Rick Sullivan's GORE GAZETTE #104 (full issue)

Someone seriously NICE saw my request for (free) copies of Rick Sullivan's legendary newsletter/zine, Gore Gazette, and they sent me a hi-res scan of No. 104. THANKS MATE!!! 

Feel free to copy all ten pages. It's somewhat unfortunate that I can't upload it here as a collected PDF, but seeing as I don't wish to upload elsewhere this is as good as it gets. Do I even have any readers out there any longer anyway? 

 

Need GORE GAZETTE!!!

Scan borrowed from eBay auction

What's an appropriate date to seek help for getting more horror zines?

Well, today of course. Duh! (uh, I see the blog date doesn't say October 31'st but November 1'st. But needless to say this was posted during the night of Halloween)

For years I've been trying to find more issues of Rick Sullivan's fanzine/newsletter from the 80s, GORE GAZETTE.

I can't ask Sullivan as he passed away years ago (RIP).

There are ten issues uploaded to Archive, but that's about it! I'm a fanzine junkie and I need another fix! In the words of a forgotten band from my childhood: Gimme, gimme, gimme!!!

I'm looking for PDF scans (or other digital format), not the actual original printed zine.

Obviously I'd love to hear from someone who has a full run, but ANY copies will do (that aren't on Archive, i.e. #1, 9, 47, 48, 49, 53, 70, 76, 81, 89).

PS: Yes, I am aware of J4HI ("Just for the hell of it" - bootleg seller). That guy obviously owns the full collection, and he has posted a ton of quotes from the zine on his website, but I reckon he's NOT interested in sharing full PDF copies (at least not with me - he never replied to my email).

PS.PS: I am also aware that there are a couple of issues on eBay. I can't afford 30 dollars for a 4 page newsletter (before 20 dollars in pp to Euroland as well).

H-e-l-p ! ! !

John Waters' Tour of his Baltimore Apartment - 1986

Here's yet another cool John Waters video from the old days! John showing us around in his flat in 1986. From an old and clearly worn video tape (but that's alright). Also check the previous videos of his that I've posted (click one of the tags down below). 

Exciting news! Collector's Collective zine No. 2 is at your local news agent now!

Collector's Collective #2 has been released. Alright, maybe you won't find it at your local news agent, but at least you can get it from the editor! Hans Minkers is in Holland. The zine is in English. 100 % about collecting video tapes. Only 50 copies printed!

#1 is still available (I was interviewed for issue 1). I haven't got my copy of #2 yet but it's probably being hassled by customs in Hamburg as we speak. Order from Hans via his WOOF! magazine (his other zine) page here.

Info about issue #1 on my Danish part of this blog.

Pix from Hans Minker's facebook post

Carlos Giménez' awesome graphic novel BARRIO finally to be published - in Danish

Finally! Finally!! Finally!!!

I've been hoping for a complete release of Carlos Giménez' comic book (graphic novel if you will) Barrio (aka "Vores kvarter") for years and years.

Barrio is Carlos Giménez' own story about growing up in Francisco Franco's Spain in the 40s and 50s. This is a comic book but trust me, it isn't "the funnies".

The problem is that the original version is in Spanish and there's no complete English, German or Danish/Scandinavian edition. I think there's a French translated edition but, alas, I don't read French either.

The original edition contains four books. We got one of them in Danish in the 80s and since then; nothing. Now ZOOM publishing (Denmark) is putting out a complete edition in two days. It's simply wonderful, fantastic, wunderbar!!! (and of course I have to decide whether I'll get it now and eat pasta for two weeks or wait till October!).

Hopefully enough people are gonna get this so we can get complete editions of Giménez' Paracuellos ("Børnehjemme") and Los profesionales ("De professionelle") as well. Neither of those are published in complete, translated form either.

They Won't Stay Dead - fanzine

I just discovered an old 80s horror flick zine called They Won't Stay Dead on ZineWiki. It says the publisher, Brian Johnson, sadly passed away 20 years ago. I did a google search and found two copies for sale online. One from a webshop; they're selling a copy of the print zine. But the other copy is some guy on etsy who's selling a pdf of the zine at £5!!!

Selling second hand copies of an original fanzine, fine. But selling a pdf of your own scan of a zine you didn't even publish!? That's despicable! This should be uploaded to Archive,org for free, not sold at five quid!

Roman Polanski & Sharon Tate interview on Hugh Hefner's tv show in 1969 (full interview)

Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate interviewed by Hugh Hefner on his tv show in 1969

A couple of minutes from this interview have been on YouTube for years, but I just noticed that Sharon Tate's sister, Debra Tate, has uploaded the full interview to her YouTube channel! 

She has also uploaded a couple of other segments from the same edition of the show in which we see Sharon and her then husband, Roman Polanski. Debra Tate's channel is full of videos about or related to Sharon. It's not mentioned but I'm guessing she must about bought a copy of the full show. 

The listed date is 2/7/69, but I assume since she's American she's writing it the "wrong" way, hence it's actually 7/2/69 to the rest of us (i.e. 7th of February, 1969). 

SATAN'S CHILDREN on bluray from AGFA/SWV - again

SWV's old video release (courtesy of Fred Adelman's
fantastic - but now deleted - website Critical Condition)

I posted about how I'd bought the then new bluray release of SATAN'S CHILDREN (Joe Wiezycki, USA, 1975) back in 2020 (check my old post here). The bluray was a co-release from AGFA and Something Weird Video. SWV had already released the film on video and a couple of times on dvd (as a double bill with ASYLUM OF SATAN - for a review of the dvd go here), and knowing SWV they probably also sold it on dvd-r [EDIT: I checked and yes they did!] And now they've just re-released it AGAIN! Cash cow much!? Why not just keep the old bluray in print!? The old release is a double bill with Ray Laurent's documentary film SATANIS: THE DEVIL'S MASS (1970). The new re-release has a few new bonus features, however, it omits SATANIS! 

I assume they have used the "old" (from three years ago) scan of SATAN'S CHILDREN as nothing has been mentioned otherwise. The new bonus features are a Q&A and a commentary track - the latter by somebody called Elizabeth Purchell. You also get the old SWV documentary THE WEIRD WORLD OF WEIRD (1970) off an S-VHS master (the info about the new re-release is lifted from SWV's website). 

SATAN'S CHILDREN trailer (from AGFA's YouTube channel, 1080p):

WEIRD WORLD is already on YouTube in full, and since it's off a VHS tape anyway I don't reckon it'll be in any better quality than the 480p version on YouTube. So in other words what you get of (real) new bonuses instead of SATANIS are a Q&A and a commentary track. If I didn't have the "old" bluray and were to choose one I'd still go for the older release. 

SATANIS: THE DEVIL'S MASS trailer (AGFA's YouTube channel, 1080p):

I love Something Weird Video, and not least do I love the history and background of the label. But I'm not always in favour of their decisions; Like their choice to stop selling physical media to countries outside of North America! Or the fact that they refuse to include a cover scan if you buy a downloaded version of one of their films. 

And now we get a new re-release of an already new release with a couple of new extra bonus features thrown in to make the fans buy it again!

I'm aware that a couple of fans on facebook have suggested that the reason for the omission of SATANIS is likely due to copyright issues. But fans speculating about something clearly isn't equal to stating a fact. I still have to see any official word on this from either AGFA or SWV. If it were just a matter of their not being able to include the film, how come they don't just come out and say so? Could it be that it's not just a case of copyrights, but that they're going to re-release SATANIS on a stand alone disc as well?

Oh well, time will tell I'm sure. And even if it does come out again (which means the "true" fans will buy it again - I'm confident it'll feature a new interview or a PDF of the Satanic Bible or some such, LOL) I don't need it. Already got it! 

Alright, down below you find the full THE WEIRD WORLD OF WEIRD doc from YouTube, a couple of cover pix, and Fred Adelman's review from Crit Con. Even though his site is gone you can find it all on Wayback Machine (I think it's all there anyway). 

THE WEIRD WORLD OF WEIRD (full documentary, 480p): 

The old badly lit photo from 2020 of my then new copy of the
original bluray release of SATAN'S CHILDREN / SATANIS
(don't get confused by the fact that it's lying on top of an LP cover!)

New bluray cover

SATAN'S CHILDREN reviewed by the late Fred Adelman on Critical Condition (original review here):

SATAN’S CHILDREN (1974) - This obscure lensed-in-Florida rarity is a true exploitation maven’s dream. Poor Bobby Douglas (Stephen White) runs away from home after putting up with his abusive father (Eldon Mecham) and cockteasing stepsister Janis (Joyce Molloy) one too many times. He is then promptly raped by four men in the back of a car and dumped unconscious naked in the woods. He is found by a cult of Satan worshippers and brought back to their compound. Sherry (Kathleen Archer), the temporary leader of the group (their leader, Simon, is away on business), falls in love with Bobby who is laid up in bed nursing a sore ass. Dissention erupts in the group over Bobby ("He’s queer. Satan doesn’t want victims") and Sherry hangs three of the disciples for wanting Bobby ousted from the compound. The dashing, debonnaire Simon (Robert C. Ray II in an excellent performance) returns and, finding out what Sherry has done, buries her up to her neck and pours maple syrup over her head. While waiting for the ants to come, Simon gives Bobby two choices: He can stay in bed and watch the ants devour Sherry or he can get out of bed and quit being a victim. Bobby opts for the latter. He escapes from the compound and returns home (after electrocuting two compound guards and drowning two more guards in quicksand). He hits his father over the head with a bottle, ties up his stepsister (rape is implied) and throws her in the backseat of his car. He then drives to the house of the four men who raped him and kills them with a shotgun. He cuts off the head of the lead rapist, puts it in a plastic bag (he may have done the same thing to his father since there are two heads in the bag) and delivers it, along with his stepsister, to Simon. The final scene shows Bobby and Sherry making passionate love intercut with scenes of his stepsister being crucified (with metal spikes!) on a wooden cross. A true happy ending! This mind-blowing flick must be seen to be disbelieved. The screenwriters (Gary Garrett and Ron Levitt) are definitely pro-Satan and anti-homosexual. All gay characters are portrayed as sexual deviates and meet nasty ends. When a female disciple swears before Simon and Satan that she is not a lesbian (she is), a river of blood flows from her mouth and she chokes to death! This demented film, directed and produced by Joe Wiezycki (has he done anything else?) is so steeped in homosexual undertones (Bobby is either naked or in his underwear for most of the film) that one gets the feeling that the filmmakers were trying to exorcise some demons of their own. Toss in some good music (the opening and closing theme is a killer) and decent acting (only the father is wooden) making SATAN’S CHILDREN a thoroughly watchable and unforgiving flick, one of the best that came out of Florida during the 70’s. I now declare this to be one of CritCon’s top 20 films of all time! Something Weird Video has dug up a near pristine print of this unknown classic. Do yourself a favor and send $22.00pp off to them and buy this whacked-out tale of Satan-loving homo-hating hippies. You’ll be glad that you did. Rated R for Really Weird. Update: Robert C. Ray II (a.k.a. Simon) emailed CritCon with his take on this film: "The fun thing about that film for me has to be that a significant part of the dialog was badly recorded while filming (the Nagra crystal sync recorder wasn't too good), so we had to re-record the entire thing at my apartment just off-campus from the University of South Florida in Tampa.  The sound man and I went into the bathroom for the better acoustics, and stood in the bathtub and did another series of takes. My young wife was in the kitchen, hidden behind the door, laughing hysterically at us.  All in all, it came out quite well, considering all of us worked for spec.  We all had fun making it, which is ultimately what it's all about anyway..." Mr. Ray II can be seen in the ape adventure/comedy BORN TO BE WILD (1995 - a.k.a. KATIE) playing a corrupt Customs Officer whom Peter Boyle pays off.

THE GORE GAZETTE editor RICK SULLIVAN on the Morton Downey Jr. Show in 1989

Years ago I remember reading about how Rick Sullivan (of The Gore Gazette zine/newsletter) was on a talk show once, but I've never actually watched it. Not until now that is. 45 minutes of 80s crazy American talk show debate about censorship (or as we say in this house: censorshit). This is good fun.

Also on the show: Fangoria editor Anthony Timpone, Michael Berryman, and Dave Juskow who made a film called SPLATTER GIRLS.

(broadcast date: 17.06.1989)

Under the radar - Biblio-Curiosa

I think the general assumption is that there is no underground any longer as everything is online. But I still discover stuff that fly under the radar. Like this fanzine: Biblio-Curiosa published by a guy in Australia called Chris Mikul. I stumbled over an interview with him, but although he's interviewed online, and although I've found a few reviews of his zine, he has no webpage, no web shop, and no videos on youtube (that I know of anyway). His zine sounds great, though. And as I'm typing this I've just written to him and ordered a couple of issues (despite not having a website or a shop he does have an email address!).

The interview was done by David Kerekes of Headpress fame. You'll find it right here. Headpress has published a couple of books based on Chris Mikul's other zine, Bizarrism (which I haven't seen either). And I think they might have something else he's written - I haven't looked too closely into it yet.

PS: I just got a reply from him. I asked him about his fb account (which I found). He says he logs in about once a year!

Officially UN-PUBLISHED!!!

- or: The day "PAY HER OR I'LL BEAT YOUR CAR, PUNK" blog became offensive!

As if we didn't have enough problems with facebook and YouTube censorshit nonsense, now Blogspot (aka Blogger.com) is trying to up the game. Yes, Blogspot!!! The olde blog platform that hardly anybody uses anymore. The one that you're reading this post on! Most blogs on said platform are probably dead and floating around in Cyberspace like old Mir stations.

I just got two emails from the "good people" at Blogspot. They've deleted two of my posts (check one of their identical emails posted down below). So I'm thinking, "Hmm, what could be so objectional to them that they would censor me for the first time in my career on their platform? Mind you I've been here for about 15 years or so. Was it the true snuff porn that I posted last week? Or the colourised pictures of dead infants?? Was it my "Fun with Car Accidents" series???" (I'm joking of course).

Nope! It was two VHS covers from Indonesian B movies that I posted on a blog ... in 2009!!! 13 years ago!!!

And get this: I posted them on a blog that I have never even launched!!!!!

Many years ago I got this "great idea" (if I may say so myself) for a blog all dedicated to the Kiwi actor Peter O'Brian and his wild Indonesian RAMBO ripoff film called THE INTRUDER (aka RAMBU). In 2009 I posted a dozen video sleeves and then (mentally) put a post-it sticker on it saying "finish this whenever you get the time". Of course now 13 years later I still haven't done anything about it.

Needless to say, I wonder about the "your post was flagged" comment from Blogspot. My un-launched blog was "public" but I had ticked "no" in the box where they ask if you want search engines to be able to find you (btw, I've just changed the blog to not being public). I'm guessing it's a blogger auto "flagging" of the two posts.

But still very odd. And very annoying that - in contradiction to facebook - they don't even show you what they felt was so objectionable. The two posts are GONE. Even their headlines are gone. But as I said all I had posted were vhs covers. And old Indonesian B movie covers don't have burning kids or hardcore porn on them. All very odd - and very, very annoying.

PS: The title of the blog: At the beginning of THE INTRUDER two low life and good for nothing creeps accidentally ram their car into an old woman. They get out of the car and start yelling at her. A Rambo dude just happens to drive past. He gets out of his car and tells them to cover her ruined groceries. Of course they won't. "Pay her or I'll beat your car, Punk", he says and you know you're in for a wild ride. THE INTRUDER has never been released officially on dvd or bluray, but there are video tapes, vcd's, bootlegs and downloads out there. The best video release picture wise is the (very, very, very rare) Belgian release: fully letterboxed - but also dubbed in French.

KAMPUCHEA EXPRESS (Thailand/Italy, 1982)

 aka Angkor: Cambodia Express (original title according to IMDb)

Poster (Denmark)

Ad-mat (Denmark)

TRAILERS:

 
English dubbed fullscreen trailer, clear bright

picture. Missing a bit of footage at the end.

  Letterboxed version of the same English

dubbed  trailer. Complete, but very dark.

I don't have this film but there are two pretty good and informative reviews on IMDb

PS: Thanks to the two channels that originally uploaded these two trailers. And boo-hoo to them both for changing the trailers to "private" after I made my post. Good thing I made sure to download them right away!

KAMPUCHEA THE UNTOLD STORY (Thailand, 1975) - German trailer

 

IMDb page

Dangerous stuff indeed

Yesterday, I posted this poster for MAN FROM DEEP RIVER (or Mondo Cannibale as it was called in Denmark for some odd reason) on facebook. Directed by Umberto Lenzi in Italy, 1972. If you look carefully you'll notice one tiny boob. That boob got me banned from facebook! Well, a 24 hour ban that is. Very annoying. But of course, it is a very nice boob. 

Odd move from Bo

I just noticed that one of the YouTube uploaded versions of BROTHERS IN BLOOD has now been taken down. Instead of the video you now see this interesting disclaimer: 

Fair enough if Bo Svenson doesn't want his film uploaded to YouTube. However, I find it odd that he would ask YouTube to remove the shorter edit of the film but not the long uncut version. That kinda does not make sense. Or could it be that Bo doesn't actually mind his film being on YouTube, but he just doesn't want the short edit as it's not the right version as seen from an artistic viewpoint? o_O 

All very odd. I should of course make a disclaimer of my own: I have nothing to do with any of these uploads. I just link to the film on YouTube. 

The old post is here and you can still watch the Italian version and the trailer. If you like the film I also highly recommend the German blu-ray edition. Uncut and in English. Info here. I see the Austrian shop in my link has a few copies left. 

Trailer for LARS BLOCH documentary film

 
Not a lot of Danes have heard of Lars Bloch (also a Dane) but to most fans of Italian genre films he is ... also pretty obscure! And that's why it would be pretty cool if the people behind this trailer would get cracking and release the documentary film! The trailer was posted on YouTube by its director, Dario Cioni, in 2019. Hopefully they finished shooting enough footage of Lars Bloch as he passed away recently. 

Quick return to COMIX gutter

Back in March I posted about having ordered Robin Bougie's Gutter Hunter #1. It was released late last year, and lo and behold the editor is already cranking out another issue!! Amazing!!! And these issues are by no means low on page count or low on well researched and informative text either. The first one was a 100 page issue, and I think it was mentioned on fb that this one is also a 100 page mofo.
12 dollars + postage.

I don't know if FAB Press is going to sell these as well, but even if they are I'm not going to order it from them. Last time I had to cough up 44 (forty-four!) dollars in total for No. 1, thanks to FAB Press insisting on gluing a customs form on the envelope. I wrote and asked them not to but obviously they simply haaad to slap that fucker on the envelope. Living in the EU meant I got slapped with extra fees in the form of VAT and postal service fee. In total: 44 dollars!!! Anyhoo, it's water under the bridge and I just hope they next one goes thru without any hassles.  

EDIT: I ordered this issue directly from Robin's webshop and mentioned the import problem in the comments' box, and he promised to send it in a plain brown envelope. Way to go, Robin! 

Order from Robin Bougie's online shop here.

If you're too lazy to scroll down to the old post you'll find it here. 

Lisa Petrucci of SOMETHING WEIRD VIDEO reveals da goods in two parter podcast

Part one:  Part two:

  

Here's a brand new two part episode (April 2022) of a podcast called The Walter Paisley Movie House podcast. The guest is Lisa Petrucci of everyone's fan favourite video label Something Weird Video. I've never listened to this podcast before, and I only know of its existence because someone posted about the two episodes in the SWV fan group on facebook (actually I think it was Lisa Petrucci herself). 

The interview is pretty good, and Lisa has an interesting background story. And it is certainly good to see she is keeping Something Weird Video alive after Mike Vraney - the guy who started the company - passed away. I've only ordered directly from them maybe a dozen titles over the years due to fairly obstructive ordering procedures; For a long time they didn't take PayPal. And later they did decide to take PayPal, but only thru direct personal e-mails which took days to get thru. And of course now they don't take orders for physical formats from outside North America at all!! Some titles you can order for download, but the download versions are of a less good quality (according to Petrucci herself), and you don't get a cover with your downloaded film! 

I've never before wanted to order from their download catalogue, because I want physical copies to put on my shelves. However, I caved in and ordered a download recently. It was a film you can't get anywhere else. Not even via YouTube. I wrote to Lisa Petrucci and asked for a scan of the cover from their dvd-r version of the film (I'm positive they've got digital copies already - how else would they print out covers for the physical dvd-r versions) but the reply was a no can do. I love SWV but I'm not one to kiss ass and I'll call out annoying things when I see them - and this is annoying!!! Luckily, a collector in the US who had bought the physical version was kind enough to help me out and make a copy. But still. I can't rely on helpful fans for every download I might want to order. But, hey, forget about my being grumpy here and click that play button. It's a good podcast! 

Constipated Henry in sequel

I rewatched HENRY - PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER, PART 2 (aka Henry - Portrait of a Serial Killer 2: Mask of Sanity) last night. This time on blu-ray (Njuta Films, Sweden). I still can't make up my mind about it - do I like this or don't I. But no matter what, I've bought the fucking film three times! (fullscreen UK dvd, widescreen US dvd, and widescreen Swedish blu-ray)

It's a shit film compared to the original. And Neil Giuntoli is certainly no Michael Rooker. But as someone mentioned recently, if you're going to make a HENRY sequel without Rooker, Giuntoli is your best Henry. And yeah, I guess. When he's good in the film he's quite good. But there's just too many scenes where it was obvious the director said, "be Henry like Michael Rooker!" and he just looks like he's constipated. However, as a fun (and nasty) sequel it works alright. 

The question is just - should a "kinda good, kinda shitty" sequel exist to a fantastic original film? If they had called the film "Henrik - Portrait of a Mass Murderer" I would have no hesitation in barracking for it.  

PS: Be careful if you buy a reg. 1 dvd: there are two releases, one is heavily cut and one is uncut. The UK dvd is uncut (but fullscreen). The Swedish bluray is uncut and widescreen. 

Now, watch dese two different trailers (the top one being the longer, more nasty one):

PS: For some reason these two trailers have no avatar BUT they do work!

:

Cronenberg - that's **David** Cronenberg - is finally back with a new body horror film

Teaser art poster

The last few years fans - well, at least I - have been looking towards Brandon Cronenberg for the latest kick in body horror. But it's rumoured (again: by me) that old man David sat down, watched his son's flicks, and thought to himself, "Ahh man, I should do body horror again!". He couldn't come up with a new title so he went back to his student films and - I guess - figured that nobody would remember he once used the title CRIMES OF THE FUTURE for an early short film. Oh well, we forgive you, Dave-oh cos we luuuv ya. And the two trailers look promising so I for one am certainly looking forward to CRIMES. It'll premiere at Cannes this year and premiere at cinemas in June. 

Watch both trailers, they're quite different: 

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!).

Direct link to the episode

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.

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

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

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! 
----- 
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.

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!

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!

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 made this film with Lydia Lunch in 1983: 

 

 Nick Zedd interview from 2007:

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

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: