Alongside an Editor’s Blog, Part 3 of Video Tales offers up reviews of Jake West’s superlative documentary Video Nasties: Draconian Days (Severin / Nucleus Films) + Grindhouse Trailer Classics.
Jake West’s follow-up to Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship & Videotape (2010) is another superb chapter in the history of Britain’s Video Nasties era, in which the lack of any ratings system by a government agency was in large part responsible for a glut of unrated films in rental shops…
Part 2 of Video Tales includes a review of Jake West’s excellent 2010 doc Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship and Videotape (Severin / Nucleus) + scans of another 1980s video store catalogue!
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Britain’s infamous Video Records Act (VRA) in which 72 horror films (dubbed ‘video nasties’ by sleazebag media outlets such as the Daily Mail) were banned by the BBFC due to ‘depraved content,’ Severin Films have picked up the North American video rights to Jake West’s superb documentary…
Synapse Films released a swanky new Blu-ray / DVD combo edition of Jeffrey Obrow and Stephen Carpenter’s slasher classic The Dorm That Dripped Blood (1982) which, like Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead (1981), was branded by Britain’s paranoid censor board as a Video Nasty…
Gothic Steele: An Angel for Satan (1966)
Review of AN ANGEL FOR SATAN / UN ANGELO PER SATANA (1966), Barbara Steele’s last Italian Gothic, on Blu-ray from Severin Films
Spanish Giallo I: When a Cannibal is not a Cannibal, but When a Scream is Indeed a Scream
Severin Films showcases the work of Eloy de la Iglesia via two fine Spanish gialli entries: NO ONE HEARD THE SCREAM (1973) + CANNIBAL MAN (1972)
Review of the romantic meanie, OVERBOARD (1987), new on Blu from Severin Films, plus some thoughts on the 2018 remake.
ArtScopeTO 10: Interview with Abstract Painter Donna Wise
For my occasional podcast series ArtScope TO, Abstract Painter Donna Wise discusses her unique techniques, and working during the 2020-2021 pandemic.
Podcast: Jason Pichonsky on Restoring Julian Roffman’s THE BLOODY BROOD (1959) + PHOBIA (1980)
Alongside a podcast with CanCon film historian Jason Pichonsky are revised reviews of Julian Roffman’s THE BLOODY BROOD (1959) + John Huston’s PHOBIA (1980), both from KINO Lorber / Unobstructed View.
Podcast: ANNE WITH AN E composers Amin Bhatia & Ari Posner
Podcast interview with ANNE WITH AN E’s composing team Amin Bhatia and Ari Posner.
Angel for Satan, An / Un angelo per Satana (1966)
Had Barbara Steele remained in Europe – especially Italy – during the early 1970s, she may well have appeared in giallo thrillers…
BR: Cannibal Man / La semana del asesino / Apartment on the 13th Floor, The (1972)
Cannibal Man has a palpable crime-drama feel – the events unfold after daily title cards – and one can sense Hitchcockian sensibilities…
BR: No One Heard the Scream / Nadie oyó gritar (1973)
After the grisly thriller Cannibal Man (1972), Spanish auteur Eloy de la Iglesia opted for a far less graphic thriller which is part giallo…
DVD: Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story of Cannon Films, The (2014)
Produced and released around the same time as Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films (2014), the approach by director Hilla Medalia is a more authorized chronicle…
BR: Deep Blood / Sangue negli abissi (1990)
The lineage linking three specific Jaws rip-offs from Italy goes beyond merely riffing Steven Spielberg’s 1975 film about a beach community threatened by a great white shark…
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