Joshua Grannell (aka Peaches Christ) and I met up at the Duboce Park Café the Monday after Pride Weekend. As Peaches, Joshua had survived his Pilsner pork pull; an event he agreed to in support of his beloved BLT community. “Every year,” Joshua admitted, “Peaches seems to do less and less [at Pride] in an attempt to reserve energy for the next eight weeks [of Midnight Mass].” Being that it’s now official that this is the last year of Midnight Mass at the Bridge Theatre (“Peaches Christ: R.I.P.”), I felt it compulsory to find out what’s up. Although our conversation was primarily to serve my upcoming Fangoria article on Joshua’s recently completed first feature All About Evil (I’ll let you know when that hits the newsstands), I took time to probe about the summer swan song of the 12th season of Midnight Mass.
Continue Reading "MIDNIGHT MASS 2009—Interview With Joshua Grannell (aka “Peaches Christ”)"...
Once again, Michael Hawley privileges the Twitch readership with his preview of YBCA’s upcoming calendar. Thanks, Michael!
Norwegian Black Metal, Graphic Sexual Horror and a Headless Woman. Jeez, is it Halloween already? No, it’s just this summer’s insouciant film/video line-up at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. But before we dig into what curator Joel Shepard has in store through September, here’s exciting news for YBCA filmgoers. Starting July 6, ticket holders will be allowed FREE admittance into YBCA’s exhibition galleries, whose days and hours of operation have been adjusted to align with evening film and video screenings.
Continue Reading "Michael Hawley Previews YBCA’s Summer 2009 Lineup"...
You can do little wrong when you decide to go to Montreal for the Fantasia International Film Festival and this year’s lineup proves to be no exception. Want a taste? David Morley’s MUTANTS, Adam Mason’s BLOOD RIVER, José Mojica Marins’ EMBODIMENT OF EVIL, Tom Shankland’s THE CHILDREN, Park Chan-wook’s THIRST and Satoshi Miki’s INSTANT SWAMP are just some of the titles at this year’s festival.
There is a lengthy announcement after the break. Take your time and we are sure you’ll find some must-sees. Then we’ll see you in Montreal between July 9th and 27th.
Continue Reading "FANTASIA 2009 announces lineup. She be a doozy!!!"...
Norifumi Suzuki directed some of the more infamous Toei Pinky Violence including Sex and Fury (1973) and School of the Holy Beast (1974). Suzuki eventually hopped over to Nikkatsu while the company was still knee deep in roman poruno. This, in 1979, Nikkatsu released Suzuki’s Star of David: Hunting for Beautiful Girls (Dabide no hoshi: Bishôjo-gari). Star of David, which was written by Jiku Yamatoya based on Maasaki Sato’s manga, coats the usual Nikkatsu mix of sex and violence with thick layers of De Sadean philosophy, haphazard religious symbolism, and black humor. The result is a nihilistic bloodbath that is equal parts absurd, clever, and offensive.
Continue Reading "DVD Review: Norifumi Suzuki’s STAR OF DAVID"...
Mike Malloy has been hard at work on a new documentary called Eurocrime!:The Italian Cop and Gangster Films that Ruled the ‘70s, With the expert participation of genre genius Kier-La Janisse, Malloy has pulled together a roster of the top actors and directors in the Italian crime genre in order to get their perspectives on these tough, brutal, and occasionally dangerous films. The list of interviewees is a “who’s who” of action heavyweights, including John Saxon, Fred Williamson, Antonio Sabato, Henry Silva, Franco Nero, Enzo Castellari, Leonard Mann, Joe Dallesandro, and numerous others.
Twitch was provided with an advance trailer, which provides a taste of what Malloy and company have been up to. A release in late 2009 is anticipated so start preparing your death dance (watch the trailer), listen to some albums by Guido and Maurizio De Angelis, and check with Twitch for more details in the upcoming months.
Continue Reading "EUROCRIME! Documentary Explores Violent Italian Crime Films of the 1970s"...
Brunel University’s Cine-Excess project has been a beacon of light for cult film-goers in the UK for 3 years now, with an annual conference featuring everything from screenings of Lucio Fulci ‘video nasties’ to lectures by the likes of Dario Argento. The University’s Cult Film Archive has now hooked up with independent distributor Nouveaux Pictures to launch its own DVD label, Nouveaux Pictures/Cine-Excess. With the intention to “take trash seriously”, Cine-Excess has been given the rights to some of the 300 movies owned by B-movie stalwart Roger Corman, amongst other cult and little-seen gems, with plans to involve university academics in the DVD special features.
Slated for future release are Corman’s Not Of This Earth, Attack Of The Crab Monsters, Ron Howard’s Grand Theft Auto, Slumber Party Massacre, and a Special Edition of Suspiria.
As well as reviving some legends of trash cinema, the scholarly input will hopefully add some fresh insight and avoid any of the superfluous, fluffy ‘featurettes’ that can mar lesser DVD releases, cult or otherwise. No word on re-mastering or quality levels, but we can hope…
Hey all you Twitcher’s. Sean “The Butcher” Smithson here just letting you know that next week brings the horror con extraordinaire CryptiCon to the Emerald City. It will be going down at Seattle Center June 5, 6, and 7. Yours truly will be heading up a cast reunion panel for John Carpenter’s seminal scare flick THE FOG. We will have Tom Atkins, Adrienne Barbeau, Nancy Loomis, and Charles Cyphers on hand to take a walk down memory lane, and regal us with tales of what was a troubled shoot that begat a modern classic.
We will also be having a PHANTASM reunion panel with Billy Thornbury, Kathy Lester, Reggie “Regman” Bannister, and director Don Coscarelli, all attending to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the little film that could (and did!)
We will also be running a Scream Queen and Scream King panel, as well as others, and a lecture on “Horror Films Every Horror Fan Should See And Probably Hasn’t” again hosted by yours truly. Our guest list is formidable, the prices affordable, and I personally guarantee a good time will be had by all. To help assure that you, the fright fans, get as much bang for your buck as possible in these lean times. I will also be running a film program that will include some very sought after titles this year.
Continue Reading "CRYPTICON Invades Seattle June 5, 6 and 7"...
So, initial reaction to Quentin Tarantino‘s 154 minute WWII extravaganza is decidedly negative. Phrases like “a juvenile cinephilic rush job” (IndieWire) and “I wouldn’t even call “Inglourious Basterds” minor Tarantino—it’s flat-out tiresome” (IFC) are not encouraging. Still comparisons to Death Proof may be the kiss of death for some, but the ‘hanging out’ nature of that film (and for that matter Tarantino’s best - or at least most human - film, Jackie Brown) is a good thing. There are not enough take-it-slow, narrative-be-damned genre flicks out there. And the notion of a non-commercial talk fest in the environs 1940s Europe I find oddly appealing. Your mileage may vary.
To tide you over, here are a couple more clips from the film, after the Jump.
Continue Reading "Basterds @ Cannes and 3 New Clips"...
Whenever a genre festival lumbers into town, the first thing I do is evaluate its lineup by researching what my Twitch teammates have had to say about any of the programmed films. Here’s a heads-up on how they weigh in for Holehead 2009.
Black Devil Doll—Dispatching from the very first DRIFFF (Deep Red International Festival of Fantastic Film)—which recently took place April 24-25, 2009 in Portland, Oregon—Sean “The Butcher” Smithson observed that Jonathan Lewis’ Black Devil Doll [site] was “already highly controversial” and offered up producer/screenwriter Shawn Lewis’ plot summary for IMdb. Holehead considers Black Devil Doll to be a “sleazy Blaxploitation film best described as Chucky meets Dolemite.”
Continue Reading "HOLEHEAD 2009—Twitch On Holehead"...
Some weeks back we posted a rogue (as in: unauthorized) trailer here for Bollywood fantasy-horror title “Hisss”, directed by Jennifer Lynch.
The trailer was a huge success and managed to storm our top ten in the scant few hours it was up before the producer asked us to take it down again. Well, the first official trailer has now been released and frankly this does make the blood flow faster, so to speak.
“Hisss” is a modern retelling of some (out of many) Asian legends concerning snake-women. In this case the creature is played by Bollywood star Mallika Sherawat, and it takes a lot of make-up to make her ugly. So far the trailer shows that “Hisss” is bloody, surprisingly well-endowed in the special effects department (courtesy of Robert Kurtzman) and uncommonly non-prudish as there is a lot of skin on display (and not all of it scaled either). The trailer is not quite NSFW but courts it a bit.
So far Jennifer Lynch hasn’t really made a big impression but she is now tackling a genre which can be very forgiving, provided she takes both the audience and the monster serious enough. This trailer goes a far way towards making me think she might have hit this one on the head.
***UPDATED*** And you can now find this trailer in the Twitch Video Player after the break along with an image from the film, taken after Mallika Sherawat’s lead snake goddess character swallows a man whole! It’s sexy and scary as hell at the same time!
Continue Reading "The first real trailer for “HISSS” surfaces! Hot damn… or rather: DAMN HOT!"...
Need an uplift amidst recessionary gloom? Independent distributor Metrodome is partnering with Vue cinemas to offer up a selection of cult films for free across the UK in a new programme of Credit Crunch Cinema - free screenings, before the official release dates. Simple as that.
Credit Crunch Cinema kicks off on the 15th May with a free advanced screening of the equally hilarious and horrific ONE EYED MONSTER. Starring adult film legends Ron Jeremy & Veronica Hart and “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” pin-up Amber Benson, “One Eyed Monster” is an outrageous and spectacular homage to the classic sci-fi horror of “Alien” and “The Thing”. Miss out at your peril! The next credit crunch screening takes place a week later on 22nd May with the gory and unrelenting MANHUNT. One of the most acclaimed and controversial European horror films of the decade takes the newly reanimated ‘grindhouse’ genre of classic 70s horror cinema back to its unrelenting, compelling and no holds barred roots. On the 5th June Kerrang! exclusively present a very special Credit Crunch Cinema screening with an advanced screening of the highly anticipated DEAD GIRL. From the producer of the seminal Hellraiser and the legendary Heathers, DEAD GIRL is a new genre classic and a no-holds-barred look at the horror of growing up.
All three screenings will take place at the following participating Vue Cinemas;
Vue West End
Vue Cambridge
Vue Edinburgh Omni
Vue Manchester Lowry
Vue Bristol Cribbs Causeway
All Credit Crunch Cinema screenings are available to guests over the age of 18 years old only.
Cinema goers can find out about the latest Credit Crunch Cinema films and how to access free tickets by emailing .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
For a short time in the early nineties Hollywood dabbled with making high-budgeted erotic movies, first and foremost amongst these Paul Verhoeven’s “Basic Instinct”. Now imagine if studios would have reacted to that movie’s success by reorganizing itself into factories churning out ONLY that type of movies, and pushed hard to distribute them towards mainstream (and even highbrow) audiences.
A strange thought, yet in Japan this actually happened during the early seventies when the biggest studios (faced with extinction by television’s growing success) started to invest heavily into adult-oriented cinema. Japan’s oldest big studio Nikkatsu kept itself out of bankruptcy with this strategy for seventeen years, and their erotic output during that time is knows as Roman-Porno.
This Roman-Porno genre nowadays has a growing number of fans, because unlike the independently made no-budget “pink” movies these films actually had good production values, often resulting in works of artistic merit.
Because of the genre’s newfound popularity, titles have begun to appear on DVD even in the West. Mondo Macabro is one of the companies who is doing their damnedest in getting many of these (often hard to find) films released in the USA, and “Naked Rashomon” from 1972 is one of their newest titles. Fans of the genre might be knowing what to expect, but I am a newbie, having heard a lot about Roman-Porno yet having seen little of it.
So what did I think of it? Read on (I will keep things relatively SFW)...
Continue Reading "NAKED RASHOMON DVD Review"...
Stuck was one of the best surprises of last year, a wonderfully macabre and worrying B-movie based on the true story of a Texan woman who ran over a homeless man and then drove home with him ‘stuck’ in her windshield (still alive). She garaged her car, and had sex with her boyfriend. Though embellished for the screen, knowledge that much of the absurdity on display really happened makes it all the more appealing. Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator, Fortress) manages to stay true to the B-movie material, with tight plotting and some truly cringe-inducing, gooey moments as Stephen Rea’s homeless man struggles to free himself. Increasingly tense with a sly dose of black comedy, what ultimately impresses is the sense of melancholy that strings the whole thing together whether in sympathy for the victim or puzzlement of how someone could wrong-do an innocent so horribly.
Stuck is out on UK DVD and BluRay on the 11th May through High Fliers Films.
Extras are: Commentary with Stuart Gordon, Mena Suvari and screen writer John Strysik, Making of Stuck.
Excellent news for fans of Japanese cult film and in particular Meiko Kaji of Female Convict Scorpion 701, Lady Snowblood and Stray Cat Rock fame. In 1972, just before making the first Female Convict Scorpion film, Kaji starred as a wandering ex-con gambler in Wandering Ginza Butterfly, a classic pinky violence film that has been much talked about but little seen. The second entry in the series - She Cat Gambler - would come the next year with Sonny Chiba in a key support role. Kaji is an absolute icon and that these films have remained unavailable for so long - they’ve never even had a DVD release in Japan! - is more than a little surprising but that’s about to change with upcoming releases due from Synapse Films. We’ve got edition details and the trailers below the break!
Continue Reading "Meiko Kaji’s WANDERING GINZA BUTTERFLY Coming To DVD!"...
Horrible in all the right ways, the trailer is below the break.
Continue Reading "It’s Lupine Lovin’ In WEREWOLF EROTICA"...
