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 avatars 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 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: 

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

JOHN WATERS and MINK STOLE on "The Joan Quinn Profiles" show (1997 + 2000)

 

 There's a ton of John Waters interviews to get lost in out there, and needless to say they're all great (at least if you're a fan - and quite frankly: I am), but then once in a while you stumble over one interview which is somewhat different. And this is one of them! 

I don't live in LA (or the US for that matter) so I'm really not familiar with Joan Quinn but from online info she has apparently been presenting a local (local in LA that is) tv show for the past 30 years. On her show she usually talks to two "celebs" (although I've never heard of 98 % of them) for half an hour. She's been doing this since the early 90s and according to IMDb she still does the show!  

I assume she liked John a lot cos as a rare occurrence she dedicated the full show to him. Three years later she also spoke to Mink Stole, which I'll also include in this post. Hardly anybody has seen these two interviews (on YouTube anyway) which is rather odd. 

MUTINEY! The Last Birthday Party (Heiner Mühlenbrock, West Germany, 1983)

NB: The video does work despite the black avatar!

I've been a fan of Nick Cave's old band THE BIRTHDAY PARTY for almost longer than I can remember, but it wasn't till this afternoon that I came across this documentary film about the recording of their last record, the EP "Mutiny" from 83. But cool that you can still be able to find "new" stuff you haven't seen before. 

The doc runs around 25 minutes and there's no narration in the film. Just the band (and Blixa Bargeld) recording. 

Dangerous Minds wrote about the film already back in 2017. Go here. 

PS: Yes, it's been at least a year and a half since my last post. Is anybody actually out there reading?