KQEK.com gets a Makeover + New One 7 Movies DVD Reviews

March 8, 2014 | By Mark R. Hasan

New Site Look!

You may have noticed a few changes to KQEK.com today, and they’re all the result of overhauling the mobile site into what’s now the main site. This is where all reviews and links to podcasts will appear, using a WordPress theme that’s workable on multiple devices and looks much cleaner.

The podcasts – of which two will be published next week – are now housed on KQEK.com’s own YouTube channel, in addition to Libsyn and select programs on SoundCloud.

I’ll periodically integrate reviews from the old KQEK.com archives, but for the time being those 1500+ reviews will remain exclusive to the old site. If you check out the Film Reviews tab, you’ll notice I’ve integrated links to both sites, with content on the new site appearing in bold. Next will be Soundtrack Reviews, and an overhaul of the Interviews – Profiles – Podcasts section.

One caveat: the original templates for the old site and prior mobile editions used templates tuned to the quirks of each site. You may notice the odd period or differing header & footer links which can only be fixed manually. Little by little these will be corrected, but right now the priority is to get the new site loaded with a backlog of new & unpublished content, and gradually shape the existing archives into the site’s design.

For the time being, the old Isolated Score sections and my old Music from the Movies columns are only available at the old site. (The Digital Bits, perhaps the preeminent home video site for news & reviews, undoubtedly shares a similar set of challenges where several years’ worth of content has to be selectively integrated into the new site on a gradual basis.)

The remaining changes should take about a month, after which I’ll set up banners for ads, with contact info should you wish to place a banner or tower advert on the site.

Latest Reviews

The first pair of reviews to be uploaded to the new site are One 7 Movies’ latest set of sexploitation flicks, and I’ve delved into the pros & cons of the films, and the label’s handling of these titles on DVD.

Erotic Blackmail / Le corps a ses raisons (1974) either started out as a softcore film or a ‘hard’ softcore film, and was butchered for its original videotape release. Either way, director Eddy Naka was a rank amateur, and to use a friend’s favourite phrase, he probably couldn’t direct his way out of a paper bag.

Although the jacket notes make no mention of it, Because of the Cats / Niet Voor De Poezen / Brutalization (1973) marks a rare theatrical appearance of Nicholas Freeling’s Detective Van der Valk, and while not a wholly successful crime film, it features an unusually solid roster of talent. As I mentioned in the review, this is one film in need of a proper special edition, perhaps by a label such as Scorpion Releasing, who produced a great SE of the similarly filmed-in-Holland Puppet on a Chain (1971).