in info videos):

update

I've updated the WOMAN HUNT post.

Wonder Woman - the VHS the Greeks wanted!

aka THE DEADLY AND THE BEAUTIFUL (Philippines, 1973)

I won the rare Dutch VHS release of Robert Vincent O'Neill's WONDER WOMEN (aka The Dead and the Beautiful) on eBay a few days ago (from one of Cinehound's Member-X's auctions). Apparently a certain Cinehound head-hound also wanted it. Sorry mate, it belongs here! LOL. The film may have been released on video in other territories but I've never come across any other release. Something Weird Video in the US have released a DVD-R of the films. Their print is taken from a good looking 16mm print. I posted about it quite a while ago (you can see the cover under the film's real index entry here). Code Red (also in the US) have announced a DVD release but knowing that label I wouldn't hold my breath until the DVD gets here. Sometimes their releases take a long (like in loooooong) while to materialise. I'm certainly happy to have won this tape. Oh, and Vic Diaz is of course in there somewhere!

Here's a scene from the film (monster people, yay!), there are more clips on YouTube:

From "STAY SICK!" to Canadian paperback stardom

Eleven years ago I published issue no. 2 of my zine STAY SICK! In addition to the usual psychotronic film reviews and articles on obscure pop culture I also chucked in something I'd never included in a zine before (or after): A horror short story!

The story was called "Mareridtet" [lit. trans: The Nightmare] written by one Metin Vardar. Metin got in touch with me because someone mentioned to him that he should write and suggest I publish his story. I did and the rest is fanzine history.
And now there's even more history! I got an email from Metin the other day to tell me that he's been published again - and this time it's a full length novel that has been released by BLOOD MOON PUBLISHING in Canada!! Good on ya, mate!

Blood Moon basically deal in eBook publishing, however they do offer paperback editions of their releases as well. Metin's book is called "Flesh Field" and I believe it's firmly located in horror/fantasy territory. You can order the eBook edition at a mere 6 dollars US (they take PayPal) or (like I did) as a paperback at $15 (yes-yes, I realise the eBook is under half the price but I don't give a flying fuck; I want a real book, goddammit!).

I have no idea of how well eBooks sell, or whether Metin's book is awesome or, well, less awesome but Metin was part of making my zine STAY SICK! fun a decade ago, and for that I thank him and I'll give his book a try - even if I don't even read horror literature usually!

You can check the book here (and read an excerpt if you wish).