Roundtable on Vacation during August!

The Roundtable will return in September after the summer holiday period! Hopefully suntanned and relaxed!

The Roundtable: Week 12 - Your Contributions

With the popularity of Pink titles arriving more and more on DVD thanks in the past to Panik House and more recently Synapse and Pink Eiga, what are your favourite "Pink" movies or if you've yet to sample any, where would you like to start?"

KingMob (Dear Bastards)

I've dutifully purchased the first four Pink Eiga titles, though I've only found time to watch S & M Hunter and A Lonely Cow Weeps At Dawn so far. I was rather impressed with Lonely Cow, as it seemed to be a fairly legit drama, a story of unrequited love that just happens to be filled to the brim with outlandish sex sequences between the dramatic beats that move the story along.

I'm definitely looking forward to checking out more from this genre, though I may try to look into a book on the subject before I blind-buy too much more, just to be more aware of the history of specific titles, or their significance of release.

Kimberley Lindbergs (Cinebeats)

I prefer early pink (and violent pink) films over the new ones I've seen and I usually like the work of artistically inclined directors who bend the rules a bit and inject their films with radical politics or social critiques. A few of my favorite pink directors are Koji Wakamatsu (Go, Go Second Time Virgin), Yasuharu Hasabe (Assault! Jack the Ripper), Shunya Ito (Female Scorpion films), Teruo Ishii (Female Yakuza Tale) and Norifumi Suzuki (School of the Holy Beast). A couple of more current working directors I like a lot are Takashi Ishii (Freeze Me) and Kazuyoshi Kumakiri (Kichiku). It would be impossible for me to list all my favorite pink movies, but these directors are responsible for many of my favorite Japanese films and I highly recommend all their work.

Holger Haase (Hammer and Beyond)

Funny you should ask that as just yesterday I reviewed my DeepDiscount Wishlist and noticed to my dismay that the Pinky Violence Collection appears to now be discontinued. *This* would have been the place for me to start my Pinkedumacation. The only Pink movies I am so far familiar with (and that have me gagging for more) are SEX AND FURY and FEMALE YAKUZA TALE.

The Roundtable: Week 12

"With the popularity of Pink titles arriving more and more on DVD thanks in the past to Panik House and more recently Synapse and Pink Eiga, what are your favourite "Pink" movies or if you've yet to sample any, where would you like to start?"

As usual, entries by the end of the week, by comment or email!

The Roundtable: Week 11 - Your Contributions

"Since I've been watching loads of 80's action movies recently, simply tell me a few of your favourites when Sly, Ahhnold and many others ruled the cinema?"

Matt McAllister (Total Sci-Fi Online)

I’m going to weigh in with Lone Wolf McQuade, possibly Chuck Norris’s finest hour. Norris never quite had Arnie or Sly’s presence or way with one-liners, but he had a ridiculous, grizzly charm all of his own.

My second choice is China O’Brien, starring the imitable Cynthia Rothrock as the karate-kicking ex-cop out to avenge her father’s death. Somebody needs to make China O’Brien III, and they need to make it now!

James Kloda (Rusty Shrapnel)

Muscles rippling like freshly-netted tadpoles and greased like deep-fried haggis, the '80s action-movie star stands as a square-jawed monument to masculinity, machismo and the mullet. Bad hairstyles rule these pictures far more than body oil and bicep brawn. Sly Stallone's saliva-wetted curls in Cobra; Arnie's limp hippy locks in Red Sonja; Brigitte Nielsen in anything. But the crowned prince in all of these ventures is Troma's War. It's like a convention for Tygers Of Pan Tang enthusiasts. In the jungle. Short on the top and long at the back, the men look like the type of vacant beefcakes who could only ever kick sand in their own faces. The women are either scantily-clad hotties or cellulite-dripping, butt-kicking Milfs like an army of combat-Chers. With shoulder-length perms. The action is as suitably badass as the coiffures, Kaufman and co. needing only a hint of hormones to blow something up. The tagline asserts that Troma's War "makes Rambo III look like Lassie Come Home". Maybe. But at least collies have decent hair.

Douglas Waltz (Divine Exploitation)

Well you have already posted the pic of Stone Cold with The Boz. Does it get any better than that? Bikers, The Boz, Lance Henriksen, William Forsythe. This movie is epic!

Others might be;
Commando, I can't not watch this if it comes on television.
Escape From Ne York was so cool that I have the movie, the novel, the soundtrack (on vinyl) and the damned boardgame.
And with that Big Trouble IN Little China is magnificent.

But none of these compare to the magnificent epic-ness that is...
EYE OF THE TIGER starring the maniacal Gary Busey and the scene chewing of William Smith. This movie has it all. Guy coming home from priosn for a crime he didn't commit. Roving gangs of bikers who do what they want when they want and have the local law in their pocket. Yaphet Kotto tearing up the screen. The bikers dragging the coffin of Busey's wife back to his house and leaving it there. That's it! I gotta go watch this again right now. And the best character name ever. Buck Matthews! Yeah this flick rocks.

Kingmob (Dear Bastards)

This is a rather timely question, as I've also been re-watching a few action flicks myself recently, leaving the subject fresh on my mind. Going chronologically, the first big action flick I can recall seeing would be Rambo: First Blood Rat II, which I was able to con my mother into allowing me to see theatrically even though I was about 11, so it has a certain amount of nostalgia to me, though I think everything else on my list was most likely seen on home video.

The home viewing would include stuff like Aliens, Robocop, Predator and the first Die Hard film. I also have very specific memories of watching Lethal Weapon 2 over at a buddy's house while skipping school one afternoon, it might've been my first exposure to Riggs and Murtaugh, as I don't recall seeing the first film until much later, for whatever reason.

Definitely a heyday for fun, over the top action, with the CGI nonsense we have today, I don't think films like these will ever be made again.

Ian Price

Can't remember the years but I did enjoy Nighthawks, Blade Runner, North Sea Hijack, Ladyhawke, Midnight Run, Death Hunt, Runaway Train and Violent Cop. Highlander is in there somewhere as well as Southern Comfort.

Holger Haase (Hammer and Beyond)

Ooooh, too many to mention.

Off the top of my head (and I know I'll forget a good bunch) some of my absolute favourite movies of all time are TERMINATOR, ROBOCOP and DIE HARD. Other action faves by actors:

Chuck Norris: The Octagon, Missing in Action Sylvester Stallone: Rambo II Arnold Schwarzenegger: Red Heat Jean Claude Van Damme: Hmmm, I think he really only came into the scene in the 90s apart from Kickboxer and Bloodsport which I haven't seen. (Shame on me.) From his smaller parts of the 80s I'd go for Black Eagle

Let's not forget Michael Dudikoff in American Ninja. And also Red Dawn. And Enter the Ninja with Franco Nero.

You seem to focus primarily on the US Action flicks, but there were of course also lots of HK and Euro flicks of its ilk. To name but a few:
the Bronx Warriors and Thunder movies as well as all the John Woo stuff (my fave for the time: The Killer) or Ringo Lam's City on Fire.

I already know I'll be kicking myself for forgetting dozens of other worthwhile flicks once I read the other entries, but it sure was a fab decade for action films.

The Roundtable: Week 11

"Since I've been watching loads of 80's action movies recently, simply tell me a few of your favourites when Sly, Ahhnold and many others ruled the cinema?"

Reply by email or comment as usual, and I'll make Friday the last day for entries!

The Roundtable: Week 10 - Your Contributions

"With Night of the Creeps finally getting a release on DVD, excitement has been diluted with the very poor DVD cover art being utilised, tell me ( and send an image or a link if possible) the worst DVD cover art you've ever seen for a cult/horror title?"

Nigel



The Near Dark DVD just released in R1 is quite horrible or clever (probably both). Either way, it is a clear attempt to cash in on the Twilight crowd.

James Kloda



Body Piercing! Kinky Sex! Dismemberment! Thus runs the strap-line for Troma's Truly Tromatic Tromeo And Juliet. And what perverse imagery accompanies such slutty promise? Nipples staked with metal Toxie faces? Squealing sex with a pig-woman? Severed limbs spraying ketchup on gormless bystanders? Sadly, none of these things. Rather Lloyd Kaufman and co. give us the titular couple looking bored. And solemn. And that's it. It looks like a still from some sulllen teenage version of Love Story, the two sharing a final embrace before she goes off for a spot of chemotherapy. For a movie that features a child-bending friar, a song about gizzards and Lemmy speaking iambic pentameter, surely a better image could be found. As it stands, however, the cover does fit into a long tradition of classical Shakespeare film adaptations á la Ken Branagh. Dull as shitwater.

Kingmob (Dear Bastards)

I really don't care for the cover art for Dekker's other film Monster Squad either, but that seems like too easy of an answer, so I tried to come up with something that involved a bit more searching.

Off the top of my head, Craven's Last House On The Left got a re-release recently with the typically ho-hum Photoshop cut and paste job.

But for truly uninspired covers, the worst offender has to be the grandaddy of them all, the constant stream of public domain Night Of the Living Dead re-issues that populate the bargain bins of every DVD shop you go into. More examples here, here and here.


Kim Lindbergs (Cinebeats)



Mario Bava's 1969 film I rosso segno della follia (aka Hatchet for a Honeymoon) has been butchered since it was first released in America. First of all, the title actually translates to something like The Red Sign of Death but American distributors decided to give it a more salacious title to appeal to drive-in/grindhouse audience. Of course DVD companies have continued to call the movie by the same stupid title and churn out a lot of bad DVD cover art in the process. From the 3 or 4 releases of the film I've seen, the Westlake Entertainment version has got to be the worst of the bunch. The design looks like it was slapped together by some bored teenager in his mother's basement for a film that has very lttle in common with Bava's actual movie. Naturally I've sent along an image because it has be seen to be believed.

Vicar of VHS (Mmmmmovies)



By far the worst DVD cover art on a cult/horror DVD title I've ever seen is actually a series of titles--Redemption films' original release of many of Jean Rollin's finest films. Rollin is a director whose work is near and dear to my heart, and to see the terrible "original" art they used on great flicks like The Nude Vampire , Fascination, and Living Dead Girl is just a crime. Photographs of pancake makeup-wearing Goth girls holding skulls, scythes, or sticking their chests out while looking vapidly surprised--or even worse, bad Photoshop effects on top of said photos--ugh. Especially when in many cases the original poster art was a GAZILLION times better--I'm thinking especially the gorgeous art deco poster for The Nude Vampire, which I'd be proud to have as a tattoo. Redemption (now Salvation) has done great thing getting these movies out to the masses, but that series of cover art was not their best moment.

I should note that their latest re-releases of Rollin's stuff has used stills from the movies on the covers instead, and thus look much, MUCH better on the ol' shelf.

Keith Brown (Giallo Fever)



It's not particularly bad, at least by the standards of some old pre-certs like Don't Open the Window (HERE), but this Cat o' Nine Tails cover is still rather cheesy.

Kit Nygaard-Gavin



It has to be
SPASMO...SPASMO...SPASMO
as distributed by Media Blasters
I remember seeing this and thinking WTF - what made it worse was that was/is excellent artwork out there and Media Blasters chose to scrap it in favour of this cheep shite cover.
I remember thinking "Oh fuck... and I have to give a copy of this to Lenzi"... I was embarassed. The recreation/flip side of Werewolf Woman - was in a similar vein (at least it was a flip cover).

The re-releases on Vipco of their horror flicks were pretty uninspired and rubbish too - just black covers with the title in bold letters - uninspired.

I must confess I didn't like the artwork either for:-

Night Train Murders by Blue Underground

Crucible of Terror by Image Entertainment

The Region 2 Planet of the Apes cover - ummm (spoiler anyone!?!)

The Roundtable: Week 10

"With Night of the Creeps finally getting a release on DVD, excitement has been diluted with the very poor DVD cover art being utilised, tell me ( and send an image or a link if possible) the worst DVD cover art you've ever seen for a cult/horror title?"

Entries as usual by comment or email by Thursday!

The Roundtable: Week 9 - Your Contributions

"Since I've just spent the weekend in the company of Ruggero Deodato and Lamberto Bava (more on this later!), then the question is easy this week: What is your favourite films of both these fine directors?"

Keith Brown (Giallo Fever)

My favourite Deodato has to be Cannibal Holocaust. It's an obvious choice, admittedly, but one that I think is warranted. It's a brutally intelligent film, and the one that he's forever going to be known for. If it, Last Cannibal World and House on the Edge of the Park were ruled out of the equation, I would go for Waves of Lust, or class war on a boat.

My favourite Bava film is The Midnight Killer / You'll Die at Midnight, with A Blade in the Dark a close second.

Matthew Bradford (Double O Section)

I just saw both of those guys at LA's Fangoria Con a few months ago! Both were extremely friendly and gracious, if not especially fluent in English. My favorite Deodato is easy: THE BARBARIANS! I love that movie. It's one of the most fun of the whole post-Conan 80s barbarian wave. And it really rises above its gimmick casting with some truly inspired sequences (like how the brothers are trained to hate each other for gladiatorial combat) and a surprisingly slick look.

I mean no offence to Lamberto Bava when I say that my favorite movie of his is one attributed to his father: Shock. It's no secret that Mario let Lamberto co-direct, and I think the son really shows his own style--in a good way. The movie has more in common stylistically with A Blade In the Dark (which would be my second choice) than, say, Bay of Blood. I think it's a fitting collaboration that essentially launched one career and bid farewell to another.

Kit Nygaard-Gavin

For Lamberto Bava, it's quite a difficult one, because the quality of his work as director has really varied.

If it was a film where Lamberto has worked in a director's capacity but not alone, I would go for Mario Bava's last feature, which he codirected with Lamberto, being LA VENERE D'ILLE (which for some reason people translate as THE VENUS OF THE ISLAND). I really enjoy this movie, because I enjoyed reading the short story by Merimée on which it is based when I was a teenager. That and the film has lots of ambiance, is extremely well shot, and features an excellent performance by Daria Nicolodi.

If it is Lamberto on his own, I do tend to enjoy his horror movies/gialli he made in the early 1980's. I am not really a fan of DEVIL FISH (though the cast is good and there are some interesting side plots), and I really don't like BLAST FIGHTER. MACABRE is an excellent nasty little movie, which an interesting story line and a really good performance by Bernice Stegers in the lead role. But, though the performance's aren't quite as strong, I would have to go for A BLADE IN THE DARK. I really enjoy this thriller, it has all these wonderful little nods by Lamberto to set pieces in his fathers works, such as KILL BABY KILL, FIVE DOLLS FOR AN AUGUST MOON (replacing marbles with tennis balls), BLOOD AND BLACK LACE, etc. It's also a giallo (a genre I love), and is really good fun to watch. There is some wonderfully bad dialogue ("You're a female...you're a female", and something about being "a vacant nerd"), a not too bad score, and yeah, A BLADE IN THE DARK is my choice for Lamberto as sole director.

Having met and being in contact with most of the cast members adds some interest/novelty to the movie too I hasten to add.

As for Deodato, that's another difficult one. Would you be shocked if I said LAST FEELINGS? Thought as much, so I won't - though I admit I have sat through that turgid melodrama. I do have a soft spot for JUNGLE HOLOCAUST, not because I particularly like the film, but because it was the first DVD that I ever worked on when I started out in the world of "extras" for DVDs. I have memories of watching that film and conducting that commentary that will stick in the memory for a long time yet... but that's not so much to do with the film.

It would be un-PC to to say CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, though I do admire that film as it delivers lots of shocks and is, in fact, extremely efficient and very well made and delivers completely on all fronts - and then some. Well, PC generally doesn't have anything to do with making choices so I am going to go for THE HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK (again, I know quite a few cast members and, of course, I have met and know Deodato quite well too).

HOUSE again is a shocking movie but it has a good cast, is well acted and has an austere, claustrophobic atmosphere which, although it opens with a shocking opening, continually plays with the viewers expectations. House on the Edge of the Park it is.

KingMob (Dear Bastards)

I'll have to go with The House On The Edge Of The Park from Deodato, as it's the only film I've seen of his. Sorry, but I've yet to steal myself for the animal torture of Cannibal Holocaust, and I have a copy of Cut And Run that I just haven't gotten around to. David Hess stretches his acting chops playing a creep and you get all the unpleasantness that comes with that sort of thing.

Bava's Demons comes to mind first, just because it's the first film I saw by him, though it's in stiff competition with A Blade In The Dark, which I really liked in spite of a cameo from that little blond weasel from The House By The Cemetery. Demons is just a lot of fun because it defies any kind of real logic and just runs with the concept of a bunch of people dying or being possessed in a theater.

Kim (Cinebeats)

It's nearly impossible to name just one film by each director so I'll cheat and name two.

My favorite Deodato films are the classic Cannibal Holocaust (it also has one of my favorite Riz Ortolani scores) and Phantom of Death with an incredible cast that includes Michael York, Edwige Fenech and the late great Donald Pleasence.

As for Lamberto Bava, it's really tough to just name two films from his impressive filmography, but I'm going to go with his excellent Macabro and the original Demons movie. Both are truly terrific! Lamberto Bava often gets overshadowed by his more famous father, but I love his films.

The Roundtable: Week 9

"Since I've just spent the weekend in the company of Ruggero Deodato and Lamberto Bava (more on this later!), then the question is easy this week: What is your favourite films of both these fine directors?"

Answers by email or comment by Thursday! Thanks again!

The Roundtable: Week 8 - Your Contributions

"After enjoying a strange double-bill of Cliffhanger and Critters 4 the other evening, what would be or has been your ideal messed up Grindhouse/Horror/Arthouse/Cult/Whatever movie combo? Give me as many as you like!"

Matthew Bradford (Double0Section)

Having recently seen Tiptoes, it occurred to me that that would make a weirdly excellent double feature with The Sinful Dwarf. Or maybe Tiptoes and The Terror of Tiny Town.

I think Cobra and Reds would have a wonderful dialogue with each other.... although you'd be in for a long night. The great thing about Cobra is that it works with just about anything (especially when there's enough liquor on hand) and produces odd, interesting results.

The Seventh Seal and Deathstalker 2 would be a pretty mindblowing combo, too, albeit a tad pretentious. I think I'll try that one!
Once completely by accident I watched the last two episodes of The Prisoner and then went to see 2001 in 70mm. That turned out to be an amazingly perfect combination. I recommend it.

Kingmob (Dear Bastards)

I guess I'm going for the more oddball pairings with this answer, because consulting my list of watched films tell me that in the past few months I've ended up watching, either by choice or by the chance arrival of Netflix films, the following double bills, either back to back or within the same 24 hour period:

Laid To Rest (contemporary slasher/special effects extravaganza) backed with Wong Kar Wai's sublime love story, Chungking Express

as well as:

The Good, The Bad And The Weird (Korean Western actioner from director Kim Ji-woon that must be seen by everyone) followed up with a long delayed look at a Hollywood classic, All About Eve.

What can I say? I wanna make sure I'm not missing out on stuff from all genres.

Holger Haase (Hammer and Beyond)

I recently watched THE BLUE DAHLIA followed by DRIVE IN MASSACRE. That should qualify as a strange mix. ;-)

Kit Nygaard-Gavin

Les Bronzés / Goodbye Emmanuelle (both have a soundtrack by Gainsbourg) sort of connected.

Exorcist the Beginning / Dominion ( an interesting double bill, of two very flawed movies. I do like the set design too of the early church.

Emanuelle's Revenge / Conversation Piece. Balancing sleaze with Visconti's masterpiece (with a somewhat trashy edge)

Savage Streets / a 60s British Hammer film. After sleazy violent trash, worth clearing the mind with some silly tongue in cheek horror.

The Candy Snatchers / The Wicker Man - both excellent multi-textured movies.

Divine Emanuelle / Beyond the Valley of the Dolls - love the kitsch feel and music for both these films.

Story of O / the Nun of Monza,two of my favourite actresses appear naked. And frequently...

Michael McKenzie (Land of Whimsy)

Hmm... so many possibilities, so little time. Here's a few I'd get a kick out of:

I think I'd like to see a back-to-back combo of a really trashy giallo and a more artsy one - perhaps one of Sergio Martino's Edwige Fenech jaunts followed by Argento's DEEP RED. Or alternatively, Antonioni's BLOWUP followed by DEEP RED, as a sort of "David Hemmings investigates..." double bill.

BAY OF BLOOD followed by FRIDAY THE 13TH, as a sort of expose on the origins of the American 80s slasher movie phenomenon.

And, just for a laugh, Disney's version of ALICE IN WONDERLAND followed by the X-rated version directed by Bud Townsend and starring Kristine DeBell.

Douglas Waltz (Divine Exploitation)

I call mine the disillusioned double feature.
Many moons ago I used to order a lot of video from a grey market vendor whose name escapes me for the moment.
Anyway, I used to order a lot of them purely by title and this didn't always work to my advantage. So, my two flicks in my double feature would have to be.

Insert drumroll.

SOMETIMES AUNT MARTHA DOES DREADFUL THINGS
&
TOWER OF THE SCREAMING VIRGINS

With Aunt Martha I really had no idea what to expect. I figured some crazy lady who did dreadful things. No brainer, right? Yeah, wrong. Instead what I got was a bizarro flick about this guy who dresses up like a woman and is in hiding with his gay lover Stanley who likes to seduce young women, but then not do the deed. That's when 'Aunt Martha' shows up in a bad wig and whacks these young ladies.
Shot in Florida back in the seventies, this is the epitome of sleaze. You want drug culture? Check. You need a ton of nudity from lots of ladies? Check. How about a crazed transvestitie chasing her/his boyfriend around the house, cackling like a madman? Yeah, we got that to. Aunt Martha is so densely packed that most people can't get through it in one sitting. I, on the other hand, have watched it numerous times. Why? Not sure.
Then we wind it down with a good old fashioned horror flik, right?
Nope.
Tower OF The Screaming Virigns is actually based on an Alexander Dumas story. This means a lot of swash for your buckle. Seems that the Queen of France is a sexual beast and The King of France is impotent. Her and her lady friends get together and have their faithful guard round up some young studs for a night of pleasure. Then the studs get slaughtered.
That's right, the virgins in the title? It's the dudes? How misleading is that? With that being said, this is actually pretty damned entertaining. The lead swashbuckler whose name sounds like they are saying Prairie Dawn, is your basic blonde haired, bluie eyed womanizer. There are acres of suplle female flesh and many more acres of horrid period costumes. Really, really bad period costumes. One guy even looks like Phil Collins and his name sounds like 'laundry'. That's really what they call the poor bastard throughout the flick. Hilarious and the potential for MST3K style riffing is abundant.
So, there ya go. SOMETIMES AUNT MARTHA DOES DREADFUL THINGS & TOWER OF THE SCREAMING VIRGINS is my vote for best Grindhouse style double feature ever.

Mike Den Boer (10k Bullets)

My strange double bill would be Richard Rush’s Color of Night and Kathryn Bigelow's Point Break.

The Roundtable: Week 8

"After enjoying a strange double-bill of Cliffhanger and Critters 4 the other evening, what would be or has been your ideal messed up Grindhouse/Horror/Arthouse/Cult/Whatever movie combo? Give me as many as you like!"

Answers by email or comment for Thursday at the latest! Thanks again!

The Roundtable: Week 7 - Your Contributions

"Outside of 007, what is your favourite Spy/Eurospy movie? If you have more than one then give us a top 3!"

Ian Price

The Spy Who Came In From The Cold
The Ipcress File
The Mackintosh Man

Keith Brown (Giallo Fever)

For me the 007 part of the question is pretty much irrelevant: I do not like Bond films, maybe because I associate them more with Roger Moore and beyond.

Perhaps because of this the Spy / Eurospy film is something I'm more aware of in the breach than the observance; I'd recommend that anyone who has an interest in the cycle gets a copy of Matt Blake's Eurospy Guide ASAP.

These caveats aside, I can still give a top three:

First, Jess Franco's Lucky the Inscrutable, a charming little film with good humoured performances from Ray Danton and Rosalba Neri and a cool Bruno Nicolai pop soundtrack.

Second, Fritz Lang's The Thousand Eyes of Dr Mabuse, the late Mabuse entry from the man who laid the foundations for the genre pre-Hitchcock with Spione.

Third, Joseph Losey's Modesty Blaise. In truth, it's not that good a film and Losey seems ill-suited to the material, but it's got Monica Vitti and Terence Stamp and I'm a big fan of the comic strip and novels; tellingly the filmmakers pretty much threw away Peter O'Donnell's script.

Kit Nygaard-Gavin

For me it has to be:-

1. Le tigre se parfume à la dynamite
Roger Hanin and the luscious Margaret Lee, directed by Chabrol - need I say more??
http://www.cinema-nocturna.com/le_tigre_se_parfume_a_la_dynamit_review.htm
(A review I wrote back in the day)

2. Pas de roses per OSS 117
This is the best of the 1960s OSS 117 movies, the cast and ambience really add something to the movie. The poster art is on the cover of the fantastic French coffret containing all the 1960s films.

3. OSS 117: Le Caire nid d'espions
[One of the most recent Euro Sy movies proving that the genre is not completely dead and buried - I believe a sequel is on it's way]
The mood and ambience is spot on to the 1960s and a worthy successor to the earlier "Jean Bruce" movies. It also pays hommage and credit to it's predecessors.

Douglas A. Waltz (Divine Exploitation)

Being a huge Franco fan I am going to go ahead and cast my vote for the lovely ladies of the Red Lips Detective Agency. That means that my favorite Eurospy flick would have to be KISS ME MONSTER.

KingMob (Dear Bastards)

How much would it show my age if I said the Bourne stuff? I'm just not a huge fan of spy material, but I have really enjoyed that series of films, and in spite of the diminishing returns, the Austin Powers stuff was amusing for what it is.

I would also mention being a big fan of The Avengers television show from my childhood, but I think that had more to do with Diana Rigg than with an interest in spies.

Matthew Bradford (Double O Section)

Great question! But, my God, it's a hard one! This is exactly what my whole blog is devoted to, so it's really tough for me to pick just three! I'll solve that by limiting myself to just Eurospy titles, thus disqualifying some sublime mainstream fare like Billion Dollar Brain and The President's Analyst and making it easier to pick... My very favorite is Deadlier Than the Male, with its astonishingly sexy speargun-toting, bikini-clad killer duo of Elke Sommer and Sylva Koscina. Besides them, you've got great locations, a solid hero in Richard Johnson, a finale on a giant chessboard, a terrific score and that wonderful Walker Brothers theme song! It's bliss.

Some people might quibble with the notion of Danger: Diabolik as a spy movie, but it is, through and through. It may not have a spy hero, but it's got all the trappings, which are far more important to the genre: the cars, the girls, the setpieces, the lair! I'll venture into more obscure territory for my third pick and choose Otley, with Tom Courtenay. This one's an incredibly fun example of the regular-guy-mistaken-for-a-spy subgenre, and it all takes place in Swinging London at the height of its swing! A woefully overlooked Sixties gem. These are all classy films, though, so they're not really representative of sheer Eurospy sleaze. If that's what you're after, you can't go wrong with any of the Kommisar X films. Now could I possibly stretch your three-film limit any further?

Holger Haase (Hammer and Beyond)

My favourite is definitely the Bulldog Drummond movie DEADLIER THAN THE MALE. I actually much prefer this one to a lot of the James Bond movie.

Guilty pleasure: MODESTY BLAISE. I know it doesn't get a lot of love and has little to do with the original novels, but it's so much fun!!!

Dark Horse as it doesn't get talked about much is LE MAGNIFIQUE/THE MAGNIFICENT ONE, a wonderful French homage/parody with Jean Paul Belmondo and an absolutely stunnning Jacqueline Bisset.

I am also a great fan of the JERRY COTTON and KOMMISSAR X series that are constantly mentioned as part of the Eurospy phenomenon, but I could never quite figure out why as none of them actually feature spies! Jerry Cotton is an FBI agent, Kommissar X a Private Eye.

The Roundtable: Week 7

Here we go again, the start of another week!

"Outside of 007, what is your favourite Spy/Eurospy movie? If you have more than one then give us a top 3!"

Ok, replies as soon as you can, either by comment or email Wednesday or Thursday at the latest, thanks again!

The Roundtable: Week 6 - Your Contributions

"What is your favourite horror/cult movie tagline?"

Joshua Lew (CinemaCafePodcast)

It's a toss up between a slew of really, well, I'll let the lines speak for themselves:

"Man is the warmest place to hide"
- The Thing (1982)

"Can a full grown woman truly love a midget?"
- Freaks (1932)

"Take the stairs. Take the stairs. For God's sake, take the stairs!!!"
- The Lift (1983)

"You have the right to remain silent. Forever."
- Maniac Cop (1988)

"Are you heterosexual?"
- Orgy of the Dead (1965)

Kingmob (Dear Bastards)

I feel that my choice may be a little obvious/easy, but the first thing that springs to mind is 1982's Pieces, if only because it sports two great taglines: You Don't Have To Go To Texas For A Chainsaw Massacre! as well as the equally awesome Pieces... It's Exactly What You Think It Is!

Plus it has that crazy gal screaming "Bastard! Bastard! Baaastard!" in one scene, which always makes me laugh.

Matthew Bradford (Double O Section)

It's not a horror movie, but I think anything directed by Ken Russell qualifies as "cult." One of my favorite taglines ever is for Russell's spy flick Billion Dollar Brain, in which Michael Caine's Harry Palmer takes on a supercomputer with the simple yet effective tagline, "Caine vs. Brain!" (The poster is actually loaded with taglines, and the other one's pretty good too: "It's taken man thousands of years to do what the brain can do in seconds... destroy the world! What are you going to do about that, Michael Caine?") For stricter horror, I'm going to go with Dracula AD 1972: "The Count is back with an eye for London's hotpants... and a taste for everything!" Both posters in question hang on my wall, as much for their taglines as for their artwork.

Louis Fowler (Damaged 2.0)

PREDATOR 2: "He's in town with a few days to kill!"

Keith Brown (Giallo Fever)

I like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre's "Who Will Survive and What Will be Left of them" and "What Happened is true. Now the motion picture that's just as real" one-two combo.

Totally untrue, of course, but it drew the audiences in.

Ian Price

TRAPPED IN TIME.
SURROUNDED BY EVIL.
LOW ON GAS.

Army of Darkness

Holger Haase (Hammer and Beyond)

Simple....

Love means never having to say you're ugly. (Abominable Dr. Phibes)

I am ashamed to admit that I have quoted this time and again.

Erin

Invasion of the Blood Farmers: They plant the living and harvest the dead!

This is due to my love of watching schlock trailers from the 60s and 70s.

2nd runner up: Teenage Mother: Means 9 months of trouble!

Douglas Waltz (Divine Exploitation)

Probably the one I hear the most because it is one of my favorite flicks of all time;

"When there is no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth" Kind of lame, but I think that line just has a lot of pop to it and sticks in your head.

The Roundtable: Week 6

Right, as promised The Roundtable returns, so let's go!

"What is your favourite horror/cult movie tagline?"

Ok, replies as soon as you can, either by comment or email Wednesday or Thursday at the latest, thanks again!

Roundtable Back!

After, what seems like a month of loads of work interspersed with lots drinking due to Stag nights and birthdays, the Roundtable will return this Sunday! Looking forward to your many and varied responses!

Week 5 - Contributions

"What has been your best experience watching a genre/horror/cult classic in a movie theatre that otherwise you'd perhaps only seen on VHS or DVD?"

Erin

I saw Blue Velvet as a college assignment freshman year (1992) at the student union theater. It was supposed to be shocking us out of our conservative mindsets, creating new Weltaunshaungs, ways of seeing, blah blah blah. I loved being the only kid who had already seen it, probably 10 times or more by then, and watching everyone else get offended while I laughed at some of Frank's more outrageous statements. Fun to make the snotty professors (there were two of them) realize that all of us weren't bumpkins to whom they were bringing fire for the first time. My parents always let me watch whatever I wanted, so I didn't realize I was supposed to have been offended; it was just an awesome movie!

Kim (Cinebeats)

Seeing Argento's Suspiria in Berkeley sometime in the mid '90s was a pretty memorable experience because I just loved seeing it on a big screen, but the print wasn't that good and the audience was annoying. Another great experience for me was seeing the classic Jacques Tourneur film Night of the Demon. The print was terrific and there was practically no one in the audience but myself and the few friends who came with me. Everyone should experience Tourneur and Argento in a theatre.

Holger Haase (Hammer and Beyond)

The films didn't matter, but the company did so I have to say the fun filled weekend in Baltimore that I spent with the Eurotrash Paradise folks a few years ago (3?) in Baltimore.

Kingmob (Dear Bastards)

Bearing in mind that I live in a rather small town, exciting theatrical experiences are few and far between, but one in particular does stick out. I recall attending a midnight screening of Heavy Metal that was a lot of fun, as the crowd was composed of a nice cross section of fans, some who had been waiting to see the film again in a theater for a good long time, others who had seen it on its initial run in the early 80's; it was a great experience. I honestly can't recall the circumstances of the theatrical showing, perhaps in anticipation of the VHS release of the film? This would've been in the late 90's when it happened. It was a fun film to catch on the big screen, with an audience that was there to enjoy themselves.

Matthew (Double O Section)

Seeing The Wicker Man in a packed house at Los Angeles' Egyptian Theatre, I remember being awed that the movie was so unsettling, put people under such a spell, that there was Christopher Lee in a dress and a wig leading a crazy procession and no one was laughing! They were all too entranced or too creeped out. That's the power of cinema in action!

Ian Price

When in my youth I'd often sneak
Into a flea pit there to seek
A fantasy of creepy thrills
Designed to give the punter thrills.
Bela, Boris, Chaney all
Were welcome friends in the front stall
But as time flew - as needs it must
I found myself desiring just
A change of pace - a hint of colouTo satisfy my love of horror
And so it was, I must relate
I saw an X certificate.
Lee and Cushing made a mark
As I sat gibbering in the dark
Whilst watching with a rictus grin
My eyes devouring every sin.
Excired to a nervous stammer
I realised I'd witnessed Hammer.

And nothing was ever the same again.

Keith Brown (Giallo Fever)

Seeing the Grindhouse releasing print of The Beyond, complete with the trailer reel for Massacre Mafia Style, Cannibal Ferox and so on at Dead by Dawn horror film festival many years back.

Week 5 - The Roundtable

Following on from my post about watching Zombi in a movie theatre, this weeks Roundtable question is simply as follows:

"What has been your best experience watching a genre/horror/cult classic in a movie theatre that otherwise you'd perhaps only seen on VHS or DVD?"

Week 4 - Roundtable Contributions

Thanks as always guys, much appreciated. Week 5 might be up a little later than usual as it is my brothers stag weekend coming up at Loch Lomond, so I might need some recovery time.....

Joshua Lew (Cinema Cafe Podcast)

This one’s easy. Hands down without a doubt the greatest horror/genre movie icon is...Pumpkinhead, or maybe it's the movie villains with my favorite tagline, Rats: Hide the Cheese. In all seriousness though my favorite horror icon has always been Michael Myers. Sure most of the Halloween films are pretty terrible, but the ones that are good are great. So yeah, my vote goes to the man who wears the inside out William Shatner mask.

Kim Lindbergs (Cinebeats)

I really love super kriminals like Diabolik, Sadistik and the female Satanik. They're very iconic and represent a lot of what I love about Euro trash cinema!

Michael McKenzie (Land of Whimsy)

For me it's going to have to be the quintessential black-gloved killer who terrorised many an Edwige Fenech and Nieves Navarro in the scores of giallo movies produced in Italy in the late 60s and early 70s. I know that strictly speaking that isn't a conventional "killer icon" in the Freddy Krueger or Michael Myers tradition, since there were as many individual giallo killers as there were gialli, but I think it says something about the image of the unidentified killer dressed completely in black, often with a matching fedora, that it reappeared in so many films and even had an influence outside the genre. Think of the killer in David Fincher's SE7EN, for example, in the scene where Brad Pitt chases him through the rain-drenched alleyways of New York. Who is is he if not the iconic giallo killer reborn for a new generation?

Holger Haase (Hammer and Beyond)

Clearly Dr Fu Manchu in all its incarnations. I love the original books (at least the ones I have read so far) and I follow the good Doctor along in all his appearances whether it is on film, on radion or in comics (Master of Kung Fu). You just can't keep a bad guy down. Where's my elixir of life when I need it?

KingMob (Dear Bastards)

Of the Modern Era of horror films, I would honestly have to go with Leatherface, in spite of all the cross-dressing nonsense in TCM: The Next Generation, and other variations that the character has gone through in the remakes. The Leatherface of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a chilling creation, a leather-aproned psycho who could be lurking in any creepy old house you stumble onto in a remote area, ready to lay you out with a hammer to the head and string you up for meat.

Douglas Waltz (Divine Exploitation)

Okay, if I understand your question, you want me to not choose from the Universal classics or the slasher icons from the 80's and 90's. If that is correct, are there any true horror icons that stand up to the reputations of any of these characters? I mean, there is Jigsaw. I imagine he would count. But, one character that has been in multiple films like all these iconic characters that stands out?
I'm going to have to go with the answer that horror hasn't recently cultivated any character that deserves the same sort of respect that the aforementioned icons receive.
My answer is that I do not have one.

Ian Price

Bruce Campbell as Ash in EDI, EDII and Army of Darkness.
Tim Thomerson as Jack Deth in Trancers.

Keith Brown (Giallo Fever)

Beyond Jigsaw from the Saw franchise – none of which I've seen, so can't comment on – I'm not too sure who's left to choose from.

Damien from the Omen films, Regan from Exorcist and Exorcist II, the Sawyers from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre films and Hannibal Lektor are all recurring and or iconic characters, but might also be too mainstream to count as alternative.

Many of the other figure that come to mind are either one-offs or representatives of a type, like the zombie, the werewolf, Barbara Steele's dualistic monster-victims, and the black-gloved faceless killer.

A couple of figures that do come to mind beyond this are Dr Freudstein in Fulci's The House by the Cemetery and The Red Queen in Edouardo Mulargia's The Red Queen Kills Seven Times, both of whom I think have an interesting look and back-story / mythology.

Another, in a more reality-horror / arthouse than genre direction is Philippe Nahon's Butcher in Gaspar Noe's Carne, Seul contre tour and Irreversible.

The Roundtable: Week 4

"Outwith the classics: Dracula, Frankenstein and so on and outwith the modern icons: Freddy, Michael and Jason, who is your favourite or alternative Horror/Genre movie icon?"

Once again by email or comment get your replies to me by Wed/Thurs, thanks!