Documentary | Wildside Cinema

Box Set Beatdown: Grindhouse Experience Vol.1 – ‘Savage Man Savage Beast’ (Ultime grida dalla savana – 1975)

B. Harris, Box Set, Cannibals, Documentary, Exploitation, Extreme, Italy No Responses »

Jan 302012

Those of you unfamiliar with Mondo may want to take note that it is most certainly not going to be everybody’s cup o’ tea as it is typically filled with bizarre rituals, nudity, sex and graphic, bloody violence from around the world. Often overflowing with gruesome sequences depicting mutilated animals and the human casualties of war, execution and accidents; watching a Mondo film is like settling in for a night of National Geographic edited by sadistic perverts. It cannot be stressed enough that while many Mondo films feature facts of zoological and anthropological interest, they’re still exploitation films and should never be mistaken for anything remotely educational. You’d think most would know that but some folks might be tempted to see this thinking they’ll learn something of worth. Trust me, you’ll not Continue reading »

Film Review: On The Dark Side of the Moon, The Crew of ‘Apollo 18′ (2011) Aren’t Alone

B. Harris, Documentary, Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller 2 Responses »

Sep 112011

Theatrical Poster

Despite assurances that Apollo 17 was NASA’s last manned flight to the moon, a clandestine flight designated Apollo 18 is launched back out into the recesses of space and back to the moon on a top secret mission for the Department of Defense. Tasked with installing transmitters and listening devices, what first appears to be simple quickly takes a turn for the worse when moon rock samples are misplaced, equipment malfunctions and the possible presence of a Russian cosmonaut is discovered.

With the orbiting command module on the dark side of the moon, communications between the lunar module and Houston is severed, leaving the two crewmen on the surface of the moon stranded with a possible hostile combatant. As electronics fail and one of the crew is attacked by an unknown biological is becomes Continue reading »

Pimp (2010)

Action, B. Harris, Crime, Documentary, Drama, Exploitation, Thriller 2 Responses »

Jun 022010

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 »

Air Guitar Nation (2006)

Documentary No Responses »

Aug 152009

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 »

Fantastic Flesh (2008)

B. Harris, Documentary No Responses »

Feb 072009

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 »

Capturing the Friedmans (2002)

Documentary No Responses »

Jan 152009

Poster Artwork

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 movies, after the fact interviews with supposed victims, sex crimes officers and family members, the viewer will get a picture of Continue reading »

Faces of Death (1978)

B. Harris, Documentary, Exploitation, Extreme No Responses »

Oct 162008

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 »

Going to Pieces The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film (2006)

Documentary, Horror No Responses »

Sep 162008

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 »

Feast of the Assumption: The Otero Family Murders (2007)

B. Harris, Crime, Documentary, Horror No Responses »

Sep 112008

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 »

Albert Fish (2006)

Crime, Documentary No Responses »

Jul 012008

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 »

Philosophy of a Knife (2008)

B. Harris, Crime, Documentary, Experimental, Exploitation, Extreme, Horror, Thriller No Responses »

Jun 172008

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 »

Diary of the Dead (2007)

Action, B. Harris, Documentary, Horror, Thriller, Zombies No Responses »

May 192008

DVD Release

A group of film school students lead by Jason Creed, intent on making a low budget horror film, are suddenly thrust into a world gone mad when the dead begin rising all around the globe. Nobody is quite sure what to do so they all hit the road in an RV and Jason continues rolling the camera in pursuit of the truth, hoping to document the apocalypse for future survivors.

To call this a masterpiece would be a bold, and purposeful, misstatement. George A. Romero’s Diary of the Dead is rife with plot holes, clumsy subtext, unlikable characters, weak exposition, annoying narration, “just okay” acting and poorly executed CG. Aside Continue reading »