R2 DVD Release
Woody, a street-level pimp and all-around hustler, is the subject of this faux documentary as it focuses on the day-to-day operations of the prostitution business, underground porn and a turf war with the local Chinese tong. Not only must Woody face the usual setbacks of a recession-driven sex trade downturn but his boss Stanley is putting pressure on him to step up his discipline game to keep the girls in line as well, especially their top earner Petra. Nothing can Continue reading »
DVD Release
What can be more cultish, geekier, and wilder then air guitar? Nothing! One day a couple of Americans realized that there was an Air Guitar World Championship that was being waged in Finland, but no Americans had ever competed. They had to change this miscarriage of justice! Fuck terrorism, this was the real problem with America—no air guitar champion! So they set up regional championships on the East and West coasts to determine the US National Champion. A quiet camera friendly dude named David Jung, using the stage name C-Diddy, took the crown, but two time runner up Dan “Bjorn Turoque” Crane would not give up and paid his own way to Finland to battle C-Diddy once again on Finish soil.
The documentary never takes itself too seriously Continue reading »
Official DVD Artwork
Fantastic Flesh is a cool documentary made by the Starz team, helmed by comic book legend & B-movie director Kevin VanHook, which delves into the field of special effects and the men who’ve shaped the art form as well as the course of cinematic history. The film includes in-depth interviews with some of the biggest names in genre filmmaking and FX work including the late Dick Smith. We’re given some amazing insights into the FX process behind many films and we hear, from the directors themselves, how important the FX industry has been to film.
If I could say anything at all negative about the documentary it would be that I didn’t feel it touched on enough of the history of special effects makeup for cinema. It would have been interesting to hear a bit more about the history of FX makeup, reaching back further than Chaney’s Continue reading »
Theatrical Poster
Capturing the Friedmans (2002)
R1 / NTSC DVD
HBO Video / 2004
Directed by Andrew Jarecki
Cast: Arnold Friedman, Jesse Friedman, David Friedman, Elaine Friedman, Seth Friedman
Review by Vaughn Drake
The director’s initial plan was to follow around David Friedman, New York City’s most successful birthday clown, but soon after interviewing him, Andrew Jarecki planned a new movie: the story of Arnold and Jesse Friedman, two convicted pedophiles.
Jarecki has a hard row to sow making a movie about two supposed scumbags and trying to humanize them, but he does a good job letting the viewer decide on whether justice did these two men wrong, or if they got off lightly. Through copious amounts of home Continue reading »
Official DVD Artwork
Infamous. Notorious. Evil. Disgusting. Disturbing. We’ve heard all of these words used in conjunction with this film, and subsequent sequels, and quite probably a few more best left unstated. When long-time horror/exploitation fans discuss the “classics,” FOD is nearly always brought up alongside films like Mondo Cane and Cannibal Holocaust and for damn good reason, it was one of those films that either scared you as straight as a two-by-four or irreparably damaged you, leaving you forever addicted to gore and dismemberment. As far as shockumentaries or Mondo films go, FOD is the crowned prince of ugly, filthy footage; a highly effective mixture of authentic news reel footage and hokey, though masterfully executed Continue reading »
Official DVD Artwork
Going to Pieces The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film (2006)
R1 / NTSC DVD
ThinkFilm / 2007
Directed by Mike Bohusz
Written by Adam Rockoff
Cast: John Carpenter, Wes Craven, Sean S. Cunningham, Amy Holden Jones, Rob Zombie, Betsy Palmer, Tom Savini
Review by Vaughn Drake
This was a sweeping overview of the films that brought the cinematic world to their knees in the late 70’s and into the 80’s—the slasher film; the bastard incestuous lust child brought on by America’s need more blood, more violence and more sex. What humbly started with The Peeping Tom and Psycho, was then mastered by Halloween, tweaked by Friday the 13th and copied and parodied incessantly for the next decade Continue reading »
DVD Artwork
The date is January 15, 1974; four members of the Otero family are brutally murdered, leaving the town of Wichita stunned and helpless. With nothing to go on, the Wichita Police Department wouldn’t receive a lead, in the form of a letter from the killer, until October of the same year. The killer claimed the murders, promised to kill again and dubbed himself B.T.K. (Bind Torture Kill.) Thirty years after the Otero family was tragically torn to pieces, surviving son Charlie Otero attempts to piece together the remnants of his life in a quest for redemption that may lead him down an even darker path of self-destruction.
FOTA is a well-made, interesting and emotionally Continue reading »
U.S. DVD Release
The story of libertine filmmaker, Pier Paolo Pasolini, is almost as fascinating as his final work. He was considered one of the most dangerous men in Italy and his work was feared by the powers that be. His films were headache enough, but he was also a renowned poet, journalist, script writer and author. When you add all that up, he proved to be a major pain in their backside. The fact he was gay didn’t increase his popularity with the right-wing government either, and his anti-fascism and communist attitude caused a major stir. Just before this movie was due to be released, he was gunned down, apparently by a male hustler. With all the assassinations of left-wing political figures throughout the 70’s, many believe that his demise was at the hands of the government and even Continue reading »
DVD Release
Albert Fish (2006)
R1 / NTSC DVD
Facets Video / 2007
Directed by John Borowski
Written by John Borowski
Cast: Tony Jay, Oto Brezina, Derek Gaspar, Cooney Horvath, Harvey Fisher, Joe Coleman
Review by Vaughn Drake
Albert Fish; loving father, Christian, sadomasochist, serial killer and cannibal. Albert Fish; the Bogeyman, the Gray Man, the Werewolf of Wysteria. Albert Fish terrorized the early parts of the twentieth century Continue reading »
U.S. DVD Release
Formed in the 30’s by the Japanese army under the guise of epidemic prevention, Unit 731 used prisoners of war for some of the cruelest human experimentation imaginable. Andrey Iskanov’s “Gore-umentary” details the formation of the unit and, naturally, some of the horrific tests conducted on those held against their will by the Japanese government.
Half-documentary and half-gore film, Iskanov’s Philosophy of a Knife is perhaps his most cohesive film thus far and, without a doubt, one of the most visually disturbing films to see release in years. Iskanov juggles the real-life terror of Unit 731 with his own nightmarish visuals to great effect. If you’ve never seen an Andrey Iskanov film, well, it’s Continue reading »
