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).