Sometimes you don't even go for the scoop - it just hits ya smack in the face

One of my fave TV stations is the joint French-German broadcaster ARTE TV. Around New Year's Eve they screened a series of Laurel and Hardy films. In addition to the old films ARTE also screened a new German documentary film about the duo and finally a bit of a curiosity; the last film they did together: ATOLL K aka Robinson Crusoeland (UK) / Utopia (USA).



Like everyone else I've always liked the old Stan & Ollie films but I'm not a fan as such and haven't collected the films. However, when I saw the German documentary which had quite a bit of coverage on ATOLL K, the last film they did, and I learnt about the struggle they had to go thru trying to make the film (they couldn't make films in the US any longer and were going to chuck in the towel when a French/Italian company asked if they'd do a film in Europe) I just knew I had to tape it!



ATOLL K looked to be quite a bit of a psychotronic film (keep in mind it was made at the end of their career, to say it bluntly they look like they're quite... beyond their expiry date! And the gages are the same stuff we've seen lots of times before, but usually younger and better, but the very same reasons made the film interesting enough for me to tape (i.e. dvdr). And now I'm thrilled I did! I checked the film on Wiki and discovered to my surprise that ARTE's print is actually the ultra rare international English language print that hasn't been shown since its cinema premiere in 1951!!! Wauw!



According to Wiki, there are no less than four different edits of the film: The French version called ATOLL K which runs 93 min; The Italian print (aka Atollo K) which clocks in at the 97 min. mark. The UK version (aka Robinson Crusoeland, re-titled Utopia in the USA) which runs a mere 82 min., and finally an English language international print that (as I mentioned) hadn't been shown since its cinema premiere in 1951.

Only one print of the international print, owned by a private collector, was known to exist. The film is out on various shitty public domain DVDs and video tapes in the US. However, the print that ARTE showed is the fully uncut, restored international version!! Very cool indeed!! I'm told the film is pretty bad but, hey, we're cult movie fans here. You and I know very well that "bad" films often take upon them a psychotronic quality of their own! I'm certainly looking forward to watching the rest of ATOLL K (so far I've checked the first 10 minutes and done up the screen grabs from the intro scene).

Heaven knows I was misserable

I had the flu! For almost a week! Well, actually it was a stomach bug. Nekoneko, one of my most fave bloggers suffered something similar recently and now it was my turn. From Monday thru to Thursday/Friday. A terrible ordeal. I got well enough to go to my dad's for the new year's eve weekend. I'm back at my place now and have many, many, many pages of emails and PMs to go thru so if you've been shaking your fist in my direction due to a lack of reply then... there's your reason. I'll reply all emails, PMs, and fan-mail (lol) but it may take a couple of days. I haven't logged in at Cinehound for several weeks but I'm aware of PMs hanging there waiting too.

Oh, and merry Christmas and happy new year to you all! Thanks for reading.



PS: Yes, the photo may very well be me outside my dad's house on new years eve. ^_^

Pointless post about some new stuff

I received a couple of multo spiffy flicks today! From Roger Corman's eBay store I got THE HAUNTING OF MORELLA (directed by Jim Wynorski which guarantees a high quality film. Or at least boobs) and THE NEST. The latter has a cool booklet/catalogue in the case. I got them cheap from Corman's own shop. HAUNTING OF MORELLA was only $14. On Amazon.com it's listed at 50 dollars! The cheapest second-hand copy is $27!! I also got CUT-THROATS NINE from Code Red. The DVD has a bonus film, JOSHUA, which I've been wanting to see ever since Swedish television had a season of blaxploitation films on back in the 90s. They included a docu on Fred Williamson in which he talked about JOSHUA.

And finally, I ordered two rare HK VCDs! CAGEMAN and MARIANNA. The first won a pile of Golden Horses at the HK "Oscars" a few years back (I couldn't find a DVD release) and the latter is a HK-Filipino co-production filmed in the Philippines. Also pretty rare (and with no DVD release afaik). Read more about it here.

Oh, and last night (actually sometime during the night, haha) I emptied the mailbox and discovered that I'd recived SHOUT! Factory's awesome releases of HUMANOIDS FROMTHE DEEP (aka Monster), PIRANHA, DEATHSPORT, and BATTLETRUCK! (which I reviewed many years ago in "Bloody Darlings" zine!). Oh happy days!

Big in Thailand

He may not be big in Japan yet but Fred and his ATTACKAFANT ENTERTAINMENT is making it big in the homeland of the debut film (i.e. Killer Elephants) from his company! When you're the head-story of Asia's biggest movie magazine it's clear you're certainly going places. Awesome, Fred!!

THE LOSERS (USA/Philippines, 1970)

aka NAM ANGELS




Directed by: Jack Starrett
Produced by: Joe Solomon

Cast: William Smith, Bernie Hamilton, Adam Roarke, Houston Savage, Gene Cornelius, Paul Koslo, John Garwood, Ana Korita, Lillian Margareio, Paraluman, Vic Diaz

Video release: Europa Film (Sweden), fullscreen, English audio, Swedish subtitles


To most fans of exploitation films THE LOSERS is probably seen as an American film. However, to me it's valid to list it as a Filipino film as it was filmed in the Philippines - and it has the one Filipino actor who was in about EVERY Filipino film in it. Yes, Vic Diaz is here! So obviously it's counts as a Filipino film in my book!




The Vietnam War rages. A CIA guy (played by the film's director) has been kidnapped by the red Chinese. The problem to the American army is that the Chinese are cooped up across the boarder in neutral Cambodia. What to do, oh what to do?? The American army could send in some commandos in the night to get him out. Or they could ask their well trained friends in the Mossad. Or they could suggest to the CIA that they get their own man out. Well, I'm sure you've already figured out they ain't gonna do any of that. No sirree, instead they call in a group of Hell's Angels bikers!!!




The Angels arrive and it soon becomes obvious that the army can't control them. As soon as they've got their bikes (sissy ass bikes, not their usual choppers) they start causing havoc in the local villages they ride thru, getting into fights, shooting guns, getting thrown in jail, get romantic and helpful with nice girls... no, wait... hmm, we're obviously dealing with a special branch of cinematic Hell's Angels here, hahaha. In fact they're not actually called "Hell's Angels" in the film but "Devils Advocates"!




I assume the film company didn't want to get into trouble with the real Hell's Angels (I'm sure Roger Corman spewed out a, "Fuck, why didn't I think of that!" after the Hell's Angels sued his company when he distributed Cirio H. Santiago's 1989 film NAM ANGELS!!). And you should think Corman had learnt his lesson; According to Michael Weldon's first Psychotronic book from 1983 Corman's company was sued already by the Angels when they made THE WILD ANGELS in 1966!!




Anyhoo, they plot and they plan how to get into the camp where the CIA guy is held captive. And they customise their bikes into MAD MAX style combat bikes (11 years before that kind of bikes were actually seen in MAD MAX 2!). The local Vietnamese mechanic is played by a young looking Vic Diaz. Gee, I wonder how many films he was in. It seems like he was in about EVERY American-Filipino co-production ever made! I'm not even kidding!!




The last half an hour of the film is all about the drive into Cambodia and the attack on the camp. If you've watched the Australian documentary film MACHETE MAIDENS about American-Filipino co-productions you might remember there's some scenes from THE LOSERS of the bikers attacking the camp and shooting off their machine guns and throwing hand-grenades and stuff.




THE LOSERS is great fun! Michael Weldon mentioned in his Psychotronic review that some people regard the film as the best biker movie there is. I don't know about that though; I mean it sure is a fun movie but that may be stretching it a tad too much. They don't actually ride around that much on their bikes and there's only five bikers in the film. But like I said it sure as hell is a cool flick. There's also a fair bit of gore (mostly from gun shuts) and some nudity as well. The almost pink blood looks silly but, oh well, it's not like you would think it were real blood even if it looked any better now would you. Although I argued for it being a Filipino film it doesn't really belong with the other Filipino Vietnam War movies from the 80s and early 90s. The main character is played by William Smith (who was Falconetti in RICH MAN POOR MAN aka To Brødre). Oh, and there's exploding huts too!




The version I watched is an old ex-rental VHS from Sweden. The tape is presented in fullscreen but it's not pan & scan and it looks alright. The print carries the original title, THE LOOSERS. At some stage the film was re-released in the US re-titled NAM ANGELS.




There's a fairly new DVD from Dark Sky and according to some message board and Amazon comments it seems it's a good release presented in the correct format and with some cool extras. But as I don't have this release obviously I can't judge how good it is. However, the film as such is highly recommended!

"The last group in England to be still angry?"

I've just discovered this fantastic Australian interview of THE FALL from 1982 (it contains a happy Mark E Smith!). I'm sure you know they're still around. Oh, and check the comments section for the usual Commonwealth love ("you Pommie bastard" was mentioned at least once, haha).

1-2-3-4

I was living in room 5A when I first discovered the joys of THE RAMONES playing live. A big Aussie guy, who had been kicked out of Spain and had died three times, was also living in the room. One Saturday afternoon he came back from Camden Market and showed me a bootleg cassette tape. The tape contained a live broadcast from a radio station in New York and it had been (if I remember correctly) broadcast on the 1'st of January 1979, the day after it had been recorded (on New Year's Eve). The tape was just pure ace. It contained the DJ's comments after the last track. He laughed and said something like, "32 songs in 30 minutes!! How do you follow that up!!!" Haha.

I wonder if that recording is out on bootleg CD now, or LP even? I've got a cassette tape copy off that ol'e boot tape. Anyhoo, I'm listening to my new RAMONES live CD, "Live, January 7, 1978 at the Palladium, NYC". The gig was recorded just a week after the one on the legendary "It's Alive" album. There are basically four differences between the two albums: Both set-lists are exactly the same except "Judy is a Punk" isn't on the "January 7" record. The sound is more rough on the "January 7" CD. "It's Alive" war recorded in London while "January 7" was recorded in New York. And finally, I would say "It's Alive" is a "real" RAMONES album whereas "January 7" was a recording made for the "King Biscuit Flower Hour" radio programme.



So do you need "January 7" if you've already got "It's Alive"? Well, if you're a true RAMONES fan of course you do! But do they sound more or less the same? Sure. Some of the short comments between songs are different but basically they're the same. But like I said, if you're a fan you need both records. What if you're not a fan? Why wouldn't you be a fan, what's wrong with you!! >_<

Oh, did I mention that "January 7" is also on vinly with a different cover and that the exact same recording was also released on a different CD called "NYC 1978". Man, I need those too!^_^

Creepy Bernie Wrightson

Dark Horse (2011), 144 pp, £10.84 (incl p&p/Amazon UK).



Yesterday, I ordered this tome of work that legendary Bernie Wrightson did for CREEPY and EERIE horror comic book magazines in the 1970s and early 80s. It's a hardcover deluxe edition and on Amazon it says it's Wrighton's complete work for those two magazines. Very cool! Someone in the Amazon comments section complained about the release being unnecessary as the same stories are (probably) also going to get released down the line when all issues eventually are reprinted in Dark Horse's big reprint series of CREEPY and EERIE.

Well, I beg to differ: It's a VERY welcome release! Firstly, it's most likely that not everybody can afford all the reprints! (they're pretty expensive). And secondly, this book means Wrightson fans get his stories NOW instead of having to wait fuck knows how many years before they're all back in print! And thirdly, it's just great to have them all in one collected volume. So up yours to the complainers! Hahaha. I'm getting the book from Bookdepository via Amazon UK, it was just under £7 (+ £4 postage).

Stone Boy (Philippines, 1982)

Sometimes you keep looking for old tapes for yrs and yrs and never find them, and sometimes you get an automatic email from eBay that says, "Buddy, we found yr tape for ya!" One such tape is the Filipino weirdo movie STONE BOY (aka Boy God/Rocco, Ang Batang Bato). The only two releases I'm aware of are on VHS in the US and in Australia. Yesterday I received the Aussie tape. xD xD xD. So far I've only checked the first 10 min and they look goood! Check Andrew Leavold and Todd Stadtman's reviews here.

...but they were cheap!

I bought a couple of DVDs! Yeah yeah I know! But they were on offer! I couldn't live without them! xD

FRI OS FRA DET ONDE (Ole Bornedal, it stars Lene from Aqua!) ^_^
MÅNGUDEN - "lost" Swedish TV horror movie from 1988. Never released on VHS.
BULLET IN THE HEAD - Fortune Star's new(ish) DVD
A BETTER TOMORROW 3 - new remastered VCD from FS. Still not on DVD (this new version that is).
BAY OF BLOOD (AWE)
NOTHING UNDERNEATH (AWE) - Italian giallo that stars Rene!
SAUNA (AWE)

I ordered them all from CDON except for the two HK films which are from DDDHOUSE.

Edit: A couple of extra titles:
Cut-Throats Nine/Joshua (Code Red reg. 1 dvd)
Ghostwatch (reg. 2/UK dvd)
Creepy Presents: Bernie Wrightson (a big, fat hardcover comic book reprint)