Tuesday, April 12, 2022

Kier-La Janisse and Lydia Lunch talk folk horror

I like Lydia Lunch's old band, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, and some of her other stuff. She's pretty cool and interesting. She does her own podcast, "The Lydia Spin'', which is interesting if you look at her list of guests. However, when you actually listen to the show ... less so. I find it mind-numbingly boring to listen to their 20-30 minute intros often (but not always) about ... nothing really. Often just blah blah blah. And her male podcast partner, Tim Dahl, and his constant loud, fake laughter ... I wish there were a feature to block people on podcasts like you can block someone on facebook.

Anyhoo, here's a pretty good episode with Kier-La Janisse who did the (apparently huge, I haven't got it) booklet for the folk horror bluray box set that came out a few months back. Skip to ca. 18 minutes into the podcast where the interview starts, and hit the stop button once Dahl takes over and starts babbling about killer car films and animal killer films that he doesn't know anything about ("Did you invent the term 'folk horror'?" Argh!).


PS: don't worry about the "part 2". There is really only this one new part. "Part 1" was a different interview from two yrs ago.


Friday, April 1, 2022

Original kill scene from KARETECI KIZ - without fake death scream

Someone - whoever they were - added a fake death scream to a certain kill scene in the Turkish revenge film KARETECI KIZ (1974) and it has become one of the funniest scenes on the internet in recent years. It's been out there for so long now that people think this is how the real scene plays out in the film. Well, it's not! This is an upload of the scene with its original audio from the Turkish print. It's still not a great scene by any means. It's still funny as hell. And the actor is still terrible. And the actress (Filiz Akin) still couldn't fight her way out of a paper bag. But ... it's a funky soundtrack and no death scream. 

PS: the film was dubbed into English and released as "Karate Girl" on vhs in various territories back in the day.

For a wee bit more info about the film check out this previous post on my other blog. 

   

Swedish vhs / English dub / Swedish subs / fullscreen

Saturday, March 26, 2022

SHOCK CINEMA #61

There's a new issue of Steven Puchalski's Shock Cinema out. Good to see an old zine that still keeps going. I'm way behind getting these. I wish he would reprint the early issues in book form like with his early zine Slimetime.

SC homepage

Friday, March 18, 2022

Serial killer triple blu-rays in the mail

I haven't bought anything online in ages but I got these two blu-ray babies a couple of days ago; Three serial killer flicks, HENRY - PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER 1 & 2 and Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO

The HENRY - PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER blu-ray is from Njuta Films and, yes-yes-yes, I'm fully aware the Arrow people are going to release the film as well, but I don't care for their UHD version and the Njuta release has a second disk that includes the sequel! [EDIT: there is only one disc! Both films are on the same blu-ray disc] The Arrow release isn't going to include part 2. So there. I believe all the extras on the Njuta set are identical to the Dark Sky bluray.

By the way, I saw HENRY for the first time more than 30 years ago at the Scala Cinema in London (on a double bill with the original version of THE STEPFATHER). Since then I've got the film on various vhs tapes, several dvd's, and now bluray. Yeah, I quite like the film! I also own two dvd's of the sequel.


Hitchock's PSYCHO - I already own this on vhs, dvd and bluray, but this Nordic disk includes the new fully uncut print that was found in Germany. Obviously I had to have it! 
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PS: I got them both from cdon.dk, and the PSYCHO bluray is dead cheap there at the moment. 
PS.PS: No, HENRY 2 isn't a masterpiece but I thought it was alright. Better than its rep.

NB: HENRY har danske subs og det på trods af, at Njutas partner i Danmark, AWE, **ikke** har udsendt filmen herhjemme. Og jeg lader mig fortælle fra pålidelig kilde, at 2'eren er den uklippede udgave.

Tuesday, March 15, 2022

TIGER JOE now on English friendly blu-ray!


aka Fuga dall'arcipelago maledetto
Antonio Margheriti, Italy/Philippines 1982


For years I've been hoping that some label would release TIGER JOE on English friendly dvd or bluray, and finally (actually last year) a German label put it out on bluray - including the film's English audio!
 
I got the blu a couple of weeks back and it looks great. I haven't seen too much (any!) online talk about this. Maybe fans don't even know about this English friendly release AS THE COVER DOESN'T STATE IT CARRIES THE ENGLISH DUB. The cover says German and Italian audio! It doesn't actually have Italian audio but English.
 
TIGER JOE is a sequel (kinda) to THE LAST HUNTER. No, it's not quite as good, but I still like it a lot. It's got David Warbeck in the lead for crying out loud! 
 
The extras:
Audio commentary by Troy Howarth
16 page booklet (all in the Kaiser's German)
interview with Margheriti's son about these films (in Italian, subbed in English)
German & English audio. No subs for the film.

The version that I bought has a bluray and a dvd. Somebody mentioned there's also another German dvd release in English, but the cover for this bluray clearly states this is the first fully uncut German release, so be careful if you're looking to get another dvd release.
 
I got mine from D&T Mailorder in Austria. There are various different versions (different covers, same contents) but I think stock is getting low so be quick if you want one.



Trailer from Danish VHS tape (thanks to Diabolik) 

PHILIPPINE SOLDIERS: The Action Films of Teddy Page (with Andrew Leavold)

 

Alright, things are moving at a snail's pace here but at least I've got something GOOD for ya this time 'round: Simon Miller over at EXPLOSIVE ACTION blog and YouTube channel (with help from Andrew Leavold) has put together an awesome documentary video about Teddy Page's Vietnam War flicks. The doc runs just under an hour and you should check it out right away. The film actually had a (very) limited DVD-R release but needless to say it sold out right away. 
- Jack

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Description from Explosive Action: 

"TEDDY PAGE (real name Teddy Chiu) is one of my favourite trash film directors. Throughout the 1980s he made some of the most entertaining, low-budget, explosive action jungle films you will ever see. 

With the help of certified Weng Wengologist and Filipino film expert ANDREW LEAVOLD ("The Search For Weng Weng"), I explore the English language action films that Teddy churned out between 1983-1995.

My interest in Teddy Page's films started with Phantom Soldiers on Japanese VHS in 2010, and the obsession has only increased over the years, encouraged by the writings, documentaries, blogs and conversations with people such as:

Andrew Leavold: Bamboo Gods and Bionic Boys + The Search for Weng Weng
Paul Cooke (RIP): Ballistic Blood Bullets
David Zuelo: Tomb it May Concern
Jack Jensen: When the Vietnam War Raged... in the Philippines

This film was a passion project and labour of love over five months, and is my most detailed and intricate video yet with a lot of editing and sourcing of footage."

- Simon Miller


Thanks for the mention, Simon! 
And here's Andrew Leavold's description from his web-shop

"Filipino action fans rejoice! Our good friend in Sydney, Simon Miller (Explosive Action) has made this awesome mini-documentary on Filipino Z-grade action director Teddy Page (real name Teddy Chiu, aka Irvin Johnson etc)… and he invited me to participate! Almost an hour of blood, guts and exploding huts, with Simon’s commentary on each film (Blood Debts, Hunters Crossing etc), and me filling in the historical back-story of Teddy and Kimmy Lim’s no-budget action film factory Kinavesa/Silver Star. Simon has made ten hand-numbered copies on DVD – and Trash Video Archives has our exclusive mitts on numbers 6 to 10. So grab one now, as once they sell, they’re gone forever…"

- Andrew Leavold


Like I mentioned in the above they're already sold out!

Friday, March 4, 2022

Gutter Hunter #1 (Canada, 2021)

It's 5 in the morning here and I just ordered Robin Bougie's new zine, Gutter Hunter!! The first print run was sold out in five days from Robin's own website (in Canada), but a pile was sent by a slow moving steamboat to FAB Press in England. I've been waiting for two months for the zine to arrive and it's finally here - or rather there - at FAB Press' headquarters. Now I just have to wait to get it from FAB Press. Yah! Spiffy!! :D

Robin Bougie ran his zine Cinema Sewer for like 25 years or so, but last year he felt it was time to call it a day. The old mag dealt with 70s and 80s porn and exploitation films. This new zine is dedicated to underground comix.

As I write this the first issue is still available from FAB Press in the UK. £12 + pp. 100 pages.

Oh, and I just found some guy's cool review of the zine on YouTube. Check it out, cabron!


Wednesday, March 2, 2022

Nick Zedd - RIP

Nick Zedd passed away a few days ago at the age of 63. Way too young. I can't say I knew too much about him but it is always a loss when someone from the alternative world dies (yes, yes, it's always a loss, you know wha ah mean). Zedd was part of the Cinema of Transgression movement in the 80s. He made his own films and he was in films by Richard Kern. And he did heaps of other stuff. At some point he relocated to Mexico where he lived for many years. 

I think I first heard about Nick Zedd via an interview in Thomas Eikrem's fanzine Rage in the early 90s. Later I got some of the New York underground films by Kern and Zedd. Via tapetrading. Those films were completely impossible to get hold of over here on legit tape. Were they even officially released on video tape? I have no idea. If you wish to read more about Nick Zedd and the cause of his death I recommend you go here. On that page there are comments by people who apparently knew him. RIP, Nick. 

 Nick Zedd interview from 2007:

NICK ZEDD interview after showing in Harrisburg from moviate harrisburg on Vimeo.

Tuesday, February 15, 2022

THE LEATHER NUN - live at the Scala Cinema - cassette album (1980)


 Sometime in the early 80s I was listening to a rock programme on the local radio. On that particular night they were interviewing Jonas Almqvist from the Swedish underground band Lädernunnan which had changed their name to The Leather Nun in order to get on MTV, haha (no, not really).

Anyhoo, after the interview the radio show played a live recording which from memory ran for about 25-30 minutes. I was hooked from the word go and soon after I bought their album "Alive" - also a live recording (from Denmark). But for some reason I never followed the band or got their other records. I guess it comes down to being skint. And probably due to the then lack of a world wide web I never discovered that their first release was another live album - a cassette tape only release. But here it is: The Leather Nun live at the Scala Cinema in London

Poster for gig at the venue Saltlageret in Copenhagen, Denmark

I used to live in London and I used to hang out at the Scala, but needless to say this was years after the leather clad nuns played there. Thanks to the wonders of the internet (I truly reckon the internet conveys the true spirit of punk) we can now listen to and enjoy (or roll your eyes at - if being square is your thing) this early recording of Lädernunnan. Yes, it's crude and raw and I would be VERY surprised if any of you could actually write down the lyrics from listening to this! 

You get two choices; The tape is on YouTube (in two parts, side A and B obviously) but it's also available as an mp3 download from this post on the cool blog Die or DIY? Do notice the comment from the lead singer of the band in the comments section (posted in 2015)! 

Side A:

Side B: 

Tuesday, January 18, 2022

JOHN WATERS on Emerald tv (1977)

 

Yesterday, I posted a cool episode of the Joan Quinn tv show that had John Waters on it in 1997. And here's an even more fun show that John did for a local tv station. This one is right out gay (check the ads!) and great fun. Oh, and it's from 1977! Most of the John Waters shows/interviews on youtube are from way later. And it's cool to see a younger version on Waters. The interviewer is enthusiastic, the questions are good, and he isn't kissing up to John, which sometimes happens in later interviews and which irritates me.
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A sad bit of info from the comments section to the video:
"This show is introduced by handsome Frank O'Dowd, who sadly died of AIDS in 1988. Vito Russo, who interviews John Waters, died of AIDS in 1990." - DentalTech1000