Nerds of Oz: Week Ending 20th January 2017

Week Ending 20th January 2017
A couple of bargains crossed my palm this week, so I leapt on them ravenously!

Comics


Had a late night on Tuesday night doing stocktake at a shop about and hours drive away from my place, but when I got home at about midnight, I was pleasantly surprised to see that my small comic delivery had arrived.

READ! Justice League vs Suicide Squad #4 from DC Comics. Really the only way to describe what happens in this comic is: stuff just got real! Max Lord and his gang of villains finally go to battle against the JL and the SS, but here we find out what he is REALLY up to… Awesome story by Joshua Williamson and great art by Fernandez Pasarin and Matt Ryan.

READ! Red Sonya #1 from Dynamite Comics. Not sure where they are going with this one. Red Sonja is trapped in our time and is believed to be an escaped mental patient… not sure where it’s going, and I’m not sure if I’ll continue yet… I’ll give it one more issue. Written by Amy Chu with art by Carlos Gomez.

READ! Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme #4 from Marvel Comics. Written by Robbie Thompson with art by Javier Rodriguez, this comic goes from strength to strength as the Sorcerers now find a trailer in their midst, and we learn more about the totally cool character The Conjuror and how she became the sorcerer of her time, which is 50s America.

READ! X-men vs Inhumans #2 from Marvel Comics. Written by Jeff LeMire and Charles Soule, with art by Leinil Francis Yu, this comic takes place in the wake of Scott Summers, aka Cyclops’ death. It’s a traditional Marvel slugfest, but this time we have the now totally convoluted X-men (with two… count ’em TWO, beasts) against the Inhumans whose Terrigan mists are deadly to mutants. The worst part is Johnny ‘Human Torch’ Storm’s presence in the Inhumans, reminding me again that a Marvel Universe with no Fantastic Four is NO Marvel Universe at all.

Partworks

I was a little behind on my partworks stuff and picked them up this week, so I have several issues of Marvel Fact Files, and…


Two issues of the Marvel Graphic Novel Collection, which has Part 2 of the Spider Island story, and the awesome Jack Kirby story starring Captain America and the Falcon called ‘Madbomb’.


Magazines


Grabbed the latest issue (in Australian newsagency terms, which is about 6 weeks behind) of the Dark Side and Horrorhound, and also picked up a few 80s issues of Horrorfan and House of Horror, both now defunct.

DVDs and Blurays 


Got my hands on six blurays this week: Inferno (I love the other Dan Brown/ Robert Langdon movies and I look forward to watching this), two Jodorosky films, El Topo and Holy Mountain, a rape/ revenge flick called Girls Against Boys and two movies from Monster Pictures, Hellions and Worry Dolls.

Statue

Managed to get my hands on it quite cheaply, so I grabbed a bust of Aquaman from DC Collectables. I have a few others of these busts, and they are pretty cool, but I stopped collecting as there were just too many of them and I couldn’t keep up.


I also scored this cute Quantum Mechanics Harley Quinn from Suicide Squad figure.


While we are on the subject of Harley, also got this awesome Christmas Harley Black, White and Red based in Amanda Conner’s artwork, which is far superior to her writing.

The House of Clocks (1989)

One from the re watch pile…
The House of Clocks aka La Casa Nel Tempo(1989)

The House of Clocks DVD cover


Film: When talking about my favourite films, one director’s name pops up with three example: Lucio Fulci. The films of his that always get a mention are The Beyond (a favourite), The City of the Living Dead and Zombie Flesh Eaters. I grew up hiring these films from my local video shop, and pouring over any information I could glean from the pages of Fangoria, though those pages regularly show gore not necessarily present in the copies that I was hiring!

The House of Clocks: home invasion!


I have always dug Fulci’s explicit gore, even though for me it’s not a necessity, and cool set pieces, though sometimes… ok, a lot of the time, the message of the story, or in fact, the story of the story, doesnt feel like a completed entity. 

The House of Clocks is one of those films. This film is a part of the ‘doomed houses’ series of TV films made by Fulci and Umberto Lenzi (the others being The Sweet House of Horror, The House of Witchcraft and The House of Lost Souls), though Fulci’s entry was deemed to gory for TV and instead received a cinema and VHS release.

The House of Clocks: right in the fanny!


Three thieves decide to rob and old clock-collecting couple who go to drastic measures to keep a secret they have hidden from the outside world. Unfortunately, the robbery goes horribly wrong, and the old couple and their groundskeeper are killed during the course of the botched home invasion… but then, all the accumulated clocks starts running backwards, and the dead, live again!

For me, Fulci took his surrealism too far in this flick and it becomes a series of nonsensical set pieces that whilst you understand what is going on, it’s just not conveyed very well. I am sure this could be remade and could tell the story with far more cohesively than what Fulci has done here.

Score: **

The House of Clocks menu screen


Format: The reviewed copy of this film was the 2002 Shriek Show release, region 1 DVD which runs for approximately 83 minutes. It’s is presented in an extraordinarily foggy, washed out and dull 1.85:1 image with an English dubbed Dolby Digital 2.0 audio track which is far better than what the image would suggest.

Score: **

Extras: There is a couple of extras on this disc.

First we have trailers for The House of Clocks, Eaten Alive, Zombi 3, House on the Edge of the Park and Sweet House of Horrors. 

Next are two interviews, one with Paolo Paoloni and another with Carla Cassola. Unfortunately the sound with Paoloni is a bit dodgy, but they both seem to have nice recollections of the making of the film .

Score: **

WISIA: It’s not Fulci’s best film by a long shot, and I watched it once several years ago but not since. The only reason I rewatched it at all was for this review. I probably won’t watch it again unless I decide to do some kind of Fulci retrospective.

The House of Clocks: the cat’s revenge.

Respectable: The Mary Millington Story (2016) Review

One from the to watch pile…
Respectable: The Mary Millington Story (2016)

The cover to the UK release of Respectable: The Mary Millington Story


Film: I sometimes think, since the advent of DVD, that I love extras, and documentaries about films, more than the films themselves. That is, I’ve always loved documentaries, Helevtica is one of my favourite films, documentary or otherwise, but seeing informative video about the films I love is like a dream come true.

I think the first actual film documentary I saw that wasn’t an extra, was Mark Hartley’s Not Quite Hollywood, and I lapped it up, and I have actively pursued as many as I can and have amassed a collection of about 20 films, ranging from Roger Corman’s history, to the legend of Britain’s Video Nasty period.

If anything, this documentary is almost complimentary for the Jake West Video Nasty docos, as it tells not of the banned videos from the early 80s, but instead tells of UK porno star Mary Millington’s life, and her rise from glamour photo club model, to lad’s magazines to the illegal market of porn films in the 70s.

The Queen of Blue herself, Mary Millington.


The doco is written and directed by Simon Sheridan, Millington’s biographer and writer of Come Play With Me: The Mary Millington Story and has is narrated by Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrel’s Dexter Fletcher. There are recent interviews with several family members and Millington’s film contemporaries of the time, not to mention archive interviews with porn producers and anti-porn activists (like Mary Whitehouse), and an audio interview with Millington herself.

Hers was a life of drugs and sex and money, and as most documentaries of people with these lifestyles, it doesn’t end well, as the tragedy of their lifestyle can sometimes catch up with those involved. 

The odd dance sequence from Come Play With Me.


 My interest in this period of cinema comes as an extension of my love of the so-called saucy cinema of the UK, whether it’s the less risqué Carry on Films, or some of the slightly more-so borderline soft-core porn films of the period, and I’ve always been a fan of Millington. This doco is surprising as it is rated a U.K. (18) but has quite a lot of full frontal nudity, both male and female, and some actual sex… not a great deal, but enough to raise my eyebrows at the idea I grabbed this from Amazon!

It’s a tragic and fascinating story, told well with heaps of supplementary material and when you have a story about someone who was filmed and photographed as often as Millington, you know there is gonna be lots of nudity and a decent slog of sex. 

Score: ****

The DVD menu screen for Respectable: The Mary Millington Story


Format: This UK release, region 2 DVD runs for approximately 110 minutes and is presented is a 1.75:1 image of varying quality due to the amount of archival material, but essentially the picture is ok. The audio is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 and is clear.

Score: ***1/2

Extras: Amazing amount of extras on this disc:

The Audio Commentary is done by Sam Dunn from the British film institute and Simon Sheridan, the writer and director of the film. It is a really interesting, in-depth commentary, almost as interesting as the film.

Confession from the Dave Sullivan focuses primarily on Sullivan’s career in the adult entertainment industry, as far as publishing and filmmaking is concerned. An interesting albeit brief look at his career.

Keep it up, Sue! In conversation with Sue Longhurst is similar to the Sullivan short insomuch as it briefly looks at the career of one of Millington’s contemporaries, and her appearance in the Keep It Up films.

Sex Talk with Ed Tudor-Pole is a similar interview with punk musician Ed Tudor-Pole, from Tenpole Tudor.

Party Pieces 1974 silent film is an 11 minute long stag film with no sound which is quite tame compared to today’s pornography.

Come Play With Me original 1977 trailer is obviously a trailer for ‘Come Play With Me’.

Respectable teaser trailer is, obviously a teaser for this film.

Score: *****

WISIA: This sort of doco is right up my alley, so I’ll definitely watch it again.

A newspaper add for Linda Lovelace’s Deep Throat

R.I.P William Peter Blatty


The To Watch Pile is sad to see the passing of author and filmmaker William Peter Blatty, aged 89, who wrote both the novel and the screenplay for The Exorcist, of a form of blood cancer known as multiple myeloma.

The director of The Exorcist, William Friedkin, announced his passing on Twitter.

Rest In Peace, Mr Blatty.

Note: why not take a moment to look at how you can donate to cancer research, including the one Mr Blatty passed away from, by contacting the Australian Cancer Research Foundation.

Fright Rags VS Jason Voorhees

Those awesome people over at Fright Rags have a new Friday the 13th T shirt available on the Friday the 13th January. It’s called Victims and Survivors and is only available for 24 hours, and it’s only 20 bucks (U.S. that is).



It’s a cool shirt and is only available for 24 hours so get on it!

Go to Fright Rags to pick it up, but be quick!!

Nerds of Oz: Week Ending 13th January 2017

Week Ending 13th January 2017
Let the spendings diminish! I might finally get some coming back in the bank!

Comics


Only a small haul this week and I managed to read them all, I love catching up on my To Read Pile!

READ! Justice League vs Suicide Squad #3 from DC Comics. Managed to grab the cool Amanda Conner variant for this blatant cash-in of the popularity of the Suicide Squad movie and the anticipation of the Justice League movie. In short, it’s awesome. Written by Joshua Williamson and art by Andy Owens and Jesús Merino, this comics features all the faves from both teams, plus Killer Frost up against an enemy that may be more trouble than both teams can handle!

READ! Avengers #3 from Marvel Comics.continuing the Kang storyline by Mark Waid, with cool, painty art by Mike Del Mundo, this comic highlights the new Wasp and her morals and bravery. I think Nadia could be a new star in the Marvel U if she is handled correctly.

READ! Champions #4 from Marvel Comics. Written by Mark Waid with art by Humberto Ramos, who if I’m honest, doesn’t tick the boxes for things I like. I feel this comic is starting to lose its way, and this issue felt like it was a comic for kids, with a quick throwaway adventure in which a little is learnt about the Vision’s daughter, Viv, but not much else. This will probably be my last issue of this.

READ! Hawkeye #2 from Marvel Comics. Continues the story from the first issue. It still shows promise but I think Marvel are making the same mistakes they made in the 70s with just making female versions of male characters rather than giving them their own identity. This comic doesn’t just suffer from being she-Hawkeye, it also is too reminiscing of Jessica Jones. It does wear these influences on its sleeve, and evenjokes about it, but it might eventually be detrimental. Nice story and art though, hopefully that will be enough to keep it afloat.

READ! The Unstoppable Wasp #1 from Marvel Comics. Marvel continue their positive female character explosion with an awesome rendition of the Wasp, who is a ‘true’ female character rather than s she-version of another. No longer the Avengers’ Janet Van Dyne, we now have Henry Pym’s daughter from his first marriage, Nadia. This is a cool comic about young girls entering the field of science, and features Ms. Marvel as a contemporary of Nadia’s, and Mockingbird as an inspiration. I hope it lasts a long time as I like the fact that she is a positive intellectual character for young women. Another win from Marvel, like the new Hawkeye and Hulk titles. Nice story by Jeremy Whitley and some cool, fun and cartoony art by Elsa Charretier.

DVDs and Blurays 


Grabbed copies of The Neon Demon and Beyond the Gates. The Neon Demon I have been following and am excited to finally get to watch, and Beyond the Gates was suggested to me by Simon, who runs the action movie website Explosive Action and the synopsis enthralled me.

Soundtracks


Martin by Donald Rubenstein is the soundtrack from George Romero’s ‘vampire’ movie from the 70s. It’s a cool low-key soundtrack but represents the film beautifully


Stage Fright by Simon Boswell is a cool synthy soundtrack from the awesome American styled slasher film/ giallo from the 80s. The design of the cover is amazing, and the music is exactly the sort of thing I like. This edition is on a pretty cool clear vinyl.

Statue


A surprise delivery today with this Lady Thor Bishoujo figure from Kotobukiya! No doubt I’ll have a YouTube video for the Unboxing of this beauty soon.

Yoga Hosers (2016) Review

One from the to watch pile…
Yoga Hosers (2016)

Australian Yoga Hosers bluray cover


Film: I kind of feel sorry for Kevin Smith. When his first five View Askewniverse films (Clerks, Malleats, Chasing Amy, Dogma and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back) came out, he was a trail-blazer of modern comedy, and his slacker filled films became pop cultural norms that still influence films today. I loved those films, particularly Dogma, in which Ben Affleck and Matt Damon told such an amazing story about being abandoned, and thought that Smith would be one of the greatest directors of all time in my modest opinion.

But times change, and we get older, me some of us grow, and some of us don’t.

Times change, and comedy takes a popular style, like Smith’s, and evolves, and what happens is the initiator of that comedy sometimes gets left behind, and Smith seems to be in this boat. Those first five movies were so original that I don’t want to criticise Smith as being a one-trick pony, because each of those films were great in different ways, but Clerks 2, even though it retraced steps from the first five View Askewniverse films, lacked something (though Rosario Dawson’s dance sequence to the Jackson five was a bouncy thing of beauty!) Tusk was the next thing I saw of his, and it was just terrible, and I really dig those ‘lost and trapped by a madman’ films, but it just failed on so many counts.

The failure of Smith’s venture in horror comedy continues with this dreadful movie… although I do dig the soundtrack…

Yoga Hosers: Harley Quinn Smith and Lily-Rose Depp as the Colleens, and the back of Vanessa Paradis’ head.


Total losers Colleen (Harley Quinn Smith) and Colleen (Lily-Rose Depp) work in a convenience store, Eh-to-Zed owned by one of their fathers, and managed by his girlfriend. They are invited to a high school seniors party one night, but their plans are dashed when they are forced to work.

They invite the boy who invited them to the party to come to the convenience store to party there instead, but they girls find out that he and his friend are devil worshippers possessed by the bratwurst constructed, mini-Nazi clones made by insane Andronicus Arcane (Ralph Garman, who is an amazing impressonist). 

Can they, along with investigator Guy LaPointe (Johnny Depp) stop his nefarious plan?

Yoga Hosers: Johnny Depp as Guy LaPointe


Who cares, would be a better question. Basically this film is a rehash of Clerks, but for the horror-comedy set, except there’s no horror, and not much comedy. Sorry, there is one piece of horror, after the credits there is a threat that the Colleen’s will return in another film… EEK!

A lot of the so-called comedy is directed at poking fun at the Canadian accent and product which may emulate American ones, which might be funny to an American who hates Canadians, but maybe here is Australia we are too far away from the situation for it to be funny. I can’t help but wonder if the stereotyping done in this film was aimed at another country, that it wouldn’t just come across as culturally insensitive.

I do have to admit, Johnny Depp’s characters ever moving face moles made me snigger.

Smith and Depp are cute kids, but their acting skill aren’t of a high level, but everyone here, even the ones who are normally good actors, seem to have let their talents go on holidays, except for the afore mentioned Ralph Garman, because if he is actually doing those impressions, he’s the king!

The film is full of Smith’s usual suspects Justin Long, Haley Joel Osment, Stan Lee, Jason Mewes and his various friends and relatives. It’s almost like a home movie for the Smith and Depp families, actually, something which Smith even admits in the extras.

Somewhere along the line though, I think when Smith was writing the film he got the idea that he hates anyone criticising his work (who does?) and one of the characters has a dig at those who criticise art. It is a strange bit of the film that feels more like a personal message is thrown into the bratwurst carnage. He has done this before in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, so I think that he’s particularly susceptible to it.

Unfortunately, this film is so bad, it makes the Smith’s boring and stupid Tusk look like The Empire Strikes Back in comparison. What’s worse, is like every other sucker who used to love Smith’s work, I’ll still stupidly shell out money for his next venture as I know that the old Kevin is still somewhere inside him, waiting to produce another gem!

Score: *

Yoga Hosers Menu screen


Format: This review was performed with the Australian region B bluray, which (thankfully) runs for only 87 minutes of which 7 are the closing credits… 7!!!, which has an immaculate 2.40:1 picture with a spectacular DTD-HD 5.1 audio track.

Score: *****

Extras: Only one extra and it’s a Behind the Scenes which is just a 7 minutes or so look at how the film was made. It’s all ego stroking like the very worst of these types of things.

Score: *

WISIA: Nope, and I’m gonna invent a time machine so I can go back in time and tell myself to not see it once.

Yoga Hosers: Jason Mewes cameos as ‘Rogue Cop’

Panic Beats (1982) Review

One from the re watch pile…
Panic Beats aka Latinos de Pánico (1982)


Film: I totally love Paul Naschy (aka Jacinta Molina), but it’s a strange love. I dig Naschy as I see myself in him! We both grew up loving horror films, and loving old heroes like Robin Hood and Zorro (a particular favourite of mine). His favourite monster is the werewolf, as is mine, and he is a not very attractive, hirsute, round-headed dude who has no trouble pulling chicks…

Ok, so we aren’t completely similar!

His films have always stood out for me, even though I have only seen a small percentage of them. It’s not just Naschy’s films though; I think I just love all the films of Spain from this period, as I love stuff from Armando De Ossorio (the Blind Dead films) and Jorge Grau (Living Dead at Manchester Morgue is a particular favourite). I love the beautiful women, the sleazy men, the beautiful vistas, the crazy stories and the flat-out, nutty violence!


Panic Beats tells of Paul Marnac (Paul Naschy) who is moving to the countryside with his wife Geneviève (Julia Saly) for the quiet life where hopefully she can survive her debilitating heart condition…. but does Paul, who married into money when they wed, want her to survive? Has he perhaps enlisted the help of a bloodthirsty young woman to help him in his quest and is there supernatural elements at play here?


Mysogynistic? Possibly. Sexist? Definitely! Trashy? 100%!!! Entertaining? Yes, but this is a slower one, but once the accelerator is pushed about three quarters through the film, boy, does it take off! It does, however, get a little over-complicated with all the double dealing and back-stabbing. It’s not the greatest Spanish horror film by a long shot, but there is enough intrigue and nudity to keep you interested.

Score: ***


Format: The reviewed copy of Panic Beats was the Mondo Macabro multi-region DVD, which runs for approximately 92 minutes and is presented in a pretty good 1.78:1 image and the audio is presented in Dolby digital 2.0, but in Spanish so you’ll have to turn of the subtitles!

Score: ***1/2

Extras: A cool bunch of extras on this disc:

Blood & Sand is a 20 odd minute doco about Spanish horror films, with a slant towards Naschy! It’s informative and quite tongue in cheek and features a groovy soundtrack and interviews with directors José Ramòn Larraz, Armando de Ossorio, Paul Naschy, Jorge Grau, producer Daniel Lesouer, and actors Orchedea de Santis, Caroline Monroe and Daniela Giordano. It’s one of those ‘shopping list’ dodos where you discover a film you may not have yet seen, but immediately need to track down. There’s also a cavalcade of stills and promo material throughout the doco.

Featurette: Paul Naschy on… sees Naschy talk about various aspects of his life, and his life’s work. It’s an interesting interview with him.

There is a stills gallery, but I initially liked this one as it has photos from the opening night of the film’s release, then it just sinks into photos of the film.

The last extra is a title list from Mondo Macabro.

There is also a credits list for the DVD which I find amusing as it is one of the worst menus I have ever seen! Most of the time the options can’t even be read whilst the flames flicker over them.

Score: ***1/2

WISIA: I love Eurotrash horror, and this being a Naschy film means I’ll give it another go, despite it’s awkward pacing.

The Queen of Black Magic (1979)

One from the to watch pile…
The Queen of Black Magic aka Ratu Ilmu Hitam (1979)

The cover to Mondo Macabro’s release of The Queen of Black Magic


Film: I don’t know much about the Indonesian film industry outside of the documentaries Machete Maidens Unleashed and The Search for Weng Weng, but what I do know is the film Mystics in Bali is a freaking gem, and one of my favourite movies. Of what I have seen , though, I have to say the thing I enjoy the most about Indonesian horror, and for that matter, all international horror, particular Asian, is the totally foreign ideas and myths that I may have not been exposed to before. 

This film was directed by Liliek Sudjio, and features stars of Indonesian cinema Suzzanah and W. D. Mochtar (whose wife Sofia W.D. Is also in this film).

The Queen of Black Magic tells the story of a young woman, Murni, who is not only spurned by her lover, Kohar, so he can marry another, more reputable woman of the town, Buda. He accuses her of being a practitioner of Black Magic after his wife starts seeing things and the men of the town catch her and throw her off a cliff…

The Queen of Black Magic: Suzzanah as Murni


…into the hands of a mystic who teaches her the ways of Black Magic so she can get her revenge on the townspeople. She resists at first, but once they kill her mother, the evil gloves come off, and the carnage begins!

So straight up the effects are, at times, hokey and the strings for some of the effects are quite clear. I am one who generally am more forgiving of practical effects than CGI ones, and when you see the doco about El Badrun in the extras, you’ll see that it low-tech cause the conditions of the industry are the same.

The story is a simple tale of revenge, but it’s told with such a sense of fun, which may or may not be deliberate, that one can’t help but enjoy the proceedings. The dubbing is also amusing, almost like a cartoon in its very deliberate delivery. Both of these elements make the film feel quite quaint, and childlike, even though the subjects of Black Magic, religion, and a Muslim hero may seem quite controversial in today’s world.

The Queen of Black Magic: someone’s got worms!


It’s a fun film and an entertaining 90 minutes, though you won’t come away from it with your life changed.

Note: The Mondo Macabro disc lists this film as being a 1979 release, and IMDb note it as 1983. I have deferred to the Mondo Macabro disc for my review.

Score: **1/2

The Queen of Black Magic DVD menu


Format: The reviewed copy of this film was the US, Mondo Macabro release on a region free DVD which runs for approximately 90 minutes. The image is presented in a clear 2.35:1 image with a mono soundtrack, which is decent but nothing special.

Score: ***

Extras

 About the Film is a text piece by Pete Tombs and tells of the history of the films production company, and a bit about the Indonesian film industry. It’s quite an interesting read and will probably spur you on to more research into Indonesian horror.

The trailer is what you would expect it to be: the trailer!

Indonesian Light & Magic: A Tour around the studio of SFX Maestro El Badrun is a look through the bamboo walled special effects studio of El Badrun. Like a lot of young special effects artists, he learnt from reading books and giving it a go, and this is a pretty cool piece showing his make-shift ways of doing SFX.

More from Mondo Macabro DVD is a series of trailers including Snake Sisters, Mystics in Bali, The Blood Rose, The Bollywood Horror Collection,Snake Dancer, The Devil’s Sword, Lifespan, Don’t Deliver Us From Evil, Satan’s Blood, Virgins From Hell, For Your Height Only, French Sex Murders, The Deathless Devil, Living Doll, Satanico Pandemonium, Panic Beats, Clonus, The Killer Must Kill Again, The Mansion of Madness, Alucarda, The Diabolical Dr. Z, Aswang, The Living Corpse, Blood of the Virgins, Seven Woman for Satan, Lady Terminator, Crazy Love, Mill of the Stone Women, Dangerous Seductress and Girl Slaves of Morgana Le Fay. Actually it’s more one big trailer with segments of all those other trailers edited together.

Score: ***

WISIA: It is OK, but it’s no Mystics in Bali, so I might watch it again, but it won’t hover at the top of the Re-watch pile.

The Queen of Black Magic: evil rituals by moonlight!