INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OF THE DAY

From the stupendously good Riki-Oh: The Story of Riki, d. Lam Nai-Choi (1991)

VINO COLLAPSO

The Grapes of Death, d. Jean Rollin (1978)

More aesthetically pleasing torpor from French auteur, Jean Rollin. The Grapes of Death is about a remote wine producing area in France where indiscriminate use of pesticides has poisoned the crop and turned everyone into scabby psychopaths. Only teetotallers and beer drinkers are safe. Various beautiful women find themselves in peril, some for a very short period of time. Breasts are bared, heads removed. There is a great deal of pus. 

The film looks gorgeous, but is essentially the same thing over and over again. That’s not a problem, but there are more interesting pesticide based horror films out there if you’re looking for something more generally stimulating. Transmission ends.     

ONWARDS AND UPWARDS

Lucifer Rising, d. Kenneth Anger (1972)

The occult + myth + pseudoscience + drugs + Anger = ART.  

INVOCATIVE

Invocation Of My Demon Brother, d. Kenneth Anger (1969)

Magick, Satanism, homoeroticism, psychedelia, a convicted murderer, Mick Jagger, a cat funeral. What more can you ask from a ten minute film?

HER AIM IS TRUE

Pam Grier lines up a shot in Sheba, Baby (1975)

2016 FILM DIARY, PART FOUR

From Revolt In The Big House 

01.04.2016 - 30.04.2016

Spectre, d. Sam Mendes (2015)
2001: A Space Odyssey, d. Stanley Kubrick (1968)
Dr Orloff's Invisible Monster, d.  Pierre Chevalier (1970)
Herakles, d. Werner Herzog (1962)
The Great Ecstasy of the Woodcarver Steiner, d. Werner Herzog (1974)
Wodaabe: Herdsmen of the Sun, d. Werner Herzog (1989)
The Pyx, d. Harvey Hart (1973)
The Silent Partner, d. Daryl Duke (1978)
Hellish Spiders, d. Federico Curiel (1968)
Santos vs the Killers From Other Worlds, d. Ruben Galindo (1971)
Fury of the Karate Killers, d. Alfredo B. Crevenna (1982)
Blue Sunshine, d. Jeff Lieberman (1978)
Airborn, d. Chas Wyndham (1968)
Eyetoon, d. Jerry Adams (1968)
Film Form No. 1, d. Stan Van Der Beck (1970)
La Couleur de la Forme, d. Hy Hirsh (1960)
The Doppler Effect, d. Dan Agnew (1969)
Education For Death, d. Clyde Gerenomi (1943)
Beasts Of No Nation, d. Cary Jogi Fukunaga (2015)
The Gambler, d. Karel Reisz (1974)
Straight Time, d. Uli Grosbard (1978)
Top Of The Heap, d. Christopher St. John (1972)
Partisan, d. Ariel Kleiman (2015)
Lonelyhearts, d. Vincent J. Donehue (1958)
Freud:The Secret Passion, d. John Huston (1962) 
Shock Corridor, d. Samuel Fuller (1963)
Shock Treatment, d. Denis Sanders (1964)
Kitten With A Whip, d. Douglas Heyes (1963)
The Swinger, d. George Sidney (1966)
Lord Love-a-Duck, d. George Axelrod (1966) 
Brute Force, d. Jules Dassin (1947)
Revolt In The Big House, d. R.G Springsteen (1958)
Caged Heat, d. Jonathan Demme (1974)
Premature Burial, d. Roger Corman (1962)
Queen of Blood, d. Curtis Harrington (1966)
Voyage To The Prehistoric Planet, d. Curtis Harrington (1965) 
Voyage To The Planet Of Prehistoric Women, d. Derek Thomas (1968) 

THE ILLNESS OF THE TIMES

Top Of The Heap, d. Christopher St. John (1972)

In hindsight, the Blaxploitation era was mixed blessing, not least because of the somewhat limited opportunities given to black stars and directors to express themselves outside of a narrow range of crime and action tropes. Christopher St John*, however, bucked the trend by writing, producing, directing and starring in Top Of The Heap, proving once and for all that disjointed and self-indulgent self-discovery art films were not just the preserve of well-heeled white directors. 

St John plays a Washington cop struggling with rage and relationships and his place in the world as a ‘black pig’. His everyday grind is supplemented by fantasy sequences in which he plays an astronaut, a political activist, and a back to basics naturist. It’s a strange film with some unusual sequences but, ultimately, is neither interesting or compelling enough to make up for a basic lack of point.  

* Not his real name.

WOULD YOU ADAM AND EVE IT?

COMENICHINO: The Rebuke of Adam and Eve (1626)

At first glance, there’s something quite comical about this picture. And at second, third and fourth glances. I think it’s the facial expressions. That said, it’s quite a tense situation. God turns up, on a cloud, wearing a shorty dressing gown, with his retinue of putti (the chubby babies who are often mistakenly called cherubim. Cherubim are much more powerful and sinister entities), and angrily asks what the heck is happening, apple wise. Adam shrugs and gestures to Eve, Eve points to the serpent, the serpent says ‘who me?’, while a gammy looking lamb and a misshapen lion look on with ‘ohhh shit’ expressions. It may be slightly daft, but I think it sums up the circumstances and emotions of The Fall perfectly.

THE WISDOM OF SANTO

Santo isn't just a big hunk of beefcake with a nose for trouble and fists of iron, he's also a very sensitive guy with a well-defined personal philosophy. In this new series, we look at some of the key tenets of his teachings.

TWEET

...and you may say to yourself 'how did I get here'?