Author Archives: J.R.

Panic Beats (1982) Review

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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)

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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!

Nerds of Oz: Week Ending 6th January 2017

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Week Ending 6th January 2017
Happy New Year, everyone, from the TWP and from the Nerds of Oz. Sales were continuing this week, so a bit of crap was grabbed!
Comics


Only managed to read a couple before this post, so only a few gets proper commentaries.

Batgirl #6 from DC Comics.

Harley’s Little Black Book #5 from DC Comics.

Justice League VS Suicide Squad #2 from DC Comics. I had to grab this variant cover one as I love Terry Dodson’s work, maybe as it’s slightly derivative of Adam Hughes’.

Teen Titans #3 from DC Comics.

Titans #3 from DC Comics.

READ! Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme #3 from Marvel Comics. Writer Robbie Thompson and artist Javier Rodriguez have sculpted an amazing story here where the Sorcerers Supreme through time are banded together to fight one evil. It’s a pretty cool tale focusing on a Native American character who is possessed by the Spirit of Vengeance from Ghost Rider.

READ! Hulk #1 from Marvel Comics. Wow! Occasionally a comic comes along that changes your perspective about comics, and this is one of those. Jennifer Walters, aka She-Hulk, has discovered that her cousin Bruce, the Incredible Hulk has been killed by a friend, Hawkeye during the second superhero civil war, a war that left her in a coma. She’s better now, but having trouble adjusting to being a regular person again, and resisting ‘Hulking out’. This is a story about loss and trauma, and making an attempt to restart your life, even though you are no longer the same person. Incredible storytelling, and subtle art.

Infamous Iron Man #3 from Marvel Comics.
Blurays and DVD


Grabbed an Australian DVD called ‘Red Billabong’ which looks bloody awful, but it’s Australian, so I thought I’d give it a go. Actually, I was wrong, it’s pretty good but has some ordinary CGI.

On bluray I grabbed the Australian release of The Hallow, based on a trailer I saw on the All Through The House Bluray. From Shameless Screen Entertainment I grabbed The Church and The Sect, and from Arrow Video I scored Hell Comes to Frogtown and The Guyver. Don’t Breathe was from last week, but cheekily made its way into this pic!


At the last minute, I also grabbed a steelbook of Stephen King’s IT!
Books


A ‘Strange’ week this week! See what I did there? I grabbed the Art of the Doctor Strange movie book, and one of the D&K encyclopaedias of Dr Strange!


Also I grabbed an awesome book about my favourite types of films, Euro horror, called Euro Gothic by Johnathon Rigby. 
Toys


Many years ago a had a full set of the Justice action figures until my Superman and Brainiac figures suffered from a little water damage, and now I have at least been able to replace the Superman one! I also have a Justice Society Superman one which has suffered the same fate, and I spend my days searching.

This other is a Figma Archetype Next: [she] which I intend on using as a model for drawing. I have been thinking of doing a comic again, and thought this would be a good idea to use as a model for it… and it’s cool!

Video Game Stuff


I grabbed Titanfall 2 when it first came out, but didn’t want to make the investment of $400 odd bucks to grab this helmet… thankfully, the Boxing Day sales continued and this, helmet only, not the game and other stuff, I managed to grab for $65. I’m as happy as I could be, this thing is awesome, and goes nicely with my Assassin’s Creed Hidden Knife and my Gears of War gun!

The Theatre Bizarre (2011)

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One from the to watch pile…
The Theatre Bizarre (2011)

The cover for Severin films The Theatre Bizarre


Film: I am sure in previous movie review I have mentioned my love of anthology films. From Creepshow, to The Twilight Zone Movie, to Holidays to Tales of Halloween I have always dug them, and I especially like, which is prevalent in the last two of the four mentioned, that have a similar theme.

The Theatre Bizarre is the brainchild of David Gregory, and the idea is to do an anthology film which recreated the ideal of Grand Guignol but for cinema audiences rather than ‘live’ theatre audiences.

The Theatre Bizarre: Virginia Newcombe


Our framing sequence is that of a girl (Virginia Newcombe) obsessed with a local dilapidated theatre, which she finds, upon entering, is populated by an automaton (Udo Kier) who proceeds to show her a series of stories, introducing each one with a new automaton…

First is The Mother of Toads, by director Richard Stanley and starring Catriona MacColl (The Beyond, City of the Living Dead) tells of the strange things that happen to a young couple when they become involved with a strange woman in France. It’s very H. P. Lovecraft.

The second is I Love You by Buddy Giovinazzo sees a man, Axel (André Hannicke) wake up in the bathroom of his apartment with a nasty cut on his hand. He is in the middle of a nasty break up with his wife, Mo (Suzan Anbeh) and when she returns he insists on knowing why she is leaving… and he may not be happy with the answers.

The next, Wet Dreams, is directed by Tom Savini tells of Donnie (James Gill) who is having repeated dreams about his penis being cut off by a monstrous vagina, and then fed to him by his wife (Debbie Rochon). His psychiatrist (Tom Savini) gives him a way of getting out of the dream, but which is the dream and which is reality?

The Accident by director Douglas Buck sees a mother (Lena Klein) discussing death with her daughter (Mélodie Simard) in respect to an accident they witnessed. It’s a delicate, beautiful piece about death in the middle of all this gore!

Vision Stains by Karim Hussein tells of a woman (Kaniehttio Horn) who has discovered that she can see a persons life by extracting the viscous fluid from their eyes and injecting in into hers so she can document them. She, of course, has to kill them to do so, but she picks women she believes want to die to perform her bizarre experiments on, but why does she feel a responsibility to do such a thing? 

The Theatre Bizarre: you might not want to eat during this film.


The surrealistic Sweets by David Gregory is another break-up story like I Love You, but this time snivelling Greg (Guildford Adams) is being dumped by Estelle (Lindsay Goranson) who has a food fetish, but maybe it’s worse than what you think.

With all the short films having women as the antagonist, I am sure there is some deep and meaningful anti, or pro feminism thing going in, but I’m a horror movie fan, not a psychologist, so I’m not going to get into that.

What I can definitely say though is that this film is a cracker of an anthology film. It’s all told dead straight and made me squirm on more than one occasion. The influences of Grand Guignol are definitely present as there is no shortage of blood… or vomit… or frog slime… or guts… or retina fluid… you get the idea!

The tales are all of a high standard, really, aside from Sweets, I loved every one. That’s not to say Sweets was bad, it just wasn’t the greatest film in this collection. Props must go to Richard Stanley too: I am not a fan of his and was blown away by The Mother of Frogs, so I might now go revisit some of his older works again!

It was a real pleasure to see a horror film that was horror-full, instead of horrible.

Score: ****1/2

The Theatre Bizarre menu screen


Format: The reviewed copy was a US DVD from Severin which runs for approximately 1 hour and 53 minutes. It is presented in a nice 2.35:1 vision with a clear and excellent Dolby 5.1 soundtrack. 

Score: ****

Extras: The disc opens with a trailers for Smile, which actually looks pretty good!

The first extras option is a director’s commentary, first we have a muddy sounding wraparound bit with Jeremy Kasten before each segment gets a commentary from the various creatives who made the film. It’s a many and varied commentary but wholly interesting. The sound quality is varying as the commentaries are clearly done in a variety of environments.

ShockTilYouDrop interviews is a series of interviews about the film with David Gregory, Buddy Giovinazzo and Jeremy Kasten. It talks about the origins of the film and what it took to make. There almost 40 minutes of interviews and it’s quite interesting.

There is also some Behind the Scenes stuff for the various segments but it’s not informative, just people on the set doing stuff. Each section goes for about 2 minutes and it’s not really worth watching, except for the last one, Vision Stains, which reveals a needle in the eye effect.

The Theatre Bizarre trailer is just what it claims to be.

Score: ****

WISIA: It’s pretty intense, so whilst it won’t be regular on the rotation list, it will get at least another watch. I’ve actually had this film since 2011 and never watched it…. what a mistake!

The Theatre Bizarre: Peg Poett (Udo Kier) spins a tale or two!

Summer Review: The Shallows (2016)

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Welcome back to our next Summer holidays film, in this case, we have abandoned piranha and returned to the beach for more sharky goodness. This one is from the to watch pile…
The Shallows (2016)

The Cover of the Australian Bluray release of The Shallows


Film: I was pretty pumped when I first saw the trailer for this film at the cinema. There were three things that really piqued my interest. The first, was that it was a shark film mixed with a serial killer film: abandoned location and a girl trapped whilst a killer stalks her. All the comparisons made about Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers reversed. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read comparisons made between the cinematic serial killer and the ‘dead eyes’ of a shark! Here we have that idea reversed and we see a shark acting with the same dead eyes and intentions!

The second is, believe it or not, even though I am a nerd through and through, I love watching surfing and I love the beach. I actually worked at an average job for far too long just because it was beside the sea, and I could go down to the beach whenever I wanted. The three months of summer made it all worthwhile. So I have seen almost every surf movie I can get my hands on, from the old Frankie and Annette things, to Blue Crush and then to docos like Riding Giants! Even though I am more an inside guy, I love looking at the seas and the sun.

Which brings me to the final, and possibly not quite as honourable reason: bikinis, and in this case Blake Lively in a bikini.

The Shallows: Blake Lively is not so tough on the eyes.


Let’s move on, shall we…

The Shallows tells of Nancy (Blake Lively) who, after the death of her mum, decides to take a break from medical school and travel for a while. She visits a beach in Mexico that her mum went to in 1991 when she was pregnant with her… just to get some kind of connection to her.

It’s an abandoned, secret, ‘locals only’ sort of a beach, with very few knowing of its existence.

She is dumped by her friend, who stays back at the motel, and finds herself on this beach that few know about, all by herself except for two locals having a surf.

She spends the day surfing and after the two locals leave, attempts to catch one last wave, when she is attacked by a shark.

The Shallows: blood fills the water!


The shark knocks her off her board and takes a decent bite into her leg, and leaves her stuck on a small rock that juts from the ocean… but how will she escape? Who knows she’s there?

… and what will happen to her when the tide comes in and covers the rock she’s on…

The first thing that strikes me about this film is how wonderfully it is shot. The seascapes are beautiful (it’s Lord Howe Island, what do you expect), but the director, Juame Collet-Serra, who directed The Orphan and Non-Stop, has utilised some amazing overlays to convey Facetime calls and the time. The story is told quite well through these overlays.

There are unfortunately some dodgy CGI effects. Not horrifyingly bad, but they stick out. When you see the film and see the dolphins and the jellyfish, you’ll know what I mean, that’s not to diminish how good the shark looks though, as it is pretty spectacular.

Considering the film is more or less Lively by herself for the entire film and is essentially a monologue of her survival, she does a great job, and is convincing in the role. 

What we have here is a decent thriller, with some great survival red herrings, a good lead and some cool set pieces, but it doesn’t set the world on fire. It strikes all the right chords, but still just isn’t quite the thriller it could be. There’s some X-factor that it seems to be missing, but that could just be that it’s not Jaws.

Score: ***

The Shallows bluray menu


Format: The release reviewed in the Australian multi-region bluray, which runs for about 86 minutes (I do like a short film now and again). It is presented in a super clear and vibrant 2.39:1 with a cracking DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio soundtrack.

Score: *****

Extras: The disc opens with a trailer for the 2016 Ghostbusters film, before getting to the menu screen.

There are three deleted scenes, which as usual the film is better off without.

Shooting in the Shallows discusses the making of the film, and the difficulties of shooting a film in an aquatic environment, both at a beach, and in a tank.

When Sharks Attack looks at the scientific aspects of shark attacks, with an interview with a shark attack victim.

How to Build a Shark looks at the creation of the CGI shark, from drawing to maquette to actual effect.

Finding the Perfect Beach: Lord Howe Island looks at the beauty of Lord Howe Island, and how it is an important part of the film.

There is also a preview for Ghostbusters.

Score: ****

WISIA: It will probably get watched again just because I like the scenery of the beach.

The Shallows: SHARK!!! (and some product placement of a GoPro)

Happy New Year from the To Watch Pile

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HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM THE TO WATCH PILE
Just thought I’d drop a my supporters, followers and readers a note of thanks for all the support you’ve given me over the past 10 months.

The TWP was born out of a love of movies and some egging on by a few like-minded friends, and I appreciate that those of you who have taken time out of you lives to stop and read a review, or watch a YouTube did so. This is all done out of my love for movies and comics and toys and stuff, and it’s done part time as I do actually have a full time job which, over Christmas, took up a lot of my time (I manage a ‘toy’ store).

I get frustrated with the site now and again when I can’t get it to do what I want it to do, but I now have it at a point where I am so far ahead of my published reviews that there shouldn’t be any bumps unless something disastrous happens. The regular publishing days should be – movie reviews Monday and Thursday, and Friday will be a roundup of stuff I have picked up over the preceding week. Occasionally I’ll throw in some news or if something cool happens in the world of movies or comics, but I don’t intend on doing death notices anymore here as we are so flooded by this information from other sources, and I’d rather the TWP be about the work that awesome people have done, rather than the sadness of their passing. I will however still make note of those sorts of things on the Facebook page.

Also this year, the Nerds of Oz podcast should start and there may be a few competitions along the way, not to mention months dedicated to whole sub-genres of horror or sci fi or whatever.

Don’t forget, follow me on Twitter at @TheToWatchPile, Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/towatchpile , Instagram at @towatchpile, YouTube at The ToWatchPile and on Letterbox’d at To Watch Pile.
So thank you again for your support, and I wish all of you and your families a heartfelt Happy New Year and hope whatever you want from the next year is delivered to you by a horny vampire, a cyborg from the future, a sexy superhero or a large breasted zombie.

Graduation Day (1981) Review

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One from the re watch pile…
Graduation Day (1981)

The cover the 88 Films’ Graduation Day BD release


Film: I love my 80s slasher films. From the Halloweens (yes I am aware that they started in the 70s, but predominantly the sequels hit in the 80s) and the Friday the 13ths and their imitators like The Burning, which I think is one of the finest slashers of all time, I love em all… to varying degrees…

I was very excited to see that 88 Films were making a bluray collection that focused on the slasher film. Excited, because it meant some of the lesser known and released slashers would get a working on bluray. 88 Films did a cool job with this collection too, all the cases in red and with thin, numbered spines, though some of the decisions made, like my previously reviewed Dead of Winter,  are a bit dubious.

Graduation Day: Patch MacKenzie as Anne Ramstead


This however is 1981’s Graduation Day, directed by Beyond Evil’s Herb Freed, who also co-wrote the story with Anne Marisse and it tells of a series of murders that are taking place in a town after a track star dies after a particularly stressful run, but why are these murders taking place? Is the runner’s sister, Anne (Patch MacKenzie) who has returned from military service responsible? Or is it the coach, (the unfortunately named) George Michaels (Christopher George) who has snapped after a feeling of responsibility for the girl’s death? 

Graduation Day: Michael Pataki as the Dean


Or is it someone else?!?

Honestly, it’s not the greatest slasher in the world, though some of the deaths are quite inventive. If it has any notoriety at all, it is due to the fact that the aforementioned Christopher George, star of Lucia Fulci’s City of the Living Dead stars in it, and a very young and pretty Linnea Quigley, scream queen extraordinaire and star of Return of the Living Dead amongst other films gets her very young and nubile boobies out.

So I guess at the very least it’s worth it for that.

Score: **

Graduation Day menu screen


Format: The reviewed copy of this film was the UK 88 Films release from their Slasher Classics Collection (Volume 1 actually) and is presented in an OK 1.78:1 widescreen image, which has an occasional artefact, and a pretty good DYS-HD mono audio presentation.

Score: ***1/2

Extras: The disc opens with a trailer for Calum Waddell’s doco Slice and Dice decent bunch of extras appear on this release of Graduation Day:

 First we have a documentary called Scream Queens: Horror Heroines Exposed which is hosted by Debbie Rochon, which talks about the ‘classic’ scream queens of the 80s. Thankfully it features Brinke Stevens, Michelle Bauer and Linda Quigley aka the REAL scream queens! It explores the entire ideal of the scream queen from nudity to crazy fans.

Graduation Memories, an interview with author and critic Justin Kerswell who talks about the film and its history.

Next we have a bunch of Troma extras which are, well, of Troma’s usual quality, if you know what I mean.

The Cannibal Lesbian Hoedown, a music video by Lloyd Kaufman and it’s exactly what you think it is… but with more boobs.

Tromantic Filmmaking Classroom: The Arm Rip shows how an arm rip effect can be done. It’s pretty dire and not very funny.

Interview with scream queen Linnea Quigley sees Quigley talk about her career.

Intro by Lloyd Kaufman which was made for a DVD release (which all of these are) and again, isn’t too funny.

Theatrical trailer is exactly what it says it is.

Speaking of trailers, there is also a bunch of trailers of 88 Films releases including Puppet Master, The Pit & the Pendulum, Demonic Toys, Bloody Birthday, Two Moon Junction, Doll Man, Bloodsucking Freaks, Puppet Master II, Puppet Master III, Tourist Trap and Castle Freak.

This release also has an interview card with a an article called Class Dismissed, in which Calum Waddell interviews star of Graduation Day Patch MacKenzie. This release also has a reversible cover with alternate art. 

Score: *****

WISIA: It’s an OK slasher but I can’t really see myself watching again.

Graduation Day: Linnea!!!

Nerds of Oz Collection Post: 30th December 2016

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Week Ending 30th December
Comics, and Pops, and Records: oh my!

Funko Pops

Horror Pops, not the band.


I know, I know, I wasn’t gonna buy more of these, but it’s Leatherface, Michael Myers and Pinhead: how could I resist?!?

Comics


I managed to read all my comics this week! How did I find the time?

READ! Harley Quinn #10 from DC Comics. Honestly I don’t know why I read Harley Quinn anymore. The stories are getting worse and worse and are usually just her going on silly inconsequential adventures, with a variety of artists that aren’t very good or funny. Occasionally they’ll do a serious one, but I think it’s time for a writer change on this one, sorry Jimmy and Amanda, I used to love the stories but now they just seem to be like old issues of Archie. Lame jokes and no real involvement with the rest of the DCU. At least a couple of art favourites of mine show up here in Bret Blevins and Joe Michael Linsner.

READ! Justice League vs Suicide Squad #1 from DC Comics. My two favourite teams from DC in a comic together? Yes please, though basically the plot will go that they’ll versus each other u til they realise they have a common enemy before begrudgingly working together. Comic Trope 101. The comic of course starts that way be we are also given a look into another group of bad guys who have banded together to,’save the world’ as the leader of them puts it. I won’t give away who they all are, but it’s nice to see the ‘main man’ of the DC universe back! Art by Jason Faibok is excellent, and the writing by Joshua Williamson is damned good too!

READ! Raven #4 from DC Comics. Continuing the tales of Raven of the Teen Titans. So far this comic has been amazing! I hope it continues in its Spiderman-ish teen alienation tales of woe and adventure. This comic just keeps going from strength to strength.

READ! Lady Mechanika: La Dama De La Muerte #3 from Benitez Productions. Awesome art and a pretty good story so far have made this anxiously looked forward to. Joe Benitez’s art is one of those things that both inspires me to draw, and makes me not want to draw as it is so beautiful. This issue doesn’t fail to impress! The bummer though it’s the Final issue… ARGH!

READ! Captain America: Sam Wilson #16 from Marvel Comics. I don’t normally buy this but it had Misty Knight on the cover carrying the shield: I’m buying that! If any character screams ‘Blaxploitation films’, it’s Misty Knight, and I LOVE Blaxploitation films! Tragically it doesn’t live up to its cover. The art is nice but it seems like it’s a fill-in issue. I probably won’t buy this title again. One, and done.

READ! Gamora #1 from Marvel Comics. She may not be on any Guardians of the Galaxy merchandise, but she at least gets a title of her own. Let’s hope it’s got some longevity. The story is written by Nicole Perlman and is fantastic, and supported well by really nice art by Marco Checchetto. I look forward to the next issue!

READ! The Mighty Captain Marvel #0 from Marvel Comics. I’ve always loved this character, from Ms. Marvel to Binary, so I’ll keep buying! It takes place after the terrible Civil War II which to me was an absolute travesty, especially after the awesome first Civil War which really was a thought provoking look at the whole super heroic experience from a ‘real world’ point of view. Anyway, now Marvel is in charge of Alpha Flight and is suffering from a touch of PTSD after Civil War II… hopefully she’ll get over it quickly and this book doesn’t end up just about ‘feelings’.

Magazines

Anime mags


I grabbed Otaku USA’s Dec 16 issue, and NEO’s issue 155. Due to my workplace, which has several anime fans, I am being dragged back into becoming a fan of anime, which I was many years ago. I have started on Eureka Seven AO, the sequel to an anime I like a few years ago called Eureka Seven.

Bluray



Which brings me to my bluray purchase, which includes collections 1, 2 and 3 of the anime RWBY, a horror from Monster Pictures called Satanic and the heart-stopping horror film Don’t Breathe. No doubt reviews if the movies are on their way!

Vinyl


Picked up three soundtracks at the Boxing Day sales: The Lego Movie, X-Men: Days of Future Past and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Only listened to the Lego one so far which is by Devo’s Mark Mothersborough, and it has a fun vibe to it, and it starts with the epic ‘Everything is Awesome’.

Society (1989) Review

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One from the re watch pile…
Society (1989)

Arrow Films’ bluray of Society


Film: There is no doubt that David Cronenberg is the absolute king of body horror! Films like Rabid, The Fly and Videodrome are a doorway into a world where man is a pliable thing that can be manipulated. Brian Yuzna’s Society is the room that that doorway takes you to!

Yuzna is probably best know for producing the glorious horror film Re-animator, and got the bug to direct when he realised as a producer it’s hard to get money for a film if there is no director attached. When you intend on directing yourself, that’s not a problem.

… and there’s nothing wrong with Yuzna’s direction either! I am a great fan of some of his other films like Faust, Return of the Living Dead III and of course, Bride of Re-animator.

Did someone say Rottweiler? No? Good, let’s move on.

Society: Billy Warlock as Bill Whitney


Society tells of a young man, Bill Whitney (Billy Warlock) who, like most teenagers, feel that something isn’t right in his life, even though he is a member of high society. He feels like his parents hate him, and that something is going on in his house behind his back. 

His suspicion is that his mother and father (Charles Lucia and Concetta D’Agnesse) are engaged in a sexual relationship with his sister (Patrice Jennings)

But it is so much more than that.

As the story goes on, Bill discovers that there may be a HUGE conspiracy involving his entire family, his schoolmates (including Devon Devasquez and Ben Meyerson) and other members of society… but it might be more than what he suspects…

Immediately one has to talk about the absolutely ridiculously amazing special effects work of Screaming Mad George, also know for his work on films like Guyver, Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master and the aforementioned Faust. His work is surreal and cartoony, which fits this film perfectly, but it has an element of it’s elastic doughiness that’s really disturbing.

The story really has an underlying story about class distinction and prejudice, but the story, acting and effects are so over the top it’s hard to really get any message out of it, but who cares: it’s freaky as hell and great fun to watch!

Typically, Arrow have made a masterful copy of this film on an extras-filled disc that is just spectacular.

Score: ****

The menu screen to Arrow Films’ Society


Format: This film was reviewed on the Arrow Pictures bluray release which is multi region and runs for 99 minutes. The film is presented in a really great 1.85:1 images with an equally great stereo 2.0 audio track.

Score: ****

Extras: As usual, Arrow have delivered on the extras front:

Governor of Society sees Brian Yuzna talk about not just the making of the film, but also the steps it took to get to actually get it made. Filmmaking sounds like it takes a LOT of patience to get through.

Masters of the Hunt is a featurette containing interviews with Billy Warlock, Devon DeVasquez, Ben Meyerson and Tim Bartel. It’s a nice bunch of recollections of their careers and experiences on the making of this film.

Champion of the Shunt talks to Screaming Mad George, David Grasso and Nick Benson about the special effects for the film. Being a practical effects nut, I found this extra particularly fascinating!

Brian Yuzna Q&A is just that, but taken after a screening of Society in 2014. the quality is average, but his stories are interesting.

Brian Yuzna – Society Premiere is archival footage of Yuzna at the world premiere of the film at the Scala Cinema in London, circa 1989. The quality of the film is a step down again, but it’s still co plenteous audible.

There is a theatrical trailer of the film.

Also, we have a Screaming Mad George music video which is as weird as one would expect, but still pretty cool.

The movie also has a commentary by Yuzna, hosted by David Gregory which is amusing and informative throughout.

This edition also has a reversable sleeve with original artwork on the alternate cover, and a pretty cool booklet with an article by Frightfest curator Alan Jones. Also included in a slightly lesser quality DVD release of the film.

One warning though: the ‘Society’ song being played on the menu screen gets real old, real quick!

Score: *****

WISIA: I hadn’t seen this film since probably 1990, and now I have it in my collection on bluray, I’ll be watching it probably monthly!

Society: Devon DeVasquez as… hang on, are her…?