THE CRAMPS – Live At Napa State Mental Hospital (1978); DVD
Live Music DVD, New
"A free concert at the Napa State Hospital" In June of 1978, The Cramps played to a room full of enthusiastic patients at the Napa State Mental Institute and instantly established a benchmark in public rock. Includes a performance by ZEV at a "Target After Hours" event in 1980.
WATER POWER, Gerard Damiano (1976); Uncut Composite DVD-r (Rare)
DVD-r, Uncut Composite (the 'cut' scenes have been sourced from video, and are not digital quality as the rest of the film)
Three intervening decades have done nothing whatsoever to blunt the impact of this notorious roughie, ripped from then current headlines about one Michael Kenyon alias the Illinois Enema Bandit who raped and forcefully, er, cleansed at least two dozen women between 1965 and 1975. Charged with assault and battery, he served a mere six years behind bars, only to be paroled in 1981 after which he wisely faded into well-deserved obscurity. While a TV movie of the week (starring Cameron Mitchell perhaps, think TOOLBOX MURDERS) might've been a tantalizing proposition, the counterculture seemed a more likely candidate to process this peculiar court case. It served as inspiration for Frank Zappa's song "The Legend of the Illinois Enema Bandit" and, for better or worse, this interesting but still extremely hard to take adult film long attributed to Gerard Damiano of DEEP THROAT and DEVIL IN MISS JONES fame.Though his name has always been prominently displayed in both credits and all publicity material, Damiano has repeatedly gone on record claiming he was supposed to do it, but didn't. Most sources henceforth agree that it was our old friend Shaun Costello at the helm, a theory supported by the familiar soundtrack choices (Bernard Herrmann's VERTIGO soundtrack has once again been extensively plundered to set the mood) as well as the director's brief appearance as an extra in a police station sequence. If indeed so, this truly stands as his most disturbing effort since 1972's FORCED ENTRY and it's a far better produced work to boot.
EAT THE SCHOOLGIRL: OSAKA TELEPHONE CLUB (1997), DVD-r (RARE)
DVD-r Region free, Japanese with English sub-titles Includes case and insert
Directed by Naoyuki Tomomatsu,"Eat the Schoolgirl" concerns two young adults who made a dirty work for a yakuza gang by making sadistic rape/snuff films. Both of them are sexually obsessed; one is addicted to telephone sex whilst the other can only function sexually, whilst seeing mutilated female corpses. Just when you thought you have seen everything demented and disgusting in a movie comes along eat the schoolgirl. There is something in this movie to just about offend anyone. A complete underground treasure. Definitely not for everyone.
ANTHOLOGY OF SURREALIST CINEMA VOLUME ONE; DVD
Surreal/Art/Film DVD, New
ENTR'ACTE - From Director Rene' Clair. 1924. France. B&W. 14 min. Starring Eric Satie, Jean Borlin, Francis Picabia, Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray. Silent with music score. An early surrealistic effort from French director Rene' Clair based on an idea from painter Frances Picabia. After a man is killed his coffin takes on a life of it's own. After a long chase, he climbs out of his coffin and makes everyone that was chasing him disappear!
LA COQUILLE ET LE CLERGYMAN (SEASHELL AND THE CLERGYMAN) - Directed by Germain Dulac. Written by Antonin Artaud. Starring Alex Allin, Genica Athanasiou, Lucien Bataille. 1928. France. 28 min. B&W. Silent with music score. A radical feminist (in her day) and the second woman to direct films in the history of French cinema, Germain Dulac was a leading figure in Avant Garde cinema. Obsessed with a general's wife, a clergyman has strange visions of death and lust while struggling against his own eroticism.
BALLET MECANIQUE - Written and Directed by Fernand Leger. Cinematography by Man Ray and Dudley Murphy. Starring Starring Kiki Montparnesse. 1924. France. 16 Min. B&W. Silent with music score. An experimental film from Cubist painter Fernand Leger containing a montage of images and rhythms that create a hallucinatory effect. Features the original soundtrack.
ANEMIC CINEMA - Directed by Marcel Duchamp. 1926. France. 6 min. B&W. Silent with music score. The only film to come from the founder of the Dadaism movement (artistic and literary movement from 1916-1923), an abstract and annalistic film short containing spiral forms merging into a rotating
THE TRIFFIDS Born Sandy Devotional - Great Australian Albums; DVD
Music/Documentary (2007) DVD, Used
The Triffids were hailed by the British music media as 'one of the most influential and important bands to come from Australia' and their 1985 album 'Born Sandy Devotional' has more then contributed to their legacy. This compelling and poignant documentary remembers the songs of David McComb and revisits the making of this classic album as told by former band members Rob McComb, Alsy MacDonald, Jill Birt and 'Evil' Graham Lee (running time 52 minutes).
DIY OR DIE: BURN THIS DVD; DVD (2006)
Art/Music/Independent DVD
It’s a strange thing to say in the title, ‘burn this dvd,’ but it does plug in to the anti establishment ethos at play throughout this 55 minute doco. So fuck the establishment, don’t wait to be discovered, just get your art out there however you can and if they don’t like it, well fuck them too because someone somewhere surely will. With minimum production values filmmaker Michael W Dean armed with a video camera and a bunch of questions seeks out some of his favourite independent American artists to ponder some of the difficulties in creating art outside of the mainstream. Hooking up with counter culture heroes like Lydia Lunch, bassist Mike Watt (Pornos For Pyros/ Minutemen), Ian MacKaye (Fugazi), producer and musician Steve Albini (Shellac), nudie art photographer Richard Kern, Ron Ashton (Stooges) and even Jim Rose (Of Jim Rose Circus Sideshow), Dean not only discusses their motivations for staying outside the mainstream, but some of the nuts and bolts that drive their financial (in) security. As a self help motivational tool for budding artists this film really serves as reality check as many of the artists presented here are working incredibly hard just to keep their heads above water. The message seems to be that if you want cocaine and blowjobs sign to a major label. Just understand that you’ll be made to pick up the soap on repeated occasions, your art will be diluted and you’ll wind up hating yourself in the morning. The artists presented here are incredibly driven though they believe their toils are more than compensated by the fact that they can focus on creating their art and not have to in the most part bother with crappy 9-5 jobs to make ends meet.
LLIK YOUR IDOLS (2007); DVD
Music/Art/Film Documentary DVD, Used
Llik Your Idols deals with The Cinema of Transgression, a movement that occurred in New York from 1984 to 1991 - or did it ? This is the whole point. It was closely linked to the local punk rock scene, namely the No Wave scene (Lydia Lunch, DNA, Sonic Youth...) and involved artists such as Richard Kern, Nick Zedd and John Waters. Their films were Super 8 satirical tracts against Reaganist values that became cult as Sonic Youth became too. Discover the New York underground scene during the 80s and throw yourself into an exciting, anarchic and repulsive world that you won't forget.
DADDY AND THE MUSCLE ACADEMY (Tom of Finland); DVD
Art/Documentary (1991) DVD, Used
Tom of Finland is one of the gay world's few authentic icons. His drawings have had an enormous influence on gay identity. Tom's ultimate leather men are known and seen everywhere. They are symbols of gay pride and friendship. The documentary includes some titillating 'enactments' inspired by Tom's art work.
JOHANNA WENT The Club Years (2006); DVD + CD
Music/Performance Art DVD + CD, Used
This disc features performance artist Johanna Went in her legendary club show (1977-1987). Seminal, wild, and raw, these perormances were accompanied by live improvized music from some of L.A.’s most adventurous players including z’ev, Mark & Brock Wheaton, Greg Burk, Kerry McBride and many others. Included is a bonus audio CD of studio recordings, including the entire Poshboy Record 1982 LP “Hyena” (remixed and remastered) and the songs from the first 1981 45 rpm single “Slave Beoynd the Grave” originally released on Boyd Rice’s Graybeat label. With audio commentary Johanna Went and Mark Wheaton.
BLACK MOON (LOUIS MALLE) 1975; DVD
DVD Surreal, Used
A lot of avant-garde filmmakers experimented with Lewis Carroll's classic novel "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". Some features that come to mind are Jaromil Jires' wonderful film, "Valerie and her Week of Wonders", Guillermo Del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth" and Jan Svankmajer's "Alice". Louis Malle's surrealist experimental film "Black Moon" could very well fit into this category of the directors' own interpretation of the novel giving it their own "free form"! "Black Moon" is devoid of any central plot as such. Set against a post-apocalyptic backdrop of a "war between the sexes", this film simply chronicles the weird happenings as experienced (or imagined?) by a teenage girl, Lily (Cathryn Harrison) who has narrowly escaped being killed by men seemingly out to wipe out the entire women populace! Having been lucky to have escaped, she just speeds away in her car deep into the woods only to come across an isolated property, a huge manor house and its strange inhabitants. The house is dwelled in by a cantankerous, bed ridden old lady (Therese Giehse) with a weird fetish, who talks to animals, especially a big rat-like creature "Humphrey" in some language that's gibberish, and every once in a while speaks on a radio kept by her bed. There is a brother-sister pair around the house to take care of stuff. They don't speak a single word. They only hum some songs as they work around the property. Some snakes tucked away in unlocked drawers also share the space with them! The most bizarre of all though, is the presence of about half a dozen naked children running around playing with a gigantic pig; they keep interrupting Lily's path every time she chases a not-so-graceful Unicorn that seems to be a regular visitor around the property......
BODY MELT (Australia) 1993; DVD
DVD, New
'Body Melt' is one of the most underrated Australian movies of all time! Director Philip Brophy, who has a background in avante-garde electronic music and performance art, has created a wicked instant cult splatter movie. The film is all the better for having many Aussie soap stars and familiar faces in its cast, a fact that will probably be completely lost on overseas viewers. Just imagine your own "beloved" family favourites in the main roles and you might start to see what Brophy's done here. 'Body Melt' is a cult, bloody, body horror movie. Cult.......
GOZU (Takashi Miike); DVD
Surreal DVD (2003)
Takashi Miike's stark, "Yakuza Horror Theatre" presentation Gozu (2003) is an infernal cinematic nightmare of fear and anxiety, played out within a sepia-toned subterranean underworld abstracted to the point of outright parody. Like many of the director's more personal and idiosyncratic pictures, the plot is largely secondary to the uncomfortable atmosphere and wild sense of spectacle presented on screen, as Miike constructs an absurd and enigmatic story of a loyal Yakuza henchman struggling with issues of homosexuality, guilt and desire when he is required by his boss to "dispose" of his mentally unstable brother in arms. This incredibly personal and moral dilemma - in which the central character must juggle the greater notions of loyalty to his boss and the loyalty to his best-friend and mentor-like figure that he's obviously quite attracted to - creates a rift within the world of the film that plunges the whole story into suffocating surrealism, horror and the absurd.
