Oliver Carter

Unbelievable!  Firstly, I should state that I didn't, nor would I ever, watch it but the first scene of a recent episode of the awful Channel 4 show Hollyoaks features a homage to Dario Argento's Suspiria (1977).  The interesting thing is that it appears to have no relevance to the plot of the episode (I have not watched the whole episode, feel free to let me know if I am incorrect).  Check out yourself in the video the below, it is the first scene after the credits.

So was the director of the episode a fan who was so excited about buying the recent UK Blu-Ray release of the film that he had to pay homage to it in Hollyoaks?

Thanks to Jonny over at Lovelockandload for pointing this out.

One of the most important figures in the development of the Euro-Cult fan scene in the USA has passed away.  Chas Balun, author of the fanzine Deep Red and numerous other publications, lost a long battle with cancer.  Rest in peace.

Source: Fangoria

It was 1994.  I read John Martin's review of the Redemption Films VHS release of Dario Argento's Profondo Rosso (aka Deep Red,1975) in The Dark Side horror magazine.  I must have read it about ten times until I was curious enough to purchase the video from Tower Records in Birmingham City Centre.  I recall seeing it amongst a number of other Redemption VHS releases, all of them having the same sleeve template but each with unusual front cover images.  Once I got home I immediately watched the film.  I was drawn into the investigation; just what was it that Marc Daly (David Hemmings) saw, who could be the murderer?  Once the film ended I had to watch it again from the beginning, I had never seen anything quite like it before.  From there on I was hooked on gialli.  I started to seek out other Argento films, which was not an easy task in the pre-DVD era.  I am now researching Euro-Cult fandom, it has become a large part of my life.  And this all stems from reading a review of the Redemption Films VHS release.

Yesterday, it was announced that Redemption Films has gone into administration; a buyer is currently being sought in order to save the company.  Redemption Films were undoubtedly one of the key players in the rise of giallo fandom in the mind 1990s.  Their VHS releases, many in original aspect ratios and in original native language, enabled Euro-Cult fans to experience many rare films which they had only read about in fanzines.  Titles such as What Have They Done to Solange? (aka Cosa avete fatto a Solange?, Massimo Dallamano, 1972), Who Saw Her Die? (aka Chi l'ha vista morire?, Aldo Lado, 1972) and The Fifth Cord (aka Giornata nera per l'ariete, Luigi Bazzoni, 1971) were given releases, many of which fell foul of the strict video censorship regime present during the James Ferman era of the BBFC.  For those that wanted to find uncut versions of Redemption releases you would have to go to Holland or try your luck at some of the UK film fairs and find their 'Benelux' releases.  I was able to purchase an uncut copy of Mario Bava's Bay of Blood (aka Reazione a catena, 1971) at a Memorabilia event at Birmingham's NEC in the mid nineties. 

The unusual cover designs separated opinion.  Some fans liked the somewhat 'gothic' take yet others would have preferred the original cover art.  Some did not care as long as they kept on releasing rare gems.  Releasing niche titles meant low sales and little profit.  The little known giallo Crazy Desires of a Murderer (aka I vizi morbosi di una governante, Filippo Walter Ratti, 1971) reportedly only sold 150 copies.  Many fans hoped for Redemption to re-release their entire Euro-Cult catalogue on DVD but only a very few of their titles found their way on to the disc format.  The quality of many of their releases left a lot to be desired.  The last Redemption release I purchased was Killer's Moon (Alan Birkinshaw, 1978); a little-known British exploitationer set in the Lake District. 

Perhaps the giallo would not be as popular as it is if it were not for Redemption Films.  Marc Morris, who worked on many of Redemption VHS releases, now has his own label Nucleus Films and works closely with Nouveaux Pictures, Arrow Films and this generation's incarnation of Redemption, Shameless Screen Entertainment.  If Redemption fails to find a buyer and disappears into home video history like many other independent labels over the past few years it should never be forgotten forgiving Euro-Cult cinema the attention it deserved.

This has been my most sought after film poster and I have just purchased it from an Italian eBay seller.  It cost more than I wanted to spend but this poster does not turn up on eBay too often.  I will be getting it framed as soon as it arrives.

A documentary on the lesser known Italian poliziesco film movement is currently in production.  The producers of the (hopefully) forthcoming documentary Eurocrime have run in to funding problems.  Even though they have received interest in the documentary from some outlets they have been struggling to find money to complete production.  The main issue they are having is finding money to license clips from films so that they can be used in the documentary.  Those who have expressed interest in financing product have no been willing to give money up front, instead wanting to see the finished documentary first before committing.

So, with some suggestions from Jonny, the head honcho over at Lovelockandload, Mike Malloy, one of the producers of the documentary, is asking Euro-Cult fans to contribute funds to help finish the project.  A page has been setup on the project funding website Kickstarter which offers different levels ranging from $5 to $5000.  For each level of donation there is a reward.  For example, $5000 earns an executive producer credit, whilst a $5 donation will give the funder access to project updates.  The aim is to reach $10,000 dollars by January 26 2010.  The pledges will not leave the funder's account if the target is not reached by this date.  Any Euro-Cult fans reading this are encouraged to contribute whatever they can to this worthwhile project. 

Using a platform such as Kickstarter, which is currently being used to fund many multimedia projects, and relying on contributions from fans demonstrates the changing nature of fandom and independent production.  This will be something I will be giving attention to in future research.  It will be interesting to see whether the full amount of funding can achieved through Kickstarter.  Fingers crossed.

The excellent advance trailer which features excerpts from some of completed interviews can be found below.  This promises to be something special.

On Sunday I went to the Memorabilia fair at the NEC in Birmingham. For those of you that do not know, Memorabilia is a glorified fan convention centred around movie memorabilia though it is increasingly incorporating sports memorabilia too. I have been going to these events since I was 16 and usually come back feeling disappointed or ripped off. Admission to the event is getting more expensive each year. The tickets are now £11 each and parking, on the railway station car park, is £6. £28 for a few hours out is a tad extortionate but still makes for a fun afternoon out where you can stare at z-list celebrities who want over £10 for a signed photo and laugh as people push and shove each other a DVD stands paying hugely inflated prices for discs that can be purchased online for over half the price. There is also the odd Darth Vader and StormTrooper lurking around and clearly in their element.

What I noticed about Sunday's event was that there was hardly anyone there which is hardly surprising considering the rising admission costs. I actually had a good time and thought this was one of the best Memorabilia events that I had been to. I managed to pick up the latest issue of 'Is it Uncut?', the best British horror magazine/fanzine period, direct from Midnight Media and met David Kerekes and co at the Headpress stand who were very friendly. Headpress are an independent publisher famous for their excellent journal of sex, religion of death also called Headpress. Kerekes is an authority on the mondo film, his books Killing for Culture, which is being rereleased in an updated version, and See No Evil are must haves for anyone with an interest in the darker side of cinema.

I also met Craig from MovieTyme who kindly let me have the HD-DVDs of Clerks 2 (2006) and Enter the Dragon (1973) for £24. I cannot recommend MovieTyme highly enough, they are the best supplier of High-Definition titles and offer an excellent, friendly service. I managed to cut a deal with another seller and get some back issues of Video Watchdog for a cheap price and finally found an extremely rare poster of V for Vendetta (2005) for £10 which is now worth four times that if not more (pictured above). A good haul for once, could have spent much more but was happy with what I found.

I did not manage to find to the German DVD release of the horror film Rituals (aka The Creeper) (1977) but ordered that on Monday from Chainsaw Video in Holland or the Another World Entertainment release of The New York Ripper (1982) which I also ordered Monday from Absurd in Denmark. Also purchased the uncut Dutch release of Abel Ferrara's Fear City (1984) from eBay. This is a film I have been wanting to see for quite some time now. In addition to the Mario Bava boxset, I should have plenty of viewing to keep me busy over the Easter holiday!