ONAR means dream in ancient Greek

Some of you out there know Bill Barounis from Onar Films like I do; from years of film collecting and Cinehound forum. On Facebook renowned Scandinavian collector Dag-Johnny says he's known Bill since the early 1990s.

What a great (and hotheaded) guy! An inspiration to anybody who ever tried to do stuff in the film fandom. In the presentation of his video label ONAR his last line says:

However, print quality is not something I worry about. My ONLY concern is to unearth RARE, LOST prints of entertaining, weird, pulp, never-seen-before, unheard-of titles. That was and still is my "ONAR" (dream, in ancient greek).

One should never give up hope but it seems it's only a matter of time now. It's so very sad. This is our friend Miltos' post from today:

I was in the hospital yesterday with my wife trying to encourage Juliette and Bill's mother. They were crying as Bill is in terrible situation. His brain is dead and he's bleeding from the eyes, the nose and mouth...

I saw him for a couple of minutes, for a last goodbye I guess sad.gif

Julette told me: If any of you wait something from Bill (VHS or DVD) she cannot manage it right now, but please be patient, OK?

I don't know what else to say. I know Bill but I've never met him. My thoughts go out to his close friends in Greece for many years; Miltos and Lefteris, Bill's wife and daughter, and his parents.

HARD TO DIE (Jim Wynorski, USA, 1990)

I watched Jim Wynorski's HARD TO DIE tonight and, hands down, this is thee best film I've ever seen!!! Mein gott, HARD TO DIE is cinematic heaven!!! It's got everything: chicks in a skyscraper hunted by a mad maniac who can't die, naked chicks in a skyscraper hunted by a mad maniac who can't die, naked chicks with blood on their boobs in a skyscraper hunted by a mad maniac who can't die, Forrest J Ackerman (who's in a different building!), and so much more!! (well, that's actually a lie but fuck that, it's got chicks with boobs on their blood... I mean... arr just watch the trailer! It's good for you!! The DVD is available form Roger Corman's store on eBay).

SATAN OG HELVEDE!!!!!!!!!

fUCK CUNT SHIT!!!! i spent fucken 5 hourse on a review and then my fucking shit computer (yes that's you i'm jtalking to shitæ for brins computer!!!) decided to fucking freeze and I lost most of it. five hours dwon the fukcen draoins!!!! I'm not gonna try and re wirte it. for fux sake!!! Here's a few scas form that review. Im off to bed. >_<

Spids Nøgenhat - "Hvad Har Du taget" + "Det Psykadeliske Tapet"

This is, like, thee most awesome Danish band ever! (as always I'm exaggerating but they're pretty fucken good!).

A year closer to zombiehood

It was my birthday yesterday (thanks to everyone who sent stuff) and John Lovegore Perros from Greece sent me this awesome video on Facebook. Thanks, John. It's totally brilliant!!!

I woke up and there was a big ugly fly walking around in one of my slippers

And I thought, Yep, it's my birthday. >_<

Anyhoo, here's the GUN CLUB doing their awesome "Texas Serenade". It's from the "Miami" album and the uploader obviously used the old LP version. Unfortunately "Miami" never got the attention it ought to have had simply due to a terribly weak production. When Sympathy For The Record Industry re-released it on CD a few years back they remastered it and the album finally got the power it ought to have had from the beginning. I know-I know, the CD is a victim of the Loudness War and the music is compressed too much or whatever. But it STILL sounds better on my cheap ghettoblaster with its more powerful sound than the MUCH too weak vinyl version. If I had expensive stereo equipment then it might be a problem. As it is it isn't. So sue me. xD

I can't even think of a headline...

It saddens me deeply to forward this: Turkish film director Kunt Tulgar has been to see BILL BAROUNIS (aka Vassilis) in hospital in Greece and according to Turkish film journalist Ali Murat Guven he said:

"Unfortunately Vassilis is dying step by step. He was sleeping deeply."

I'm still hoping for a miracle. :-(


Here's Ali Murat Guven's email in full. It was posted on Cinehound forum today (Friday):

"Dear friend Miltos,

Mr. Kunt Tulgar just arrived to Athens today early in the morning and he didn't want to disturb to you, directly went to the clinic.

He saw Vassilis, Julia and Vassilis' parents. He spent a few times at the hospital and gave Vassilis' honorary prize from Ankara Fantastic Film Festival to Julia.

They called me from the hospital, both of them were so sad. Tulgar said 'Unfortunately Vassilis is dying step by step. He was sleeping deeply. I kissed him and whispered to his ear 'As the Turkish filmmakers, journalists, film fans, we will never forget you and your efforts for us dear Greek brother'.

It was a very tragic moment for me. Kunt and me were crying on the phone.

Mr. Tulgar will return to Turkey on Friday.

I thank you for your friendly informations and helps. We really will never forget our Greek brother and from now on, we will remember him in every fantastic film festivals in Turkey.

Unfortunately, I could only have done this for him. I go on praying for my lovely friend.

Regards,

ALI MURAT GUVEN"

You can read the original posting (including Miltos' comments) here.


Like Kurt said, wish you were here now, Bill. :(

This is the best toon ever recorded!!!

This is THE FABS doing "That's the bag I'm in" from 1966. It's on BACK FROM THE GRAVE, VOLUME ONE (from Crypt Records). You should own that record!


Every morning when I wake up
I burn my fingers on the coffee pot.
My toast is cold and my orange juice hot.
I could start over but I'd really rather not
'Cause it would only happen over again.

Well, yeah!
Well, that's the bag I'm in.
That's the bag, that's the bag, that's the bag I'm in.
That's the bag, baby!
That's the bag I'm in.
Well, that's the bag I'm in.

I never met a girl I thought could be my friend.
The only money I got is Chinese yen.
They'll probably drop the bomb the day my ship comes in.
I want a steady girl who could be tall and thin.

Well, that's the bag I'm in.
Well, that's the bag I'm in.
Well, that's the bag I'm in.



The lyrics are courtesy of the YouTube uploader.

All hail our king

Gee whiz! During my five year mission thru Cyberspace I've just stumbled over a Bruno Mattei fan site, THE HELL OF BRUNO MATTEI. Another fellow Mattei worshipper!! I have no idea if the site is any good but here is a link anyway. And I don't know if it's still being updated (or who's behind it). The front page was last updated in 2006 but there might be newer reviews.

KOLCHAK: the night stalker (USA, 1974-75)

I received the KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER complete series boxset today. Yay!! Spiffy!!! I've wanted this show for years!! But there's too many movies in this world so that's why I haven't got around to ordering it until now. Now it's here and whoo-hoo for that.

I've never watched any of the episodes before but I've watched the telly movie and the pilot that preceded the show and found those two to be really good. KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER ran over the US TV screens in 1974-75. Twenty 60 minute episodes! Maybe 20 episodes doesn't sound like much compared to other shows but even so it became a cult show that people are still talking about. I watched episode #1 tonight and I look forward to the remaining 19!!

The basic plot: Carl Kolchak is a newspaper reporter and for some reason he usually runs into unusual cases. In the first episode he's up against "the ripper" (who happens to be Jack the Ripper hisself who has survived since 1888!!). Some of the other episodes are called: "The Zombie", "The Vampire", and "The Spanish Moss Murders"!

As I said there are two TV films that were made before the show; THE NIGHT STALKER from 1972 and THE NIGHT STRANGLER (i.e. the pilot) from 1973.

The two TV movies are released on a reg. 1 MGM DVD but unfortunately it's out of print and it's now so expensive it's ridiculous!! Fortunately I bought it years ago and probably paid something like 10 bucks for it.

The complete TV show (which doesn't include any of the two TV films) is out on DVD in both the US and the UK. Both sets are complete and if you need subtitles (Spanish & English) you'll need the reg. 1 set but otherwise I'll recommend the UK set at it contains the original versions of all episodes. The show's original title in the first four episodes was "The Night Stalker" after which they changed the title to "Kolchak: The Night Stalker". When the show was re-run in the US they changed the title card in the first four episodes and the reg. 1 carries the altered versions. The UK set, on the other hand, uses the original versions. I know-I know, not much of a difference but, hey, THIS SHIT IS IMPORTANT to film geeks like you and me. lolz.

Also, the reg. 1 box presents the 20 episodes on 3 flipper discs whereas the UK set has 5 ordinary discs. There's no extras (and do notice the UK set isn't subtitled).

There was a remake a few years back but I haven't watched it and I seem to remember it bombed.

I got the KOLCHAK set from Amazon UK where it retails for around £10. The video company Playback/Universal have released it in two different cases; the one described on Dvdcompare.net is different to the one I received (one plastic box, not three slimline cases in a cardboard slipcase) but I believe the discs are the same.