ABC'S OF DEATH; DVD
DVD (2012), New
This totally wonderful comedy/horror anthology film is divided into 26 individual chapters, each envisioned by a different director assigned a letter of the alphabet. The directors were then given free rein in choosing a word to create a story involving death. The varieties of death range from accidents to murders. The movie begins showing a close up of a funnel with blood pouring ominously from it. The blood proceeds to fill up various rooms inside of a house before filling up the interior of a small room containing children's letter blocks. The room floods as the blocks float to the top spelling out the title. Throughout the film, the blocks spell out the titles to all the segments with each of the segments ending and beginning with a focus on, or a fade into, the color red.
*Here is a hilarious example: F is for Fart (Noboru Iguchi)
School girl Yoshie is obsessed with her teacher Miss Yumi. One day while outside, a deadly gas breaks forth from the ground and kills anyone who inhales it. Yoshie and Yumi escape into a building where the former wishes to smell the latter's farts instead of the gas. Yumi farts in Yoshie's face and she is transported to a gas-filled dimension where she and Yumi make out.
Rated R: High impact sexual themes, violence and nudity
NIGHTMARES IN RED, WHITE AND BLUE; DVD
DVD (2009), New
Nightmares in Red, White and Blue: The Evolution of the American Horror Film is a feature-length documentary based on the book of the same name by Joseph Maddrey. It examines the idea that horror films reflect the times and places in which they are made -- illustrating how classic monster movies exploited the anxieties of war-time generations, and how more savage modern horror films stem from the fallout of America's counterculture movement and the subsequent rise of increasingly conservative political forces. At the same time, the documentary explores the timeless, universal appeal of horror movies. In-depth interviews with many of the nation's greatest horror filmmakers reveal that the appeal of the genre is rooted not only in timely fears but in the spirit of rebellion -- a spirit that consistently defines American life, as well as many of its best horror filmmakers. Features exclusive interviews with legendary auteurs like John Carpenter, George A. Romero, Joe Dante, Larry Cohen, and Roger Corman, as well as film historian John Kenneth Muir and Fangoria editor Tony Timpone. Their observations are illustrated with clips from more than 150 films -- ranging from the classic Universal monster movies to the psychological horrors of film noir, from groundbreaking films like Night of the Living Dead, Rosemary's Baby, The Exorcist and Jaws to contemporary slasher movies, Torture Porn and beyond. In short, it is the most comprehensive documentary on America's most durable and prolific film genre.
2011 DVD reprint
DEAD HANDS DIG DEEP; DVD
Documentary DVD (2016), New
Thirty-eight-year-old Edwin Borsheim of the band Kettle Cadaver was once known for his bizarre stage antics and brutal self-mutilation. Now, years after the band's demise, Borsheim has fallen into complete seclusion on his acre of land in which he is surrounded by many of the horrible things he has created. As Edwin spirals further into a hole of drug abuse and self-destruction, those closest to Borsheim dissect his mental complexes as he himself reflects on his dark past.
Rated R - High impact themes and disturbing images.
ONE ARMED EXECUTIONER; DVD
DVD (1981), New
2011 DVD reprint of this cult Filipino exploitation film. When Interpol agent Ramon Ortega's attempt to nail a big-time drug dealer results in his wife being murdered before his very eyes and his arm being hacked off as a warning, he is left with only one choice. Under the instruction of a Martial Arts Grand Master, one armed antihero Ortgea learns to deal with his handicap and channel his anger, and his thirst for revenge, into deadly fighting skill. Skill that he will put good use against the criminal underworld as 'The One Armed Executioner!'
FRIENDS FOREVER; DVD
DVD (2003), Used
"We are here to save the world from what rock and roll has become." -Nate Hayden
Take a broken down VW minibus, a beaten up drum kit, an old bass guitar, and a portable generator. And two energetic youths. Mix. What do you get? The almost unbelievable musical group Friends Forever. Drummer Nate Hayden and Bassist Josh Taylor are not into music for the drugs or the sex or the fame and fortune. They are in it for their love of music. They are also on a mission to bring rock music back to the people. This duo (along with Jenn who does the lighting and their three dogs) travel the country spreading their music, but they don't play inside clubs, they set up out on the street and jam. The van is their stage, transportation and house. Wherever there is an empty parking space, they will give a concert. No audience is too small, and no distance is too far to travel. They journey from their home in Denver, Colorado to New York City to play one 15 minute gig.
Friends Forever is also the name of Ben Wolfinsohn's documentary about this unique musical duo. Traveling with the band across the USA, Wolfinsohn films these unusual individuals from small show to smaller show, from LA to New York City. You get to see what drives them and why they do what they do. With fog machine and strobe lights, Nate plays his drums inside the van, while Josh runs around the parking lot playing his bass. Josh will come out wearing a wolf head, or a jacket covered with illuminated light bulbs. He'll get on the roof of the van and set off fire works, all while playing something that resembles a tune. Their music is DIY noise punk at it's finest. Nate and Josh may seem like slackers who are avoiding life at first, but as the movie progresses, you come to realize how hard they work for such little return. The little money they make is from selling T-Shirts ($5) and tapes ($3) after their shows. They even feel bad about charging for these, thinking that anyone who enjoys the show should have a tape.
THE JESUS LIZARD; Club (2011) DVD
Live DVD (2011)
Though it's impossible to properly convey just how ferocious a live band the Jesus Lizard are, particularly in smaller confines, Club does an admirable job capturing the quartet's first stateside show in more than ten years, in July 2009. The band's original line-up touch upon every full-length and EP they released, demonstrating how strongly their songs, including torching versions of "Killer McHann" and "One Evening," stand up today. There's actually nothing dated or putridly nostalgic about this exercise; the Jesus Lizard are like an ageless, un-caged animal with scores to settle and points to prove, particularly since they went out rather unceremoniously in 1999 as a weakened, incomplete unit. Yow proves to be a consistant menace, half-naked and threatening the audience in the midst of songs like "Mouthbreather," as he rolls over and through them like a possessed man caught in a whirlwind. Club reveals much about their reunion tour – most notably that it felt like they'd never stopped playing together in the first place.
WHO I AM AND WHAT I WANT (David Shrigley); DVD
DVD + Booklet (2006), Used
Who I Am And What I Want is a 7 minute animated short film directed by Chris Shepherd and David Shrigley in 2005. The film is based on the 2003 David Shrigley book of the same title. This DVD was released in 2006 with a 12 page booklet with art from the film.
The animation in this short is super cool, simplistic but looks and flows great, with ideas and motion. It is not a family film needless to say as it is full of sexual imagery and violence as Pete relates the contents of his life and his head. It is a fascinating film; not an easy watch but engaging, interesting, disturbing and clever. Describing this animation is difficult, and this DVD is quite a rare find in Australia.
LA VIDA LOCA; DVD (2008)
DVD (2008)
The fearless photographer and documentary-maker Christian Poveda submerges himself into central America, into the underbelly of society. He managed to get permission from the Salvadorian police and one of the gangs, the "18", to follow them in their lives. Four years later, La Vida Loca sees the light, taking you along the path of violent outcasts of society. And it is very different to what you might imagine. The documentary takes us from the unfolding of someone's life to their funeral after a shooting. It is an endless spiral of gang violence, with seemingly no point to the gang war whatsoever, other than that of having an enemy to unite them. Joining a gang is not even an alternative employer for the poor, as the gang does not offer any external symbols of success (wealth, privilege, whatever). In fact, the gang does not seem to offer anything at all but the prospect of death, jail or invalidity. Hardly the attractive option, but these youths are already broken by their lives. And change becomes inevitable with the gang tattoos (voluntary or forced) marking their allegiance. Once you are have your face covered in tattoos, you can no longer send your CV anywhere. They can not back down. After the films release, filmmaker Christian Poveda was killed by gang members who appeared in the film, who claimed that he was a police informer.
SAVAGE MAN, SAVAGE BEAST; DVD
DVD (1975), New
Savage Man Savage Beast, is a 1975 'Mondo' documentary film co-produced, and co-directed by Antonio Climati and Mario Mora. Filmed all around the world, its central theme focuses on hunting and the interaction between man and animal. Like many mondo films, the filmmakers claim to document real, bizarre and violent behavior and customs. This was the first film of Climati's and Morra's Savage Trilogy, which also includes "This Violent World" and "Sweet and Savage". Arguably the most infamous film of the trilogy, Savage Man Savage Beast became influential in exploitation cinema by use of cinematographic techniques that were repeated in numerous subsequent Mondo films. Two scenes in particular, a lion attack on a tourist in Namibia and the murder of an indigenous man by a group of mercenaries in South America, have gained notoriety as genuine footage of human death.
This film is new and sealed, well presented bootleg on no official label.
HELLS GROUND; DVD
DVD (2007), New
This is cetrtainly the first gore film to ever come out of Pakistan.....and it's a great one. Serious amount of bloodletting, Intestines, Headless Corpses, More intestines, Zombies eating people, A dwarf zombie feasting on intestines, A main villain twice as insane as Leatherface & carrying a spinning spiked-ball, A damsel in distress getting her head snapped 360, More bloodletting, A doper zombie spitting out blood at the sight of people trying to embrace, and then the great ending. B-grade horror heaven.....
HAXAN: WITCHCRAFT THROUGH THE AGES; DVD
DVD (1922) - (1968 re-release)
Directed by Scandinavian filmmaker Benjamin Christensen, 'Haxan -Witchcraft Through the Ages' (1922) is a strange silent film depicting black magic, witchcraft, and demonology from the middle ages to the 20th century. Shot and presented in documentary form, the film is more akin to a pseudo-scholarly lecture with moving visual aids. Not as intense or as shocking today as upon its initial release, the film is filled with nightmarish images that are certainly profane and explicit, but also humorous. Yes, sex goes hand-in-hand with Satan, and Christensen's flamboyant portrayal of the aforementioned character, complete with flicking, wanton tongue, drives home the point (well, that and a peppering of nudity). Unique to say the least, 'Haxan' is a rather weird curio of a film with some incredibly atmospheric, somewhat graphic images, esp. for that era.
The 1968 re-release with an electric jazz-fusion score by Jean Luc Ponty and narration by William S. Burroughs is a treat in itself.
BLOOD ORGY OF THE SHE-DEVILS; DVD
DVD; (1973) Ted V Mikels
Cult Horror Indie filmmaker Ted V Mikels 1973 occult classic, "Blood Orgy of the She-Devils" involves a group of sacrificing witches who carry out satanic rituals and human sacrifice. Their head witch is hired to kill a politician, and then is killed, but then reincarnates herself. She also does seances. She decides to extract her vengence on the two who attempted to kill her. We also have some disturbing flashbacks of torture scenes from history's witches. And, it ends with a bunch of witch hunters coming to kill her. If you like Mikels style of indie B-grade horror, you will be sure to like this.
