What I've watched and other stuff

Goodbye

2006-06-28T12:12:00.000-07:00

Hello and good bye! I don't think I'll be putting stuff up here again or for a very long time. I can't put images up and life's too short now that we have moved into our smashing new home...

We've exchanged!

2006-05-31T11:33:00.000-07:00

Well, we've exchanged and get the keys to our new home this Friday (at long last). Moving day is Monday when we'll be running around like blue-arsed flies.

Had a nice weekend just gone, had fish and chips somewhere east, Wanstead I think. Then looked around Curry's deciding what fridges and washing machines we want. On Saturday night we met up with Jess and David and went on a mini pub-crawl. Awoke in the living room at 4am then went to bed with the annoying dawn chorus. Spent Sunday tidying the flat more and boxing more junk.

Almost finished reading 'My Way of Life' by Joan Crawford. I'm almost complete in the knowledge of how to dress and behave in front of my husband and society people.

Watched possibly the campiest episode of 'Wonder Woman' ever, with John Carradine voicing his amputated brain (with one eye) in an story titled 'Gault's Brain'. He needs a new body to live in so his much younger wife goes in search of a hunky muscle boy to fit the bill. Diana Prince gets put into a barrel and thrown into a little river (which has a depth of about 50 metres!) before miraculously turning into Wonder Woman, in my favourite outfit too, the blue swimming one. Daft and hilarious yes but brilliant too.

As for films we've been viewing:

'Killer Vs. Killers' ('Killer Contro Killers') Directed by Fernando Di Leo 1985
I actually quite enjoyed this, especially seeing Dalila Di Lazzaro ('The Pyjama Girl Case') cut off a security guards hand using some wire cutters (no matter how unconvincing). Henry Silva plays another stoney faced character who owns a personal zoo (probably because no one could get to know him). The film itself looks like a TV movie and the music was quite dreadful. Hilarious bits include nude women dancing for the old professional safe cracker and when Dalila sings in a club.

'Der Hexer' ('The Mysterious Magician') Directed by Alfred Vohrer 1964
Found this rather dull, in fact it put me to sleep about three times. The ending is cool however in that the bad guys get away.

'Crucible Of Horror' ('The Corpse') Directed by Viktors Ritelis 1970
How I managed to stay awake through this snooze-fest is nothing short of a miracle. Michael Gough plays a sadistic head of a family who regularly beats his daughter (when he's not fantasising about her) and bosses his meek wife (Yvonne Mitchell, star of 'Demons of the Mind') around. They decide it's time for Daddy to go and plan and execute his murder but he won't stay dead, sadly, as this would have been the end of the film. As a rule I almost always love British horror and mystery films of the seventies but this was just SO dull and don't get me started on the dvd (released by Trinity Home Entertainment) - it was like watching a film wearing thick tan tights over my eyes, and muddy ones at that.

'The Abominable Snowman' Directed by Val Guest 1957
Fantastic and genuinely creepy early Hammer film about an expedition to find the Yeti of the Himalayas. Cushing is fantastic as always and I fell in love with Michael Brill (McNee), who carries an air of melancholy since he saw the Yeti on a previous expedition. The Americans are portrayed as brash heartless hunters and the English as gentlemen who care! The German DVD (Anolis Entertainment) was superb - gorgeous picture quality and sound with trailers, a gallery and audio commentary by Val Guest himself, which I shall save for a rainy day.

'Humoresque' Directed by Jean Negulesco 1946
Yay! A Joan Crawford film. I always feel guilty making Matt watch some old (camp) movie but Joan's got quite a few noir-esque titles out on DVD now and he enjoyed 'Sudden Fear' and 'Possessed' so there! Joan plays Helen Wright a neurotic society woman married to a man she no longer loves and surrounds herself with eager young males and has a taste for alcohol (that's an understatement, she's got a glass in her hand in almost every scene). Anyway one evening she meets an up and coming violinist Paul Boray (played brilliantly by John Garfield) and falls for him. That's it really, their on-off relationship - her wanting more from him and him being more into his damn violin (which you hear an awful lot). Joan doesn't show up for about forty minutes, the beginning of the film is about Paul's upbringing in a poor-ish neighbourhood by his humble parents. The film is quite unique in that the music is the main component. God, am I sounding like a jerk? Anyway. it was a cool film, Joan was great and gets to say "I'd love to slap you" before hurling her martini glass at the wall.

'The Heat's On' Directed by Gregory Ratoff 1943
It was good to see Mae West again but this film was a bit rubbish and Mae isn't in half of it and when she is she's given little to do. I'm hoping that 'Every Day's a Holiday' will get a DVD release soon, I need to see Peaches!

Christ, that's way too much typing for one day. See you...

'My Way Of Life'

2006-05-21T04:55:00.000-07:00

Sunday today and it's raining. Matt has gone to a christening and Max is out looking at possible rooms to rent. I think I have tonsillitis as I can't swallow very easily - that said, I've just downed two huge espresso's. Yesterday we went to the model shop in Clapham to look at Ultraman, Gamera and Godzilla toys, but I couldn't find anything I wanted. That shop is so dusty and there's no room to move. I did buy a hat and three saucepans in tkmaxx though. We didn't go out last night, which was unusual - too knackered I think, still, I did finish off my bottle of Gin and put too many bids on ebay. We also watched...

'The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave' ('La Notte che Evelyn uscì dalla tomba' Directed by Emilio Miraglia 1971)
Having previously sat through the grotty Sinema Diablo release, this glorious print (NoShame's Killer Queen edition) was fantastic. I'd forgotten Erika Blanc's coffin strip (watching her interview I find that actress scary!). Marina Malfatti is in it too, I always get her confused with the fun Nieves Navarro. Oh and those identical maids, hilarious. Great soundtrack from Bruno Nicolai which I've got on CD (along with the other 'Nicolai in Giallo' releases.).

And we've seen:

Ang Lee's 'Hulk' (2003)
I (surprisingly) really enjoyed this. I've never seen anything with Eric Bana or Jennifer Connelly in it. Sam Elliott was in 'The Legacy' ('78) which I love and 'Frogs' ('72) so I reckon he's pretty cool. Anyway the Hulk is SO cute, he's kind of like a green King Kong - I so hope a follow up gets made. Nice to see Stan Lee and Lou Ferrigno make cameo's - though it was way too short.

'Il Boss' ('The Boss' Directed by Fernando Di Leo 1973)
Great mafia story starring a stony faced and emotionless Henry Silva, Euro 'hard-man' regular Richard Conte and a whole host of recognisable faces from Italian crime and giallo films. The film gets off to a great start with Silva's character (Lanzetta) firing some kind of flame bombs through a cinema screen at guys watching a porno movie! Chunky Howard Ross is in it too as a bad guy. Brilliant score from Luis Enriquez Bacalov that doesn't get on your nerves like some can. Oh and a nice interview with the director and cast.

I've also listened to the audio commentary on 'Doctor Who - The Ark In Space' with Tom Baker, Elizabeth Sladen and Philip Hinchcliffe which was great and at times hilarious. I've really got into Doctor Who again and have just ordered two DVD's, though these are with Jon Pertwee ('Claws Of Axos' and 'Spearhead From Space').

Oh and I'm currently reading 'My Way Of Life' by Joan Crawford, which is the campiest thing ever; "never put a red vegetable next to a yellow one"...

Voodoo Island

2006-05-08T09:55:00.000-07:00

Goodness me! It seems like ages again since I was here last. Nothing much to tell...

Our house move to Mitcham is taking longer than we had imagined, we've been given a date for the end of the month for completion. Fingers crossed. I'm getting desperate to leave as it's horrible living here amongst boxes. I'm still buying far too much stuff for the new place, spending hours browsing ebay in the hope of finding something weird. I've been very lucky though and have amassed quite a lot of vintage items. Yesterday I won a hideously kitch lamp full of crabs and shells...

Last Friday I was at the tattooists for four hours, getting my 'voodoo island' theme shaded. It's bloody huge! I'm booked in again for another four hours next month. This tattoo is going to cost me a fortune. Have also seen a ring that I must possess, it's a silver and black ace of spades - going to save up for that.

I've been doing a database for all my DVD's as I'm starting to loose track on what I've got. Last count I had 655 films on DVD. Bloody hell (!) I dread to think how much I've spent. From now on I'm just going to concentrate on getting Italian crime thrillers and giallo's (yeah, right).

Last night we watched the Japanese preview DVD of the new Gamera film ('Gamera: Chiisaki yusha-tachi' Directed by Ryuta Tazaki 2006). It looks really cool but very cute and seems to feature more about the story of a young (orphan?) boy who finds an egg that hatches into a tortoise ('Toto') then grows rapidly into Gamera. There is a new monster however that looks brilliant and certainly kicks Gamera's ass (boo). Can't wait to see the film but it will probably be months (even years) before an English subtitled edition comes out. Actually, that said all the Daiei Gamera DVD releases have them. On the disc there's also a ten minute long trailer for the very expensive box set, comprising all of the giant turtle's films - they do know how to tease!

Anyway here's some we watched earlier:

'Cry-Baby' (Directed by John Waters 1990)
Watched or rather listened to the feature-commentary by John Waters as he's always hilarious. Only saw this at the Prince Charles cinema in Leicester Square last year, so didn't really need to watch it again so soon. Really loved the deleted scenes especially the sleazy photographer (Waters regular Alan Wendl) who kidnaps Wanda Woodward (Traci Lords) and forces her to model in a giant champagne glass in a dingy studio. DVD also has a great featurette "It Came from Baltimore" that includes interviews with cast and crew.

'The Big Racket' ('Il Grande racket' Directed by Enzo G. Castellari 1976)
This was bloody excellent, one of my favourite Fabio Testi films ('Revolver' being my number one). He stars as Inspector Nico Palmieri hell bent on delivering justice to a nasty protection racket terrorising Rome. The gang are disgusting in their cruelty and some of the scenes are really disturbing but you need to see them in order for you to want to see them all dead! The unobtrusive soundtrack from the De Angelis brothers is cool too. No special features on the DVD except a trailer.

'Street Law' ('Il Cittadino si ribella' Directed by Enzo G. Castellari 1974)
Starring Franco Nero as an ordinary guy who gets a vicious beating from some thugs during a bank robbery. He decides to take the law into his own hands when the (rather rubbish) Police drop the case. Barbara Bach stars as his girlfriend but her role is totally wasted. The score, again by the De Angelis brothers is brilliant. DVD has a featurette with Director and Nero.

'Scars Of Dracula' ('Directed by Roy Ward Baker 1970)
Hmm, seen this a few times but never on DVD. It's not one of my favourite Hammer's as it's really missing Peter Cushing, but it does have it's moments and does star Christopher Lee, Patrick Troughton (in a Joan Crawford frightwig) and the gorgeously named Anouska Hempel. Dennis Waterman (who goes in search of his brother, trapped in the Count's castle) looks really out of place and his acting abilities are dubious. That said it was fun to view a Hammer film again as it's been a while...

'Das Indische Tuch' ('The Indian Scarf' Directed by Alfred Vohrer 1963)
Another Edgar Wallace film! Enjoyed this one a lot, it's the familiar story of the death of the head of a rich family and after the reading of the will family members are forced to stay at the ancestral mansion for six days, if they leave they'll forfeit their inheritance. Of course, one by one they are murdered by a killer wearing black gloves and using an Indian scarf (touches of giallo?!). Along the way we're treated to Klaus Kinski as a diabetic artist, a stuffed horse, a killer tarantula and a fabulous if shocking death of the mother (aged but glamorous Elisabeth Flickenschildt). The film has strange comedic touches like Eddi Arent's (the butler) magic hostess trolley that follows him around and a daft conclusion, but that didn't put me off.

'Hercules' ('Le Fatiche di Ercole' Directed by Pietro Francisci 1958)
Seen this a few times before too, but not on DVD. I won a great double feature from Germany (coupled with 'Hercules Unchained') and the picture quality was far superior than I was expecting. The film was a lot more exciting than I remembered too. Is this the film that started the whole 'Sword & Sandal' genre? I think so. Steve Reeves is our hero this time and plays it with 'no nonsense' gusto - going in search of the golden fleece with Jason and the Argonauts while putting right a corrupt Kingdom and falling in love with Princess Iole (Sylva Koscina with lots of red lippy). The hairy ape men are fun, as is the fight Hercules has with a rampaging bull and an angry lion.

Well that's far too much typing for one day. See ya

Grape Hyacynth

2006-05-01T06:51:00.000-07:00

Here I am again! Matt's gone in to work, even though it is Bank Holiday Monday so I've got some time to get down what we've been doing:

Went to Salisbury to stay with my Grandparents (cleaned their windows, Gran thrashed us playing Newmarket), had coffee with my mother, lunch with our friend Fay and her cute little baby 'Archie', went to loads of charity shops (bought some 'Poole' pottery for £10).

Went out on Saturday night to Will's 30th Birthday piss up. Ended up at some sad late night cocktail bar - woke up with bad head and spasms.

Saw 'An evening with Joan Collins' at the Fairfield Halls in sophisticated Croydon with Matt, Peter and Jess. What a night that was (!) sat in the bar while the support (4 Poof and a piano) was on, had 4 gins before entering. I love JC but this really was quite appalling for all the wrong reasons, we were just dying to explode with laughter all the way through (which is what we did when we left). I wish she would talk about her work in horror during the seventies, I know she was only doing it for the paycheque but she must have some happy memories.

...and what we've watched:

'Son Of Samson' ('Maciste nella valle dei re' Directed by Carlo Campogalliani 1960)
Mark Forest (as Maciste) and Chelo Alonso (as evil Queen Smedes). Pit of crocodiles, exotic belly dancing, Egyptian style sets and costumes. Possibly the goriest sword and sandal film ever - almost every scene has someone getting speared! Passable picture quality from Retromedia (why does Amazon always list DVD's under the wrong company of release?) - DVD also features 'Son Of Cleopatra', which I've yet to watch.

'Atlas In The Land Of The Cyclops' ('Maciste nella terra dei ciclopi' Directed by Antonio Leonviola 1961)
Superior peplum film with Gordon Mitchell as Maciste and Chelo Alonso back again playing an evil queen (though this time under duress thanks to an old curse). Appalling picture quality (el cheapo 'Alpha Video' release), virtually no colour (sepia) and hilarious dubbing but a good film.

'Strip Nude For Your Killer' ('Nude per l'assassino' Directed by Andrea Bianchi 1975)
Second viewing of this (initially watched the X-Rated Kult edition, this time it's the Blue Underground one). Stars Edwige Fenech, Femi Benussi and Nino Castelnuovo. A great lurid giallo. Almost everyone gets nekkid at some point. Great apartments too oh and the bisexual owner of fashion studio wears ahead-of -its-time stick on gem beauty spot. Superb score from Berto Pisano, who I'm not familiar with. DVD has a trailer and an interview with actress Solvi Stubing and co-writer Massimo Felisatti.

'Appleseed' ('Appurushîdo' Directed by Shinji Aramaki 2004)
Cool Sci-Fi / Action / Animation which I can't remember much about!

'The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse' ('Die Tausend Augen des Dr. Mabuse' Directed by Fritz Lang 1960)
Similar in a way to the German Edgar Wallace films and although directed by Lang, I found this quite dull. Stars Dawn Addams, Peter van Eyck, Gert Fröbe and Wolfgang Preiss as the criminal mastermind Mabuse. DVD has some great features including trailers for other Mabuse films (although these are the American dubbed versions and not great quality) and a 35 minute featurette "The Eyes of Fritz Lang".

'The Testament of Dr. Mabuse' ('Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse' Directed by Werner Klingler 1962)
This action packed film (a remake of Lang's '32 original) was way better than the previous film (for me anyway). Cool DVD again with similar features plus 'The Crimes of Dr. Mabuse," the 90 minute English-dubbed alternate version of Fritz Lang's 1932 original.

'Divine Trash' Directed by Steve Yeager 1998
Oh my god! This was just brilliant! My 'sister in crime' friend Pete gave me this (amongst 'Dirty Shame' and 'Cry Baby") as a Birthday gift. It's basically a documentary about the Dreamland cast and crew, with interviews from around the time of 'Pink Flamingos' until now. Cookie Mueller seemed to be absent though, yes I know she passed away in '89 but there must be more material out there on her contribution...

Anyway I'm off, need a cup of tea. Lucky me, I made a flask earlier.

DVD update...

2006-04-08T12:57:00.000-07:00

I haven't been here a while, busy doing nothing much. Have either won or bought loads of DVD's recently, must have about 20 to sit through. Anyway, here are some we've watched:

'Die Bande des Schreckens' ('The Terrible People' Directed by Harald Reinl 1960)
Ok Edgar Wallace story, but sadly quite forgettable. Well, except for Karin Dor. Superb DVD from Germany (Tobis), although the subtitles occasionally don't make sense.

'Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion' ('Le Foto proibite di una signora per bene' Directed by Luciano Ercoli 1970)
Ercoli is becoming one of my favourite giallo directors. This was great! Fantastic score from Ennio Morricone and starring Susan Scott and Dagmar Lassander. DVD features a trailer.

'Django Kill - If You Live, Shoot!' ('Se sei vivo spara' Directed by Giulio Questi 1967)
Don't know why this movie gets such bad reviews, we really enjoyed it. After all there is Tomas Milian, cute Ray Lovelock and gay cowboys dressed in black. DVD has a wonderful print as usual from Blue Underground and an interview with director/co-writer Giulio Questi, Tomas Milian and Ray Lovelock.

'La Morte ha fatto l'uovo' ('Death Laid an Egg' Directed by Giulio Questi 1968)
Decided to view this giallo again after watching Questi's 'If You Live, Shoot!'. Cool, but weird and has mutant chicken monsters, Ewa Aulin, Gina Lollobrigida in a flame red wig, oh and a great opening. Lovely Japanese DVD. I expect this will get an American release soon.

'Totò contro Maciste' ('Toto vs. Maciste' Directed by Fernando Cerchio 1962)
Sort of carry on Hercules. Samson Burke as Maciste the blockhead and Totò in his usual role. Italian Language only DVD, but nice print and also the first time I've watched Samson Burke in a peplum, next stop 'The Three Stooges Meet Hercules'.

'Ursus nella valle dei leoni' ('Ursus in the Valley of the Lions' Directed by Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia 1961)
Ed fury is Ursus, brought up by lions after his family are murdered (lucky). Fantastic and garish Moira Orfei stars as a bad girl turns good. DVD has a featurette about peplum films including Brad Harris, Gordon Mitchell and Moira Orfei (who looks bizarre but excellent!) sadly this is only in German language, as was the movie, but I managed to watch it all.

'A Dirty Shame' (Directed by John Waters 2004)
The latest movie from constant funny man Waters. Mink Stole has some great lines, as usual, Jean Hill is in it (don't blink!) and Mary Vivian Pearce (momentarily) looking very ill.
DVD features an excellent (and funny) featurette that is only four minutes shorter than the film itself.

'Dogora' ('Uchu daikaijû Dogora' Directed by Ishirô Honda 1964)
Yet another great Toho 'alien monster attacks Japan' film, though sadly too much of the film is about the diamond thieves and not enough about said giant flying jellyfish (Dogora only comes in about 50 minutes into the film). Loved the sound effects when he does, it's like an amplified heart beating. Spooky. Wish to god my 'Yog: Monster from Space' would hurry up and get despatched.

Phew! Too much typing and not enough watching of DVD's. I'm off...

Brad Harris double-bill part 2

2006-04-04T11:46:00.000-07:00

'Zambo' ('Zambo, il dominatore della foresta' Directed by Bitto Albertini 1972)
I won this video on ebay from Germany, so it is difficult for me to rate as I don't understand German too well, that said - it does star Brad Harris (yay!) and is an exciting (if slightly campy) jungle adventure. Brad plays a prisoner, wrongly convicted (if my translation is correct) who escapes along with another convict into the African jungle. The two of them battle the elements until the other guy dies, Brad (Zambo) luckily adjusts himself to life in the danger-filled jungle, taming the wildlife, making friends with local tribes and in particular a small boy. An expedition of evil baddies go in search of Zambo for reasons I'm not too sure and along with them is blonde Gisela Hahn, who plays the love interest of Zambo. Brad gets to show off his stuntman fighting skills here and there and looks rather fetching in his Tarzan-like costume, though I can't picture him running that up on a sewing machine in the jungle (or anywhere else for that matter). The film ends on a kind of sad note as he waves goodbye to his love interest on board a ship, preferring to stay in the wilds.

Bitto Albertini directed '6000 km di paura' ('Safari Rally'), with Joe Dallesandro which I really want to get my hands on. Oh and 'Il Ritorno del gladiatore più forte del mondo' - again with Brad Harris. In fact he's behind loads of films I love or want...

'Challenge of the Tiger' ('Gymkata Killer' Directed by Bruce Le 1980)
This was the second billing on Mondo Macabro's DVD 'For Your Height Only' and sadly I wasn't impressed at all. It's a martial arts action drama. Playing a bad guy this time, Brad doesn't get to do much except look scary in a pair of black sunglasses and black leather gloves. The main actor is handsome Richard Harrison who runs around with lots of topless women and fights men wearing only a ridiculous beach thong! Won't be watching this again anytime soon, though I'm looking forward to seeing tiny Weng Weng in 'For Your Height Only'. I'd love to know how Brad and Richard got on together and if they talked about their time making sword and sandal films.

Seeya.

Friday

2006-03-31T09:20:00.000-08:00

I'm home alone.

Matt's going to the pub, someone's leaving party. I'm working tomorrow so I'm not meeting him as I can't be trusted and I haven't had any grog for over three weeks now and would probably cause a scene! Going out on the lash tomorrow night, so will have a monster hang-over all day Sunday.

Our house buying is going to plan, the searches aren't finished but I've boxed up nearly everything I own (left out a stack of unwatched DVD's though). I'm so excited about moving and have got so many ideas for the rooms in the house. Think it's going to look very retro but not in a cheap, repro, lava-lamp kind of way. I've even been buying stuff off of ebay, items which aren't film related for a change.

Is Pete Burns really ill? After hearing stories of him running about in his knickers and his fight with a hotel leaving him in a mental state, I certainly hope not. I tried to listen to the interview he had (so I gather) on Capital FM (with Richard Bacon) but couldn't find it. I can't wait to get my hands on his book; 'Freak Unique', hope there's loads of 'never seen before' photos. My mate Julie sent some of hers to the DOA web site and I hope they publish them.

Aarrgghhh there's a whole load more DVD's and CD's been released that I must have. Lots of Peplum films have come out now in Europe, the majority of them with great picture quality, but only in the 'country of release' language. I've managed to get my hands on quite a few, thanks to ebay but wish that America would source these films and give them legitimate releases. I'm half way through watching Ed Fury in 'Ursus in the Valley of the Lions'...

Cooker's just broken, bloody hell. I bought some fat oven chips too.

Sundays indoors

2006-03-19T13:52:00.000-08:00

Well, I haven't been here for a while. Been kind of busy doing nothing really.
Yesterday we hired a van and David drove us a hundred miles to Norfolk to pick up a kitchen seating unit and table we'd won on ebay. Our van was enormous and way too big for what we wanted, but better to be safe than sorry. Stopped off in Newmarket to get fish and chips (yay!) on our way back. The unit is so brilliant and was so worth all that effort, it's going to look great.
I've been boxing more and more stuff up for our eventual move, which I've enjoyed for some reason, maybe because I can't wait to leave this flat.

Stuff we've watched:

The first season of 'Department S' - totally in love with this show and I love all the characters, though how Jason King was ever considered a sex symbol is beyond me.

'Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla 2' ('Gojira VS Mekagojira' Directed by Takao Okawara 1993)
Brilliant except for 'Baby Godzilla', who was annoying (was he meant to be Godzuki?). Enjoyed seeing a Godzilla film again, as it's been a while. Rodan's there too and goes all glittery helping Godzilla after an attack from Mechagodzilla.

'Klondike Annie' (Directed by Raoul Walsh 1936)
Another Mae West film. Usual campery and fun. Love watching her walk and her facial expressions, she's hilarious.

'Superman 2' (Directed by Richard Lester 1980)
I love Ursa (Sarah Douglas) in this film, shame she doesn't get to scrag Lois Lane more often.

'To The Devil A Daughter' (Directed by Peter Sykes 1976)
I've seen this Hammer film a number of times, years ago but this was the first time I've viewed it on DVD. It's cool, yeah the ending is slightly rubbish, but you do get Honor Blackman (in a weird cloth headband), baby sacrifice, talk of witchcraft, evil Christopher Lee (as a deranged Satan worshipping ex priest), a quivering Denholm Elliott as the father of Nastassja Kinski (who gets her kit off), gorgeous Anthony Valentine oh and exploding pregnant women. DVD features a nice interview with most of those involved.

'Spartacus & Die Zehn Gladiatoren' ('Gli Invincibili dieci gladiatori', 'Spartacus and the Ten Gladiators' Directed by Nick Nostro 1964)
Possibly the most homoerotic sword and sandal I've ever seen with Dan Vadis and his nine merry men (fellow gladiators). Nice picture on the German language only DVD.

'Zimmer 13' (Directed by Harald Reinl 1964)
Okay-ish Edgar Wallace tale, usual stuff... with a very cool soundtrack though.

'...e tanta paura' (Directed by Paolo Cavara 1976)
With Corinne Clery and Michele Placido. Lots of nudity but little standard giallo stuff.

'Death Walks In High Heels' ('La Morte cammina con i tacchi alti' Directed by Luciano Ercoli 1971)
Watched this before but that was a dodgy bootleg with a real crappy picture, so it was a real treat to see it and it stars one of my favourite euro ladies, Nieves Navarro (as a stripper no less!). Great imagery, sets, costumes, scenery and a wonderful score. DVD released by NoShame (US) in a gorgeous box-set along with Ercoli's 'La Morte accarezza a mezzanotte' and a CD of superb tracks by Stelvio Ciipriani.

Victoria Wood's omnibus edition of 'Acorn Antiques'
Which I think is possibly, still, one of the funniest things ever.

"...all's well that ends well"

Well yes, that's me, I need another cup of my delicious home made tea...

DVD's

2006-03-08T10:26:00.000-08:00

Thought it was about time I typed something here...

I'm busy at work and have had lots of laughs this week with David. Someone tried to break-in last night at the shop, it was quite exciting this morning - seeing all that broken glass everywhere. What could they possibly steal that anybody would want?
Emma is in town, I called her while she was in a changing cubicle, probably trying on warmer clothing than the clothes she's been used to in Abuja, the weather in London has been putrid this week.
Pete Burns autobiography gets published next month (yay!), I hope it's full of rare photo's and bitchy comments from Pete. (That's a safe bet).

Anyway stuff we (or I) have watched recently:

'Colpo in canna' ('Loaded Guns' Directed by Fernando Di Leo 1975)
Certainly one of the weirdest Italian crime films I've yet to see. It's a comedy really, but a pretty unfunny one. It starts off okay but gets more and more comedic. I had to fast forward the long drawn-out fight section at the fun fair and the plinky-plonky happy soundtrack grates (surprisingly for me) on your nerves. That said, you do get to see Ursula Andress fight, scheme and look foxy. Marc Porel is there too, looking cute but his role is wasted, he's a boxer turned acrobat and has a great apartment with a trampoline for a bed. DVD has a featurette with the director, who loved Andress, while the other technicians didn't.

'Sette orchidee macchiate di rosso' ('Seven Blood-Stained Orchids' Directed by Umberto Lenzi 1972)
Have seen this before, but not the German DVD edition (in the Edgar Wallace collection 8). What a fantastic giallo this is! It's got all the trademarks you want including a gorgeous soundtrack. Stars a fantastic looking Marisa Mell as twins, Uschi Glas and hunky Antonio Sabato who frowns a lot.

'Belle Of The Nineties' (Directed by Leo McCarey 1934)
God! This film is old. Very camp Mae West vehicle which sees her as a singer (guffaw) moving to New Orleans to perform. The usual gags and drag costumes but always a treat to see Ms West and her famous smutty lines.

'Hercules and the Princess of Troy' (Directed for TV by Albert Band 1965)
Another peplum I hadn't seen before. It was weird watching this as it's filmed in English rather than Italian and dubbed badly. Anyway it was a pilot for a show that never took off (well, it never started), starring more than capable Gordon Scott as our hero Hercules, this time involved in saving Troy (and it's Princess) from a make-and-do sea monster and some evil guys. Forgettable. Well, apart from the monster.

Mixed bag

2006-03-01T09:36:00.000-08:00

Things seem to be ticking along nicely with regards to the house buying. Going to visit it again and check out their 'white goods' they want to sell to us.

Our friend Emma is back in the country soon after her stint in Nigeria (she's being posted to Delhi in a month). No doubt we will have evenings of drunken nonsense and catch up with her tales. Our other friend Bex (who was in Nigeria with Emma) is off to Azerbaijan for a year, which will be sad as we don't get to see her that often anyway...

I've got to extend my tattoo voucher as I'm not going to get inked in time, before it runs out. Aaarrrgghhh! Have decided I'm going to get Ursus done on my shoulder with some more cheese plant leaves, a skull with a bowler hat, some more wasps and possibly Guiron (of Gamera fame). Of course, this could all change. I am fickle after all.

Have won more great stuff on ebay, namely two Italian Brad Harris posters ('Gangsters per un Massacro' and 'Zambo'), plus a set of four large Italian lobbies for 'Ursus Gladiatore Ribelle' starring Dan Vadis. It's about time I wasn't outbid on some peplum stuff! Also have some DVD's, resin paperweights and more posters to come. Yippee!

Last night we watched the fantastic 'Horror Express' (Directed by Eugenio Martín in 1973) Have seen this plenty of times before, but not on DVD, the copy of which I picked up in Germany last year. I love this film! Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Helga Liné, Georges Rigaud and Telly Savalas and a defrosted alien caveman monster - what more could you want?

Moving house?

2006-02-27T10:37:00.000-08:00

Spent Saturday with Matt's parents driving us around the Mitcham area to look at houses. One out of the six we saw, we really liked and this morning we put in an offer which was accepted, yay! It's tiny, but cute and does need some work done on it, namely the kitchen area, but that should be easy to sort out and it's way cheaper than the one we almost bought last year.

Saturday night we met up with Bex in Farringdon and got quite drunk. Came home and drank more gin, then Jack Daniels, played some old hi energy records and collapsed. I had a nasty hang-over on Sunday and suffered from the horrors and horizontigo, which forced me to sit in front of the TV all day, which wasn't all that bad. Managed to watch these (amongst others we watched during the week):

'The Giant of Marathon' ('La Battaglia di Maratona' Directed by Jacques Tourneur 1959)
Quite good peplum film starring Steve Reeves as Phillipides involved in the fight for Athens against an invading Persian army. There's a great actress (Daniela Rocca) who plays Karis, she's in love with Phillipides, but he's in love with the blond Andromeda, anyway she has the most excellent eyebrows. Reeves isn't my favourite sword and sandal actor, I think it's because he seems to have no humour about himself. The DVD (Gods of War double feature) was one of those cheapo American releases and had a really crappy picture, as most of them do. I'll try to watch the other one - 'The Last Glory of Troy' if it doesn't put me to sleep again.

'Crucible of Terror' (Directed by Ted Hooker 1971)
Jack Davies (James Bolam) goes to see a crazy artist, who lives in a creepy house on the Cornish coast to get some of his work, he takes with him his timid girlfriend Millie (Mary Maude) who works in a boutique selling Victorian clothes...
Seen this at least twice before I got the DVD. It's excellent! Although it doesn't have any real 'stars' (Mike Raven and James Bolam are the only recognisable names) it's a good British 70's horror film and I don't care what anybody else says. It's almost as good as 'Tower of Evil' (Directed by Jim O'Connolly), especially the camp value. I mean, there's a middle aged woman (husband Mike Raven calls her a senile old hag) who wears pig-tails, a 'baby jane' dress and carries dolls and toys around, a foxy artists model, lots of bad acting and some unbelievably funny dialogue - especially between the model and Millie who's been stranded at the isolated artists house when her boyfriend Jack returns to London for more cash.
Director Ted Hooker doesn't seem to have done anything other than this film which is a shame. The DVD was okay, good picture, no features at all though, no chapters or even a menu, still, can't complain - it was only £2 or something.

'Milano calibro 9' (Directed by Fernando Di Leo 1972)
Another great but downbeat action/crime thriller from Di Leo, featuring a cool cast of actors, namely Gastone Moschin, Barbara Bouchet, Mario Adorf, Philippe Leroy and Luigi Pistilli (who's role is a little wasted). Barbara Bouchet plays the unflatteringly named Nelly Bordon, the girlfriend of Ugo Piazza (Gastone Moschin) who's just been released from prison. Lionel Stander plays 'the Americano' the head of a mafia gang, who believes Ugo has his stolen 300,000 dollars hidden away somewhere. Lionel Stander ('Max' from 'Hart To Hart') sounds like Papa Lazarou from 'The League of Gentlemen'. Nice soundtrack and great shots of Milan. The extra disc has three featurettes, but sadly all of them are without English subtitles. Need to get Di Leo's 'La Mala ordina' next...

Salon: Retro Chic

2006-02-22T09:38:00.000-08:00

Hmm, hello. Got some great CD's in the post today thanks to the wonder of ebay. The best of the bunch has to be 'Salon: Retro Chic' a Japanese import featuring loads of tracks from the likes of Guido & Maurizio De Angelis, Ennio Morricone, Stelvio Cipriani, Carlo Savina, Riz Ortolani, Armando Trovaioli, Piero Piccioni and others. There's one track with vocals by Grace Jones that I've never even heard of from the soundtrack of 'Nightmare City'. Nice!

As for stuff we (or rather I) have seen:

'Devil's Kiss' ('La Perversa caricia de Satán' Directed by Georges Gigo 1975)
Utterly, utterly dull film about a clairvoyant Claire Grandier (played by the great Silvia Solar) and a Professor Gruber (Oliver Matthau) who go to live in Grandier's brother-in-law's chateau to experiment on reviving the dead (actually a plot so she can get revenge on the person who caused her grief). They do revive a dead person, who looks like a skinny Tor Johnson with heavy blue eye-shadow and the movie does get off to a good start with a fashion show being held in the chateau - most of the models are very chunky and their dance moves are hilarious, especially the blond woman's. That said, I won't be watching this again in a hurry. Oh and the soundtrack is appalling, when used in between the very long gaps of no dialogue.

'Gamera vs. Gaos' ('Daikaijû kuchu kessan: Gamera tai Gyaosu' Directed by Noriaki Yuasa 1967)
Now this was lots of fun and great to watch on a weekend afternoon. I finally bit the bullet and bought the Japanese DVD, which cost a fortune but was well worth it (I'm no longer buying dodgy bootleg copies). Gamera returns to fight evil bat/bird creature Gaos, who's been awakened from his long slumber thanks to construction workers. There's an annoying boy (again) who knows all about our giant turtle and even gets to ride on his back when Gamera rescues him from the clutches of Gaos's claws - when he does rescue him, he leans against a Ferris wheel so he can escape to safety. My favourite part is when the government trick Gaos into drinking artificial human blood on a spinning platform to make him dizzy (!) cool! I love Gamera films and only wish I could afford one of the few Japanese DVD box-sets on the market, the newest one has such a cool figurine of the turtle hero. Ah well, just have to get the single issues, if and when I'm flush.

There are SO many DVD's out there at the moment that I must have. Italy has released two of the 'Kommissar X' films (featuring my current hero Brad Harris) along with all the 'Three Supermen' movies, but sadly these are all in Italian language, not that that has ever stopped me from buying and watching them - I've just won on ebay two Peplum films in German language only. There's the 'Luciano Ercoli's The Death Box Set', 'The Gardener' with gorgeous Joe Dallesandro (still haven't watched 'Vacanze per un massacro' yet), 'Space Ameoba - Yog' and the forthcoming 'Emilio Miraglia Killer Queen Box Set' (with action figure, how bizarre is that?). And then there's all the issues by Blue Underground of more giallo's (all but one I have already, but will need to get again for better picture quality and extras). Aaarrrggghhhh I need more money!

Saturday the 18th

2006-02-14T10:02:00.000-08:00

Stuff we've seen so far...

The first seven episodes of the second series of 'Lost' - which has been really brilliant, 'Smallville' and 'Desperate Housewives'.

As for DVD's:

'Uomini si nasce poliziotti si muore' ('Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man' Directed by Ruggero Deodato 1976)
Bloody excellent film with two lead roles from gorgeous Ray Lovelock and Marc Porel. Typical Italian crime film but this time with a duo. Cool bike chases, lots of violence and with Euro regular Adolfo Celi as their boss. Oh and Silvia Dionisio ('Andy Warhol's Dracula') as the quick talking secertary, her sister is in it too (Sofia Dionisio) as a nymphomaniac!
DVD comes with an interesting 40 minute long interview with all involved, except Porel, who sadly died in 1983.

'Atragon' ('Kaitei gunkan' Directed by Ishirô Honda 1963)
Ok Toho film about a lost civilisation living under the sea who plan to take over the world, using their powers and their snake monster (Manda - probably my least favourite 'Japanese film' monster, maybe it's because his movement is limited). Still, it was fun. Can't wait to see 'Yog: Monster from Space' - that cuttlefish monster is SO cute.

'Eroticofollia' ('Evil Eye' Directed by Mario Siciliano 1974)
Weird supernatural type giallo. Stars hunky Mexican actor Jorge Rivero as a rich playboy (Peter Crane) who suffers from nightmares that he is killing people, only the murders are real. It was difficult watching this as it was only in dubbed German language with English subtitles and the print is pretty wretched (worst I've ever seen on an X-rated Kult DVD release), lots of jumps and scratches and the soundtrack occasionally goes warped. Anyway, I'd waited quite a while to see this, as I'm a fan of Rivero and it wasn't that bad, there are some cool (bad) scenes: the nasty butler spewing up a frog, cigarette butts dancing in an ashtray, a sinister doctor (Richard Conte), a soundtrack by the genius Stelvio Cipriani (where's the CD?) and you do get to see Jorge topless and in a shower (when he's not wearing some fabulous 70's fashions - loved the floral shirt and the front-split flares!).
The DVD come with two trailers for the film (well, sort of) and a whole bunch of giallo trailers for other releases from X-rated Kult DVD. There is also a cute 3" disc with forty minutes of trailers for their other releases, but I wasn't into most of them.

'Der Rote Kreis' ('The Red Circle' Directed by Jürgen Roland 1960)
I found this Edgar Wallace crime thriller really dull, it put both me and Matt to sleep on the first viewing. The only thing that was good to watch was the icy but fun Renate Ewert as Thalia Drummond. Eddi Arent's character isn't as annoying as usual either. Maybe I wasn't in the mood? I hope the other Edgar Wallace films we have left to watch are more exciting...

Brad Harris double-bill

2006-02-13T11:49:00.000-08:00

Hooray! Finally got my hands on some more Brad Harris movies recently, both directed by Gianfranco Parolini:

'Cave of Diamonds' ('Die Diamantenhölle am Mekong' 1964)
Usual undercover cops/agents against bad guys, this one set in Thailand. Lots of familiar faces (Marianne Hold, Horst Frank, Dorothee Parker, Gianni Rizzo, Paul Hubschmid etc) oh and Brad Harris, who for once doesn't take his top off but does get down to some serious fight scenes. It's all about a cave of diamonds hidden somewhere in the jungle (really?) and the chase to get them. It's more violent than I thought it would be and camp in places too, the night-club dancer is great as is Dorothee Parker's character (Gloria Pickerstone), an upper class English woman travelling in the Orient who hires Brad (Joe Warren) to be her body guard on her journey through the jungle with her clichéd butler/man servant 'Smokie' (Chris Howland). Not one of my favourite Brad films, but certainly not the worst.

'I Fantastici tre supermen' 1967
Now this was much more up my street. Sadly I was only able to watch it in Italian language (bought the DVD in Turin), but the picture quality was superb and the story was easy to follow. Brad Harris, Tony Kendall and Nick Jordan star as the three fantastic supermen (Brad, Tony and Nick, no less) who fight bad guys, using their wits, acrobatic skills and a fast sports car. There's lots of great typical 'euro' type scenes and bad sixties comedy. The females of the film are great too, both good characters and bad. The soundtrack is cool too and you get to see Brad in a pair of swimming trunks! The DVD comes with a trailer too. Wish I'd picked up the sequels on release in Italy too, now they look especially bad.

80's week

2006-02-10T13:23:00.000-08:00

Wow! Got the Eurythmics 'boxed' set this week and bloody hell, was it worth it? Oh yes. The extra tracks on 'In The Garden' are so excellent and worth the price alone. Shame all the 'b' sides weren't on there, but you can't have everything (actually yes you can). I've been in 80's heaven since I got it...

Pete Burns was on 'Richard and Judy' which I've yet to watch and tonight he was on 'London Tonight' (how bizarre) looking totally fantastic as usual. Somebody please, give him his own show! And Pete, give us some new tracks.

Last week my sister gave me a few of my old 7" records and two of them were by the Techno Twins (who I'd totally forgotten about), the 'b' side of 'Can't Help Falling In Love' ('Kings & Queens of Pleasure') is so lush! I'm desperate to get their album now.

Wish Haysi Fantayzee's album 'Battle Hymns For Children Singing' would get another CD release - I need that too.

I've had too many beers and no supper, so I'm off before I type anything stupid.

'Castle of the Walking Dead'

2006-02-07T12:02:00.000-08:00

'Die Schlangengrube und das Pendel' ('Castle of the Walking Dead' Directed by Harald Reinl 1967)
Superb German gothic 60's horror starring Lex Barker, Karin Dor and Christopher Lee. Lee is actually only in the film for about twenty minutes but his screen presence is brilliant - he plays Count Frederic Regula, a man sentenced to death by being drawn and quartered (limbs pulled apart by horses in a town square) - his crime? murdering twelve young maidens in the search for eternal youth. Before his said death penalty he swears to get revenge on the man who sentenced him and the woman who trapped him (gorgeous eurostar Karin Dor)... Thirty years later (to cut a long story short) Roger von Marienberg (Lex Barker), Baroness Lilian von Brabant (Karin Dor), her servant 'Babette' and a thief masquerading as a priest are travelling through a forest towards the Count's castle... (On their journey the trees in the forest are covered in body parts!). At the castle all manner of fiendish traps await them, set by the Count's assistant 'Anathol'. A lot of the scenes are reminiscent of Mario Bava films. Some of the jolly soundtrack is so out of place, but kind of works with the film. I loved the snake-pit scene, the Count's return to life in a glass coffin and the corridor of skulls. The German DVD which I had won on ebay (second time lucky) was lovely, superb picture quality (E.M.S. releasing) and had a whole bunch of extras including a vintage interview with the cast ( Christopher Lee's dubbed in German). Director Harald Reinl did a whole bunch of Edgar Wallace films that I look forward to viewing...

Ultraman Hydra Cyclone

2006-02-05T08:40:00.000-08:00

Aarrgghhhh! Feeling a little worse for wear this morning. Last night we got monumentally drunk with Jess's friends, went to a pub then back to theirs for more beer. During the day, I blew a fortune on stuff, got another pair of trainers and some god-awful towels from tkmaxx (bright pink/orange/green/brue/yellow roses) and I bought an Ultraman Bandai figure because I liked the look of him, the guy in the shop said his name was 'Peguila', but it isn't, it's 'Hydra'. Me and Matt spent ages trying to find a photo of the figure and some info on the internet but we only found one small photo! Anyway, he's cute and will join my Godzilla and Gamera figures.

Friday night we watched:

'Cyclone' (Directed by René Cardona Jr. 1978)
God how dull was that? Matt was continually falling asleep and I couldn't blame him as the pace was more than a little slow. Hunky Andrés García is back riding the waves on a tour boat when a cyclone storm hits them (High powered water jets and buckets), meanwhile nearby a plane lands in the sea and a trawler ship sinks, leaving lots of people-soup. Eventually everyone ends up on the tour boat, where they squabble for the limited water supply and engage in cannibalism. There's a pregnant woman onboard who luckily for her, goes into labour for about one minute, before giving birth to a healthy boy, who is then bizarrely passed around all the passengers for a cuddle in a sentimental manner. Fellow passenger Shiela (Carroll Baker) later asks the mother if she can kiss the child. Oh yeah there's one hilarious bit where Shiela's much loved dog 'Christmas' (!) is flung into the sea, rescued, has his throat slit, is skinned and used as bait for fishing - all done in front of it's owners eyes. I won't be watching this again in a hurry. It's similar to Cardona Jr.'s 'Encounters In The Deep' which was equally as boring. Sadly, it's hard to like any of the characters and you couldn't care less if they all died, never to be rescued. Well - with the exception of Andrés García, of course, who, unusually keeps his trousers on in this film.

Celeriac

2006-02-02T09:30:00.000-08:00

Some more DVD's we've sat through:

'Der Frosch mit der Maske' ('Fellowship of the Frog' Directed by Harald Reinl 1959)
The first film in the Edgar Wallace box-set series. So-so story about a gang hired by a guy who dons an odd outfit with a mask and googley eyes. All the members of his gang have to have a tattoo done of a frog on their right wrist. Some bird in a Soho night-club sings about enjoying love near the river Thames (as if!) - she gets some nasty bullet holes towards the end of the picture. At one point Richard Gordon (a young looking Joachim Fuchsberger) - an amateur detective and his servant James (the annoying Eddi Arent) get locked in a cellar for a couple of days where they grow massive beards. Enjoyable hokum. DVD features five trailers and a (vintage) interview with the director.

'Stay Hungry' Directed by Bob Rafelson 1976
Bought this thinking it was going to be a comedy, it isn't.

'Last Round' ('Il Conto è chiuso' Directed by Stelvio Massi 1976)
Another cool Italian crime film with Luc Merenda, this time playing a bad guy but looking snappy as ever. The story is a basic reworking of 'A Fistful of Dollars' set in contemporary 70's Rome. Marco Russo (Carlos Monzón - a real life boxing champion) plays the part Clint Eastwood did as Joe - Marco's fighting skills are fantastic, he's superhuman! When the soundtrack started it was all panpipes and I thought it was going to be awful (rare for an Italian crime thriller) but it turned out to be great - loved Marco's music box he carries around with him. There is a very unpleasant rape scene, that I knew would happen the minute I saw the character Nina. Yet another great release from NoShame, with an odd 35 minute interview with Luc Merenda at his antique shop.

Cooked celeriac last night for the first time ever. Won't buy that again.

Italian Film DVD's again

2006-01-31T10:33:00.000-08:00

Well it's Tuesday already, yay! So far this week we have seen (apart from Smallville - the episode with Aquaman, oooh hi fishy):

'Knife of Ice' ('Il Coltello di ghiaccio' Directed by Umberto Lenzi 1972)
Finally got around to watching the Japanese DVD I've been wanting for ages and ages. Was it worth the wait? Well, not really, I mean it's a good enough giallo but it's not very fizzy. Carroll Baker plays a mute (caused by witnessing the death of both of her parents) which I found frustrating, you just know at some point she's going to scream. Familiar player Evelyn Stewart is in it too as Baker's singer cousin, but her role is wasted and she looks bored. There are some nice touches though, like the inclusion of a gang of devil worshippers, an English drug addict with gorgeous contact lenses, three funerals (yes, three! all with the same congregation that keeps getting smaller) a black gloved killer with a knife, a wind-up Donald Duck and a hoard of red herrings.

'The Cursed Medallion' ('Il Medaglione insanguinato' Directed by Massimo Dallamano ('What Have They Done to Solange?' & 'What Have They Done to Your Daughters?') 1975)
Picked this DVD up in Turin, minutes after we had booked into our hotel! Really, really loved this. Superb opening shots and a fantastic score from Stelvio Cipriani (who's becoming my favourite composer, even after my obsession with Bruno Nicolai). A young girl 'Emily' (scary Nicoletta Elmi), who's mother died burning to death, slowly becomes possessed when she wears a satanic looking medallion. She lives with her father and nanny (lovely Evelyn Stewart in the drabbest outfits ever) in London, so you get to see loads of typical shots of it in the 70's - you know, London Bridge, Houses of Parliament etc. Anyway her father is doing a documentary film for the BBC on the depiction of Satan in old paintings. He goes to Spoleto (middle of Italy) to research some paintings and track down one that he saw on a slide that a certain Contessa Cappelli (Lila Kedrova) has mistakenly sent him. The painting is hung on a wall in a creepy abandoned house and the Contessa warns him to leave Spoleto as there is a force of evil that comes from contact with it. Of course he doesn't believe her...
The Contessa was fantastic (!), she looks like she belongs in a Dario Argento movie from the 70's. Emily (Nicoletta Elmi) just needs a bloody good slap. Joanna Cassidy ('Six Feet Under') is in it too, as the love interest looking very foxy.
The DVD has some trailers as a special feature: 'What Have They Done to Solange?', 'Planet of the Vampires', 'The Cursed Medallion' and one other I've forgotten (already).

Right, I'm off. More DVD's to watch.

What we have watched...

2006-01-29T09:15:00.000-08:00

Mmm, not a lot really thanks to Pete being on Celebrity Big Brother. Have seen a number of episodes of 'Department S', which is fast becoming one of my favourite sixties TV shows (although nothing could knock 'The Avengers' off of the number one slot). Jason King's character is hilarious and it's great that the show has some humour to it, unlike, say 'The Champions'.

Did however manage to watch 'A Man Called Magnum' ('Napoli si ribella' Directed by Michele Massimo Tarantini 1977) which was cool (well it does star Luc Merenda). 'NoShame' films have done themselves proud once again with this release.

And 'Contraband' ('Luca il contrabbandiere' Directed by Lucio Fulci 1980). This was great too and thanks to Fulci, very gory. As always, great to see Fabio Testi.

I've amassed quite a collection of DVD's now that need to get watched! I had some great presents for Christmas and my Birthday, including the Amando de Ossorio 'Blind Dead' box-set, two X-rated 'Italo-Giallo' releases: 'The Night Evelyn Came Out Of The Grave' & 'Eroticofollia', Gamera vs. Gaos, 'Il Medaglione insanguinato' and the Joe Dallesandro/Fernando Di Leo movie 'Vacanze per un massacro'. Really, really hope some of Joe's other European films get a release, especially 'L' Ambizioso', 'Il Tempo degli assassini' and 'Fango bollente'. I see that 'Seeds Of Evil' is getting a DVD release with Joe's first audio commentary next month, so that's on my pre-order wish list along with the Luciano Ercoli triple disc set.

Birthdays

2006-01-29T08:48:00.000-08:00

Oh yeah! I had my 35th Birthday on the 18th. We went to Turin for a few days which was lots of fun. It was very cold but sunny. Went to some nice bars, especially the one on our last night. The shops weren't that brilliant but I did manage to pick up a few DVD's I've been after for a while.

Back in London we went to the 'Three Kings' in Clerkenwell on the Saturday night to celebrate my horrifying old age. It was great to catch up with friends, but sad that my sister and David weren't there (Jess was introducing David to Mom!).

Last Friday was Justine's Birthday and we went out with her in North London. Had a few beers in a grotty pub, went for a pizza, then ended up in a bar/club called 'N10', which was quite hideous. Justine didn't stay long (!) and we got talking to an odd couple who kept buying us drinks. Got home about 5am, played some Abba and went to bed.

Pete's gone!

2006-01-29T08:41:00.000-08:00

God! It's been ages since I was last here. I've been glued to the TV since Pete Burns went into the Big Brother house - he's had us in stitches and awe, that man could make an outfit out of a carrot. He got a monumental booing when he came out (not surprised really!) but carried his interview with Davina very calmly. Hope we get to see a lot more of him now. Wonder if the forthcoming re-release of 'You Spin Me Round' will dent the charts? I read somewhere that there's a possible TV show being offered to him, now that would be hilarious.

Pete Burns

2006-01-08T16:45:00.000-08:00

What better way to start the new year than to have Mr Pete Burns on Big Brother almost 24 hours a day? I won't be here much until he goes from the house. So what if he wears a gorilla fur coat? I have been vegetarian for 22 years and couldn't give a shit if he walked around chewing the heads off of bunnies. The man is a brilliant!

New Year

2006-01-02T05:24:00.000-08:00

Phew, Christmas is well and truly over.

Had Christmas day here in Hackney, stayed at Matt's parents on Boxing day then went to Salisbury to stay with my Grandparents for one night. Played Newmarket for over 4 hours with them! My Grandfather commented on how much I have put on weight (and he's going blind!) so I will be dieting as of tomorrow.

Got loads of great presents, including an ipod... mmm spoilt huh? I've been putting most of my Italian soundtrack CD's onto itunes for the last week or so. My boss gave my a Blythe doll and she is great! Got Junko Mizuno's newest book 'Pure Trance' which I've almost finished, Ed Wood box-set, Joan Crawford box-set, a plush Godzilla, Edgar Wallace box-sets, Japanese sweets, Wonder Woman hip flask (!), 'My Little Pony' bathroom set, an Alessi night light, Habitat voucher, Brad Harris lobbies, Cher picture disc, Dead Or Alive picture disc, John Waters' Christmas CD, 'Kiss Kiss... Bang Bang' CD soundtrack (1966), 'Il Trono di fuoco' CD soundtrack and loads of other great stuff I can't remember.

New Years eve we met up with Max, Peter, Jess and David in some pub in Waterloo. Drank lots. Jess and David are going to be moving in together soon, somewhere in Clapham.

We've watched loads of stuff on our massive new TV: 'Superman', 'Santo vs. las lobas', 'Hustler Squad' plus episodes of 'Mirage Of Blaze', 'Kyo Kara Maoh!' and 'Wonder Woman'. We have seen more than that (!) but I can't remember everything, it's all been a bit foggy.

I have the horrors today (still), I think it's because of my lack of interaction over the last week or so and the fact I've been drinking every single day.

Right, that's all for now. See-ya

Christmassy

2005-12-23T10:11:00.000-08:00

Hooray. Finished work at 4. Home by 5 and enjoying a beer or two. My boss gave me some gifts, am intrigued by one of them.

Have a cold, sore throat etc. But I won't let that stop me enjoying myself (I hope).

Have done a Christmas collage desktop. It is hilariously hideous. Buff men in Santa hats. Ho Ho Ho.

I'm off, I'm sounding like a troubled tramp.

Blood Stained Butterflies

2005-12-22T10:20:00.000-08:00

Watched the (Spanish copy) DVD of 'The Bloodstained Butterfly' ('Una Farfalla con le ali insanguinate' Directed by Duccio Tessari 1971) last night on our massive new TV. Sadly I have to say it was a big let down and had no really typical giallo elements. Even though it starred Evelyn Stewart that alone wasn't enough to keep me interested. The English soundtrack kept losing volume and the print wasn't all that good. The soundtrack by Gianni Ferrio is pretty cool though and there is a nice twist at the end but over all not a film I'll be watching again in a hurry.

Last day of work tomorrow, before we break up for Christmas, yippee! I've bought far too much food for us both to eat...

Borderline

2005-12-21T09:39:00.000-08:00

Hi! Well, our brand new TV arrived and it's huge and sexy.

The Christmas tree has more gifts under it, including one that is ticking from my sister. She does assure me it's not a bomb.

Finished watching the last two episodes of 'The Protectors' and was slightly miffed that there was no "this is end of the show, forever" type thing. Even the mystery man in the opening credits was not explained (I think it's Jason King myself!).

We have the kitchen light fixed now so at last we can see what we are cooking.

Two days left until we break up, yay! I wish we had more time off though. By the time we visit Matt's parents, see my Grandparents and 'celebrate' New Year it will be all over, with not a second to play with all my gifts!

www.cdjapan.co.jp has to be my new favourite web-site. They have some fantastic DVD's, admittedly expensive, but their shipping is so fast and the packaging is 'world class', to coin a phrase.
Have discovered that I have not seen one Gamera film, 'Gamera vs. Gaos' so am desperate to get that, it's available at that site but I'd have to pay import taxes (tttssskkk). There's also a bloody fantastic Gamera box set of all the early films in one box but that is over $400 so I can but dream.

Which reminds me, we got our Christmas bonuses already at work and I'm eager to spend!

Oh my god! Even better news, Fernando Di Leo's 'Vacanze per un massacro' starring the then gorgeous Joe Dallesandro has been released on DVD in Italian with English Subtitles. Have ordered that but will have to wait until the new year before I get my hands on it. Wish 'L'Ambizioso', 'Calore in provincia', 'Fango bollente', 'Il Tempo degli assassini', 'Donna è bello', '6000 km di paura' and 'Black Moon' would get decent releases too, although I have seen a mystery Japanese DVD of the latter...

Also wish the Dead Or Alive 12" collection would get a release, were Sony Japan fanny-teasing all those months ago?

Time gentlemen please

'Have I Got News For You'

2005-12-17T02:32:00.000-08:00

Went to see 'King Kong' on Thursday night at the Barbican and thought it was excellent, even if there were some painfully cheesy moments. Kong is SO cute, it's horrible when he dies. I was worried that I was going to be in tears in the cinema! The over-sized creatures and dinosaurs on Skull Island are great too. (God! every single time I type 'great' I type greta). Anyway Matt didn't fall asleep so that's always a good sign and boy did it go on a long time.

I'm currently bidding on a gorgeous Brad Harris poster for the film 'Supercolpo da 7 miliardi' ('The Ten Million Dollar Grab'). I have won so much stuff on ebay recently, it's ridiculous. I got out-bid on a Blue Demon poster from Mexico (ttssskkkk) - the seller has loads of Jorge Rivero posters up so I'll probably be buying those too. I took a load of my framed lobby cards and photos to work yesterday and too them out of their frames - I don't have room to store them any more. I was a bit upset that my Joe Dallesandro photos ('Blood For Dracula' & 'Flesh for Frankenstein') have discoloured somewhat.

Can hardly believe that it will be Christmas Eve in a weeks time. I don't feel Christmassy at all (!) I've just rang my Grandmother to say we'll be down between Christmas and the New Year, she's made up. I must ring my mate James too and try to meet up with him for a beer or ten.

Joan Collins was presenting 'Have I Got News For You' last night, it was totally excellent. She's doing 'an evening with' in April, we're going with Peter. How marvellously faggy of us. I can't help but love Joan, not only was she great in Dynasty she also made some brilliant British Horror films ('I Don't Want to Be Born', 'Tales That Witness Madness', 'Revenge', 'Tales from the Crypt', 'Fear in the Night', 'Dark Places ') - even if she was only in it for the money.

Well, that's me. My second load of toast has just popped up and my tea is looking stewed. Good morning.

Oh, I mean I was always stunningly beautiful, but I was married once, to a man, and I had a little baby name Freddy...

2005-12-14T11:30:00.000-08:00

Well, it's Wednesday.

Wow! I got Cher's CD 'I Paralyze' and it's brilliant! Totally grew on me within two plays. It's no 'Heart of Stone'' though but good to rawk / laugh to.

Matt got back from Barcelona last night, tired out, well he should be after drinking until 5.30. He managed to pick up a DVD for me 'Una Farfalla con le ali insanguinate' ('The Bloodstained Butterfly '), 200 Lucky Strikes and a massive bottle of Blue Sapphire Gin - I'm not hard to please am I?

100th post!

2005-12-12T08:58:00.000-08:00

Well, I haven't been here for a week or so, that's mainly because we no longer have a TV in the front room. Max has had all her electrical stuff sent back, because of our eventual move. The house we thought we had bought seems to have slipped away from us - the seller is planning to stay there now until May, because she's having a baby. After all that stress and expense too, I am gutted...

On a brighter note, we have ordered a brand new massive TV, to watch all those lovely DVD's on.

Have only two episodes of 'The Protectors' left to watch, the last two we saw were great. I love Nyree Dawn Porter, can't believe she's dead. I see 'The Avengers' are being shown on BBC4 (well the Emma Peel ones anyway) and 'Jason King', 'The Protectors', 'Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)', 'Man in a Suitcase', 'Department S', 'The Saint', 'The Return of the Saint', 'The Champions', 'The Strange Report', 'Space 1999' and 'UFO' are all being shown on ITV4!!! Wow, if only I wasn't so obsessed with buying DVD's, I might have watched some episodes.

Yesterday I watched a couple of 'big box' videos:

'Robbers of the Sacred Mountain' (AKA 'Falcon's Gold' Directed by Bob Schulz 1982). It starred hunky 'Manimal' Simon MacCorkindale and some other people. I hated it.

'Alien Terminator' (AKA 'Top Line' Directed by Nello Rossati 1988). Although this starred Franco Nero I hated it more than the previous film I'd just sat through. There is one amusing scene however, when a bull gourds the 'alien terminator' or should I say a dummy of a man wearing a wig?

Slight return

2005-12-04T14:57:00.000-08:00

Back from Windsor. Had a relaxing time, didn't go to a farm but did see Father Christmas and his reindeer glide down Windsor High Street. Had fish and chips in the evening and drank beer, while watching a Peter Kay stand-up video. Today we walked to Eton (after cutting armfuls of mistletoe) and looked in some shops, saw lots of Eton boys - they all look the same! Came back to Kate and Graham's had soup, then Graham dropped us off at the train station, only we had an hour to kill so we went to the pub opposite for a pint - I had a choking fit in there for some reason. It was so lovely to see little Scarlett (or rather not-so-little) - she's becoming quite a personality. Oh yeah, I bought her a hideous doll from Mothercare - he's called Simon, and she loves him!

Well that's all for now, I'm exhausted and have sandy eyes.

Filthy Friday

2005-12-02T11:58:00.000-08:00

Felt like crap all day. Went out drinking last night for Tom's leaving for India 'do'. I'm having a medicinal beer to steady my nerves right now and listening to the Cocteau Twins.

Meeting Kate at 2pm in Windsor tomorrow, she might be taking us to a farm. I'm no wellington boots person, so I'll have to take my oldest trainers! So looking forward to seeing her and little Scarlett.

One of my favourite shops ever 'In Place' on Shaftesbury Avenue is closing down. It sold all kinds of Japanese imported stuff like San-X and Sanrio characters. I went there yesterday and bought loads of things that they've reduced. Now there's no place left like it cus 'Victoria Star' in China Town closed down too, sniff. Back to the internet for shopping...

Tuna and sweetcorn deepfill

2005-11-29T00:30:00.000-08:00

Wow! loads to tell, last night I went to see the premiere of Madonna's new documentary 'I'm Going to Tell You a Secret' at the Chelsea Theatre, Kings Road. Justine had won tickets from the Channel 4 web-site and asked me to go with her (nice!), we went to the pub next door first and had a few pints then joined the queue with our hilariously loud friend Bennett. Once inside the cinema we had goodie bags with crisps, popcorn, sweets and chocolate. We were sat less than six feet away from Madonna when she came down to the front and introduced the film with Jonas Åkerlund. She was wearing a flashy evening dress and said that it cost more than the film did to make, to which Bennett shouted out, how much did that cost!!! I had so much fun last night, it was brilliant. Some pictures are on this web-site: http://www.madonnatribe.com/news/index.php

Things are going well with regards to the mortgage and moving house. I think we might be in our new home by mid to late January. Yippee! So cannot wait. Wonder what our Christmas will be like? That kind of worries me but it shouldn't. I've finished doing my Christmas shopping, thank god, just got to get my sister's Birthday gift and then I'm done. I've bought myself a pair of trainers, some wicked Etnies by Arto Saari, they've got a pattern of forest trees on them. I'll look just peachy.

Met up with Peter and Bex on Saturday night in the 'Champion', had quite a riot. Bex is moving abroad for a year to be with her daughter, sniff, going to miss her. Friends seem to drop like flies these days. Peter has a mammoth beard, I was quite jealous.

Films we've seen? Ah yes...

'Dario Argento's The Phantom of the Opera' ('Il Fantasma dell'opera') Directed by Dario Argento 1998
So-so take on the story with Julian Sands as the phantom and Asia Argento as the love interest. Wasn't that brilliant I have to say, I'm not really a fan of Argento's modern stuff (or any modern stuff for that matter - I am truly stuck in the 70's when it comes to my film taste) and I don't like watching people mime to opera. I did like the idea that the Phantom was brought up by rats though, and the opening scenes with him as an abandoned baby floating down the sewers was quite hilarious, well, the rat rescue team was anyway.

'Violent Cop' ('Sono otoko, kyôbô ni tsuki') Directed by Takeshi Kitano 1989
Cool film with as Beat Takeshi (Takeshi Kitano) as a very violent cop who does what he wants to get results. Quite nasty, although there is some humour in there. I didn't like watching the treatment of his mentally unstable sister at the hands of some drugged up jerks. It was kind of like an Italian cop thriller but with minimal talking, Azuma (Takeshi) is a very laconic chap. The DVD from the UK box set, was dreadful, it was as if they only put on the sub-titles when they felt like it and the picture was pretty crap too. We've got 'Boiling Point' to watch next, I hope that's better.

'Black Snake' Directed by Russ Meyer 1973
I bought this from someone on ebay in Japan, expecting it to be a proper release, stupid me - it was just some very clever copy (oohh shrink-wrapped too, it must be the real thing, ttsskkk). Anyway I'd got it because I love Meyer's films and also for the fact that Anouska Hempel ('Scars of Dracula') was in it... what the bloody hell was she doing? Her character is so thoroughly loathsome, you just can't wait for her to get her comeuppance, and even that isn't strong enough. She plays a tough whip cracking racist owner of a plantation somewhere. Her right hand man is just as bad. A guy from England (David Warbeck - 'Twins of Evil') goes out to the island to find his brother, whom she had his tongue and dick ripped off and tries to help the slaves. I felt dirty watching this film and won't be seeing it again.

'Die Tote aus der Themse' ('The Dead One in the Thames River') Directed By Harald Philipp 1971
Yup! Another one of those Edgar Wallace films. This one wasn't directed by Alfred Vohrer and wasn't half as camp as the rest of the ones we've seen, that said it was still cool and had the most gorgeous soundtrack yet. I wish someone would release all the Edgar Wallace soundtracks. Oh yeah Uschi Glas is in it, star of 'Seven Blood-Stained Orchids', plus loads of other E.W films.

See ya

Alas Dies Laughing

2005-11-25T09:20:00.000-08:00

Well, been an odd Friday today. My step Mother is no longer talking to me and leaving messages on the answering machine asking our flat-mate to pass on messages to Matt. The Building Society has been investigating our mortgage claim, so that's good news. Can't wait to find out...

The Cocteau Twins - 'Lullabies to Violaine' box-set arrived today and it's so brilliant, I just love it. Great packaging too, it's just gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. I've just imported the four discs to itunes, so I'm listening to it right now.

Last night we watched:

'Dracula Has Risen from the Grave' Directed by Freddie Francis 1968
I had only seen this once before, years ago, so it was great to see again. Lot's of nice imagery. Pretty Veronica Carlson is in it - star of 'The Ghoul' - one of my favourite Peter Cushing films, again directed by Freddie Francis (I don't know why so many people don't like this. Maybe I like it so much because I saw it when I was a child and it has made a lasting impression on me?) and Barry Andrews ('Blood on Satan's Claw') star with Christopher Lee, who speaks a few lines... "destroy her" being my favourite. And as for the slutty bar-maid, who's name escapes me, she's cool too. Best scene? Dracula and a transfixed Maria (dressed in virginal white) riding atop the horse cart riding like the devil, at high speed...

I then watched:

'Barbarian' Directed by Henry Crum 2003
Oh my god! What absolute rubbish this is! I picked this DVD up in Amsterdam, for about £1.00 - it's not even worth that! Makes an episode of 'Hercules: The Legendary Journeys' look like 'Gladiator'. Nothing to recommend it what-so-ever, not even in the 'bad movie' vein.

Well, that's it for now, time to fill my pint glass with more delicious (and hard earned) beer.

ABC Freeform

2005-11-24T16:06:00.000-08:00

Sweet Jesus. I so cannot wait to leave this flat and get away from everything to do with it.

'Meat Raffle'

2005-11-24T10:55:00.000-08:00

Wowsa! this is my 94th post, almost 100. I do have a life, honestly. I'm at home having another medicinal beer, all this talk of mortgages and moving house is beginning to get me down. Why does it take so long? Why do you get stressed? Ah well, things will look differently when we are in that gorgeous cottage next to an orange (!) church. Even though I don't eat meat, I think I should enter the weekly 'Meat Raffle' at our soon-to-be local. How is it presented I wonder? On a platter. arranged decoratively or is it just a box of tinned meats, like corned beef, hot-dog sausages and spam? Who knows, who cares? Oh what joy, discovering new places to drink too much, and places to take friends they've never been to before. We'll see...

We watched two episodes of 'The Protectors' last night. One we watched the other day starred Eartha Kitt ('A Pocketful of Posies') of all people, it was quite campy, well it would be wouldn't it? Anyway one of the ones we saw last night ('Shadbolt ') starred Georgina Hale and she comes in our shop regularly - I must mention that to her next time she's in. Oh my god! I've just seen on the IMDB that she's also in 'The World Is Full of Married Men' how awfully good.

Well that's all for now, although I must mention that I watched Sergio Martino's 'Case of the Scorpion's Tail' with my sister the last time she was here. That film is great, I love Anita Strindberg... Why did she disappear? The DVD we watched was the new 'NoShame' edition, although I do already have the X-Rated Kult version too.

Be seeing you.

Rising from the ashes

2005-11-22T10:58:00.000-08:00

Jesus! Safari crashed after I had typed in loads of stuff and I can't be fagged to do it all again. So this will be a short and sweet version.

Feeling much happier than of late...

Saw our mortgage advisor this morning. Keeping fingers crossed about that house. Have signed up for life insurance, so feeling old and way too grown up.

As for stuff we have watched, it's been quite a mixed bag recently:

'Welcome To Spring Break' ('Nightmare Beach' Directed by Umberto Lenzi 1988)
Vaguely giallo-ish trash about a motorbike riding killer who enjoys electrocuting people at a beach locale. There's big eighties hair, nasty clothes, a bad soundtrack and a few wet tee-shirt competitions. Oh and John Saxon is in it, the only actor I was familiar with. Not very taxing at all, but good to watch with a hangover and friends which is what we did.

'Der Hund von Blackwood Castle' ('The Horror of Blackwood Castle' Directed by Alfred Vohrer 1968)
This has to be my favourite Edgar Wallace film I have seen so far. It was brilliant! Far too much to write about, but there are snakes, hidden jewels, a Doberman with tacky fangs, a lovely old woman who rides a motorbike, a money hungry singer who so didn't deserve to die (Mady Rahl), lots of mist and a totally groovy soundtrack (that I need!). Can't wait to get the other Edgar Wallace box-sets.

'Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eye' ('La Morte negli occhi del gatto' Directed by Antonio Margheriti 1973)
Enjoyed this period giallo a lot too, even though I prefer mine to be in the 70's. Lots of gothic nonsense with Jane Birkin, Hiram Keller (hellooooo), Anton Diffring and Serge Gainsbourg amongst others. Some of the acting (particularly Françoise Christophe's) was very 'Acorn Antiques'. That poor moggy gets thrown about all over the place, you even see someone's hand pushing it onto Corringa's (Birkin) bed. There's a man in an ape suit (always brilliant), a superb soundtrack by Riz Ortolani, lovely sets and a huge cave under the family home where lots of bats and rats live. Almost like a Hammer film. One to watch again and I must search out films with Hiram Keller...

'The Bird with the Crystal Plumage' ('L'Uccello dalle piume di cristallo' Directed by Dario Argento 1970)
What's to say that hasn't been said a gazillion times before? Watched this last night, have already got the VCI edition, but had to get the new two disc 'Blue Underground' edition because of the extras (and the fact that their releases are superior to many out there). I had forgotten just how excellent this film is, there's so many good things in it, like the cinematography and the soundtrack by Ennio Morricone. Suzy Kendall doesn't look as vacant as she usually does, either. When will 'Four Flies on Grey Velvet' get a release?

Well that's enough for now.

Frost

2005-11-21T00:28:00.000-08:00

Matt's doing loads of house stuff this morning (telephoning solicitors etc.) after we put an offer on one we saw in Mitcham. The place is great. I really want it so I hope nothing goes wrong.

It's sunny outside but freezing cold.

I don't want to go to work.

Meeting Bex this weekend, seems like years since we last got together.

Going to stay with friends in Windsor the weekend after that.

Wish I could shift this unhappy mood I am stuck in, no longer want to run away though.

Watched the last two episodes of 'Crying Freeman', which was a big disappointment.

My heart's a forest fire and your's a field of snow

2005-11-18T09:50:00.000-08:00

Feeling better this evening, although I am exhausted from drinking too much last night and lying awake from 3am. Have started buying Christmas gifts on the net and have got loads of stuff which is good. I have nothing else to say (!) except the Kate Bush album isn't rubbish it's totally brilliant, 'The Coral Room' is my favourite...

Post number 90

2005-11-17T09:24:00.000-08:00

I feel maudlin and miserable. I hate everything and everyone. I feel like I did ten long years ago. Even Kate Bush's new album is rubbish.

The end.

Home Alone

2005-11-10T12:14:00.000-08:00

Yay! Am having a beer or four at home on my own. Matt's having a meal with some contractors in Waterloo and Max is out seeing a band somewhere, when isn't she? Think I am a bit drunk. Used the MSN messenger to talk to my friend Patricia this evening which was lots of fun, can't believe her and Andy might move to Leeds, that's bloody miles away, not that I ever see her these days anyway. We talked about possibly meeting up in our old haunt in Earls Court, for a big alcohol session, hope that does transpire...

So what have we been watching? Well, if I remember correctly:

'The Mutations' ('The Freakmaker' Directed by Jack Cardiff 1973)
Donald Pleasence plays Professor Nolter a mad scientist who is creating freakish human/plant hybrids with the aim of creating a super-race (hmm). He gets a hideously deformed owner of a freak show (Tom Baker - my favourite 'Dr Who') to provide the bodies for his experiments (who all happen to come from the local college where Nolter lectures...).
Totally brilliant Brit horror with a cast of thousands (well a few anyway). This film stars Brad Harris (as 'Brian'!) so I was totally engrossed (Matt was slipping into a coma), Julie Ege is in it too (as Brian's love interest) so that's a sign of quality. I totally LOVE 'Subversive Cinema' for bringing this film out on DVD, I've been waiting years for it! The packaging is just great; mini poster, repro lobbies, nice double-sided cover and a good featurette with the producer, director and Brad - plus there's a trailer for 'Seeds Of Evil' ('The Gardener') the forthcoming DVD with Joe Dallesandro which I can't wait to get my hands on.

'Ten Little Indians' (Directed by George Pollock 1965)
The usual Agatha Christie story set in a mountain castle accessed only by cable car. One by one the guests are murdered by an invisible host...
Picked this DVD up in Germany. It has a fantastic cast; (gorgeous) Shirley Eaton, Hugh O'Brian, Leo Genn, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Stanley Holloway, Dennis Price, Mario Adorf plus others - you have to see Daliah Lavi's wig... It's truly monstrous! Not much in the way of extras, photo gallery and cast info (in German).

'Rattler Kid' ('Un Hombre vino a matar' Directed by León Klimovsky 1968)
Another German DVD release. This one being in German language only (well it was only about £1.90) so I am afraid I wasn't all that interested, only in the parts with Brad Harris (he does display his huge physique in one bathing scene). Otherwise I found it dull especially for a Spanish/Italian western. However, it does have though a trailer for 'Picture Mommy Dead' directed by Bert I. Gordon and starring Zsa Zsa Gabor, that I need to view NOW!

'Killer Cop' ('La Polizia ha le mani legate' Directed by Luciano Ercoli 1974)
Got this on VHS from that weird pet shop/charity shop in Fisherton Street, Salisbury. The picture was pretty dreadful and I found the story a trifle (love that word) boring, I have after all seen loads of these Italian police thrillers. The ending was inconclusive too - or was it just me? Maybe I didn't get it, anyway this is going back to another charity shop.

'Thor the Conqueror' ('Thor il conquistatore' Directed by Tonino Ricci 1983)
Well, what can I say? Sword and sorcery film that's beyond dreadful. No special effects, apart from a sorcerer who transforms into an owl (rubbish) and it's all set in a wood or a cave. If it wasn't for Luigi Mezzanotte's attractive chest I think I would have slipped into a coma myself. Nice cover to the huge 'big box' padded video sleeve though.

God that's enough for one night. I am starving and could do with another beer...

Gggrrrr

2005-11-10T09:52:00.000-08:00

Stop letting off fireworks you bloody fools.

Back so soon?

2005-11-04T10:32:00.000-08:00

Yeah, forgot to say I've sent off at least three wishlists for Christmas. Can't wait! I know I'll be getting a couple of Edgar Wallace DVD box sets as I made Matt buy them in Germany. Forgot to mention that I'd really like the German edition of 'Department S' and 'Jason King', those box sets are sexy (!). Must do that later...

Stuff we've seen this week? Well we watched the final episode of 'Six Feet Under', which was sad, but awful right at the very end when everyone got old - those make up effects were dreadful and unnecessary. Going to miss that show.

And...

'Horror of Dracula' (Directed by Terence Fisher 1958)
Don't really need to say anything about this one that hasn't been said before. It's just brilliant. Cushing & Lee - what more do you need in a film? Got this DVD as it was unbelievably cheap (about £3.00).

Bye!

Another Friday

2005-11-04T10:23:00.000-08:00

Well it's Friday again. Been a busy week. Saw a mortgage advisor last night to see how we can do, very well it seems although some basta*d has been and bought the house we'd seen in New Malden. Ttsskkk, oh well, back to searching the web-sites.

Going to David's on Saturday night for a party at his new abode, that should be fun, I hope I don't make a tit of myself, but I'm sure I will.

Jess is back up in London on Friday and staying with us for the weekend. Oh I love my little sister, but she does make me feel about a thousand years old, as she's so young and gorgeous. Fish and chips WILL be on the menu...

Really want to get another tattoo done before Christmas, have put some money aside for one, just need to pick one of many ideas I have. Also need my Santo mask touching up again as his chin's disappeared (!).

Right, time to top up my pint glass with another delicious Friday night lager, I'm SO classy.

Halloween Weekend

2005-10-28T09:51:00.000-07:00

Hooray it's Friday. I am sat here enjoying a beer and listening to Armando Trovaioli's 'Homo Eroticus' soundtrack.

It's Matt's Birthday on Sunday and we're off to his parent's for the weekend. Going to look at houses in the Surrey area and have a Thai meal (don't we always?) for lunch.

Recently we've watched:

'The Evil of Frankenstein' (Directed by Freddie Francis 1964)
I've never seen this before and was really pleased to see it at last, thanks to 'The Hammer Horror Series' - 'The Franchise Collection', which was really, really cheap. Peter Cushing is his usual top form playing the obsessed Baron, this time returning to his castle in Karlstaad with his assistant Hans (Sandor Elès). There he finds his Castle in ruins, having been looted by the towns Burgomaster, however it isn't long before his laboratory is back in action after discovering his monster frozen in ice in a mountain cave (!) - thanks to a mute girl who has saved them from a storm. However the monster is a bit brain dead and the Baron enlists the aid of a greedy Hypnotist called Prof. Zoltán to help him. Things turn sour when Zoltán uses the monster for his own gains... Brilliant!

'Der Gorilla von Soho' ('Gorilla Gang' Directed by Alfred Vohrer 1968)
Another great Edgar Wallace story - do they always involve a young lady inheriting loads of cash and a greedy relative? Seems so. Anyway this had some cool bits like, a man in a gorilla suit - which is always brilliant, evil women masquerading as nuns in a boarding house for girl drop-outs - one of whom is an African mute who writes on plastic dollies and places them with murdered rich men who are thrown into the Thames after they've been drowned by the Nuns in a downing machine (honest). There's a Soho night club, where lots of female flesh and a muscle man is on show, some good comedy and some bad. And the soundtrack is brilliant, sounds almost Italian Giallo in places.

I watched this on my own (!):

'Goldface' ('Goldface, il fantastico superman' Directed by Bitto Albertini 1968)
Picked this up in Germany for a couple of Euro. The DVD cover looked very me and I recognised some names, sadly it's only in German language, but that never stopped me before. It's very Santo-esque and totally ridiculous, Albertini's films seem very similar. Goldface is a guy who is a scientist by day who changes into a garish suit when fighting crime or wrestling in the ring, where he has lots of female admirers. He has a sidekick Kotar another (muscly) wrestler who spends his time eating peanuts and being goofy. There's lots of fighting, mainly against the evil Cobra's gang of men - Cobra is a guy who swans around in a laughable silk jacket with a huge collar, he too has a sidekick, an evil blond woman. Anyway I would definitely buy this again, if I found it with an English dub. It's totally me.

That's all for now.

I ate four doughnuts today, what a fat bitch.

Can't even make my fare back home

2005-10-27T09:30:00.000-07:00

Feeling a bit happier today, though still not 100%. Just feel about a thousand years old and fed up!

Have watched some great films recently:

'La Polizia chiede aiuto' ('What Have They Done to Your Daughters?' Directed by Massimo Dallamano 1974)
Superb Giallo about a policeman (Claudio Cassinelli) and a female assistant. dist. attorney (Giovanna Ralli) investigating the apparent suicide of a teenage girl and uncovering details of a teenage prostitution racket.
Enjoyed this loads, there's some great scenes especially the ones with the black-leather-clad killer with the butchers cleaver chasing the district attorney around an underground car-park. The soundtrack by Stelvio Cipriani is brilliant too, wish it was available on CD. Got the DVD in Germany, it's in a really smart package with a booklet (texts in German though, tttssskkk).

'Psychomania' (Directed by Don Sharp 1971)
Seen this a film (frogs, suicide, stones, bikers) a bejillion times but not on a DVD. I put it on one night when my sister was here, she stayed awake during the whole of the film which amazed me! Nice to see Beryl Reid again, she was cool! The quality of the picture (released by Image Entertainment) is a bit crappy and there's no features though.

'Fire Monsters Against the Son of Hercules' ('Maciste contro i mostri' directed by Guido Malatesta 1962)
Trashy and badly made Peplum starring (hmmm) Reg Lewis (Maciste/Hercules) who helps one tribe fight another (and falls in love with the daughter from the bad tribe). This must of had a low budget as most of the scenes are filmed in a muddy looking cave. The paper-mache and cardboard monsters are quite funny as is watching Reg Lewis attempts at acting, he was so wooden (nice bleached hair and loin-cloth though). The DVD picture quality was atrocious (well it is from Alpha Video and only about $3) as most of the Peplums released to DVD seem to be.

'Mönch mit der Peitsche' ('The College Girl Murders' Directed by Alfred Vohrer 1967)
German Krimis from another Edgar Wallace DVD boxset. A mad killer wearing a bright red KKK looking robe, kills people with a long whip around a girls college. This was really cool, very camp and lots of fun. Great soundtrack, great fashions and some brilliant scenes - a pit of alligators, a mad scientist, a sliding fireplace and a swimming pool full of college girls who play beach ball (badly) to name but a few.

Off for cup of tea...

Slap me on the patio...

2005-10-26T11:21:00.000-07:00

Feel a bit rubbish today. More than a bit. I hate the way I deal with things and my inability to talk to people about certain things. I am crap.

Been a long time...

2005-10-24T10:05:00.000-07:00

Seems like ages since I last typed anything here.

Our holiday was lots of fun, stayed in Dusseldorf and Dortmund, took trains to Cologne (twice), Essen and Munster and bought loads of DVD's, namely the Edgar Wallace Collection box sets 7 & 8, I'd been hoping to get. Spent our days walking around towns and going into shops, in the evenings we went to bars for little glasses of Pils (mmm). One evening I got food poisoning which wasn't too good, but that didn't last longer than two days. On the Wednesday we got a train to Amsterdam and stayed there until Saturday and that was lots more fun than Germany, but the DVD's were more expensive. Our hotel room was quite shabby compared to the ones we'd had before and two nights we got bitten to death by mosquitos (yuk!, I am still scratching). Found two Italian lobbies for a Brad Harris film. Definitely want to go back to Holland...

My sister Jess has been staying with us for a few days (came up on Wednesday night and left on Sunday). She'd had a number of interviews and managed to get a job very quickly, jammy cow. Her friend Kat also came up on Friday night, made them watch 'Myra Breckinridge' then took them to 'The Approach' for a couple of beers. Saturday went to Hammersmith, had fish and chips in this great chippy we discovered (what fun lives we lead) and did some shopping, well the girls did (in Primark, the shame!). Saturday night we went out to meet friends in Farringdon (upstairs in the 'Three Kings') - it was brilliant fun, saw lots of people and got very drunk. Two cabs brought people back here and we carried on drinking, although I can only remember about ten minutes of it, oh and wearing a bowler hat. Awoke on Sunday with an enormous hang-over. David felt sick and couldn't eat any breakfast (left shortly afterwards!). Steve had left really early. Made the girls watch 'Smashing Time' which made us laugh. Matt went to work. Max went out. The girls went back home and I was left to play on the internet.

Some films we or I have sat through:

'Il Conquistatore di Atlantide' ('Conqueror of Atlantis' Directed by Alfonso Brescia 1965)
Sword and Sandal with Kirk Morris. I'd picked this DVD up in Germany really cheaply and was amazed at the quality of the picture. Almost all of the American released Peplum films are in a terrible state, but this was stunning. That said it is only in German language, probably a good thing because it's part of a set of about 20+ films and I'd end up having to get all of them if they had English Language/Subtitles! Kirk (with natural hair colour this time) stars as Hercules and gets involved with two warring desert tribes. He falls in love with a Princess, who gets kidnapped by the Atlantian army (gold men in blue body stockings and amazon like women with long wigs) - she gets brainwashed by a machine the King has. About forty minutes into the film Hercules finds his way into Atlantis, where he meets the evil King (with very heavy eye-shadow and a long green beard) and the Queen, (played by Hélène Chanel, who looks absolutely stunning in her ridiculously over the top head-dress).
I enjoyed this even though I saw it without understanding the dialogue. Kirk Morris is pretty to look at and the sets and costumes are campy. The fight scenes went on too long though and the soundtrack is pretty horrid. There are 6 trailers for films in the collection, including 'Samson' with my favourite Brad Harris.

'Der Mann mit dem Glasauge' ('The Man with the Glass Eye' Directed by Alfred Vohrer 1969)
Part of the fantastic Edgar Wallace Collection. Really, really loved this, it's just like a giallo. It has a murderer dressed in a black coat, with black gloves and a big black hat (with his face hidden), a guy who keeps taking his glass eye out. heroin addiction, white slave trade kidnapping, cool soundtrack, a bitchy evil old woman who reminded us of Margaret Thatcher, big false eye-lashes, dancing girls and a weird horizontal 'lift'. One to watch again, but maybe in the original language and not the English dub as some of the accents are awful.

Right, I really have written too much for one sitting, I'm off.

Carnival Of Monsters

2005-10-03T11:24:00.000-07:00

Back at work today, (spent yesterday looking around Raynes Park for a potential house to buy, then went to Matt's parents for supper) - there is SO much work on at the moment. David is off until Wednesday and I'm only there until 1pm as I have another appointment with the epilepsy consultant at Whitechapel Hospital. That is more or less a big fat skive - mind you I think it will be the last time I shall be seeing her for a while, thanks to the higher dosage of pills and no more spasms.

One of my ebay wins arrived today - A big box video of 'Thor The Conqueror'. Mmm looks especially rubbish, can't wait! Also in the post I got the Region 1 (why buy any other?) DVD of Doctor Who: Carnival Of Monsters with Jon Pertwee. Might watch that tonight, if Matt's not in too late. Hope not, I'm bloody starving...

Fatty spring clean

2005-10-01T16:15:00.000-07:00

I could just about manage to function today after Matt had done a nice big fry up. He went to work and I carried on spring cleaning my bedroom. Have chucked out half of my films on video, they take up too much space and I hate videos now, anyway. I've kept clips that one day I hope to transfer onto DVD (you know, priceless stuff like Zsa Zsa Gabor on 'The Word').

We just ate a curry and watched some '100 Greatest' chart on E4, which had Pete Burns on it! Yay! Why isn't he on more stuff? I think it was recorded a while back - he was wearing that red wig ages ago. Wish they'd interviewed him with Cher, they'd have looked peachy together.

DVD's we've seen?

'Der Zinker' ('The Squeaker' (?) Directed by Alfred Vohrer 1963)
Another B&W Edgar Wallace film from Germany. Features fantastic music, a mad old woman, wild animals, a silent Klaus Kinski and the view from the back of someone's throat whilst chomping on a carrot.

'Paranoiac' (Directed by Freddie Francis 1963)
Wow! This B&W mystery thriller was brilliant. It's about an inheritance and a dead brother who turns up eight years after his funeral. Oliver Reed plays a spoilt rich kid who spend his days drinking (!) and being evil to everyone (actually most of the characters are horrible). There's a really creepy bit with Reed playing an old church organ and someone wearing a fright mask. Aarrgghhhh...

Not happy!

2005-10-01T03:40:00.000-07:00

Yuk! Have a massive hangover, I look and feel disgusting. After having my tattoo touched up by the lovely Matt I met my Matt in the Sutton Arms and drank too many pints of Star. Nobody has bid on my ebay stuff, but I'm not really surprised as my postage is way too high. I'm excited about going on holiday (five days to go) and have seen loads of German DVD's and DVD box sets I must own, yay! Well that's all I can manage to type right now - see ya.

My clothes are by Armani and my hair is by Elaine

2005-09-26T13:20:00.000-07:00

Hello...

Had a nice lazy weekend. Met up with Bex at the 'Coach & Horses' in Ray Street, Farringdon on Saturday night, then trolled over to Holborn to see Max and co for a couple more beers. Had a dodgy vege-burger from our local kebab shop, got the squits on Sunday.

Have booked our flights to Germany, off in two weeks, yay! Staying in Amsterdam too, didn't see much of it when I was there last, on a school trip - I was grounded and had to stay in the Hostel in the evenings for being caught drunk and smoking... I hope to pick up loads of DVD's, especially the Edgar Wallace Box Sets.

As for films we have seen, um...

'Secrets of a Call Girl' ('Anna, quel particolare piacere' Directed by Giuliano Carnimeo 1973)
Another great Italian crime movie (!) with the added bonus of having the Queen of Giallo, Edwige Fenech as the main star. She plays a naive girl from Bergamo who gets involved with a very nasty piece of work, Guido (Corrado Pani) who takes her to Milan. In between punching and slapping her, he gets her to become a prostitute. Most of the time she puts up with it because she's in love with him, but eventually she runs away to Rome and gives birth to a baby boy. There she gets involved with a Doctor (played by John Richardson - 'Eyeball', 'Torso') after her son has an accident, but is reluctant to get too close to him because of her past. Guido tracks her down and forces her back to Milan, where before long she takes her revenge...
Another fantastic DVD release from NoShame with extensive liner notes a featurette and trailer.

'Mannaja' ('A Man Called Blade' Directed by Sergio Martino 1977)
Quite a violent Spaghetti Western, well lots of people getting shot. Maurizio Merli stars as Blade, a hatchet-wielding bounty hunter who wants revenge on the man who killed his father and took his land. Unfortunately there's something about Merli that I don't like, I don't know why, I can't explain it and this kind of spoilt it for me. The soundtrack, by Guido & Maurizio De Angelis is great when it's instrumental, but when that bloke sings it's bloody awful. Nice to see Martine Brochard ('Fango bollente', 'Eyeball', 'The Nuns of Saint Archange') again though.

'The Curse of the Werewolf' (Directed by Terence Fisher 1961)
Oh my god! How totally gorgeous was Oliver Reed in this film? Have seen this many times but it was in the 'Hammer Horror Series - Franchise Collection' box set and we decided to see it anyway. Lots of lurid blood, heaving bosoms, a creepy castle etc. all woven around a story about a young man (Reed) cursed with being a werewolf.

'Pink Flamingos' (Directed by John Waters 1972)
I must have seen this movie about 100 times, but put it on when we got in from the pub on Saturday night. Matt fell asleep instantly! Still is a weird vision, I always feel like I've had a really odd nightmare after watching it. Divine, Mink Stole, David Lochary, Edith Massey, Mary Vivian Pearce etc. were all so totally brilliant, I wish Mr Waters had made lots more of his films in the 70's. When, oh when will 'Mondo Trasho' and 'Multiple Maniacs' get DVD releases? Surely New Line could package them like the last lot of double feature DVD's?

Scotland

2005-09-21T09:35:00.000-07:00

God, it's Wednesday.

Had a great time up in Glasgow with Catherine and Paul. Catherine drove us everywhere, poor love. On Friday we went into Glasgow and looked around the Cathedral and graveyard, then went to the Lighthouse to see the 'Marimekko: Fabrics, Fashion, Architecture' exhibition (cool) then sank some pints in 'The Thirteenth Note'. Catherine drove us back to Uddingston where we got a taxi to some enormous pub and got monumentally drunk. Saturday (feeling sick!) we were back in the car and went to someplace on the coast and picked up shells, stones and driftwood, saw lots of washed-up jellyfish too. Drove to a small town I can't remember the name of and went into an amusement arcade, where I lost five quid on those two pence slider machines, I did, however win a tacky pink dice key-ring. Catherine came out with three (!) cuddly toys from the grab machine and Matt won three hideous key-rings. Drove a bit further and stopped for a traditional 'fish tea' in a weird chippy/sweet shop. Sunday we went to Stirling and walked around some graveyards, part of the castle and into the town, where we had a coffee. Later we went up the William Wallace Memorial tower (well Matt & me did, Catherine and Paul couldn't be bothered!). On the way back to Uddingston we stopped off at a castle in the dark and climbed a big hill to walk around it, that was cool and scary! Got back to theirs and had a roast dinner and drank more beers. Back on the train at ten in the morning to come back to London, which was a horrendous experience, the train smelt of a toilet, we were travelling backwards, a baby was crying and my seat gave me a bad back. GNER do not rule.

Ah well, nice to be back in London, but it was great to see Catherine and Paul as I do miss them.

Windsor

2005-09-13T12:11:00.000-07:00

Had a nice weekend in Windsor with Kate, Graham and baby Scarlett. Fed some fish in Cow pond, had fish and chips and went to an enormous car-boot sale in Eton, where I bought some kitsch bookends with seated oriental ladies, some resin crab paper weights, a glass lampshade and a hideously lovely china dog. Also went to a huge Garden centre and had an insipid lunch.

Last night I went out with Justine and her pals to watch the cricket finals and I got very drunk, had a hang-over all day, but it was worth it, just to see Justine as it's been ages since I last saw her (eight weeks or more).

As for films we've seen:

'Night Creatures' ('Captain Clegg' Directed by Peter Graham Scott 1962)
Weird Hammer outing involving wine smuggling in the 18th-century. Peter Cushing is fantastic as Captain Clegg sporting a strange hair-style. Oliver Reed is there too, looking pretty. This DVD is in the 'Hammer Horror Series' eight film set, which was fantastic value at only £12, I suppose you can't grumble that there are no features...

'The Kiss of the Vampire' (Directed by Don Sharp 1963)
Another great vampire tale from Hammer A young honeymooning couple, Gerald and Marianne Harcourt (Edward de Souza and Jennifer Daniel) get stranded in an Eastern European village where a noble family of vampires plan to keep Marianne in their clutches. Certain parts reminded me of 'The Masque of the Red Death'.

We're also working our way through the first series of 'The Saint', 'Wonder Woman', 'The Protectors' and 'Tales of The Unexpected', the latter of which has been very patchy indeed.

Can't wait for Thursday, we're off to Glasgow.

New!

2005-09-04T14:56:00.000-07:00

Well, had a super time back in Salisbury. Had fun looking at old photo's with my Grandmother one night. Checked out the charity shops (and got some great Italian films on VHS from a weird pet shop/charity shop - yes, that's Wiltshire for you). Ate chips twice. Met Fay and her new baby (Archie-James, named after me (!)) and went to the Cathedral close for a picnic. Met up with my friend James on Friday night (when Matt came down), but sadly I felt really sick after just a few sips of lager (I know - unheard of), ended up at an odd gay pub, where after one drink the awful dance music was too much for me, so went back to my sister's house. Saturday went to the Cathedral with Matt, Jess and her funny/lovely friend Kat (Mrs Blobby). Had an ice cream in the market square and went into a craft fair (!) where my sister was pestered by a woman who made fairies out of clay (or something). Had a gorgeous meal in 'The Old Mill' with my Mom and Step-Father, Aunt and Uncle. Got quite drunk, Jess felt weird so went back to hers. Watched TV. Sunday morning Kat came round, went to a car-boot sale and bought a 60's fish lamp ("it is French, you know"). Jess did a huge and welcome fry up. Said our good-bye's and came home on the train. Wish Jess hadn't been dumped, I hate seeing her sad : (
So that was our weekend...

As for viewing delights, we've seen:

'Risking' ('Pronto ad uccidere' Directed by Franco Prosperi 1976)
Cool Italian crime film featuring Ray Lovelock, Martin Balsam and eurobabe Elke Sommer (who doesn't show up until almost an hour into the movie - however her role is not wasted). It's a story about an undercover cop (Ray Lovelock) who seeks revenge over the crippling of his mother by crooks (kind of!).

'Kidnap Syndicate' ('La Città sconvolta: caccia spietata ai rapitori' Directed by Fernando Di Leo 1975)
Luc Merenda's back as an ex motorbike racer (now a poor mechanic) who's son gets kidnapped along with a rich man's son (the father 'Ingegner Filippini' is played by James Mason, who was obviously only in the film because of his name). Anyway this was different from most Italian crime/revenge movies and had some really touching scenes that has you really rooting for Merenda's character. Cool motorbike chases, gorgeous scenery and a superb ending. Valentina Cortese ('The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire') who stars as Grazia Filippini was fantastic too especially when she overhears her husband bartering over the price of their son's ransom.

That's all for now, bye!

Wednesday

2005-08-31T10:04:00.000-07:00

Yippee I've got Friday off. Going back to my home town to see the family and take my Mom out for her Birthday. Staying at my sister's new digs too, oh and visiting my Grandparents (pea-fritters here I come). The following weekend we are back in Windsor and going to that huge car boot sale in Henley, where I purchased loads of great stuff last year. The week after that it's up to Glasgow to stay with my pal Catherine, which should be lots of fun and involve copious amounts of beer (mmm).

What have we seen on DVD? Well...

'Die Tür mit den 7 Schlössern' ('The Door with Seven Locks' Directed by Alfred Vohrer 1962)
Another cool entry in the Edgar Wallace film collection. Any film with a man in a monkey suit is always brilliant, although the one in this film doesn't get to do much. There's an evil old boot (Gisela Uhlen as Emely Cody) who smokes a lot, a mute guy who looks very similar to Tor Johnson and pretty Sabine Sesselmann (as Sybil Lansdown). Sadly Klaus Kinski is only in it for the first ten minutes or so. Really want to get the other Edgar Wallace films on DVD (with English subtitles). And when, oh when will the Kommissar X series get a decent DVD release?

Doctor Who - 'The Pyramids Of Mars'
Not my favourite story, but great to see again, especially as the Doctor is with my favourite assistant Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen). Great features on the DVD too.

That's all for now. My only wish is that men would stop wearing flip-flops.

Saturday the 28th

2005-08-28T14:55:00.000-07:00

Thank God for days off. I feel like I've been working forever. What have we been up to? Oh yeah, went to a 'baby naming ceremony' in Cambridge last Sunday. That was lots of fun, had too many glasses of Pimms though (not to mention the pints of beer). Slept on the train on the way back home and awoke in King's Cross with a hangover. Had a so-so week, had a boys night out last night with David and Peter. I don't remember coming home, as I was very, very drunk. Still, it was great to catch up with Peter - he was on form as usual and had us all entertained. I've had a hideous hangover all day, and it's been lovely (!).
Stayed at Matt's parents on Friday night and had fish and chips (classy) which was fun too. As for our viewing delights we've sat through:

'The Witch Who Came from the Sea' (Directed by Matt Cimber 1976)
I don't know what all the fuss is about. I found this boring and didn't warm to any of the characters.

'Death Rage' ('Con la rabbia agli occhi' Directed by Antonio Margheriti 1976)
Really enjoyed this (well, it is an Italian crime/revenge film). Great to see Barbara Bouchet again, although I found the love scenes between her and a haggard looking Yul Brynner a tad off-putting, to say the least. Nice scenes of Naples, that had me going "I've been there" all the time!

'The Adventures of Hercules' ('Le Avventure dell'incredibile Ercole' Directed by Luigi Cozzi 1985)
More camp nonsense with Lou Ferrigno back as the mighty Herc. Sadly quite forgettable though.

'Village of the Damned' (Directed by Wolf Rilla 1960)
Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant! Classy Barbara Shelley and George Sanders in a British tale of unearthly children.

'Children of the Damned' (Directed by Anton Leader 1963)
Quite good follow up to the previous film, this time with International children (Mi Ling was so cute!). Ian Hendry (Tom Lewellin) is a guy who has compassion for the devilish tots. I really like Ian Hendry, but his Welsh accent was dodgy.

'The Mummy's Shroud' (Directed by John Gilling 1967)
Not a very action packed Mummy film from Hammer, but still enjoyable. Maggie Kimberly (playing Claire de Sangre) looks fantastic and is very Alexandra Bastedo.

'Plague of the Zombies' (Directed by John Gilling 1966)
Seen this so many times and it's still great. There are a number of really good scenes especially the one where a dead Alice Mary Tompson (Jacqueline Pearce) opens her eyes.

Phew! Enough. Goodnight!

Here again

2005-08-22T22:33:00.000-07:00

It's 6.30 am and I'm typing. I had a long nightmare this morning and couldn't get back to sleep, so here I am. Bex's Birthday evening went well. Started in The Champion and ended up in The Golden Lion (old rent-boy haunt). Bex and her mate Cher (who was fantastic) came back to ours for a nightcap (I drank neat vodka, as we had no mixers, how filthy).

Anyway, more importantly what have we seen?

Gambling City ('La Città gioca d'azzardo' Directed by Sergio Martino 1975)
Luca Altieri (Luc Merenda) is a professional gambler who gets hired to work for "The President" an ageing crime boss (Enrico Maria Salerno, in a wheelchair). He gets involved with the bosses son's girlfriend Maria Luisa (Dayle Haddon - 'Spermula') and the trouble begins, which Luca invites with enthusiasm. Enjoyed this loads, Merenda looks great in those 70's suits and the soundtrack was brilliant, it starts off plinky plonky jolly and gradually turns more sombre as the film progresses. Must buy!

'Das Rätsel der roten Orchidee' ('The Secret of the Red Orchid' Directed by Helmut Ashley 1962)
Although this film stars Christopher Lee (speaking German with ease), Marisa Mell and Klaus Kinski, amongst others, I found it very dull. A bad start to the 'Edgar Wallace Collection', however...

'Das Gasthaus an der Themse' ('The Inn on the River' Directed by Alfred Vohrer 1963)
This was a different kettle of fish (no pun intended) altogether and had loads of great elements. Elisabeth Flickenschildt who plays (Aunt) Nelly Oaks was a riot. I knew I'd like the film as soon as she started singing in her seedy bar. Klaus Kinski is back, this time playing a french guy ("I'm in spices, import, export"). It's all meant to be set on the river Thames, near Greenwhich (wish that bar was still there, I'd go all the time) and the main story is about a killer that spears people with a harpoon, he gets about (and away) in a black wet suit and is known as 'the shark'!

Friday at last...

2005-08-12T12:19:00.000-07:00

I'm sat here in my favourite new shirt, having another beer. Decided it was time to pull myself away from ebay - how many bloody hours have I wasted looking at that damn site, just in the hope of getting some bargain? Well, plenty.

My flu has almost gone, which is good. My last tattoo needs some serious re-touching, Santo looks chinless. My Step-Mother rang today to tell me my Father is in Hospital, after having a suspected heart attack, my cousin has had a miscarriage and my sister isn't talking to anybody (not Jess). So... family life's a bit weird right now.

On a brighter note, it's our pal Bex's Birthday a week today, so we'll be out and drinking 'til we fall over, which is always good. Shame I am working on the Saturday, mmm enjoy that hang-over. At least I'll only be serving the customers and not working with dangerous machinery...

Step-Mother has just rung, Father is at home now, wasn't a heart attack, just a severe hernia pain (too much info).

I have the biggest beard I've ever had, it's too woolly but I can't be bothered to do anything about it.

We have cockroaches in our kitchen, which is rather disgusting. So far we have caught three of the bastards.

Enjoyed watching 'Lost' the other day and we're really pleased that the final series of 'Six Feet Under' starts next week, yay!

Well that's it for now, my beer's getting warm and I want a smoke.

New stuff...

2005-08-10T09:22:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was rather quiet. I'd gotten some kind of flu, so we didn't go out on the lash Friday or Saturday. Sunday however I was getting cabin fever, so we took a walk to the Barbican then after looking for ages for somewhere to eat, found a really great pub (The Coach and Horses) somewhere near the Betsy Trotwood. Had a gorgeous meal and three glasses of Leffe. Having a lazy weekend was rather good for watching DVD's though, I managed to get through these...

'Hercules' (Directed by Luigi Cozzi 1983)
Hilarious campy sword and sandal nonsense with Lou Ferrigno and Sybil Danning. Brad Harris gets third billing and is only in the film for about five minutes. There's some great 80's special effects and sound effects. The bit with the chariot and the boulder is beyond belief and had us in stitches. Looking forward to seeing the follow up film 'The Adventures of Hercules', I hope it's as trashy as this.

'Death Carries A Cane' ('Passi di danza su una lama di rasoio' Directed by Maurizio Pradeaux 1972)
Starring the fun Nieves Navarro, this film swings into the giallo mode really early on - within minutes of it starting a girl is being knifed to death by a person dressed head to toe in black. Kitty (Navarro) has been watching the murder through a coin operated viewfinder and no one will believe her, until the Police discover the girls body. Because her lover (or husband, I can't remember) is implicated she tries to clear his name...
Pretty usual affair with all the familiar giallo ingredients. Over three quarters of the way through I was wondering why there was no lesbian scene, and low and behold, one turns up (albeit in a flash-back)!
The picture quality on the DVD was the worst I've seen on a 'X-Rated Kult DVD' release, but no way near as bad as those 'Dagored Films' releases.

'She Gods Of Shark Reef' (Directed by Roger Corman 1958)
Laughable and camp film about two brothers who end up on an (hawaiian?) island only inhabited by pearl diving women who worship a shark god. One of the brothers is a bad guy (the dark-haired and buff Don Durant), the other is a blond goody-goody who falls in love with one of the girls. All the time they are spied on by an old hag (the leader of the women), who doesn't like the men and wants no hanky panky between the new male guests and one of her girls. The men run around in little shorts and there are scenes (stock footage) of sharks and some shots of dead ones being speared.
Somehow I managed to sit through this film even though the picture quality was like watching it through a dirty tea towel (Are there any decent transfers in that 50 Sci Fi movie box-set?)

'Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed' (Directed by Terence Fisher 1969)
Wow! I hadn't seen this for years and had forgotten what a nasty piece of work Peter Cushing's Baron is. Totally brilliant stuff and has made me want to get loads more Hammer films on DVD (groan! I need more cash).

'Ulysses Against The Son Of Hercules' ('Ulisse contro Ercole' Directed by Mario Caiano 1961)
Really enjoyed this sword and sandal film, starring two leading guys I'm not familiar with (Mike Lane and Georges Marchal). There's a very voluptuous 'Queen of the bird people' (Dominique Boschero - 'All the Colors of the Dark', 'Who Saw Her Die?') who struts around her jungle in very high heels wearing feathered creations (the bird people are extras dressed as green budgies), great sets (that face in the wall), almost death by a falling ceiling of rock and a guy who is forced to fly with wings off of some wooden scaffolding - the way he just falls off was great.

'Crime Boss' ('I Familiari delle vittime non saranno avvertiti' Directed by Alberto De Martino 1972)
Found this Italian crime film rather dull and perhaps the worst one I've seen so far. It does have Telly Savalas, Antonio Sabato and Paola Tedesco ('Watch Me When I Kill') but none of the excitement you usually find in these types of films. The ending dialogue between Savalas and Sabato is really unconvincing. Oh well, I only spent 51p on the DVD (!) thanks to that brilliant web site I found.

'Confessions of a Police Captain' ('Confessione di un commissario di polizia al procuratore della repubblica' Directed by Damiano Damiani 1971)
Is that a long title or what? Another Italian crime film and although this stars Franco Nero and Martin Balsam I found it dull and slow paced. It does have the pretty Giancarlo Prete in it though, if only briefly.

Phew, that's quite enough for one day. Have to mention that 'The Saint' has been brilliant, we've watched about ten episodes so far. Shirley Eaton's been in it twice which was cool. Barbara Shelley and the wonderful 'Cathy Gale' (Honor Blackman) have been in it too. Who will be next?

Stuff

2005-08-08T12:15:00.000-07:00

God! Feels like I haven't been here for ages. Been kind of busy lately...

Sister Jess came to stay with her friend Ellie weekend before last. Took them to a cool pub in Mornington Crescent on the Friday night and got wasted (me more than anybody else). Went down the Thames on a boat on Saturday, from Westminster to Kew, which was lots of fun as the guy doing a commentary was unusually hilarious. We were surrounded by tourists and a Cilla Black look-a-like, who kept sneaking away for a cigarette. Spent a fortune on clothes in charity shops and TKMAXX (love that shop, it's just bizarre) and had fish and chips in a weird place somewhere near Hammersmith. Later that night we went to our local, 'The Approach' and met up with our pal Bex. Hours later we were dancing to The Army Of Lovers (the shame). On the Sunday Jess and Ellie left (after I had made them watch 'Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?', episodes of Tales Of The Unexpected' and 'Wonder Woman') for Waterloo. I was monumentally horrored, of course, due to all the alcohol I'd consumed and we had to meet up with another pal (Emma) who works for the Foreign Office and was over for a few weeks from Nigeria (have to catch her when you can!)... So on Sunday evening we went to 'The Dove' and met her, Bex and Kirsty. I was terrified at first, but we had a great time after my body had been topped up again with some beer. Next time we'll see Emma will be in Delhi. Yay!

'Murder to the Tune of the Seven Black Notes' DVD

2005-07-20T15:54:00.000-07:00

Hmmm won't be here long, just wanted to say we've finished watching the BBC 'Day Of The Triffids', which was brilliant. And:

'Murder to the Tune of the Seven Black Notes' ('Sette note in nero' Directed by Lucio Fulci 1977)

Which I have to say is one of my favourite giallo's (after viewing about seventy). It's got everything to make it a class above the usual affair - no gratuitous boob shots, light on gore and a fantastic Goblin-like soundtrack. Sound dull? No way! I was gripped. Jennifer O'Neill is perfectly cast as a woman who has psychic visions of a woman who's bricked up behind a wall in her recently wed husbands old mansion.

With the aid of a pickaxe she discovers a skeleton behind the wall and after her husband is arrested for murder she tries to piece together what happened, with the help of her handsome psychiatrist (Marc Porel). The fantastic Evelyn Stewart is in it too playing the part of her creepy sister-in-law, constantly smoking yellow Gitanes, mmm classy. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.

Great picture quality on the DVD too (Alpha Digital), though no features (well a gallery of stills, that looked like they were taken from the film on 'pause').

That's all, I'm too knackered. Oh yeah, looking forward to seeing 'Death Carries A Cane'. And I really want the ' X-Rated Kult DVD' of 'Evil Eye' starring manly Jorge Rivero.

More stuff... (& two DVD's)

2005-07-18T09:08:00.000-07:00

Been having a very social time of late...

Met up with our Glaswegian friend Catherine, in Canary Wharf on Wednesday, had lots of beers and a bag of crisps oh and lots of laughs. Catherine taught me how to properly roll a cigarette, for which I am very grateful, my rollies no longer look like origami carrots, they look like smaller origami carrots. Ah well.
Friday night we went down to Windsor to stay with Graham, Kate & Scarlett (my god-daughter). Our friend Emma (who's been working for the Foreign Office in Nigeria) was there too, actually she had only just gotten off the flight from Abuja a few hours before. Stayed up until gone 3 am drinking Pimms and Löwenbräu, oh and had the best fish and chips since Kate & Graham's wedding - mmm batter. Spent the rest of the weekend lolling about the grass in their enormous and magical garden, going to Eton to feed some swans and visiting an enormous tkmaxx in Staines, where I spent £70 on some ludicrous pink and blue saucepans, a few shirts and another pair of jeans I will never wear.

So what have we been viewing? Well we've seen five episodes of 'The Saint' and I love it, half of the 1981 BBC production of 'Day Of The Triffids', which is brilliant too, but not as scary as I remember it when I was 10! Also must mention:

'SS Hell Camp' ('La Bestia in calore' Directed by Luigi Batzella 1977)
What rubbish! This film is basically the war film I'd watched a few weeks earlier: 'When the Bell Tolls' ('Quando suona la campana') with a separate storyline of some evil Nazi woman, who spends her days torturing kidnapped people from a small town. One girl, who's getting her fingernails ripped out, say's really matter of factly, 'ouch you're hurting me'. One guy who gets his nob whacked off with a sword has two very 70's tattoos on his body (isn't this meant to be the early 40's?), oh yeah, there's lots of nudity and unusually male nudity, but the less said of that the better. I won't be watching this crap again, but will keep it as Brad Harris is in it (albeit scenes from 'When the Bell Tolls').

'I Padroni della città' (Directed by Fernando Di Leo 1976)
(AKA: 'Rulers of the City' & 'Mister Scarface') I enjoyed this Italian crime/mob film, which had lots of intentional comedy, mainly provided by Vittorio Capriol, who plays 'Napoli' an old crook. Jack Palance is the head boss 'bad guy' and Al Cliver 'Rick' and Harry Baer 'Tony' are two young guys who pull out all the stops to bring down his empire. There's a great and unusual opening, and the ending has a great gun battle held at an abandoned slaughterhouse. The DVD (Raro Video) was great as usual, nice picture quality and has a long featurette (Italian with English subtitles) as an extra.

Diabolikal Monday

2005-07-11T10:40:00.000-07:00

God! My trip on the Central line was hideous this morning. Some woman with a child came on the train at Liverpool Street, shouting the odds for everybody to move down (train wasn't packed) anyway I moved down the carriage and she said loudly "some people are so ignorant" - this was directed at me, so I told her that I had indeed moved down for her, but no, she had to make a big song and dance about it, making everyone look at me like I'd just drowned a bag of kittens. I hope she suffers a slow death after years of being penniless and with no friends. And... On my way home I had to get off the train at Oxford Street (to let people disembark) and a family of three pushed me out of the way to get on. Some people! I was furious with rage, but now I have calmed down and I am at home and enjoying a beer (hooray!).

Had a quiet-ish weekend, bought some new slacks and a hooded sweatshirt. Dandy. Went out in Farringdon on Saturday night and downed a few beers. Matt cooked a great fry up on Sunday and we watched a Wonder Woman two part episode - 'Mind Stealers From Outer Space: Part 1 & Part 2' which was camp fun. Bizarrely it starred Allan Kolman from David Cronenberg's 'Shivers' (brilliant film) and Dack Rambo (Jack Ewing in Dallas). Over the weekend we also watched:

'Danger: Diabolik' (Directed by Mario Bava 1968)
Totally excellent film based on the Italian comic strip Diabolik. It's basically Diabolik outdoing the Police and a crime lord 'Ralph Valmont' (played by the Italian film regular Adolfo Celi) and having lots of fun on the way. Diabolik (John Phillip Law - 'Pygar' in Barbarella) is SO cool! Great outfits, great music (Ennio Morricone) and his underground pad is fantastic. Oh yeah, his girlfriend Eva (Marisa Mell - 'One on Top of the Other', 'Seven Blood-Stained Orchids', 'Beast with a Gun', 'Gang War in Milan' etc.) is brilliant too, those outfits! Loved her in that prostitute get-up. Extras on the DVD include a half hour featurette, trailers and the Beastie Boys video for Body Movin'.

'Conquest' ('La Conquista' Directed by Lucio Fulci 1983)
A kind of sword and sorcery Fulci style, starring Jorge Rivero (Mace) as a man in a strange world with no friends (so he keeps telling everyone), that is until he meets Ilias (Andrea Occhipinti - 'A Blade in the Dark', 'The New York Ripper') a young man sent on a journey of manhood with a magic bow and arrow. Lots of gooey gore and funny monsters (men in suits, my favourite are the rock/pebble ones that throw Mace into the sea, only to be rescued by dolphins!). There's an evil brain-eating queen who gets about wearing only a thong and a golden head mask (good thing too, she's as ugly as sin, when the unveiling comes at the end of the film) - she has an army (five or six) of wolf-men who have bodies like Chewbacca and asks for help (to kill Ilias) from another evil guy who looks like a rock monster from 'Hercules Against the Moon Men'. Mmm quite good fun, but ultimately forgettable. The soundtrack by Claudio Simonetti is quite cool though and its good to see Jorge Rivero, even if his hair does look like he's had a cake baking disaster.

Stuff (and another giallo)

2005-07-07T09:13:00.000-07:00

Well what a strange day, all those explosions going off in London. Had to walk to work from St. Paul's. Our boss let us go at 1.40pm and it took me over three hours to get home (did go into HMV and look at the sale stuff, which was mostly rubbish, but I did manage to pick up Ennio Morricone's soundtrack for 'Slalom' for £5.99 - which is fantastic!) So many people called and sent me texts or emails to see if I was all right, which was quite touching. I hope there aren't any more days like this though. I am currently supping a well deserved beer and rolling a cigarette. Mmm.

Last night we watched 'The Paris Sex Murders' ('Casa d'appuntamento' Directed by Ferdinando Merighi 1972) which was enjoyable as a trashy film, but not a very good giallo. It was great to see Anita Ekberg (with huge hair), Rosalba Neri, Barbara Bouchet and Howard Vernon. Vernon's telephone manner is hilarious as was Neri's dubbed singing. Muscleman Gordon Mitchell makes a very brief appearance as a horny bloke in a night club, and as for the Humphrey Bogart look-alike inspector (!), what was that all about? Features a great score by Bruno Nicolai I'm sure I've heard before (maybe I've got pieces on a compilation?) and some cool, if daft gore. The DVD released by Mondo Macabro has a featurette on the producer Dick Randall which was worth watching and had clips from his films, including a shot or two of Brad Harris (yay!), I wonder what the other Dick Randall features they'll be releasing, I hope they release 'The Girl in Room 2A' and 'Gymkata Killer' both with Mr Harris.

Also watched a dreadful TV mystery movie 'Rehearsal for Murder' (Directed by David Greene 1982) starring among others Patrick Macnee, Lynn Redgrave, Robert Preston and Jeff Goldblum. I cannot take Robert Preston seriously after watching 'Victor/Victoria' too many times. I find Lynn Redgrave odd too, but maybe that's just me (however 'Smashing Time' with Rita Tushingham is brilliant). Ah well, time for another beer...

Four more DVD's (again)

2005-07-04T09:48:00.000-07:00

I've been a filthy, fat, couch potato of late. Among the episodes of Wonder Woman, Tales Of The Unexpected, The Protectors and The Champions, these are the DVD's we (or rather I) have watched:

'Guru, the Mad Monk' (Directed by Andy Milligan 1970)
Absolutely awful stuff from one of my favourite (bad) directors. Set somewhere in medieval times, a camp monk lives in a church and subjects supposed wrong doers with torture and or death. He has a hunch-back assistant who he treats with contempt and a lady friend, Olga, a witch with a blood fantasy (I'm sorry those plastic joke goofy teeth do not make you a vampire). Really, really bottom of the barrel gore scenes (loved the bit with the shop dummy hands being cut off with an axe), dreadful acting and weird fabric costumes AND a running time of about 58 minutes make this one to see again (but with a group of friends and gallons of Absinthe).

'Deathsport' (Directed by Henry Suso 1978)
This film, according to producer Roger Corman was a kind of successor to his 'Death Race 2000'. Except it is set (1000 years) in the future and people get about on motorbikes with cardboard boxes sprayed silver attached to them. I didn't really enjoy it and found myself dozing off in parts. The bits I did like were when a nude brunette dances under a ceiling full of dildo-looking lights and gets electrocuted and, well actually that's it.

'Raiders of the Sun' (Directed by Cirio H. Santiago 1992)
Another 'Mad Max' type rip off that didn't really interest me. However there were a group of dwarfs, a hammy actor in leather shoulder-pads, bad pyro-techninc explosions and a girl in dated ski-pants.

'Tough to Kill' ('Duri a morire' Directed by Joe D'Amato 1978)
My first Joe D'Amato film! (I know, unbelievable). I really enjoyed this trashy action picture, set somewhere in the Afican wilderness and about a mercenary with a contract for one million dollars on his head. It has a decent story line and an unexpected twist at the end. I'd got it because Luc Merenda was in it (one of a group of my favourite Italian film actors, along with Franco Nero, Tomas Milian and Fabio Testi). The score, by Stelvio Cipriani is cool, with the exception of one 'military' type theme. The picture on the DVD was not the best though, but at £3 who's complaining?

We've also seen 'Commando' (love those eighties Schwarzenegger movies) and the extended DVD edition of 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King' which was great but seemed to go on forever. Oh yeah and the first episode of 'The Saint' (which was brilliant as Shirley Eaton starred in it), only another 38 episodes left in that box-set!

'The Bride Wore Black' and another giallo...

2005-06-29T10:14:00.000-07:00

Well first up, we watched this:

'The Bride Wore Black' ('La Mariée était en noir' Directed by François Truffaut 1968)

Julie Kohler (played brilliantly by Jeanne Moreau) is a woman with a mission. On her wedding day to a man she has loved since childhood, her husband to be gets accidentally shot and killed by a group of friends from a hotel (opposite the church). Distraught and unable (for one reason or another) to commit suicide, she decides to murder all the men responsible for her husbands death (well, you would). This plan of hers has her travelling around quite a bit through Europe on planes, boats and trains (actually I can't remember any boats, but she does get about) - All the men involved with the shooting vowed never to see each other again and moved to various places (they were all keen hunters and card players). She eventually gives herself up to the Police, but that's for another purpose...

I only bought this after stumbling upon it, whilst browsing DVD's (who me?). I thought the title was fantastic (and the story) so I bought it. My favourite bits are when Julie gate-crashes an engagement party with that fluffy frock on and when she is posing for the artist (dressed as Diana, goddess of the hunt) - oh yeah (!) the guy painting her has a groovy bathroom carpet, it's made of false boobies. Nice DVD picture and an American trailer. Never seen a François Truffaut film before, I thought they might be too high-brow.

'The Crimes of the Black Cat' ('Sette scialli di seta gialla' Directed by Sergio Pastore 1972)

A rich blind guy tries to find the killer of fashion models (oh and a male photographer) with the help of a new girlfriend.

Lots of typical giallo stuff to be found here, red herrings, crazy outfits, black gloves, razors, big eye make-up and a cool soundtrack, one I've had for ages on CD. I love the former circus performer, pet-shop owning drug addict!

I enjoyed this film (DVD released by Dagored Films), however the picture quality was so shockingly bad it spoiled my enjoyment. I can't believe a company like Dagored, who put out so many fantastic CD soundtracks, with great artwork and packaging have released this. I have seen better third generation copies, and as for the subtitles! They are so tiny, it's difficult to read them. There were a number of trailers for upcoming releases (including Antonio Margheriti's 'Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eye' and Lucio Fulci's 'The Eroticist' but they equally looked crappy. Oh well, at least this is another giallo I can cross off my list, and hope that somebody releases a better version.

New stuff...

2005-06-27T09:34:00.000-07:00

Hmmm, well had a cool weekend of sorts. Went to a Film and TV fair in Earls Court on Saturday with David and Matt. Bought a DVD 'Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed', an Angilas Bandai figure and two Brad Harris posters (the latter were only £1.50 each, Yay). Had fish and chips in Holborn (again), booked another tattoo (my Santo one and the 'Supermen' logo, that's NOT 'SuperMAN', it's 'SuperMEN') and went out boozing in Farringdon. I had the crazy idea of getting a taxi up to Turnpike Lane after kicking out time, to see if I could find Justine - which I did. I don't remember much of that evening, except waking up at about 6 am to find her playing Trivial Pursuit. Anyway got the tube back home about 10.30, feeling like the filthiest person alive. Watched the last episode of 'The New Avengers' (rubbish) and fell asleep for hours... Today is the first day without David (he left to move to Berkhamsted) - It was horrible! About six people came for interviews - one of whom was a really old bloke (well 56) - I don't think we'd have much in common, ah well.

Anyway what have we watched? Oh yeah,

'When the Bell Tolls' ('Quando suona la campana' Directed by Luigi Batzella 1970)

This is a dreadful war film. I bought this on VCD from ebay (Hong Kong issue), only because Brad Harris is in it. It looks like it was made by people on a camcorder as a joke or something - there's about 25 minutes filmed in black and white, to show the story of one guy (a freedom fighter?) and his descent into madness (after losing his wife and son in a bomb blast, thanks to the Nazi's). Brad Harris plays a priest and wears a tight fitting black robe and hat. Sadly you never see his muscles, but you do get to see him fight some of the baddies ('forgive me, Father') and there are some nice shots of his blue eyes. The picture quality was quite shoddy and it had burnt on Chinese subtitles, but I don't think I'll ever sit through this again, so it doesn't matter.

'Young, Violent, Dangerous' ('Liberi armati pericolosi' Directed by Romolo Guerrieri 1976)

Yet another great Italian crime film, again with (an unusually smart looking) Tomas Milian as the Commissario. It's about three blokes who go crazy one day and commit various crimes, starting with a bungled robbery of a gas station and moving on to a bank (where later they give the money away, by throwing it at market shoppers). The main driver of all the different cars they steal has a girlfriend (Eleonora Giorgi, who's in a couple of Joe Dallesandro's Italian film's 'Born Winner' and 'Safari Rally') - anyway she is worried about him and goes to the Police. The main guy is kind of jealous of her relationship (was I reading too much into it?), but they end up taking her along with them. Tomas Milian doesn't really get much to do, but he's still brilliant. You really feel for the blokes who are causing the trouble, which made a change.
Nice picture quality on the DVD (Raro Video & Nocturno) and an interview with the director (who also did 'The Sweet Body of Deborah' - which I've yet to see). Talking of giallo's there's loads been released recently which is just great, can't wait to see 'The Paris Sex Murders' released by Mondo Macabro.

Sweaty Monday

2005-06-20T09:49:00.000-07:00

Have had a great weekend, went to Matt's parents on Friday night for Peter's Birthday party - lots of food and discovered a great new Dutch beer (6.5%), though can't remember it's name. Caught train to Windsor (Datchet, actually) to see our gorgeous friends Graham and Kate, and their daughter (my God-daughter) Scarlett. Had Pimms on the lawn, splashed in the paddling pool with Scarlett, played on some swings, fed some ducks, a swan and some carp, ate more then drank Lowenbrau's 'til it got dark. Kate woke us up at eight thirty with banana smoothies and we left the house within forty five minutes to go to a car-boot sale in Ascot. I only bought a pair of sunglasses and two kitch 'bambi' like deer things made of china. Snoozed a bit more in the garden, had lunch, lots of tea then caught the train back to Waterloo. Watched the last episode of 'Doctor Who' with Max, which I thought was brilliant, especially the Dalek 'God', although I will always have a soft spot for Davros...

During the week we watched:

A god-awful episode of the 'New Avengers', entitled 'Emily', I only hope the very last one in the box-set is better.

A few episodes of 'The Protectors', still camp fun, though some episodes can be dull and why did they bother with 'Paul Buchet' (Tony Anholt)? He is so unnecessary.

'Syndicate Sadists' ('Il Giustiziere sfida la città' Directed by Umberto Lenzi 1975) Yet another Italian/crime/gangster/thriller with the great Tomas Milian. He's a tough biker guy with a heart named Rambo, who, after his best mate (or brother? I can't remember) is killed by a gang member goes about turning two rival gangs against each other. Yes, it is similar to 'A Fistful of Dollars'...
There's a child who's been kidnapped by one side and Rambo is determined to get him back. I enjoyed this lots especially as the cast is chock full of regular faces from this genre, and Tomas Milian wears another smelly looking hat again. Joseph Cotton's in it too (though his screen time is short). The picture quality on the DVD was a bit rubbish for 'Shriek Show' though, with scratches etc, but no way near as bad as some out there. The DVD cover is odd as a blow torch never appears in that scene, or anywhere!

Sinful day

2005-06-14T16:23:00.000-07:00

I have spent most of today watching the mini series 'Sins' Directed by Douglas Hickox 1986. Needless to say my brain is completely mashed, I haven't seen anything quite this trashy since I watched 'Monte Carlo' again with Joan Collins. What a gaudy delight.

Stuff

2005-06-14T05:37:00.000-07:00

God I feel crappy today. I've been burning the candle at both ends for what seems like too long. Went down to Winchester to stay with my cousin Claire and her family at the weekend, had a crazy time. Matt came down on the Saturday and we took Claire's son James around the town and bought him some Lego. Went into the Cathedral which is gorgeous and massive, oh and had some fish and chips. Came back early on Sunday and watched my new Doctor Who DVD ('The Ark In Space') which was brilliant, monsters made of bubble-wrap etc. Loads of cool extras too.

Recently watched 'Godzilla Vs Gigan' ('Chikyû kogeki meirei: Gojira tai Gaigan' Directed by Jun Fukuda 1972) which I had seen before on VHS, but forgotten about, anyway I was really disappointed with this film, it's dull in comparison with others in the series and I don't like all that footage from other films. You do get to see Gigan's buzz-saw stomach ripping into Godzilla's skin though and watching it in it's original language was miles better than the dubbed version, but still it's not very good.

Have only got two episodes left of 'The New Avengers' to watch and that seems to get worse episode, by episode. I really hope that A&E release the early Cathy Gale episodes (62?). I'm still really enjoying 'The Protectors', mainly because of the Contessa Caroline di Contini, played by the late Nyree Dawn Porter - she is so cool and enormously camp. The stories are sometimes so-so but as they're only twenty five minutes long it doesn't really matter. We are two DVD's in to the 'Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected Box Set' and that is brilliant too. Great to see Joan Collins in there, she's in another two episodes, which I look forward to seeing. Have just found out the final 'Wonder Woman' Box Set has already been released, and we are only five stories in on the second set!

I've won so much stuff on ebay recently. The best thing is ten German lobby cards for 'L'Ambizioso' Directed by Pasquale Squitieri 1975 and starring Joe Dallesandro. Must get my shit together and start flogging stuff again.

Two Giallo's and one 'Abby' DVD

2005-06-09T08:54:00.000-07:00

Well, we have been treated this week with yet more films (yes, I do spend all my cash on DVD's and beer)...

First up,

'Abby' (Directed by William Girdler 1974)

I'd been dying to see this blaxploitation 'Exorcist' rip-off for years as I'd read about it many times and it sounded right up my alley. Boy was I right - it's totally brilliant! Carol Speed plays cute Christian Abby Williams (a marriage counselor) who gets possessed by an ancient African demon of sexuality (or something). You see, she's just married a preacher Emmett (Terry Carter) and his father, Garnet (the great William Marshall), another man of the cloth, accidentally unleashes this demon while he is away in Africa doing a spot of archaeology (actually he finds an old jewellery box in a cave and when it is opened, loads of wind comes out). The spirit possesses Abby as revenge on Garnet for disturbing him. Anyway, Abby goes from being a kind hearted and sweet young lady into a foul-mouthed murdering strumpet. Her husband Emmett puts up with her for a while, until he can cope no longer and gets his father to return from Africa to exorcise her...

I just loved this film (as I do most exorcist type ones, I don't know why, I just love women screaming obscenities in gravel like voices). It's not in the same vein as 'Blacula', 'Scream Blacula Scream' or 'Blackenstein' it's miles better. Carol Speed is just great at playing that slutty creation. There's shots of her made up in a horrible green mask that get quickly shown any time something spooky is going on - aping the bit in 'The Exorcist' where that creepy face flashes up, but going way overboard and doing it loads - I had lots of fun with my remote and the pause button. As for the DVD, I'd picked this up in some discount DVD store in NY for $7.99 so I wasn't expecting anything too fantastic print wise, sadly the print is pretty horrendous, looks like it came from a VHS, but I don't care, it was SO worth watching. There's a trailer (better condition than the film), stills, poster and lobby gallery and a longish write-up about the film and why it went into obscurity, plus info on the making etc.

'The Pyjama Girl Case' ('La Ragazza dal pigiama giallo' Directed by Flavio Mogherini 1977)

This is a weird one, it doesn't have a black-gloved killer slashing beauties and it isn't set in Italy (or Europe, for that matter), it's set in a desolate looking Sydney, Australia. Retired Inspector Thompson (played by an old and tired looking Ray Milland) takes up the case of a girl found dead on a beach wearing only some yellow silk pyjamas...

Highlights include a midget man, a camp gay bloke who collects birds and the woman who plays the victims mother. The music, by Riz Ortolani is different and at times annoying, (two of the tracks are sung by Amanda Lear), it stars Dalila Di Lazzaro (the female creation in 'Flesh for Frankenstein'), Howard Ross (who was in many Peplum's and Giallo's and the great 'Werewolf Woman'), Michele Placido, and Eugene Walter ('House with the Windows That Laugh' and 'Black Belly of the Tarantula'). Enjoyable for the first hour and the last ten minutes, but not the best thing I've ever seen. Watched this on VHS, I got off of ebay, it's weird watching videos now, they are SO rubbish and clunky!

'The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh' ('Lo Strano vizio della Signora Wardh' Directed by Sergio Martino 1971)

Totally excellent giallo by Sergio Martino, and starring the luscious Edwige Fenech, handsome George Hilton and scary looking Ivan Rassimov. It's about a young woman (Fenech) (who's married to a boring ambassador - Alberto de Mendoza), who discovers that one of the men in her life could be a vicious serial killer. She has an ex-lover (Rassimov ) who seems to be crazy - well he does send her bunches of roses all the time with odd notes about their past (they enjoyed an S&M relationship) and has a current suave lover (Hilton).

Great story, great locations and a gorgeous print, thanks to 'No Shame' who released the DVD. Nice extras including a half hour interview with those involved too.

'Eegah' the misunderstood cave man

2005-06-08T10:11:00.000-07:00

'Eegah' (Directed by Arch Hall Sr. 1962)

Well this starts out really well, with very Herschell Gordon Lewis type titles (blood dripped on rocks in the shape of lettering), but immediately turns out to be yet another bad, bad movie - although I did enjoy it!

At night a girl (Roxy) is driving (on her way to a club) and knocks over a cave man (Eegah), who disappears when her boyfriend Tommy (Arch Hall Jr. who looks like a cabbage patch doll with a greasy quiff) finds her. Of course, no one believes her, that is, until her father returns to the spot and finds enormous foot-prints in the sand. He decides to go to 'Shadow Mountain' via helicopter to find this creature.

Cut to pool scene with Tommy playing a guitar and singing a song ('Vicky'), Roxy swims in the pool and smiles. They get a phone call to say the helicopter can't collect her father, so they go off in Tommy's dune buggy. They can't find him and soon it gets dark, the kids argue, he plays his guitar again ('Valerie') - which Eegah hears and goes to investigate, by now they are sleeping so Eegah eats their food, but runs away when Tommy's rubbish transistor starts up. Next morning, they carry on searching. Tommy goes off on foot leaving Roxy behind to be taken by the very tall Eegah. He takes her to his cave, where her father is also. He's been there some time and has gotten to know this neanderthal, so explains to his daughter "don't do anything to scare him", to which she replies "me, scare him?" (there's loads of priceless dialogue to be found here). In the cave there are mummified corpses (Eegah's dead relatives), he introduces his 'family' to Roxy and offers her a large bone to chew on before giving her a drink of sulphur water and showing her his cave paintings (which are very, very rubbish - even for a cave man). Roxy tries to look convinced that the paintings are pre-historic...

The next day Eegah leaves the cave (trapping them inside), in search of daffodils as a gift for Roxy (do they really grow in desert regions?). Roxy decides to give her father a shave (yeah perfectly normal). Meanwhile Tommy wakes up in some bushes and goes on searching. Back at the cave, Eegah wants a shave too (who wouldn't, with that long plastic wig stuck on your chin?) so Roxy shaves him (revealing him to be rather handsome, nice lips anyway). Roxy coaxes Eegah to let them go outside, where he gropes her and rips her dress apart (with the biggest hands I have EVER seen). Tommy (remember him?) hears her screams and fires his gun at Eegah, who escapes with Roxy, she's fainted. Fight scene (well sort of) and Tommy knocks Eegah out with a rock. They escape in the buggy, picking up Dad on the way. Poor misunderstood cave man, he goes back to his cave and cries...

Back in civilisation Roxy and her Father get ready for a party (well. you would). Eegah goes into the city to find his 'girl' - he tries drinking some pool water, but doesn't like it and off he goes, to cause havoc at some leisure complex. At the party Tommy does another song, this time with his band. The Police are alerted that there's a cave man on the loose. Roxy has a dance with Tommy (and some other guy who fancies her), Eegah turns up to take his lady friend, but the Police shoot him dead, sniff.

The End

Total nonsense! The best line is "I'm not going to leave you to get your head bashed in, my father didn't raise me that way"
Dreadful print on the DVD, almost no colour what-so-ever, but it did give me some laughs and was very, very cheap.

Four more DVD's

2005-06-04T15:54:00.000-07:00

'Dance Of Death' (Directed by Jack Hill / Juan Ibáñez 1968) starring Boris Karloff & Andrés García.

I found this period tale of inheritance dull and kind of boring - the film is set at Moorhenge Mansion (a painted picture!) where an old man (Karloff) has assembled his family members. It has the look of a Roger Corman 'Poe' movie, but without the style. I was pleasantly surprised that the film was in colour as the photo's on the DVD cover were in black and white, although the picture is quite crappy and really dark in places. It was one of Karloff's last films and he looks tired, nice to see handsome Andrés García again, unusually wearing more than a pair of skimpy swimming trunks. The film does have some good moments, like when a woman gets waltzed to death by a automated sheikh, death by miniature cannons and when Karloff is playing that organ. Can't really complain, it only cost me £2.

'Texas, addio' (Directed by Ferdinando Baldi 1966) starring Franco Nero & Alberto Dell'Acqua.

Another Italian Western 'revenge' film, with a very young looking Franco Nero. This was the last one in the 'Spaghetti Western Collection' box set I'd got off ebay and I wasn't that impressed by it really. Nice landscapes and cool gun shooting by Nero, who sets out to kill the man who murdered his father, there's an unexpected twist, but as soon as his brother came into it I knew it would end in tears. I've got the title track on some CD.

'Cage' (Directed by Lang Elliott 1989) starring Lou Ferrigno & Reb Brown.

This has to be the best 'bad' film I have seen in ages. It really had me in stitches at some points. Billy Thomas and Scott Monroe (Lou and Reb) live together and work out on their gym equipment in their garden. They both served in the Vietnam war, where Billy got brain damaged thanks to enemy fire, hence Scott has to care for him. The opening bit set in the hospital is SO much fun, you'd think they were a gay couple (Scott regularly visits Billy, caring for him and helping him with his physiotherapy - this is done while a really soppy and sentimental song plays). To cut a very long story short (after the boys surrogate mother Meme - owner of a bar has been killed, thanks to a gang member and his fire bomb) Billy is forced by some crooks to fight in an illegal, no rules back-street cage fight (no, not like thunderdome) Scott spends his time searching for him and ends up in the ring himself. Lots of deaths, un PC language, big hair (on Lou), bad soundtrack, tight high waisted jeans and those HIDEOUS big trainers (you know the ones that went up over the ankles). Dreadful. Recommended viewing with beers and friends...

'The Giant of Metropolis' ('Il Gigante di Metropolis' Directed by Umberto Scarpelli 1961) Starring Gordon Mitchell.

Set 20'000 years BC, Obro's (muscle-man Gordon Mitchell) father tells him to go to Atlantis to beg them to stop experimenting with nature... The ruler of the space age city, King Yotar does brain transplants, you see, amongst other evil things. So, off Obro goes with some men, at the outskirts of the city a magnetic force kills all but the mighty Obro, turning them to skeletons. Captured by guards, he's brought to the city in chains and taken to the throne room, where the King tells him he will die (but not before he has experimented on him, to "create the perfect human being"). The Queen and Princess want no more of these experiments - especially the one planned on the young Prince. The King tells Obro that a creature so powerful will now crush him - enter a flabby man with a hairy back, big nose and a giant club. Fight ensues with Obro as the victor...

Next thing, we are treated to another camp dance routine, this time with feathers. It's all in aid of some mating ritual and the King leaves so the young people can start shagging (?). Back in an underground arena, Obro is told "these are pygmies who rip off their victims flesh - defend yourself" and is set upon by some noisy dwarves. Lots of bites later the King calls it a day (he doesn't want the strong man killed). Volcanic Lava is looked at and an old man tells the King that the earth will take revenge...

After lying on a laboratory slab, Obro is taken to the arena again and put under a ray of scorching light and is asked to try to escape, he writhes in agony and when the ray is turned to freezing light, he collapses. Awakening on the slab again, the Queen sets him free and he goes to some cave and plans an attack, which he does with a spiked ball on a chain, hurling it towards the guards. The King and Queen argue, she slashes her wrists with poison and dies cursing him. The Princess flees to safety with help from Obro - he kills some more guards with a big wooden spoon and escapes through the foot of an enormous statue of Atlas. Back through the foot again, the Princess bathes his wounds, they are in love and embrace...

The King takes his son for the radiation brain surgery, while a big show-down starts in the throne room, with more fighting and dry-ice. The Prince is very ill, thanks to the nuclear particles he's been shot with, I suppose. The King takes his limp body to "see the sky". Obro and the Princess are tied to a pillar and the King decides to stay in his doomed (volcano about to erupt) city, but orders his guards to free them and his son and lead them to safety in the mountains. Big storm, big clouds, big tidal-waves and big falling polystyrene boulders with Obro clutching the Princess and sickly Prince on a beach.

The end.

Apart from the repetitive soundtrack by Armando Trovaioli which was really annoying and got on my nerves, I liked this a lot. Having a space age city back-drop was cool and different and I am now a fan of Gordon Mitchell! The DVD was released by Retromedia and the picture was so-so. There's a six minute interview with Mitchell at his studio, with loads of his film posters on the walls.

Personal Update

2005-06-03T09:07:00.000-07:00

Well, erm, some stuff to tell...

I've had my tattoo at last and it looks peachy. I was under the needle for about 4 and a half hours (got there at 3.30 and left at 9.20 pm!) - booked in for a touch-up on the 21st of June, when I'll book another one (want to get Santo and the 'Supermen' (Brad Harris) logo done on my wrist. Wish I had a huge bank balance, I'd be covered in them.

My sister Jess and her new boyfriend James came up to stay for the bank holiday weekend. Went to Kingston on Saturday shopping, fish and chips for supper, beers in the Champion near Oxford Street then dancing and falling over in Trash Palace on Wardour Street. The first cabby threw me out for being too drunk, then threatened to stab me to death - nice. So, lots of fun. Fell out of the second cab onto the road at home, right in front of some people, yay, I do do it in style. On Sunday we were all drained and watched loads of TV (Wonder Woman and Tales Of The Unexpected) - I made them watch John Waters' 'Serial Mom' and Paul Henreid's 'Dead Ringer' with Bette Davis and Bette Davis (one of my top ten favourite films ever). Went for a walk along the canal and through Victoria Park, though thoroughly horrored. On Monday we were slobs again and watched more DVD's, including Mike Leigh's 'Abigail's Party' which they'd never seen before, soon enough we were laughing ourselves into migraines. Anyway Jess and James (who's totally lovely) left about 4pm to get the train back to Salisbury leaving me feeling quite empty and sad.

My old Glaswegian pal Catherine was in town to furnish a flat on the Isle of Dogs, so we were there on Tuesday and Wednesday night drinking and eating and laughing. The flat was lovely, but not homely, it had a balcony with views towards the Canary Wharf and the Thames, but I felt scared being up so high! Was great to see Catherine again and was just like she'd never moved back up to Scotland. Having those miles between us is probably a good thing as we'd be in the pub all the time...

As for DVD's we've seen, um (if I can remember), oh yeah only one...

'Keoma' (directed by Enzo G. Castellari, 1976), starring Franco Nero. This Italian Western didn't do it for me really, there are some nice shots etc. and I love the opening bit with the old hag who pops up throughout the film, but the soundtrack really, really got on my nerves - that hideous caterwauling by a female singer was really distracting. Is this the film Carl McCoy got his dress sense ideas from (Fields Of The Nephilim)? It certainly looks that way.

More stuff...

2005-05-22T01:50:00.000-07:00

Phew, well it's Sunday morning, have been up a few hours and had two quorn sausage sandwiches. Just watched two episodes of The Protectors, the first had Hannah Gordon in playing Harry Rule's (Robert Vaughn) wife which was cool and the second episode had the Contessa being abducted by an escaped psychopath she'd helped put away. It was very Avengers-esque but didn't really pull it off, I'm afraid to say.

This week we have...

Watched another episode of 'The Champions' (only six left unwatched, sniff). This one was 'Project Zero' and starred Nicholas Smith, who played Mr. Cuthbert Rumbold in the most excellent and camp 'Are You Being Served?' - he only had a very small role as a postmaster. The episode was so-so.

Watched 'Four of the Apocalypse' ('I Quattro dell'apocalisse' directed by Lucio Fulci 1975). This was another one of the DVD's in the 'Once Upon a Time in Italy - The Spaghetti Western Collection' box set (Chinese bootleg) I'd got off ebay and it's totally brilliant, one of the best films I've ever seen, let alone one of the best (and oddest) Spaghetti Western's.
Four petty criminals, gambler Stubby Preston (Fabio Testi - looking more handsome than ever), a teenage pregnant prostitute - 'Bunny' (Lynne Frederick), a drunk 'Clem' (Michael J. Pollard) and a madman who sees dead people 'Bud' (Harry Baird) escape through the Utah Badlands, having survived a vigilante slaughter while they were locked up in a town jail. Along their travels they meet a sadistic bandit named Chaco (Tomas Milian - in disguise, again!) who drugs them and tortures them (and rapes Bunny). Chaco is one digusting and vile character. You really feel for the characters, and want Chaco dead! Features some nice bits of gore, as expected from Mr Fulci, the bit where a guy is tied to a tree is quite gru... Oh and there's a nice bit of cannibalism too. I haven't seen a Spaghetti Western in a long time that doesn't have a Mexican uprising in it, so this was a nice change and it's always great to see Fabio, who I think I have a crush on.

Watched 'Santo: Infraterrestre' (Héctor Molinar 2001). Got this off ebay (again!) for 99p, the DVD is in Spanish language only, but that wasn't a problem... the film was. Utter rubbish. I love Santo films but after seeing this, obviously only ones from the 60's and 70's. The Santo tee-shirts I picked up in NY are too big for me, annoyingly. The Blue Demon mask fits like a glove, though I don't think I'll ever wear it out.

Viewing update!

2005-05-14T04:46:00.000-07:00

Have a huge hang-over as it was Peter's Birthday 'do' last night, plus we had a beery night on Friday, so I'm a little shaky, however just wanted to get some things down...

'Violent City' ('Città violenta' directed by Sergio Sollima 1970).
Really cool 'revenge' film with Charles Bronson (a hit man), Telly Savalas (gang boss) and Jill Ireland as the gorgeous double-crossing femme fatale. Includes car chases, guns, a New Orleans setting, a bloody fantastic silent ending and another superb Ennio Morricone soundtrack. The DVD (Anchor Bay) has a 15 minute interview with Sergio Sollima who says that Morricone fell asleep watching the film!

'A Dirty Shame'
Went to the cinema with David to see this. It was only on at one place in the whole of London, how bizarre. If I remember rightly, 'Cecil B. Demented' had a similar fate. Maybe there's not enough fans of the great John Waters here? Anyway the film was a riot of filthy language, cock and fanny jokes and was very much like Mr Waters early films but without the continuous screaming. Mink Stole as 'Marge the Neuter' was, as always hilarious. I cannot wait to get this on DVD - Amazon say it's released on the 14th June, yay!

Doctor Who 'The Green Death' (Episode 69 - 1973) . I watched this years ago on video and picked it up on DVD in NY. I love Doctor Who! Well the Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker ones, anyway. My jury is still out on the Christopher Eccleston series. 'The Green Death' is quite good, but not one of my favourite stories, it features giant maggots and a great computer called Boss. Sad to see Jo Grant leave the Doctor (to pursue fungus hunting in the Amazon, with Professor Jones, who she has fallen in love with) after the announcement of their engagement he leaves quietly in his car (Bessie) and drives off into the night, sniff. Never mind Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith will soon be helping you.

Watched a superb episode of 'The Champions' called 'The Night People', it was set in a creepy mansion in Cornwall and had loads of great actors (Adrienne Corri, Terence Alexander, David Lodge AND Frank Thornton aka Captain Peacock!) There were references to witchcraft, Adrienne Corri's character was a white witch and one actress dresses up as 'Sharron MacReady' (as if she could look as good as Alexandra Bastedo, what cheek). Also saw an episode of 'The Protectors' called 'Chase', which starred the great Patrick Magee, who was a little wasted in his role. It's so brilliant watching all these old TV shows, just to see who's going to pop up in the episodes.

'Invasion of the Bee Girls' (Directed by Denis Sanders '73) Hhhmmm. Didn't really enjoy this much, found it a bit boring. There are camp bits to be found and I love those black contact lenses (Pete Burns, did you see this?), but it really is a crappy soft-core movie. Anitra Ford who plays Dr. Susan Harris, is very Lynda Carter.

'The Blood Beast Terror' (Directed by Vernon Sewell '68). Have seen this loads of times! I don't know why Peter Cushing liked this film the least of his roles, it's great! Wanda Ventham plays Clare Mallinger a human-giant-moth hybrid creation who feeds of the blood of young men (yay!), Peter Cushing is Inspector Quennell trying to find out who's causing all the deaths. It's typical british horror hokum, just perfect for a hung-over Sunday evening. The DVD was one of the ones I'd picked up in Naples, no special features at all and although the picture quality is not pristine it's still pretty good.

'Terror Of The Steppes'

2005-05-10T09:29:00.000-07:00

Picked this up on ebay for 99p and watched it over the weekend, it was released by Something Weird Video. Please forvive me for the boring review and all the times I repeat 'Sandar Khan' and 'Altan Khan'.

'I Predoni della steppa' directed by Tanio Boccia 1964

Sandar Khan (Kirk Morris) and his crew kidnap Princess Samira from an evil empire as they want a ransom from her father the King. After an ambush in a forest by the King's soldiers, every one of Sandar Khan's men (except his friend Kublai) are killed (via quick-lime and water). Sandar Khan tells his villagers to burn everything and move out, which they do and hide in a cave from the Tartars. Sandar Khan gets a bit infatuated with Samira, which makes the brunette Malina (Moira Orfei) jealous. Samira nurses a sick child and Sandar Khan snogs her as a thank you - Malina sees this and is furious, "you shameless hussy" she calls her before trying to whip her ass. Sandar Khan breaks up the fight (shame) and throws poor Malina out of the camp for being a 'contemptible wretch'. The new lovers decide it's best if Samira goes back to her father as they want to get married...

Back with the King, Samira tells him that Sandar Khan is a good guy who wants peace and an alliance between the clans and also that she wants to marry him. He's having none of this and says she must marry Altan Khan (Daniele Vargas), a truly evil man, so she's taken to his palace. There, she has some hand-maidens who understand how unhappy she is, but prepare her for the wedding. Sandar Khan and Kublai get into the palace grounds/city via disguise...

Malina arrives (looking finer than ever) to inform Altan Khan that Sandar Khan and Kublai have arrived through the city gates, and points them out at a bar (this is done after the ubiquitous peplum dance, you know what I mean, a female throws her legs around while dancing alluringly with a piece of silk!). Fight scene, Sandar Khan surrenders, (his friend escapes) and is taken to the palace, where he is forced to wrestle two guys to win his life. He does this but is sent to work as a slave in a mill. Meanwhile Altan Khan's army have started to wreak violence and destruction among the surrounding villages and the kingdom of Samira's father. Kublai manages to break Sandar Khan out along with the prisoners...

Altan Khan and his army break into the King's city. Sandar Khan and Kublai fight them. The king gets hit by an arrow. Kublai catches Malina and tells his posse that she was the traitor - so they fire arrows at her and she dies with three stuck in her chest (brilliant death scene!). Sandar Khan challenges Altan Khan to a duel, and before you can say Zeus they both have enormous spiked tree trunks strapped to their backs (Kirk is topless again, showing his muscles). Of course Sandar Khan wins. The king lies dying and tells our hero how sorry he is and gives him the seat of the throne (how nice). Samira and her man walk out to a joyous crowd, who are chanting "long live Sandar Khan". The End (thank goodness, I don't think I could type another Altan Khan or Sandar Khan to save my life).

What's to recommend? Well, you do get to see Kirk Morris with bleached hair, the hairdresser should have left the peroxide on longer though or at least given him a toner to stop it looking so brassy. Malina, who's played by Moira Orfei is so much better looking than the Princess, but as with all dark-haired ladies of the Peplum film, she has to die!

'Tentacles' DVD The 'Beast With A Gun' DVD

2005-05-08T15:14:00.000-07:00

Have just watched 'Tentacles' ('Tentacoli' directed by Ovidio G. Assonitis '77) and it was totally ace - why do so many people slag it off? I've seen much, much worse. It's got one of the best scores I've ever heard (thanks to Stelvio Cipriani), Shelley Winters in a enormous hat, screaming, scary bits, killer-whale hand-puppets, real killer whales - named Summer and Winter (!), a real octopus, a plastic octopus and did I mention the soundtrack? Only wish that a new extended CD would be released - the one I've got, released on the CAM label is really short.

The DVD released by MGM Midnite Movies is brilliant anyway as it's a double feature, on the reverse of the disc is another classic 'bad' movie 'Empire Of The Ants', starring my '70's Queen of Horror... Joan Collins. Which reminds me, I'm half way through the 'Sins' miniseries DVD box-set, which is hilarious trash.

'The Beast With A Gun' ('Belva col mitra' directed by Sergio Grieco '77) This was really good too, although I have yet to see an Italian film I don't like (yes, I know there will be some). It's another gritty police thriller, this time starring Richard Harrison as Comm. Giulio Santini searching for a deranged murderer (Nanni Vitali played by Helmut Berger) who's escaped from prison with a few thugs and is enjoying a psychotic spree of robbery, rape and revenge. The gorgeous Marisa Mell plays the girl he rapes. Richard Harrison is great, especially when he's kicking Nanni's ass. There's some really evil bits in this film, like when Giulio's sister gets her breasts sliced and the rape scenes are yukky too, but it's a brilliant film and has a great picture - thanks to Anchor Bay. Shame there's no real special features though, just a trailer.

Personal Update

2005-05-03T10:23:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been weird since we came back from NY... I only worked two days last week.

On the Friday I was meant to be having my tattoo at Tusk, but the guy had a cold again! Damn! Wasn't that bad really as my mate Peter had come with me, so we spent the day together, went to John Soane's Museum (13 Lincoln's Inn Fields), must be the fifth time I've been there, I so need a house like that. Afterwards we walked for what seemed like hours around that law place nearby (it was full of black tulips, how goth) then along the Southbank, over the Millennium Bridge (naff name or what?) and then stopped for a pizza by the National Theatre. It's always so calming to be with that boy.

Saturday evening we met up with Bex and went to Justine's place as she was having a barbecue. I was very scared at first, as I only knew a handful of people there. Nice to see Vince and Sarah though (and Annette and Caroline) and put a face to some of Justine's pals. Danced, drank and talked nonsense. Didn't leave there until after 6am and slept most of Sunday...

David came over on Sunday and I cooked a massive big fat curry. We watched 'The Incredibles', which put me to sleep. I can totally understand why people like this kind of film, it's just not my bag.

Just remembered, we watched 'Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.' on Thursday (directed by Masaaki Tezuka, 2003)... really good to see Godzilla and Mothra again. I did enjoy it, but the modern Godzilla films don't have the charm that the 60's or 70's ones do. I would really love to see Godzilla battle it out with Gamera, that would be cool.

More Peplum watching

2005-05-02T04:17:00.000-07:00

'Hercules and The Black Pirate'

I've been watching more of these than ever recently. The other day I sat down to watch 'Hercules and The Black Pirate' ('Sansone contro il corsaro nero' directed by Luigi Capuano '64) which was an unusual mix to say the least, the soundtrack was brilliant, predominately spanish sounding (actually it's really like a CD I have entitled 'Bullfight Music From Spain').

I can't remember the first half an hour, but some bad guys burn down Hercules' village (this time played by chunky Alan Steel) - Herc fights them and gets his shirt ripped off, next thing he gets a drugged dart in his neck and awakes aboard a pirate ship where the bad guys are going to drown him by filling up the hold he's in with sea-water. They underestimate Herc's power and he breaks free of his chains (now wet and shirtless), he uses a cannon to smash his way out and another fight ensues on deck. He swims away...

He washes up on a beach where one of his villager pals (a hen-pecked, chubby guy) finds him. "I'll have no peace until the Black Pirate has been forced to pay the penalty for his atrocious crimes" he tells his homeless chums. They build a small fleet of boats and plan an attack.

Oh yeah there's a King in a palace too with his wife and his daughters Rosita and Alma, Rosita is played by a very young Rosalba Neri (brilliant!) who's in love with Hercules. There's a bad guy at the palace too (isn't there always?) who turns the king against our big-guy hero, he also has Alma kidnapped and makes it look like Hercules did it. A proclamation made by the king is to shoot him at all costs and return Alma! However Hercules goes to rescue her from the pirate ship she's on (with his small crew)... another big fight... Bad guy gets killed by the captain of ship (throws dagger) and little Alma is returned to the king and her mother. Aahhh...

The last scene has Hercules wearing a leather waistcoat (available in any bondage shop in Soho, I would imagine) embracing Rosita in a garden. The King apologizes to Hercules for not trusting him and the young couple walk into the bushes while the camera rolls to the top of a palm tree (read into that what you will)...

This film was on a double bill with Hercules the Avenger, released by retromedia, so the quality of the picture was a bit rubbish, but as I've said before, I'd rather see something with a bad picture than not see it at all. Alan Steel is a likeable enough, but he's not my favourite strong man. Nice to see Rosalba Neri in something other than a giallo too.

'Colossus and the Amazon Queen'

('La Regina delle Amazzoni' directed by Vittorio Sala '60)
This is another one of those films from the '50 Movie Sci-Fi Films' box and like all the others the picture quality is totally rubbish. Anyway I was looking forward to seeing it because Rod Taylor and Ed Fury are both in it and had read that it was one of the more campy peplums, not wrong there!

Honky-tonk music plays during the opening of a great tournament. Lots of guys are fighting in an arena and the music turns to out-of-place jazz music. Ed (Glauco) is among the fighting men and he beats them all up. In a bar, Rod (Pirro) gets offered some cash in exchange for him and Glauco to do some 'watching'. They both end up on a ship, land on an island, with treasure on a the beach and eat some drugged food. Glauco wakes up with a talking parrot (how I HATE those) and is saved by a weird guy with a tea-towel on his head (Egyptian?) he takes him through a cave and into a magically lush place. A girl swims naked and goes into some bushes (she has really, really high arched eyebrows, think Divine in 'Pink Flamingos'). She tells them they are in the "Queendom of the Amazons", no less! and before you know it they are thrown into jail with his shipmates. Cut to the Amazon women training outside, wearing fantastic outfits (the Queen sports rather clog-licious gold wedge sandals). In this land the men live like '50's housewives ("how much baking powder did you use?" one guy is heard saying!)...

A bizarre dance with great bongo music goes on inside a temple, Glauco and Pirro watch this spectacle that turns a bit Busby Berkeley musical. The music stops, the lights go out and the men are pushed into a room and power showered and spruced up - they are on display for the Queen and her women ("those men are so spectacular"). A duel of two Amazonian girls ends with the winner picking Glauco as her mate. Pirro gets the loser.

Blah, blah, blah... more fight scenes... horses, sailors and a genius bit of boomerang throwing. All ends happily with the women at peace with the men - and a dreadful line from the annoying parrot ("hooray for women, hooray for men, hooray for ahem"). Rubbish.

I enjoyed this campy nonsense, it's the first time I've seen a film with Ed Fury in - he's not given much to do acting wise except display his strength. The music and costumes are great too.

Also saw 'The Keeper of Time' directed by Robert Crombie, 2004. Starring Michael O'Hearn as Bullrock.

I bought this really cheaply, so I'm not upset that it was 76 minutes of rubbish. In fact it was so crappy, I'm not going to waste any time talking about it.

'A Bell From Hell' DVD

2005-04-28T10:43:00.000-07:00

Wow watched this last night and it was totally brilliant. I'd read reviews of it over the years and finally bought it (from Pacific DVD) - I was intrigued by the fact that the director, Claudio Guerín Hill had tragically died on the last day of shooting (was there a curse? laughs). It's a revenge story about a guy ('John', played by Renaud Verley) who is released from a mental institution who heads for home to reap revenge on his Aunt and her three daughters (for having put him there).

It had the feel of a giallo which was great, in fact the writer was Santiago Moncada, who gave us 'All the Colors of the Dark' and 'Hatchet for the Honeymoon', he also wrote 'Che fanno i nostri supermen tra le vergini della giungla?' (Supermen), but that's another story altogether!

There are genuine bits of on the 'edge of your seat' to be found here, after all John has worked in an abattoir to get some training... (actually I found the scenes of cattle being killed rather disgusting and reminiscent of Eloy de la Iglesia's 'Cannibal Man'). Viveca Lindfors plays John's evil, wheel-chair bound Aunt Marta, I say evil, I mean she has had him declared insane in order to steal his inheritance. John plays strange practical jokes that are frightening and hilarious at the same time - I love the bit where he pulls his eyes out.

The pathfinder DVD had special features, but they weren't special at all really, interviews and trailers are what I want! At least the film is nice and clear, even though I've read that pieces have been cut, I'm not too bothered.

While I'm here I might as well mention that I have also seen 'A Bullet For The General' ('¿Quien sabe?' directed by Damiano Damiani 1967) AND ('Companeros' ('Vamos a matar, compañeros' directed by Sergio Corbucci 1971). Both of these were DVD's from the 'Once Upon A Time In Italy' box-set (the chinese Anchor Bay rip-off one I got on ebay for about £11) The first one played fine but the second one I had lots of trouble with as the disc kept 'freezing' - well that will serve me right for getting cheapo DVD's I suppose. Anyway 'A Bullet...' was brilliant especially as it starred one of my favourite Hammer girls, Martine Beswick and Klaus Kinski as a bible thumping revolutionary. 'Companeros' was great too (having Franco Nero & Tomas Milian is usually a safe bet, apparently this was their first film together) Jack Palance is in it too as a joint smoking baddie with a hawk called 'Marsha', who once had to eat his wrist away to set him (Jack) free - nice.

Right - that's enough talk for one day.

Back from New York...

2005-04-27T11:33:00.000-07:00

Well we are back home after a week in New York. Had a great time. I spent loads of money on DVD's, CD's, t-shirts, and toys - New York is one big shopping trip, after you've seen the usual sights there's not much else to do but go shopping, or eat yourself to death.

Went to the Guggenheim Museum (big disappointment - a huge mirrored installation by Daniel Buren obscures half of the fantastic winding stairwell - the other works were also of virtually no interest to me either, I mean, you can see a Kandinsky or Klee in any museum in the world and as for that wooden shed-radio...), later that day we went to the American Museum of Natural History which was totally brilliant and massive, I really enjoyed myself, as I always do looking at sea creatures. There was a butterfly conservatory too which was fun, though stiflingly hot. We had planned to go to the Aquarium at Coney Island, but looking at the entrance there was about 4 million school kids queuing, so we walked along the beach front looking at all the old fairground rides (you could really imagine old-time freak shows there).

Also saw the 'Little Boy: The Arts of Japan’s Exploding Subculture' at the Japan Society Gallery. Oh my god! It was SO brilliant, honestly was the best exhibition I have ever seen. Featured a wealth of Japanese toys, plus Hello Kitty, Godzilla, Gamera, and works by Takashi Murakami, Yoshitomo Nara, Takano Aya and Tsubaki Noboru amongst others. I really want the book of dissected monsters! I actually got to see episodes of Ultra Seven too, which look amazing.

Went to a place called the Ritz Diner every morning for breakfast - so American! I have eaten enough eggs to last me a lifetime. Had supper in a contemporary Mexican restaurant one evening in Hell's Kitchen (it was called Hell's Kitchen too) - I had seared tuna for the first time and was really scared as it looked like sushi but was gorgeous. It's a great city if you're a vegetarian as the restaurants are so diverse (as are the city's inhabitants).

Found a great shop in Chinatown that David had recommended - it was full of San-x and Sanrio products. I bought loads of stuff way cheaper than they would be in London, yippee! Chinatown in NY makes ours look like a hamlet (and a small one at that).

In the evening we avoided trendy places and went to local bars full of regulars where the music played was hilarious/dreadful, I'm talking serious stadium rock. The multiple TV screens was the only downer, as you find yourself staring at them. Not being able to smoke wasn't as bad as I had imagined, everyone goes outside for a cigarette - still I think it's a shame, and I'm dreading the day (which is really soon) London does the same and bans smoking outright in bars and restaurants. I need a smoke with my beer!

Ah well, back at work now and at home I'm enjoying my DVD's. I bought both box-sets of 'Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected', Doctor Who - 'The Green Death', Two double-feature Midnite Movies, 'Abby', 'Godzilla - Tokyo S.O.S.', 'Logan's Run' and one of my favourite films ever... 'Dead Ringer' (which has two nice extra features, making a change for old movies).

Anyway I'm off as I'm starving.

'Lady in a Cage' DVD

2005-04-13T09:20:00.000-07:00

Wow, watched this last night and it's got to be one of the best films I've seen in years. I'd read about it loads, being a 'hag film' lover (although Olivia De Havilland is hardly what I would call a hag). It was directed by Walter Grauman in '64 - I've never heard of him before and looking at imdb he hasn't done anything I've seen, shame.

De Havilland plays an upper-middle class woman living in luxury whilst doting on her (gay?) son. She's recently had hip problems (don't we all?) and is slightly incapacitated (walks with a stick). She has an elevator in her large house enabling her to get upstairs easily. However one day (during a sweltering 4th July holiday weekend, while her son is away) there is an electrical power cut whilst she is aboard her 'cage' (elevator). This leaves her trapped 9 feet above the floor. Her emergency alarm bell attracts a wino/thief who in turn arouses the suspicions of a gang of nasty petty criminals, lead by James Caan .

It's done in a kind of 'Baby Jane' style, but without the hysterics. I think back in the early sixties this film must have been quite shocking, James Caan plays a psycho-ish criminal with an unexpectedly nasty side. The torment poor Olivia goes through is relentless (and brilliant!) - this was a role Davis or Crawford could have done so easily. Essential viewing if you're into 'hag movies'... Shame the DVD didn't have any special features, not even a trailer, but you can't have everything. Wish, wish, wish the TV movie 'The Screaming Woman' (with De Havilland) would get a DVD release.

Most recent

2005-04-11T08:46:00.000-07:00

Hi! Well as for a personal update, my sister has left her boyfriend, moved out and is sharing a flat in town. Total party girl again - she's been out on the beer almost every night since. I wish her SO much love and happiness as she is a total princess.

We went to a record fair at Olympia on Saturday, it was rubbish as usual. David and his mate Michael came to (who is always a laugh as he talks so loudly and I'm sure offends people in the process - good). Picked up a couple of CD's - 'Who's Afraid Of The Art Of Noise?' and a lounge library compilation entitled 'Soundsational'! Did find a Dead Or Alive sew on patch that is totally hideous/brilliant. Met David again in the evening and went to the 'Dovetail' and the 'Three Kings' in Farringdon. So I had the customary hangover on Sunday - suffered with horizontigo all day which forced me to watch hours of TV and DVD's...

We've booked our flight to New York and should be there this time next week. I'm very excited, so many DVD's and so little time. Might have to get a bigger rucksack to carry all my purchases in.

As for films I've watched, I've seen 'Run Man Run' ('Corri, uomo, corri' directed by Sergio Sollima '68) a great spaghetti western starring Tomas Milian. The film has lots of moments of comedy and the scenery is fantastic. Milian must have been a real hero in Italy during the seventies.

'The Incredible Hulk Returns' & 'The Trial of the Incredible Hulk' on a double disc set from Anchor Bay, which were kind of what I was expecting, nice extras on the discs - Lou Ferrigno comes across as a really nice bloke.

'Hercules The Avenger' ('La Sfida dei giganti' directed by Maurizio Lucidi '65) starring my second favourite peplum actor, Reg Park. I had thought the DVD was released by Image Entertainment and not Retromedia, so I was expecting a much better print, but at least I've been able to see it. It's basically a rehash of Mario Bava's 'Hercules in the Haunted World', with very similar story lines and sets - even the coloured lighting was bava-esque. The priestess at the temple has the best face of make-up ever!

'Son of Hercules in the Land of Darkness' ('Ercole l'invincibile' directed by Alvaro Mancori '63) starring Dan Vadis, this time sporting a beard. The print was (like all of the '50 Movie Sci Fi Classics' box set) totally shite, at times I couldn't even make out facial features on the actors. However, as a fan of peplum films, seeing a shit version is better than not seeing a version at all. All said, I did enjoy it, especially the scene where elephants are chained to Vadis and try to pull him apart.

'Blood Tide' (directed by Richard Jefferies '82) This was a really boring and rubbish horror film about an old greek myth of a sea monster. Star James Earl Jones really overacts and the way he speaks to the local greek people is appalling. This was another film in the '50 Movie Sci Fi Classics' box set and had an equally bad print as the last mentioned film. I usually love films set in and around the sea, but this really was crap.

'Grand Slam' ('Ad ogni costo' directed by Giuliano Montaldo '67) This crime-heist film was totally brilliant and starred Klaus Kinski, Janet Leigh and Robert Hoffmann. It's about a diamond robbery in Rio and the huge lengths the 'criminals' go to get them. The ending is superb (although I did see it coming). Another brilliant release from Blue Underground...

'The Girl From Rio' ('The Seven Secrets of Sumuru' directed by eurocult king Jess franco '69) Wow! Really liked this one, fantastic imagery and women with ace outfits. Shirley Eaton who plays Sumuru (or Sumatra as on this dub) gets to wear loads of different wigs whilst playing the queen of Femina, an island only for her and her female soldiers. George Sanders is in it, but looks a little lost (apparently committed suicide soon after in Barcelona) - actually Shirley Eaton gave up acting altogether after this, was there a curse? Anyway as with most of Mr Franco's films, this didn't make too much sense, but it was lots of fun. So many of his films in the sixties have scenes of women rolling about on the floor in a lacy body stocking, this was no exception. Hooray (again) to Blue Underground for releasing another great print - there's also a short featurette with Franco and Eaton.

Still making our way through the last of 'The New Avengers' series. The episode we saw last night has got to be one of the worst, some fat english bloke trying to be a ruthless chinese criminal and speaking in a slow gruff voice was hilarious. It was SO un-PC. Stuart Damon (Craig Stirling from 'The Champions') was in it briefly, which was nice.

Oh well, this is turning into an essay, I'm off.

Godzilla Vs. Hedorah DVD

2005-04-05T11:48:00.000-07:00

Just had to mention that we watched this last night and it was SO excellent to see it in it's original (Japanese) language. This is one of my favorite Godzilla films as it's totally insane! The film features cartoons, multiple screens, a psychedelic discotheque full of hippies, great fight scenes between Godzilla and Hedorah, views of Mount Fuji and a brilliant soundtrack. As for Hedorah himself, my god, he is just brilliant, in all of his three forms. Loved it when Godzilla punches him and blinds one of his eyes.

After having sold all my Godzilla video's on ebay, this has made me even more determined to get all the other recent DVD releases. Next stop: Godzilla - Tokyo S.O.S.!

Good Friday?

2005-03-25T09:55:00.000-08:00

Went out with David and Matt's work crew last night, so I'm nursing yet another hangover.

Today I watched the anthology movie 'A Miracle Can Happen' (or it's other title 'On Our Merry Way' 1948) which was on a double DVD I found in Spain (the other film being 'Lady of Burlesque', with Barbara Stanwyck) Anyway the version I saw had Charles Laughton in it, playing a minister and on the imdb it says that piece wound up on the cutting room floor, weird huh? The US Kino Video's version doesn't have that segment either. Wow maybe I'm sitting on a gold mine!

Watched a B&W peplum too 'Sins of Rome' (Spartaco' 1953) but sadly this kept putting me to sleep. It's the story of Sparticus. Gianna Maria Canale who plays Sabina Crassus a Roman noblewoman was cool though and had great eyebrows!

Also this week we have watched 'Predator' with Arnold Schwarzenegger (brilliant) and Lucio Fulci's 'A Lizard in a Woman's Skin' ('Una Lucertola con la pelle di donna') which was totally brilliant and SO worth the wait (years to come out on DVD, kept being postponed) I can see why this giallo is one of the favourites among fans of the genre. Florinda Bolkan is great as the confused looking Carol Hammond, but Anita Strindberg is always my favourite to watch, she's in so many great films...

More than half way through the 'The Champions' box-set (brilliant) and at the end of 'Lost In Space' series 2 (childish and campy fun, though tiresome at times). Finished watching the 'Night Gallery' first series (disappointing, even the Vincent Price episode also starring Bill Bixby was dull).

My sister Jess rang early this morning. I think we were both still drunk as we were talking nonsense. (what's new?)

Sunday Supermen

2005-03-20T10:07:00.000-08:00

Awoke with a hangover and decided to watch Brad Harris in the pre-cert VHS of 'Supermen' - 'Che fanno i nostri supermen tra le vergini della giungla?' directed by Bitto Albertini 1970, Albertini worked with Harris again in 'Zambo, King of the Jungle' 1972. Anyway, this was totally brilliant, campy trash. Fantastic opening credits with coloured lights and the 'Supermen' logos (which I am going to get tattooed!)

Brad stars as Brad, one of the three supermen, along with Martin and Dick (a mute who 'talks' weird and makes silly faces). They have to go into the jungle to stop some pesky Russians from obtaining land rich with uranium. Martin and Dick are being held prisoners by some sheiks (?) and are about to be put to death, by spikes up the bottom so Brad is forced to leave his wedding to get there, first by rocket and then by some underground vehicle with a large drill bit.

Once in the jungle (stock footage of stampeding elephants) which looks more like a forest, the men meet an old guy who has a map to the uranium and they go off together in a jeep. They stop off for a swim in a lake and meet Jungla, a queen of a tribe of white chicks in bikinis. Meanwhile the Russians meet the owners of the land and try to buy it off them with gold, they don't like that but do like their offering of party toys, and dance around madly, blowing little plastic trumpets - actually everybody in this film dances at some point. The Russians along with the tribe attack the 'Supermen', but their red suits are invincible to the bullets, spears and arrows - Jungla and co help out, which leads to a pointless cat-fight with the Russian girl losing most of her clothes!

The men then end up about to be cooked by Jungla and her tribe, Martin as a cake, Dick as soup in a large pot and Brad roasted on a fire (they've all been stripped down to their black thongs, giving the viewer ample scenes of Mr Harris's huge muscles). The cooking is called off when a witch doctor announces that Jungla wants to marry Brad. Next thing the girls of the tribe are doing a campy dance number and all the men are canoodling with chosen women (Jungla wants to 'devour Brad with kisses' in her tent).

It all ends up with car chases, more fight scenes, double crosses, triple crosses and Brad dressed as a chinese man. Absolutely brilliant, I couldn't ask for more in a film which was a mixture of super heroes, daft comedy, cave girls, rubber crocodiles and campy costumes. And (!) a superb soundtrack by Sante Romitelli, who I've never heard of.

Straight after this I watched 'Tuareg - The Desert Warrior' ('Tuareg - Il guerriero del deserto' directed by Enzo G. Castellari 1984, who did the giallo 'Cold Eyes of Fear') Sadly this was beyond boring and went on for hours. The only thing going for it was the soundtrack by Riz Ortolani. Plus a very buff looking Antonio Sabato is only in it for about fifteen minutes. Oh well...

Yay! Weekend & 'The Fifth Cord' DVD

2005-03-18T08:56:00.000-08:00

Hello, well thank goodness, another two days off work! Had another dull week. Haven't done much, actually did get to meet Justine's new girlfriend Sue on Monday, who's really nice, but looks about 17! We met in Baker St, along with Rosa, Caroline (who's moving to Mexico city, lucky cow) and Matt, I had too many beers, then we went to 'Cassa Becci' an Italian restaurant and brought the class down a peg or two. Had a gorgeous meal then got the tube home. Last night, being Thursday, David came over for a meal, I did Fajita's (?) and have decided I no longer like them.

Have watched 'The Fifth Cord' (Giornata nera per l'ariete - directed by Luigi Bazzoni 1971), really, really enjoyed this giallo. The DVD was the Japanese import (part of 'The Style Of Italian Action Films' collection) and cost me a small fortune, but was SO worth it! Franco Nero stars as a boozing journalist who is assigned to investigate a brutal assault on an acquaintance. Soon people start to get murdered and the only clue is a black glove left at the scene of the crime with the finger missing (one missing for the first murder, two missing for the second etc.) Franco (Andrea Bild) has a blonde girlfriend Helene (Silvia Monti - who looks like Edwige Fenech when wearing a black wig) who seems untrustworthy, like most of the characters except for another blonde ex girlfriend of his, who has a young boy and lives in a really cool, 70's open plan house full of cacti...

Among the highlights are, an outdoor prostitute with the compulsory Italian bonfire, a silhouetted live sex show, fish-eye lensed shots, some campy over-sized sunglasses, a wheelchair bound death scene very much like the one used in Bava's 'Twitch Of The Death Nerve', fantastic curvy architecture, Nero's usual great fighting, and a really chilling bit with the boy alone at home with the killer. One old guy who works at Andrea's office was in Lenzi's 'Spasmo'.

I'm now thinking of getting the Japanese import of 'The Last House On the Beach' ('La Settima donna'), but not sure the subject matter is really my thang...

'The Black Panther' and 'The Man From Atlantis'

2005-03-13T08:56:00.000-08:00

Awoke with a huge hangover, after spent the evening with Matt and David in 'The Agricultural' in Islington then came back to the flat to watch camp DVD's and drink sloe gin.

Anyway watched 'The Man From Atlantis' starring Patrick Duffy and Victor Buono. Found this in a charity shop in Salisbury and I presume it's the pilot to the series that aired in America from 1977-1978. Wish it would get a DVD release as I thought it was excellent. Always love anything related to the sea... Ooooh just looked on ebay, the pilot is available on DVD, but no series officially.

Then I watched 'The Black Panther' ('Der Schwarze Panther von Ratana' directed by Jürgen Roland 1963) got this on ebay for only 99 pence only because Brad Harris is in it (as Larry Finch). It was really good too, filmed in Thailand, which made lovely backdrops and the colours are really bright and lurid. There's a girl called Yvonne (Luciana Gilli) who is an outrageous hussy and wears great slutty clothes, there's near-death by high-power water hose and a superb unexpected camp twist at the end. Brad plays a whisky drinking lush and doesn't get to do all that much, there is the usual fight scene (in a smokey bar, after an exotic dancer in white stilettos and red bikini has done her turn) - you do get to see a flash of his pecs though, right at the beginning of the film. The score's by Gert Wilden, which I have on CD - thanks to bear records, at one point Brad puts a dime in a duke box and Wilden's music plays - brilliant!

Personal Update

2005-03-11T09:00:00.000-08:00

Had a great weekend in Salisbury (went down for Mother's Day). Stayed at my Grandparents on the Friday (had fish and chips) then met up with my old friend Fay in town on Saturday afternoon. She's pregnant (it's SO fashionable right now) and was lots of fun. Spent about £25 in charity shops, but bought some bloody brilliant things (like 'The Man From Atlantis' VHS, a 60's tacky china cat, two 70's Wombles duvet covers, a weird vase, a 'My Little Pony' - with magnetic hooves (!!!) and an original 60's 'Mr Bali Hai' cocktail mug for only 50 pence!). Met my stressed sister Jess later on and she took us (me and Matt) back to her house, after having a drink in the BHS canteen - God! that caff was SO hideous you wouldn't believe. Every table was full of dirty crockery and all the ashtrays were stacked with butts. They didn't even have mugs or cups and one woman had to wait for ten minutes just to get a coffee, well, I mean, how rubbish. AND I just missed having a tray of dirties being thrown over me by some slapdash waitress with attitude (John Waters would love this place). Phew, anyway back at Jess and Rik's farmhouse she made us an enormous curry with samosas and stuff, drank lots of lager and went to bed after watching some 'Little Britain' DVD extra features. Sunday morning went over to Fovant to see Mom and surprise her, was a bit rubbish actually as she didn't hear the door being knocked and by the time she opened it we were all standing there : ) Drove to Salisbury again and went to the 'Lemon Tree' restaurant in Crane Street, very pleasant, stayed in there for a couple of hours then went to Wilton House as an antique fair was on, only it was £4.50 to get in and only an hour left - bloody cheek, so we looked around the crappy gift shop (how many people need lavender scented drawer sheets?). Said goodbye to Mom and Jess drove us to the train station, where we got the train back to Waterloo.

Encounters In The Deep VHS (!)

2005-03-07T16:00:00.000-08:00

Hmmm, I picked this one up in a weird charity shop in Salisbury last weekend, I say weird as it was more of a pet shop that had a side line in selling junk for charity.

Anyway, this was realised by Elephant Video and had weird cover art featuring an exploding aeroplane above an ocean full of sharks fins, people over-board a ship and an odd large alien shaped hand, so it had all the usual things I look for in a film (minus a hulking brute, an over-busty female and a man-in-a-monstersuit). Anyway as the credits rolled for this Italian/Spanish co production, I noticed the music was by the (usually god-like genius) Stelvio Cipriani and the main star was Andrés García, the handsome muscle guy who starred in Tintorera (until he gets eaten by the shark) and the directors name rang a bell too (Anthony Richmond), though I don't know why.

The film starts with a voice-over intro about U.F.O's and the Bermuda Triangle...
Strange occurances begin happening in the Bermuda area (will they ever learn?) as boats, ships and helecopters (yeah!) disappear into thin air after a high pitched screeching noise is heard, the sea water bubbles and a weird green light pulsates into red (very basic not so special effects).

A rich old guy's much loved daughter and her new husband (wearing possibly the smallest white hot-pants I have ever seen on a human being) experience the same fate and the old guy wants to find out what happened to them. So he hires a bloke (money no object) with a theory about the disappearances to go and search the area they went missing. He takes with him Andrés García and an old sailor who likes the whisky, an Alsation dog and some some other bland characters (divers etc.) Anyway, as they search and search you really expect something to happen, but sadly it never really does. They search the area for what takes up nearly the entire film, dodging the occasional stock-footage shark and discovering rocks unlike any other found before. One of the divers who sports a beard gets possessed by something in the water and the dog growls at him. It really is this exciting. Eventually Andrés and the other guy discover an underground grotto with a huge statue like one found on Easter Island.

I won't give away the ending, because I want other people to watch the entire film (like I had to) see what the climax would be. I will say though, that silver body suits and silver crash helmets do not make for good space aliens with intelligent and supreme powers!

The score by Stelvio Cipriani was a lot more orchestral than I was expecting (not like the superb 'Tentacoli') and there's no suspense to speak of, but if you like the look of Andrés García, you wont be disappointed as you do get to see him in very skimpy pants for almost the entire film.

Italian Film DVD's

2005-02-28T12:08:00.000-08:00

Oh my god! I haven't been here for bloody ages. We've been through loads of DVD's... I won both box-sets of 'The Protectors' on ebay and it's excellent, Nyree Dawn Porter is a treat! The first episode we watched they went to a nightclub where girls were dancing in a huge cage to the music that used to introduce 'Top of The Pops'!!! Ms Porter, who's character is 'Contessa Caroline di Contini', (yeah, not at all camp) removes her strappy shoes and hangs them by the heels on the cage before joining the others for a dancing session that is beyond belief. So, so happy with that purchase...

As for the other DVD's I've bought and we've watched:

'Fearless' ('Poliziotto senza paura') directed by Stelvio Massi, 1977.
This was another Italian 'Polizia' thriller starring Maurizio Merli, but had the added bonus of having Joan Collins in the cast. She makes her appearance in a high-class nightclub, doing a striptease and even flashes her boobies. Her character is rather nauseous (pushes underage girls into prostitution), which is a shame, and it's odd how she looks older in this than she did even after Dynasty. However I really enjoyed this film, but as for the quality of the DVD, released by 'Passion Productions', it was really shitty, although I can hardly complain as I paid $1 for it!!
I'm currently going through an Italian 'crime' film phase at the moment, I love them and they pass the time until I can get my hands on other 'Gialli'...

'Redneck' ('Senza ragione') directed by Silvio Narizzano, 1973.
This starred Franco Nero and Telly Savalas with Mark Lester (the kid who played 'Oliver!') and it was totally unlike any Italian 'Crime' film I've seen before. Sometimes it was hilarious and sometimes it was really painful to watch, I don't think (actually I know) a film like this could ever get released in this politically correct day and age. Franco Nero was great as usual and looks fetching in that tiger-skin coat (reminded me of Raymond Marble from 'Pink Flamingos'), Telly Savalas was great too, playing a mad hillbilly, who shoots when people try to get away from him and as for Mark Lester, well he was just a kid with an extremely annoying voice. I loved this film and the ending totally rocked, buy it for less than a quid at any cheapo tack shop. Oh yeah, just remembered, a gay in a yellow jumper tries to pull Telly at the start of the film, he's really persistent too!

'Assassination' directed by 'Hal Brady' (Emilio Miraglia - 'Red Queen Kills 7 Times' & 'The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave') 1967.
Starring Henry Silva, this was quite a confusing film that wasn't what I was expecting at all. Maybe I was too tired, but I didn't really understand what was going on. This eurospy has double crosses and twists in it, but not enough to keep me that interested, which was a shame as I had spent a fortune getting the Japanese import DVD (part of 'The Style Of Italian Action Films' collection) which looks great. Ida Galli (Evelyn Stewart) ('Murder to the Tune of the Seven Black Notes', 'Knife of Ice', 'Case of the Scorpion's Tail' etc, etc) looks fantastic, but totally miserable throughout the entire film. There's lots of location filming in New York and a very wet and dreary looking Hamburg. Oh well, it's a nice disc to have but I don't think I'll be rushing to play it again anytime soon.

'Hitch Hike' ('Autostop rosso sangue') directed by Pasquale Festa Campanile, 1977.
This was totally brilliant and a completely different kettle of fish. Another film starring Franco Nero (must have loads of DVD's with him in now), this time he's joined by Corinne Clery (who played Ka-Laa in 'Yor, the Hunter from the Future' amongst other things!) and David 'The Last House on the Left' Hess. The latter plays an escaped nutcase criminal who thumbs a ride with the married couple Nero & Clery, little do they know what they are letting themselves in for. Nero's character is thoroughly hideous from the start, particularly towards his lovely lady, which I found odd at first, but after watching it, it kinda makes sense. Beautiful scenery everywhere, filmed somewhere in Europe and not America - but you wouldn't really know. There's a gay couple who are crooks, but they don't stay for long which is a shame. Really cool ending. Stunning picture on the DVD and a 17 minute interview/featurette with the main three characters - age has been very kind to Corinne Clery. Oh my god! as for the soundtrack, it's totally brilliant - Morricone triumphs again, must track a copy down if it's available. Will definately be watching this again...

'The Killer Must Kill Again' (L' Assassino è costretto ad uccidere ancora) directed by Luigi Cozzi 1975.
This is another great giallo starring (yet again!) George Hilton who wants out of his loveless marriage to blond Teresa Velázquez. One night he sees a guy (Antoine Saint-John) dumping a car into a river with a female body in it and decides to blackmail the him into killing his own wife. Trouble starts when the killer has the body in the boot of his car and it gets stolen by a joy-riding couple who want to visit to the beach. Cat and mouse type game ensues with the killer on a terminator style mission to get the car (and body) back...
The killer is really creepy looking and has the best cheek bones I've ever seen! There's a blond girl who's car has broken down (Femi Benussi) who looks fabulous in a bawdy sex comedy kind of way - you know as soon as you see her she'll be dropping her panties very soon. And as for the apartment where the main couple live, it's bloody brilliant - bright yellow decor and a perspex table.
Mondo Macabro has done a fantastic job on the DVD, the picture is fantastic and the special features seem endless. There's two interviews with the director, filmed I presume in his and Dario Argento's shop in Rome. Trailer, Biogs, Original opening sequence (much better, I think), poster galleries etc etc and all for about £7.00. Brilliant!

Watched the commentary track of 'Straight on Till Morning' (directed by Peter Collinson, 1972) with Rita Tushingham too, she's hilarious... that bit where she goes out and buys that hideous, hideous wig, well, I had to watch and listen to it about ten times!

Phew! Well that's all for now, although I could go on forever. We're still getting through episodes of 'Night Gallery', 'The New Avengers', 'Lost In Space' (Only two episodes of the second series left) and 'The Champions'. Bye...

'Yor, the Hunter from the Future' DVD

2005-02-10T08:38:00.000-08:00

Wow! This was really up my street. Sadly I had to watch it in German language as that's the only version available right now - however I don't think this spoilt it, visually it was unbelievably trashy.....

Directed by Antonio Margheriti ('School Girl Killer') going under his guise of Anthony M. Dawson and produced in '83 this fun piece of celluloid nonsense starred Reb Brown who did the TV movies of 'Captain America' in the 70's.

Brown plays Yor, a dodgy-wig wearing prehistoric warrior with pants borrowed from Tarzan who gets to fight cardboard dinosaurs and saves good guys from bad guys - he also wears a special amulet, of which I don't know the significance - neither does he by the look of things. He makes his entrance during some god-awful opening music (the rest of the music was by Guido & Maurizio De Angelis). Anyway, he saves a cave girl (Ka-Laa) with a perm and make-up by killing a rubber triceratops (drinks its blood too, nice). Ka-Laa's clan is under attack from a hairy wolfman tribe who have blue paint on their limbs, luckily Ka-Laa and her father escape the attack briefly but Yor is thrown over a cliff - Wow - he survives! Ka-Laa is captured by the hairy guys, Yor shoots down a gigantic bat with an arrow then uses it to swoop down to save her! They escape through a cave, followed by the blue limbed ones but Yor manages to release a giant dam that crushes and kills most of them. Ka-Laa joins her father again and Yor sets off alone when he gets hassled by some rock dwelling people who look mummified. The Queen (?) of the rock people (who has the same amulet that he wears) makes them stop for a while until he fights them with a huge flaming sword. Big earthquake follows, Yor saves Queen, Ka-Laa finds them and looks jealous, Yor and Queen have a snog in some bushes then the girls have a bitch fight. The hairy guys appear again and another fight breaks out, Queen dies and gives Ka-Laa her amulet, Yor and Ka-Laa go to the beach after burying the Queen. A giant roar is heard and Yor goes off to rescue a cave mother and her kids from another cardboard dinosaur. Dinosaur is killed and the mother takes them to her large tribe of beach people, who show Yor a 'futuristic' rubbish-looking device in a cave. Ka-Laa's father looks at it and suddenly the tribes village is under fire from laser beams coming from an unknown source - Ooooooh. Starts to get really weird here... The device talks to Yor, village is destroyed, Yor and troupe leave on a boat, big storm erupts (model of a tiny boat cut between shots of the characters being thrown buckets of water), Yor is thrown overboard, wakes up on a shore and is being watched by someone who sounds like Darth Vadar , there's also lots of black stormtrooper like robots and a spaceship lands! Yor is captured and strapped down to some operating table, the evil leader of the robots plans to kill him but some other people who wear only white (hmmm) want to start a rebellion, save him and fight back. From here I got a little bored, there's lots of laser fights and things blowing up in a huge industrial building, luckily Yor and Ka-Laa's father learn how to use a laser gun very quickly.... Well it all ends happily, but sadly we don't get to see Yor, Ka-Laa or her father after they make their escape in a space ship.

Trivia? One of the scenes was used in a 'Kommisar X' film. I like Reb Brown too, he's a perfect 'bad' film actor, wish the 'Captain America' TV movies would get a DVD release.

As for the DVD, the picture was quite good, can't comment on the audio! Had trailers for 'The Fog', 'Tentacles', 'The Howling', 'Hells Angels On Wheels', 'Mountain Of The Cannibal God', 'Roboman' - with Reb Brown again, 'Ator 2' - Which I really want to see! and 3 others I've forgotten. Certainly can't complain, especially considering I got the DVD off ebay for 60p.

So what else?

2005-02-04T08:44:00.000-08:00

Well, it's Friday today. Have taken the day off sick as my flu-cold has gotten worse. Put a load of things up on ebay and watched 'The Dark Crystal' that David lent me, which was fun, but I fell asleep for twenty minutes or so in the middle.

Last night I watched the cheapo DVD of 'Samson & Delilah' starring the late muscle man Antony Hamilton and Max von Sydow. It was miles better than I thought it was going to be. Great Mexican locations too, shame the soundtrack let it down a bit. Hamilton looks like a gay porn star.

A week or so ago we watched the follow up to 'Africa Express' - 'Safari Express', obviously didn't want to go too crazy with the title. It was basically the same kind of story as the first one, but with more comedy. Loved the bit where the chimp Biba gets jealous of Giuliano Gemma and Ursula Andress and plays the piano badly and then walks around on stilts! Gorgeous picture again from the Italian DVD.

Also... I got the first season of 'Rod Sterling's Night Gallery' and have only seen the pilot and the first episode, but it looks great. I've wanted it for years, mainly for the Joan Crawford segment 'Eyes' which was bloody brilliant. She was the most aged I have seen her in a role, but still managed to pull off a great performance. God! When is 'Trog' coming out on DVD?

That's it for now, I have a massive headache, so going for a lie down.

Samson and the 7 Miracles of the World DVD

2005-02-02T09:46:00.000-08:00

Well, it's those annoying Mongols again.

Set somewhere in China the pesky Mongols plan to take over the control of an empire via killing and treachery.

Gordon Scott cuts a dash and makes his appearance rescuing a boy prince from a tiger attack (close up of wrestling with a stuffed tiger head) after pushing over a tree full of evil soldiers. He takes the boy to a vast cave full of monks, the leader of which goes to the prince's evil guardians to tell them (big fib) the boy has died, much to their secret delight. Meanwhile the boy's princess sister Lei-ling (Yoko Tani) has also escaped their clutches and is in hiding, until she gets caught and is taken to the evil empress (who is gorgeous) she is spared torture when they discover (Hmm) that she is the real princess due to her dragon tattoo. Samson stays at the cave and teaches the resistance people how to fight but on hearing of the princesses peril, leaves to rescue her. At the palace a great decapitation scene is being prepared in a giant arena, with a team of horses and supposed criminals buried up to their heads in sand - the horses are to drag huge blades over the heads taking them off rather neatly, anyway Samson steps in to save the people, holding back the horses with all his might. After this he hides out in the palace, until he meets the evil empress who helps the princess and himself to escape - she has her own plans, she also stupidly leaves a bit of her headdress in some bushes causing her to get captured by the guards and gets whipped by her former aide (she looks brilliant here!) who rubs vinegar and salt into her wounds (nice) until she confesses and tells him where the people are in hiding (monks cave). Thousands (well 50ish) of Mongol soldiers are sent to find the cave and kill the people and Samson. In the huge cave there is a tunnel that leads to a 'wise man' (no explanation given here) but it's blocked by big fallen rocks that Samson manages to push away just in time for the people to escape. Sadly the prince gets killed by one of the soldiers arrows (boo hoo). Finding the 'wise man', he tells Samson that he must ring the great bell in the palace garden to bring an end to the barbaric goings on (makes sense). The Princess asks to go back to the palace to pretend to want to marry the evil emperor Garak, thus letting Samson slip into the gardens... Once there Samson discovers the gigantic bell covered in hundreds of creeping vines, but with his strength manages to tear his way through and rings the bell, signaling the uprising. Unfortunately Samson gets knocked out and killed by the enormous bell - he gets interred into the rock face deep under the palace. Nasty scene this, if you suffer from claustrophobia, a little dwarf drags him into the hole and climbs out over his body. Meanwhile Lei-ling is thrown into the dungeon with the once evil empress. Samson is brought back to life by the 'wise man' and breaks free of his tomb causing a huge earthquake. Lei-ling marries her love interest, that I've not mentioned before, in the monks cave and Samson leaves them to "go where ever there is a fight between right or wrong"

THE END

Not that bad at all really, except I only witnessed one real miracle. The music was scored by Les Baxter, cool.

Justine's Birthday & Stuff

2005-01-31T10:12:00.000-08:00

Well another week has flown by. Haven't done much. David came around on Thursday to watch Argento's 'Suspiria', must be the 4th or 5th time I've seen that now and it's still bloody brilliant.

Saturday night we went out with Justine's crowd to celebrate her Birthday. Went to a Turkish restaurant on Upper Street then on to The Kings Head (?) for more beer drinking. Great to see her as always, especially as she wasn't surrounded by the usual trailer trash, ooh slap my hands. Had too much to drink as always, but as I'd eaten I couldn't get totally wasted (Matt was happy!) Declined her offer to go to their local late night drinking den in Wood Green, taxi home would have been expensive and I don't think it would really be Matt's cup of tea. Oh well, hope I get to catch up with her really soon, strange we don't see that much of each other anymore as we used to live in each other's pockets. Still, it's just like yesterday when we meet and that's a great sign of friendship I think.

Managed to get through 30 Lucky Strikes at the weekend, but am now back on the roll ups again...

We are racing our way through 'The Champions' DVD boxset and I really love it. I have to try and forget just how fantastic 'The Avengers' was/is. The episodes set in London are quite similar, obviously minus whimsy. The characters do need a shot of humor though. The episode we watched last night was the best yet and starred Kate O'Mara as a drug addict who's seen shop-lifting at Selfridges, totally brilliant!

Have also watched 'Seed of Chucky' (directed by Don Mancini) which was bloody great too. Some of the hilarious dialogue could have been written by one of the stars of the film, the god known as John Waters who plays a reporter named Pete Peters. Very, very bad taste which is always a plus (namely the turkey basting impregnation scene!) and Jennifer Tilly is just adorable, love that voice. No, honestly.

Jess and the weekend just gone

2005-01-25T10:40:00.000-08:00

Had a bloody brilliant time with my sister Jess - up to stay for the weekend (my Birthday bash). Met her at Waterloo on Friday night, came back to the flat, streaked her hair, ate noodles, watched 'A Night On Mount Edna' and two episodes of 'Jam' and drank lots of vodka. Got up early on Saturday and went to Kingston, where I bought two pairs of trainers, two pairs of jeans and a jacket. Got a bus to Worcester Park, popped in to see Matt's parents for a cuppa tea then went to the fish & chip restaurant and had large cod & chips. Got train home, got ready to go out, got taxi to pub (Alwyne Castle on St. Pauls Road) - lots of my friends turned up, with the exception on Nina, Sasha & Vincent (& Matt's work lot). Felt relatively giddy before going to the Buffalo bar by Highbury & Islington tube, well I did steal a stool from the pub that Matt discarded on route. Friend Bex was steaming and fell over at one point pulling me with her (David took her home but had to come back to the club as he'd left his coat there, fool!) Danced with Jess a bit, got taxi home and had noodles (again!), thanks to Jess. Woke up with a hangover, the horrors and a swollen eyelid, but felt better after a shower and Matt's usual big breakfast (also a couple of medicinal tablets helped). Watched two episodes of 'Grace & Favour' ('Are You Being Served Again?') and laughed myself stupid (Matt & Jess didn't, perhaps I was still drunk as most of the series has been arse cringingly awful) Anyway Jess left about 2.30 to meet her pal Tamzin in Clapham. Later watched the first two episodes of 'The Champions' which was brilliant (yes I have the boxset I was after, along with 'The Saint' - now all I need is 'Department S', 'Jason King', 'Danger Man' and 'The Protectors'). Spent Monday laughing with David about the Saturday evening, oh and have started to smoke roll ups as all of my duty free Lucky Strikes have gone - sniff.

Happy Birthday

2005-01-18T08:13:00.000-08:00

Well, today is my birthday, been out and bought a shirt and a million pairs of socks. Got given so many fantastic things, including a voucher for Tusk Tattoo, hoorah! DVD's, astroboy stuff, sweets, a giant ashtray, a sixties tea service, an old pink finger-dial telephone, books and some great japanese toys. Spoilt, spoilt, spoilt.

Almost finished decorating the toilet, was waxing the door last night, that was energy zapping. Just need to get the vinyl flooring down now and get some shelves up. Oh and paint the pipes with 'Hammerite', maybe that'll stop the mould getting through at last.

Watched 'It Lives Again' ('It's Alive' 2) last night, have seen it before but it was still good to watch it, shame you don't get to see the babies much and having the original father killed off (John P. Ryan) was a bit rubbish. Also the police chief, who near the end admits to fathering one of the monsters himself, now come on, yuk! His poor wife, that guy must be at least seventy years old. Interestingly Laurie Johnson (The Avengers) did the incidental music, cool.

Monday night we watched Dario Argento's 'Opera' and to be brutally honest I didn't think it was that brilliant. True, it had some great scenes, particularly the bit where the ravens (?) are released and swoop into the audience. But I didn't think it was that cool, some of the acting was questionable and as for the english dub... who the hell did the voice for that nosey child? She sounded like that killer girl from Christopher Morris's 'Jam' and why on earth was the main girl called Betty? Made her sound like an old woman. I did, however like the death scenes, the needles under the eyes and of course it's always good to see Daria Nicolodi.