Book Review: Taboo Breakers

Title: Taboo Breakers
Author: Calum Waddell
Publisher: Telos
Buy it now from Amazon.co.uk

The 1980’s in the UK was a time of political unrest coupled with recession and strikes, so pretty much like 2009, however some politicians had decided that we could not think for ourselves and watch some movies that had been unleashed onto the fledgling home video market. Along with the 1984 Video Recordings Act (which has been in the news recently), some films such as Cannibal Holocaust and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre became taboo, and as a result , like anything that is banned, they became much more interesting and sought after. Calum Waddell’s “Taboo Breakers” delves deep into the background of these and many other movies in an attempt to discover why these cinematic treats stood out at the time and why they are still relevant today.

The author has chosen 18 films to scrutinise and they range from genres such as blaxploitation (Coffy) to classic XXX (Behind the Green Door) and Video Nasties (Cannibal Holocaust) to modern day shockers (Hostel).

The films covered are:

Blood Feast, Night of the Living Dead, Behind the Green Door, Fritz the Cat, The Tenderness of Wolves, Coffy, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Ilsa – She-Wolf of the SS, Candy Tangerine Man, Halloween, Cannibal Holocaust, Maniac, Nightmares in a Damaged Brain, The Plague Dogs, The Evil Dead, House of 1000 Corpses, Oldboy and Hostel.

Each film is tackled with the outline and basic plot of the movie, the controversies they caused and a very in depth analysis of the film followed by a “what happened next” detailing what the cast and crew did after the movie’s release, did they disappear or breakout to even greater success? Each chapter is then rounded off with one to one interviews with many of the main protagonists of each feature that help to give a deeper understanding of the film and what really happened behind the scenes!

If you are a fan of controversial and challenging genre movies this extremely well researched and well written book cannot fail to enlighten and entertain. We learn that despite opinion at the time these movies did leave a mark and stimulate the creativity in up and coming directors, such as Eli Roth for example, whose love of Italian genre cinema sparked him into creating Hostel. Indeed, Hostel if released during the 1980’s would surely have become a famed Video Nasty!

While horror fans will undoubtedly enjoy the chapters on Halloween or Maniac, the author’s style will seduce you into reading about another type of genre you had not considered and by the end you will be heading to Amazon to order it on DVD!

However, take note, this is not a genre movie love fest with the author spouting plaudits with the films he has chosen, he is fearless in his criticism for some films and does not hold back, but at the same time he is astute enough to pinpoint and appreciate why they came to the fore in the first instance.

A clever and analytical foray into another side of cinema but most of all a hugely enjoyable read! An essential edition to your cinema library!

DVD News: Tsumugi - Pink Eiga

PINK EIGA, Inc. is thrilled to announce their newest release, director Hidekazu Takahara’s “TSUMUGI,” starring international sexual bombshell Sora Aoi.

Sora Aoi is Tsumugi, a typical Japanese teenager—who just happens to be in love with her teacher, Katagiri. Tsumugi seduces Katagiri and he falls for her. But at the same time, Tsumugi is attracted to her classmate, Kosuke, and soon she’s trapped in a love triangle. Now Tsumugi faces a dilemma: Who will she stay with? Filled with steamy sex as well as hardcore punk music by the legendary Japanese musician Shigeru Nakano, “TSUMUGI” captures the confusion of growing up with the thrill of first love.

Released on July 1st and available to buy now from Pink Eiga

Italian Weekend of Terror - The Aftermath

Italian Weekend of Terror – The Aftermath

Finally, Glasgow! After many years of two of Italy’s finest cult directors travelling the world to meet and greet their many, many fans, it was the turn of Glasgow to get the Deodato and Bava double act! The GFT was the venue for the Italian Weekend of Terror in partnership with Arrow Films , where a sold out audience were treated to Lucio Fulci’s “House by the Cemetery” on the Saturday followed by Deodato’s “Cut and Run” and Bava’s “Macabre” on the Sunday!

With introductions from each director followed by “Q & A”’s moderated by journalist Calum Waddell, with myself doing any necessary translations, the weekend was a great success with fans clamouring for autographs and photos afterwards with the two great men who were genuinely touched by the love still shown to their movies! A big thank you as well to all those who attended and hopefully the success of the event will mean that Glasgow can host many more like it in the future!

(That's me on the far right, looking sleepy!)

From a personal point of view it was pretty cool, if a touch surreal to have, in my eyes anyway, two legends of Italian cinema in the back of my car on the way back from Edinburgh Airport as we headed towards Glasgow!

They both turned out to be both utterly charming and very friendly and the weekend was very much the highlight of my short time of writing about movies via this site and I’d like to thank Calum Waddell and the GFT for letting me be a part of it all!

For fun here are five facts about Ruggero and Lamberto that I learned over the course of the weekend!

Ruggero Deodato: Five Fun Facts!

1. His Scottish Kilt clan is McKenzie

2. He does not like Irn-Bru

3. Or Scottish Tablet for that matter!

4. Thinks David Hess is a lovely man but a bit crazy!

5. Speaks very little English but fluent Arabic!

Lamberto Bava: Five Fun Facts!

1. His Favourite Horror film is Bambi!

2. Thought Loch Lomond was beautiful!

3. Is thinking about maybe using 3D in his next project!

4. Also did not like Irn-Bru!

5. His favourite movie of his father Mario was Black Sabbath.

Weekend of Italian Terror: Tickets are Go!

As per my previous post, tickets for this fabulous weekend of great Italian horror classics and special guests, Mr Bava and Mr Deodato, are now on sale over at the GFT. So show your support for events like these and get yourself up (or down) to Glasgow for the weekend! Plus you might get to see yours truly translate some of your questions for our special Italian guests!

Bava and Deodato coming to Glasgow!

Now, how exciting is this! Ruggero Deodato and Lamberto Bava are both coming to Glasgow, more specifically to the Glasgow Film Theatre to introduce "Weekend of Italian Terror" on June 27th and 28th. In association with Arrow Video who are releasing their new "Masters of Giallo" collection, both legendary directors will be in town to do intros and a Q&A after screenings of Deodato's "Cut and Run" and Bava's "Macabre". Hopefully I can score a little interview with them as well, more on this to come!

June 27th - "House by the Cemetary" 9pm
June 28th - "Cut and Run" 5.30pm followed by "Macabre" at 8pm

More info and tickets - Glasgow Film Theatre

Source: Fangoria

Cannibal Holocaust: Special Edition

How nice does this Cannibal Holocaust DVD set look? No word on whose selling it yet, but more news soon!