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…
Review of the romantic meanie, OVERBOARD (1987), new on Blu from Severin Films, plus some thoughts on the 2018 remake.
Boogaloo-ing to the Cannon Groove, Part 2: Getting Inside the Go-Go Boys
Review of Hilla Medalia’s The Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story of Cannon Films (2014), from Multicom Entertainment / MVD.
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.
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.
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…
BR: Last Blockbuster, The (2020)
There’s a tall tale in how a video rental chain that peaked in 2004 with over 9,000 locations and 84,000 staffers globally now exists as one store in Bend, Oregon, run by a family and loyal staffers…
The production of Laserblast in 1978 seems to be the net result of good timing which enabled a slight idea to quickly blossom into a full-fledged movie, but with a tight budget and a semi-coherent script…
BR: Shock Treatment / Traitement de choc (1973)
It’s a little challenging to define Alain Jessua’s odd little thriller, which is neither a full horror film nor blatant satire of chi-chi health clinics…
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