VW's Favorite DVDs of 2010: Heather Drain

Heather Drain is VIDEO WATCHDOG's newest contributor, appearing for the first time in VW 160 (on its way to our subscribers now). Her work has also appeared in the pages of SCREEM, ULTRA VIOLENT, THE EXPLOITATION JOURNAL and several other publications, and her blog Mondo Heather can be found here. The only predictable thing about Heather is her unpredictability, and her Favorite Discs list takes a different approach than the others I've posted here, being written in paragraph form, amounting to fewer than five titles, and veering entirely away from our staple genres of horror and fantasy. However, since our point in publishing these lists is to direct VW's readers to interesting and offbeat DVD releases which may have escaped their notice, Heather's endorsements certainly fill the bill. - TL

By Heather Drain

2010 has honestly been one of those blur years, when plenty of great stuff has come out but, due to circumstances, finances and creative ADD, I have not had the chance to properly devour a lot of the discs that have come out this year.

That said, there have been a few recent standout titles that I have had the good fortune to watch. Before going into my brief but mega-worthy list, I will preface it by saying that, yes, one of the four titles was technically released in 2009. But as someone who prescribes to the notion that years do not end and begin cleanly and instead bleed into one another, it works. Plus it's my Favorites list and I will fudge if I want to! Anyway, off to the titles!

First up is the Tribeca film release THE WILD & WONDERFUL WHITES OF WEST VIRGINIA. A documentary produced by Johnny Knoxville's company Dickhouse, this is a gritty and unforgettable peek into the famous/infamous White family from Boone County, West Virginia. They garnered national recognition back in the day for patriarch D. Ray White's unique brand of traditional Appalachian folk dancing. In the wake of D. Ray's violent death, his son, Jesco White, took up the mantle and got even more notoriety thanks to appearances on the DIFFERENT DRUMMER series on PBS. The popularity of that led to the now cult shorts, DANCING OUTLAW and DANCING OUTLAW 2: JESCO GOES TO HOLLYWOOD. Between then (1994) and now, Jesco, along with his bad-ass sister Mamie, have become underground folk heroes. The White family has even been immortalized in numerous songs, the best being Hank Williams III's “Legend of D. Ray White,” which is well utilized in the film.

Charles Bukowski had the quote that nobody suffers like the poor and this fact is all too clear here. The heartbreak of being stuck in a poor, working-class rut, thanks to locale, class status, an extremely faulty system and self destructive behavior that is often the result of the prior factors, is deeply felt. Being someone who has worked and been related to people very similar to this family, it hit especially close to home. The biggest impact, though, is seeing the charismatic Jesco and Mamie, who both are the big survivors of the brood, dealing with the shrapnel of life around them. While you get a good peek into the younger Whites, it is these two that will stay with you long after the disc has played.

Speaking of folk heroes, there's also Troma's two-disc release of Phillipe Mora's MAD DOG MORGAN. While I still feel like this film probably should have been in the hands of a company like Criterion, since it is basically an art film more in the vein of someone like Sam Peckinpah than, say, Lloyd Kaufman, it is still nice to have this film in print and getting some cherry extras. It's a beautifully made film with one of Dennis Hopper's best performances as Dan “Mad Dog” Morgan, an Irishman with a good heart who ends up becoming an outlaw and bush ranger in the wilds of Australia. For anyone used to seeing Hopper playing manic-eyed and occasionally scenery-gnawing characters, it is refreshing seeing him playing such a vulnerable man.

A film that has absolutely nothing to do with Australian folk heroes or documentaries but does have a connection to dancing is the Amero Brothers' cult adult film musical BLONDE AMBITION. Video-X-Pix went all out for this release, complete with a beautiful print, a well-written booklet, a B&W promo card of star Suzy Mandel, two small strips of the negative and two commentary tracks, the first being from John Amero himself. If you're not familiar with the man, John (along with his brother, Lem) was a pioneer in the world of fringe cinema, helming such early sexploitation gems as THE LUSTING HOURS and, later on, BACCHANALE. It's a great commentary from a warm, talkative man. The second one is from none other than the late, great Jamie Gillis. While Jamie's part in the film is a glorified but funny cameo as an effete porn director, his commentary is also fun with a lot of good stories from the days when the adult genre had real actors and filmmakers. The film itself is a frothy and charmingly silly musical comedy centering on the ambitious Kane Sisters, Candy (Dory Devon) and Sugar (former BENNY HILL actress Mandel.) The sex is secondary to the film making, so even if seeing the dirty hula in action isn't your bag, the odds are still good that you will enjoy this film.

Another disc that rocked my world in 2010 was the documentary about the classic Canadian progressive band Rush with RUSH: BEYOND THE LIGHTED STAGE. This Zoe Records release has lots of rare, behind the scenes footage, some dating back to their pre-Neal Peart days, this film is a dream with the perfect mix of live performances and interviews, giving a rounded view of this amazing band. It's another two-disc beast with loads of extras, so it truly is a prog rock feast.

So when you think of this year's releases, as we begin to edge ever so closer to 2011, please think of gritty documentaries, history-based art films, MGM styled musicals with enough skin and sequins to please the eye and of course, Canadian progressive rock bands. I know I will!

VW's Favorite DVDs of 2010: Ramsey Campbell

Ramsey Campbell is generally acknowledged to be one of the finest practitioners of the Weird Tale, but he also has a keen insight into the way films work, as evidenced by his ongoing VIDEO WATCHDOG column, "Ramsey's Rambles." He is also the acclaimed author of such novels as THE FACE THAT MUST DIE, THE COUNT OF ELEVEN, ANCIENT IMAGES and THE OVERNIGHT, as well as the story collections DEMONS BY DAYLIGHT, DARK FEASTS and JUST BEHIND YOU, just to name a few of his many publications. In the 1970s, he wrote highly collectable paperback novelizations of the classic horror films THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN and DRACULA'S DAUGHTER under the pen name Carl Dreadstone. Here is his year's end list of favorite things that went bump in his DVD player... which, incidentally, is not limited to works of horror and fantasy. - TL

By Ramsey Campbell

THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (Criterion)

A masterpiece finally gets the treatment it deserves, not just with a splendid transfer but several documentaries, the longest of which reveals much about the making of the film.

THE DAMNED (aka THESE ARE THE DAMNED, included in THE ICONS OF SUSPENSE COLLECTION: HAMMER FILMS, Sony)

One of Joseph Losey’s lost films, in the correct ratio at last and the most complete version. His BLIND DATE also saw a British DVD release. Now where’s his M?

THE COMPLETE METROPOLIS (Kino US, Eureka UK)

The version we thought was lost forever, almost completely restored, demonstrates that the film is a genuine melodrama, conceived partly in musical terms.

THRILLER - THE COMPLETE SERIES (Image)

A feast, and it’s fascinating to watch the series develop, just as it is to trace (say) how the EC comics became what they’re remembered for.

3 SILENT CLASSICS BY JOSEF VON STERNBERG (Criterion)

This box set rescues three important films. Many Sternberg qualities are already much in evidence, and does any silent film have an ending more understated than THE DOCKS OF NEW YORK?

THE ITALIAN STRAW HAT (Flicker Alley)

An exemplary transfer that allows us to relish all Rene Clair’s wit, which is as fresh as ever.

LUBITSCH IN BERLIN (Eureka UK)

Six of his silent films, and many revelations, not least the wonderful Ossi Oswalda, a great comedienne at last salvaged from oblivion.

STAGECOACH (Criterion)

Chosen not just for improving on previous transfers but for the extras, which include one of Ford’s silent Westerns, BUCKING BROADWAY, and the complete unedited footage of Ford’s famously irascible confrontation with Philip Jenkinson. The booklet reprints the tale on which STAGECOACH was based.

MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW (Criterion US, Eureka UK)

Leo McCarey’s devastating comedy of embarrassment that shades inexorably into tragedy. Arguably his greatest film. I listed the French release back in 2008, but this version doesn’t have irremovable French subtitles and is a sharper transfer. Eureka have it on Blu-Ray.

Now In Effect: Everything 12% Off!

VIDEO WATCHDOG's "12 Days of Christmas" Sale is now in effect! For the next 12 days, everything we sell -- back issues, subscriptions, even the Bava book -- is 12% off, if you use the special code when ordering! Visit our Home Page for more details.

VW's Favorite DVDs of 2010: Shane M. Dallmann

The author of today's list is Shane M. Dallmann, a staunch member of the WATCHDOG Kennel since our 46th issue in 1998. Shane also writes for SCREEM and, as his alter ego Remo D., he has carried the torch of Horror Hostdom into the 21st Century with his show REMO D's MANOR OF MAYHEM (now in its 14th season!). Shane lists ten favorites but offers notes on only five, so we invite you to take his list and check it twice. - TL

By Shane M. Dallmann

THE CRAZIES (2010, Starz/Anchor Bay)
One of those remakes that proves that they really are worth doing once in a while. Director Breck Eisner's take on the 1973 George A. Romero thriller (aka CODE NAME: TRIXIE) is a ferocious, intelligent and equally bitter look at mass insanity, its effects on the residents of a small town, and the efforts from "above" to cover -- or cleanse -- their mistake.

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO and THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE (and feel free to pre-emptively include THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST) (2009, Music Box)
Stieg Larsson's "Millennium" trilogy was unavoidably condensed for the movies -- just how effectively remains a topic of debate for some. But it's the bold, absorbing and utterly fearless performance of Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander which more than earns the film series the right of independent existence.

HOUSE (Criterion, 1977)
For some reason, Toho Studios never included Nobuhiko Obayashi's wild and crazy haunting in their American television packages--if they had, it would have shaken up the Saturday night landscape considerably. Is it a shocker that makes you smile, or is it a comedy that plays for keeps? Whatever it is, it never lets up--and the barrage of innovative, pre-CGI optical effects is truly wondrous to behold today. The less you know about this film going in, the better.

SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD (2010, Universal)
Though it sank in the box office quicksand between THE EXPENDABLES (for the guys) and EAT, PRAY, LOVE (for the gals), Edgar Wright's adaptation of Brian Lee O'Malley's graphic novel was lauded at Comic-Con for a very good reason: it's one of the most visually inventive and consistently "alive" romantic comedies yet conceived. Pop culture from around the world, video games, music and an array of larger-than-life nemeses make the most of what is actually a simple and charming story.

SPLICE (2010, Warner)
One of the best films David Cronenberg never made. Sarah Polley and Adrian Brody run the gamut from moral debate to parental concern and, inevitably, desperate action when they become responsible for an new (and highly unauthorized) life form (sensitively portrayed by Delphine Chaneac). Even if the narrative eventually gives in to the chaos of plot resolution, the sober script, the carefully allotted shocks and the excellent performances throughout make this a standout thriller courtesy of director Vincenzo Natali.

BONUS: Everybody's going to name the THRILLER box set, no? Count me in as well. Other honorable mentions include KICK-ASS, Guy Ritchie's SHERLOCK HOLMES, Werner Herzog's THE BAD LIEUTENTANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS and HARRY BROWN.

VW's Favorite DVDs of 2010: Richard Harland Smith

Today's list is courtesy of the illustrious Richard Harland Smith, a VW contributor since days of old, and a VW correspondent since days even older than that. RHS currently blogs for Movie Morlocks at the Turner Classic Movies website, screenwrites and curates the curious artwork of daughter Vayda Jane, but still manages to contribute to VW now and then, for which I'm grateful -- as I am for this list of ten. -- TL

By Richard Harland Smith

1. CRACK IN THE WORLD (Olive Films)

One of those seminal childhood films that made becoming an adult seem very attractive: you get to drive Jeeps, shoot guns, fire rockets, look through microscopes and telescopes, and sneak a peak up Janette Scott's skirt as she climbs a ladder from the bowels of the earth to its sulfurous surface. Big love to Olive Films for putting this back on the table.

2. THE MAGICIAN (Criterion Collection)

For all its painterly aesthetics, this under-loved Ingmar Bergman joint is no less a key childhood title for me, reminding me as it does now of those wonderful post-adolescent years of discovering foreign films on public television... back when you could do such a thing. Some of the imagery here is just burned into my brain, like an eyeball in an inkwell.

3. BOB HOPE: THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES COLLECTION (Universal)

This set has a number of films on it, including blah-blah-blah, don't-care-don't-care, yadda-yadda-yadds and THE CAT AND THE CANARY! Yeah, the 1939 one, which you haven't been able to see since forever! Universal could have slapped the SRP of this set onto a keepcase of THE CAT AND THE CANARY and I would have considered it a bargain. Plus, you get the equally funny THE GHOST BREAKERS in the bargain. Thanks indeed!

4. THE ELECTRIC CHAIR (Wild Eye Releasing)

I have a bit of a personal stake here, as this obscure/forgotten/never released independent film stars my late friend Victor Argo. When I interviewed Vic, fairly exhaustively, back in 2000, he didn't even mention what had been, at that point in his thirty-odd year career, his only starring role. This will be an acquired taste, certainly, but double-kudos to Wild Eye Releasing for making space on the shelf for something so rare and niche market. It means the world to me.

5. S0S PACIFIC (Odeon Entertainment, Region 2)
Not only is it a crackerjack corker of a pisscutter, but SOS PACIFIC allows Eddie Constantine fans a fairly rare opportunity to hear him in a movie with his own voice, as the late, great American in Paris was normally dubbed by others in his films from over there. This strangers-in-bad-company survival tale puts Constantine onboard (and then off) a charter plane with Eva Bartok from BLOOD AND BLACK LACE, Clifford Evans from CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF and Richard Attenborough from, well, let's just say 10 RILLINGTON PLACE.

6. THE CAMP ON BLOOD ISLAND (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Region 2)

No, it's not THE SECRET OF BLOOD ISLAND, but it does have Barbara Shelley in it (if not in a starring role) and it is must-see non-horror Hammer. Sony also has made available YESTERDAY'S ENEMY, with Stanley Baker, and I would recommend all of these to Hammer fans who think they've seen it all.

7. LAKE MUNGO (Lionsgate)

No one would think ill of you if you gave this title from the AFTER DARK HORRORFEST 4 COLLECTION a pass... but you'd be missing something unexpected. A documentary ghost story, the film doesn't go for the visceral shocks of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY but rather charts the terrain of remorse and regret from which ghosts sprout and flourish.

8. THE WOLFMAN (Universal)

Yeah, I know I'm not supposed to like Joe Johnson's THE WOLFMAN, and there are a ton of things wrong with it, but I just can't help but feel all giddy at the DVD package of the theatrical and director's cut and all the menu art and all the extra touches that, whatever its failings, mark this latest reboot of the Talbot Mythos a labor of love.

9. JOHNNY STACATTO (Timeless Media Group)

I offer this in the place of the THRILLER box set that I'm sure all of my fellow Watchdogs will have on their list. When I was a kid, I thought MANNIX was pretty cool but that's only because I hadn't heard of John Cassavetes or seen his early TV show, about the adventures of a jazz-loving shamus. (Early on, the plan was to make the protagonist an actual hepcat but, well, you know The Man.) This 3 disc set (27 episodes - a single season!) will have to hold me until they can find all those episodes of DAN RAVEN.

10. THE GREEN SLIME (Warner Archive Collection)

There are a bunch of titles from this collection that I could nominate for greatness (coughSTRANGER ON THE THIRD FLOORcough) but there's just something about THE GREEN SLIME. Like a lot of grumpy 50-somethings, I learned about this Kinji Fukasaku joint from the cover of FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND and I actually saw it fairly early in the development of my love of these kinds of things. The movie has lived in my heart for decades and it's great to have it back on my TV.

ASTOUNDING Footnote

As a follow-up to my romantic memoir about a lifetime of encounters with THE ASTOUNDING SHE MONSTER (VW 158:16), reader Mitch O'Connell has filed an interesting footnote. Apparently the girlie mag photo of Madeleine Castle, which was the, um, foundation of Albert Kallis' staggering artwork for this American International release also inspired another artist, who contributed this cover to a forgotten work of lesbian erotica!

VW's Favorite DVDs of 2010: Bill Cooke

VW contributor Bill Cooke now offers a short list of some of his favorites of the past year. He's a film critic and teacher, corporate media screenwriter, video producer and the co-director of the horror film FREAKSHOW (1994). -- TL

By Bill Cooke

THE GREEN SLIME (1969, Warner Archives Collection)
This lunatic clash between astronauts and alien blobs -- a co-production between American and Japanese filmmakers -- is undeniably silly but a whole lot of fun. At last, the longer, English-language version is given a beautiful widescreen transfer by the folks at Warner Home Video, even if it’s only part of their manufacture-on-demand service.

STRANGER ON THE THIRD FLOOR (1940, Warner Archives Collection)
The Warner Archive Collection strikes again with this great little prelude to the film noir movement. John McGuire stars as a witness to a murder case. Is poor little Elisha Cook Jr. really the killer, as McGuire originally thought, or is it the mysterious Peter Lorre—the Stranger on the Third Floor? Includes a bravura, expressionistic nightmare sequence.

COLUMBIA PICTURES FILM NOIR CLASSICS II (1954-1958, Sony)
This second batch of Columbia noirs might not be as essential as the first, but still contains a few gems for aficionados. In spite of the title, Jacques Tourneur’s NIGHTFALL (1957) is mostly set in bright, snowy countryside, and features Brian Keith and Rudy Bond as two of the most sadistic bank robbers a suffering noir hero ever met; PUSHOVER (1954) stars Fred (DOUBLE INDEMNITY) MacMurray in a fascinating echo of his old noir self as he destroys himself once again for money and a dame ( Kim Novak); Fritz Lang’s HUMAN DESIRE (1954) is an American update of La Bête Humaine, and features Glenn Ford as a railroad worker pulled into a mariticide; and CITY OF FEAR (1958) adds Cold War fears and a tense Jerry Goldsmith score to the mix, as hood Vince Edwards unwittingly carries around a stolen and volatile container of radioactive material.

THRILLER (aka BORIS KARLOFF’S THRILLER, 1960-1961)
Finally -- the most important gothic horror television series comes to DVD, complete and with a number of great audio commentaries by an all-star line-up of genre experts.

VW's Favorite DVDs of 2010: Michael Barrett

Charlotte Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe, not keeping an eye on their little boy, in Lars von Trier's ANTICHRIST.

Next up with his list of favorite discs from this past year is Michael Barrett. Mike is a fairly new contributor to VIDEO WATCHDOG but has already distinguished himself with numerous reviews and, particularly, his well-received and widely-cited article "While We Were Dreaming: Millennial Unreality at the Movies," which appeared in VW 152. He also reviews for PopMatters.

By Michael Barrett

ANTICHRIST (Criterion)

Advice on grief therapy: don't go in the woods. Controversial among art-house types unfamiliar with the last 10 years of torture porn. I haven't seen those either (including PASSION OF THE CHRIST), but assume this fits in. Astoundingly stylish and mesmerizing, like a music video or commercial (that's a compliment).

THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX (MPI)

Like AVATAR and FANTASTIC MR. FOX, another course in modern terrorism. A giddy, riveting whirl dissecting public and private, state and individual violence.

DOLLHOUSE (20th Century Fox)

When your amnesiac heroine can become anyone, your show can do anything. With the second and final season now on DVD, Joss Whedon's head-spinning marvel is the acme of Millennial Unreality TV.

FANTASTIC MR. FOX (20th Century Fox)

Slightly preferred to PONYO or TOY STORY 3.

FANTOMAS (Kino on Video)

Louis Feuillade's series, with excellent commentary by David Kalat, is my favorite silent release in a year that includes Flicker Alley's similarly wonderful releases of MISS MEND, the original CHICAGO and CHAPLIN AT KEYSTONE.

ICONS OF SUSPENSE: HAMMER FILMS (Sony)

Most overall satisfying box of the year compared with 3 SILENT CLASSICS BY JOSEF VON STERNBERG, COLUMBIA PICTURES FILM NOIR CLASSICS II, OSHIMA'S OUTLAW SIXTIES, AMERICA LOST AND FOUND: THE BBS STORY, and ROBERTO ROSSELLINI'S WAR TRILOGY. Find out if I'm wrong.

MOTHER (Magnolia)

Korean Miss Marple gone very dark. Confident, stylish, disorienting, gripping, laced with deadpan humor, and of course about amnesia.

THRILLER: THE COMPLETE SERIES (Image)

My favorite classic TV box of the year, closely beating out SGT. BILKO, THE GOLDBERGS and ELLERY QUEEN.

THE WHITE RIBBON (Sony)

Black-and-white, literary, totally absorbing mystery of life in a pre-war village where sinister goings-on are going on. A strange what's-happening movie that may be compared with DILLINGER IS DEAD or SALTO, so please do.

YOU THE LIVING (Palisades Tartan)

Bleak skits, with jolly music and moments of wonder, about how we make ourselves miserable. Funny, sinister, surreal, compassionate follow-up to SONGS FROM THE SECOND FLOOR.

A note on the rules: This alphabetical list is confined to things I saw for the first time in any form in 2010, or else it would look very different in a year of Kino's THE COMPLETE METROPOLIS and PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN, Criterion's THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, RED DESERT, BIGGER THAN LIFE, MODERN TIMES and BLACK NARCISSUS, or Disney's DVD/Blu-Ray combos of FANTASIA and FANTASIA 2000. Along similar lines, I excluded any films about Leonardo Di Caprio dreaming of another Oz remake, although I liked 'em all. There was no way to shoehorn in MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW or Ozu's THE ONLY SON/THERE WAS A FATHER, so their incandescence goes unmentioned. And there you have it--only ten titles!

VW's Favorite DVDs of 2010: David Kalat

We missed last year because our heads (okay, my head) was elsewhere at the time, but I thought it would be an opportunity to reassert Video WatchBlog by asking our most frequent contributors to deck our halls with lists of their Favorite DVDs (or Blu-rays) of 2010. This first list comes from David Kalat, whom you may also know as the impresario behind All Day Entertainment, as the author of books on Godzilla, Dr. Mabuse and J-Horror, and whose exhaustive and entertaining audio commentaries appear on such discs as Kino's FANTOMAS, Masters of Cinema's METROPOLIS and THE COMPLETE FRITZ LANG MABUSE. More lists from other VW contributors will be posted throughout the week ahead, so stay tuned. - TL

By DAVID KALAT

This is ostensibly a Best Discs of 2010 list, but my options for selection are (self) limited.

If, for example, I were to encourage you to get INCEPTION (Warner) on Blu-Ray, I wouldn't really be commenting on it as a disc. I’d just be identifying that as one of the best movies of 2010. Similarly, anything I might say about MAD MEN SEASON THREE (Lionsgate) is not so much a comment on the discs themselves as an exhortation to watch MAD MEN on TV. Since this is intended as a best discs of 2010, I want to avoid the most current of items, so as not to indulge in mission creep.

Another problem: I was involved in the FANTOMAS set and the Masters of Cinema version of the restored METROPOLIS, so there's a conflict of interest. Obviously I would never write something like "Hey, I did the audio commentary on METROPOLIS with Jonathan Rosenbaum--you should go buy that!"

For that matter, these things represent low-hanging fruit. If you need this blog to tell you to get FANTOMAS or METROPOLIS, you probably aren't the kind of person who would read this blog.

I'll break my own self-imposed rules, though, to plug LOST KEATON - SIXTEEN COMEDY SHORTS 1934-1937 (Kino on Video). There's a whiff of conflict of interest to my recommending this, since my name's on the box. In my defense, I have no idea what I am supposed to have contributed. All I remember doing is making some suggestions about bonus features that then weren't followed. Kino has an ongoing Buster Keaton line-up, and I'm definitely in conflict-of-interest territory on some of these releases, but I feel OK saying LOST KEATON rocks. Keaton's talkie-era comedies are routinely slagged off by film historians and some books on Keaton contemptuously ignore these films altogether. Well, I say "phooey!" Don't compare these wonderful shorts to THE GENERAL, compare them to other talkie comedy shorts of the 1930s -- and you'll have to agree they have a integrity and personality unmatched by the competition.

I'll also break my own rules (that's the magic of self-imposed rules--it's easier to ignore them) to give my hearty recommendation to DOCTOR WHO THE COMPLETE FIFTH SERIES (BBC Warner) and SHERLOCK SEASON ONE (BBC Warner), even though I'm really just gobsmacked with love for having seen these on TV and have yet to break the shrink-wrap on the discs themselves. No matter -- these two shows were inarguably the most exciting, thrilling things to appear on any medium this past year.

Call it Steven Moffat worship if you must. The guy has a rare gift for reinventing familiar pop cultural figures in ways that pay deep tribute to their roots, yet feel fresh and new at the same time.

After more than 30 seasons and almost 50 years, DOCTOR WHO (under Moffat) somehow arrived with a deeper resonance and a brain-meltingly demanding plot intricacy never-before-seen. The new title sequence is duff, but the show inside is sparkly and wonderful. SHERLOCK manages to include nods to minutiae of the original novels without alienating newbies or feeling like fanboy service. The opening episode "A Study in Pink" samples the pieces of Doyle's A STUDY IN SCARLET and produces a 21st century dance remix, that echoes the original but is surprising and original at the same time. Take that, Guy Ritchie! Seriously, I saw the Ritchie monstrosity a few months before Moffat's version, and the comparison is ridiculous.

I know there are haters out there who see the Warner Archive as the video equivalent of the End of Days, but if you're upset that Warner felt there was too small an audience to justify a mass market release of, say, BREWSTER MCCLOUD, your gripe isn't with the Warner Archive but with the DVD buying public.

Me, I'm a full-blown convert to the Archive and its nascent cousins at Sony, MGM, Paramount, etc. VIDEO WATCHDOGgers have probably already found their way to obvious treasures like the remastered THE GREEN SLIME, but there's a gem lurking in the Archive back catalog in danger of being overlooked: Anthony Mann's THE TALL TARGET. This is an episode of 24, set in the 1850s, with the lone rogue agent battling a vast government conspiracy to protect the President (Honest Abe). Most Civil War-era movies sidestep racial issues or address them in cursory, insincere ways. This one goes head-on -- and does so in a subplot, handled in the margins of the tautest, tensest action thriller made before the 1970s you ever seen.

Speaking of non-traditional media outlets, if you like slapstick comedy and silent movies, then you should seek out Chris Snowden's Unknown Video. That's the name of a video label that "publishes" on DVD-Rs sold online through a blog. The latest entry, NICKELODIA 3, is a compilation of Really Old silent comedies from years whose first three digits are 191. Among the highlights is the brilliant "Versus Sledgehammers," which has a winning title, and then manages to live up to that title. But the world needs more sets like this... plus it comes with a spiffy Charlie Chaplin magnet!

It used to be that you’d need to rely on a non-traditional outlet to access something like HAUSU (HOUSE) on a DVD-R bootleg or file-shared download. But since we live in a world of infinite possibility, this cult gem has been given a deluxe rollout by the Criterion Collection in the US and Masters of Cinema in the UK. It’s a TEN LITTLE INDIANS-style old dark house thriller with Japanese teenagers killed by ghosts, but you don’t watch this for the plot. It’s a truly unique vision of horror that comes as close as any movie ever has to capturing a nightmare on celluloid. It’s more strange than scary, but no self-respecting fan of psychotronic cinema should go walking around without a knowledge of this loopy masterpiece.

If you have a choice between getting MOON (Sony) on Blu-Ray or DVD, opt for the Blu-Ray. This is meant to be savored on a big screen, so plug that BR disc into a home theater setup and settle in for a treat. It’s a head-trippy Millennial puzzle-box of identity confusion rendered in a 1970s-style DIY ethic of model miniatures and practical effects (and the least amount of CGI needed to hold it all together).

Speaking of tributes to 1970s cinema, BLACK DYNAMITE (Sony) sort of belongs to that same world as Larry Blamire’s Lost Skeleton movies in that it is a genre parody that perfectly captures the aesthetic of the original sources. What makes this extra special is how filmmaker Scott Sanders and star Michael Jai White manage to have their cake and eat it too. They don’t just parody blaxploitation movies, they also deliver the perfect example of a blaxploitation movie on its own crazy terms. Everything you might want from a Dolemite or Fred “Hammer” Williamson movie appears here, along with the jokes. Easily the single most entertaining thing I saw all year.

I know I’m likely to drop this recommendation on deaf ears with this crowd, but if you grow tired of SF and horror and hunger for a classic screwball comedy, the Warner Archive has resurrected Wesley Ruggles’ SLIGHTLY DANGEROUS. Lana Turner is an unhappy girl trying to make her way in the big city who hits on the bad idea of pretending to be an amnesiac—and this leads into her pretending to be the long-lost heir to a wealthy recluse whose daughter was stolen from him when she was just a baby. What makes this work is Turner’s superb performance as a reluctant crook caught up in a deception she doesn’t believe in and wants to end, but can’t—and character actor Walter Brennan giving a career-best performance as the anguished papa. I’m not going to bother complaining that Warner should’ve put this out on mass market instead of DVD-R, because I realize there is so little audience for something like this anymore. I suspect most of you reading this will say, “Eh, I don’t watch romantic comedies,” but you’re only cheating yourself.

Kim Newman already reviewed the Hammer Collection ICONS OF SUSPENSE (Sony) in a recent VW. I have little to add except to say that maybe many of you like me were so hungry for the restored (THESE ARE) THE DAMNED, you jumped on the Region 2 import from the UK long before the ICONS set came along, and maybe you are on the fence about whether the additional movies are worth the additional money to rebuy THE DAMNED. Hell, yes, they are! Maybe not MANIAC (you can comfortably skip that one) but the rest of the collection is absolutely worth duplicating THE DAMNED to get your grubby little fingers on. Excuse me, I’m off to rewatch CASH ON DEMAND. Happy holidays!

First Look: VIDEO WATCHDOG #160

The next issue of VIDEO WATCHDOG will take you on many journeys... to Camp Crystal Lake and Curious Goods in two respective in-depth studies of the FRIDAY THE 13TH series on film and television... up the Amazon and into an old dark house in two new releases from genre humorist Larry Blamire... to Stark Industries and to Allenby Manor in turn-of-the-20th-century London, where a young woman heiress inherits a family curse along with her fortune. All this, plus THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE, THE LEMON GROVE KIDS MEET THE MONSTERS and much else besides!

More details can be found here, along with the usual clickable four-page preview. Enjoy!

Farewell to Monicelli

Please join me in bowing your head in memory of the great Mario Monicelli, who bade this world farewell today.

Best-known for BIG DEAL ON MADONNA STREET, he began his career writing comic screenplays with his longtime associate Steno, directed the first Italian film in color (TOTO A COLORI) and wrote and directed numerous comedies, two of which were shot by Mario Bava (VITA DA CANI, GUARDIA E LADRI). He was actively directing as recently as 2006, when he made a feature with Bava's grandson Roy working as his assistant director.

Today, at age 95, Monicelli leaped to his death from his Roman hospital window, a few days after being admitted for prostate cancer.

Ingrid Pitt, 1937-2010

My favorite Basil Gogos painting, executed for the cover of MONSTERSCENE #8, was in her likeness. I was never as dazzled by THE VAMPIRE LOVERS as other Hammer fans were, finding Ingrid absurdly mature to be playing a character so young and ethereal as Carmilla, but I always liked her COUNTESS DRACULA and thought she had her most exquisite moment onscreen in THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD -- if only THAT briefly evoked vampiress had a full feature in which to flex her wings!

But it is the flirtatious, warm-blooded, real life woman I am remembering now, from our meeting at the October 1994 Chiller Theater convention. She understood men and knew how to play them; in the few days we spent in the same hotel, we ate, argued, flirted and talked together -- about her early life in Poland and about the death of her SOUND OF HORROR cast mate Soledad Miranda, among other things -- and she spoke of her pain in ways that made me feel it too. When I checked out, she was there at the front desk to kiss me goodbye.

Ingrid Pitt was in fact the reinvention of a Polish girl named Ingoushka Petrov, born to obscene poverty in war-torn Poland, whose adolescence was scarred (as she told me) by peers who jeered her as "flat-chested." She was not only an actress but also a published writer and entrepreneur, with four novels and several more anthologies and memoirs to her credit. I heard she could be a shark in business, which I respect, as I do the fact that she managed to found a cottage industry out of being Ingrid Pitt, scream queen and survivor. Now the surviving is over and the enduring may begin.

Rest in peace, dear lady; you've left your mark.

Where I've Been, Where I'm Going

If you're looking to get my attention, putting my name on the cover of your magazine is certainly one way to do it. Yesterday I received the first two issues of THE JOURNAL OF INTERSTITIAL CINEMA, which its editors kindly sent to me, and I was pleasantly surprised to find my Millipede Press book about David Cronenberg's VIDEODROME the subject of an essay/review in the second issue. It's weird to see my own name and work sandwiched between "Great cheapskates of cinema!", "The obituary of a playing card!" and "Necksnappers!," I suppose because nothing seems more mainstream to me than me, but that's the beauty of it.

Published and written by (one assumes, the pseudonymous) Grog Ziklore and RJ Wheatpenny, JOIC celebrates the cinema that falls between the cracks not only of genre but of general notice. The first two issues strike me as an intriguing conglomeration of Steven R. Johnson's DELIRIOUS, Charles Kilgore's ECCO and Bill Landis' SLEAZOID EXPRESS. There's a tabloid element here ("Reel Tragedy," a look at an NYU film student's suicide, appears to be real reportage but reads like a comic item) but the writing is consistently intelligent. It's a pleasure to see people sidestepping the internet to inject some ink back into life and life back into ink.

The three-page VIDEODROME review doesn't mention who published the book, which won't make my publisher too happy, but people will be able to find it anyway. My guess is that RJ Wheatpenny reviewed it because he (I'll assume he's male) is legitimately interested in the subject and author, and not because he was sent a review copy. His cogent assessment of the film and the book concludes with a lengthy paragraph (anyone else would call it a page) about me, personally. I'm called "the father of modern genre film writing" and the Bava book is called "the best book ever devoted to a single filmmaker," which is very flattering, before Wheatpenny goes on to some closing notes on the current oddities of my career arc:

"After its publication [the Bava book] and the 2008 release of his VIDEODROME book, Lucas seems to have transformed in his own way. He still publishes and contributes to VIDEO WATCHDOG but is less of an influence on its tone, and he's ceded the magazine's prime real estate to a varied stable of contributors. His Video WatchBlog... is rarely updated anymore, and he now seems to prefer the instantaneous (and largely uncritical) feedback of constant Facebook updates... Judging from his online posts, he's more enthusiastic about music and script-writing today than the movies on which he's built his reputation, and although he's not abandoned them, he seems as set on a different creative course after his VIDEODROME book as Cronenberg was after releasing his film." (page 20)

Very interesting viewpoint, and not at all untrue. Its inaccuracies, if any, stem from Wheatpenny knowing the public me rather than the personal me. My Facebook page, where I've spent most of my public time this past year or so, is a personal page though it welcomes most everyone who asks to be admitted. Music has always been a passion of mine, equal to if not greater than my love for films, which have been my vocation. My FB wall is a vehicle that lets me express my thoughts about music, for which I have no other outlet, and also to interact with a large number of people. And just as I once used all my free time between issues of VW to work on the Bava book, I'm now working toward establishing a career as a screenwriter, though I don't actually discuss those pursuits much on FB.

Certainly, as RJ speculates, finishing the Bava book and publishing the Cronenberg book did something to formally close a big chapter of my life. From my own viewpoint, finishing the Bava book was like awaking from a nearly lifelong dream, wherein I had actually nourished the point of view that such a marginal obsession would be enough to hold and keep me for a lifetime. Many in my audience seem to think that completing these projects would simply free me up to tackle others -- a book about Jess Franco, for example. But not having these projects, especially the Bava book, to occupy me didn't have that effect; instead, I locked myself into this blog for awhile and continued to give and give and give, without taking anything in to nourish me. And I became aware that there were sides of life, of my own life, that I was not exploring and which were the only ways I could recapture the rush I felt when I was humming my way through a work in progress. So I made myself the work in progress. Swimming, vegetarianism -- I've told this story here before.

Being a published novelist as well, I also determined to redirect my life toward achieving something more as an artist in my own right, rather than writing about other artists. Because spending my life alone at home in front of the computer 24/7 was no longer all I wanted from life, my writing turned to screenwriting. (It's my informed view that neither VW nor my fiction is likely to support me through my old age, so as I near my autumn years, income becomes more of a concern.) I've been seriously screenwriting now for four years; I've written seven different scripts, including multiple drafts of each, and I've optioned two. The people who have read my most recent feature script, an adaptation of Orson Bean's ME AND THE ORGONE, tell me it's the best thing I've ever done. I've yearned for more creative interaction, but I don't like spending long hours writing the best possible version of a story only to see it thoughtlessly fudged by other hands, so my thoughts have had to turn to directing. It's the only way for me to ensure that I'll finally be judged for what I've written, rather than for what was rewritten. I didn't think it was in my personal nature to be a director, but now that I have experienced what one gains by being surrounded by a supportive crew, I've learned otherwise.

In a couple of weeks, I'll be returning to the Factory at the Douglas Education Center in Monessen, PA to direct my own first film work. The subject is an adaptation of my novel THROAT SPROCKETS, which could now be loglined as "MAD MEN meets TRUE BLOOD" though it was begun in 1987 and first published in 1994. When I met Guillermo del Toro at the Saturn Awards in 2008, he told me he considered THROAT SPROCKETS "the perfect MASTERS OF HORROR story." I'll be directing a promotional trailer and a representative dialogue scene from the book, which executive producer Robert Tinnell will then use to attract funding for the full feature, which we hope to shoot sometime next year.

I'm not even going into everything I've gone through in the last couple of years, but even this much disclosure should show that I haven't lost my interest in movies -- on the contrary, that interest has expanded to encompass much more activity, and activity in the truest sense. Meanwhile, VIDEO WATCHDOG continues to come out on schedule, I wrote more than half the contents of our 20th Anniversary issue (#158), and I'm constantly brainstorming new directions the magazine might take to keep it vital and growing as the marketplace continues to undergo radical change. But I thank RJ Wheatpenny for the interest shown by his essay and I recommend those of you on the lookout for a new and unique fanzine to give THE JOURNAL OF INTERSTITIAL CINEMA a try.

"We grudgingly have a website," its editors admit on the back cover. You can find it here while they remain on the technological fence, or beat the odds by sending US cash money ($3.00 for the 24-page #1, $4.00 for the 28-page #2) to Journal of IC, 387 Grand St. #902, New York NY 10002.

First Look: VIDEO WATCHDOG #159

Ever since we began VIDEO WATCHDOG, I've wanted to devote an issue to the art and artists of movie dubbing. Our next issue's interviews with Ted Rusoff and Peter Fernandez finally realize that goal. Interior contents previewed here.

THE DEVILS: Spanish DVD Report

Vanessa Redgrave as Sister Jeanne in Ken Russell's THE DEVILS.

I finally received my copy of LOS DEMONIOS, Warner Home Video's Spanish DVD of Ken Russell's THE DEVILS (1971), from Starscafe last week and was able to screen it last night.

First the good news: it preserves the film in what appears to be its accurate 2.35:1 ratio for the first time in any video format, and it's the crispest, clearest copy of the film on video to date; I couldn't stop watching it though I intended only to do a quality check. The precise black lines around every white brick in the city of Loudun are as visible as they should be. Now the bad news: it's non-anamorphic -- so the slim Panavision image remained but a frustrating sliver set in the center of my large widescreen monitor -- and it's the recropped, censored US cut. The image quality could be slightly brighter, but it is impressive in its recovery of the minutiae of Derek Jarman's brilliant set design and Shirley Russell's ornate costume designs at the very least.

The disc includes audio tracks in Spanish and English with removable Spanish subtitles. There are no extras. The running time is 103:37 in 25 frames-per-second PAL Region 2, which works out to 108m 2s in 24 fps NTSC. However, running time is no indicator of completeness as the US cut made use of substituted footage to cover offending sights while keeping the soundtrack intact. This is particularly noticeable during the convent orgy sequence and the burning of Father Grandier (Oliver Reed) in the film's closing minutes. The fact that this official DVD release, though Spanish, contains the US cut of the film very likely foreshadows a problem consumers will contend with in the event of a US release: the British cut is definitive.

Warner's OOP British VHS release, though zoomboxed at 1.78:1, remains the one to see for content, if you can find it, but this one has its own value as the most vivid memento of David Watkin's tremendous cinematography. Some unedited screen grabs follow. Click to enlarge.

The onlooker with the long blonde hair to the left of actor Michael Gothard is actually the famous fashion model Twiggy, a guest on the set.

The Only Reliable Film Magazine in the World, says Quentin Tarantino

My friend Daniela Catelli (the author of Italian books on THE EXORCIST and William Friedkin, and an Italian translator for parts of MARIO BAVA ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK) sends the following message from Rome:

"Thanks to Quentin Tarantino, now you’re famous in Italy! This is from the only independent newspaper in Italy, IL FATTO QUOTIDIANO, and it’s a small daily column written by Luca Guadagnino, a film director who’s in the Jury at the Venice Film Festival with Quentin Tarantino. You will find the scan attached, this is the translation:

“Here’s some advice from jury president Quentin Tarantino: The only reliable film magazine in the world is VIDEO WATCHDOG, a [bi]monthly publication that reviews only the films on DVD without submitting to the market rules. Instead, VW follows the taste and the analytical depth of his founder, the greatest film historian Tim Lucas, author of – Tarantino claims – the best book on films ever written: MARIO BAVA ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK. Tarantino-Lucas-Bava: cinema is truly without borders.”

I'm most grateful to Quentin, whom I've never met and with whom I've never spoken, for these astounding, purely unsolicited and heartfelt words of praise. There are three huge compliments in that little paragraph. Color me blushing.

So come on, you Tarantino fans... embrace paper! SUBSCRIBE!

Audio Commentary Alert

I've been delving into Image Entertainment's forthcoming THRILLER box set ($149.98, streets August 31) in preparation of writing a detailed review. There aren't many audio commentaries on the first two discs, but I recommend Steve Mitchell's interview with director Arthur Hiller on the series pilot "The Twisted Image." It's pretty good -- a little dry, occasionally off-topic, but informative just the same.

Sadly, the Richard Anderson commentary for "The Purple Room" episode of THRILLER (its first Halloween offering and first true horror episode) is an embarrassment.

Moderator Steve Mitchell asks Anderson what it was like to work with Boris Karloff during the filming of the intro sequence, and Anderson tells him... but with the episode digitally restored, it is now painfully obvious that Karloff is acting in front of a rear-screen projection of Anderson and the other cast members! Therefore, they never met -- at least not during the filming of this episode! (As a commentator in this set myself, I can understand how Steve made the mistake in formulating his question because we commentators were recording while viewing reference prints in much poorer condition than is purveyed here. My old TV copy of this episode, too, makes it look like Karloff and the actors were all standing on the same soundstage.)

Furthermore, Anderson recalls thinking "PSYCHO!" when reading the script. Well, PSYCHO was released in June of 1960, and "The Purple Room" aired in late October 1960 and was obviously filmed some time earlier... still, I guess this MIGHT be possible... but when Anderson notes that the episode makes use not only of the PSYCHO house (true) but the PSYCHO interior including the stairs (BONG!), he makes anything else he says for the remainder of the track, well, regrettably suspect. As a speaker, he is one of those people with a talent for saying a lot but with very little actual content.

Late in the episode, Anderson admits to never having seen it. On the positive side, he's quite good in it.

First Look: VIDEO WATCHDOG #158

In VIDEO WATCHDOG #s 114 and 132, Bill Cooke covered the entire Johnny Weissmuller catalogue of Tarzan pictures. In the forthcoming VW #158, film journalist Frederic Lombardi makes his VW debut with a critical overview of the five Tarzan films made immediately following Weissmuller's departure -- starring Lex Barker, Cheeta and five different Janes! All of these films, as well as the follow-up adventures starring Gordon Scott, Jock Mahoney and Mike Henry, are all now available from the Warner Archive Collection.

Also in this well-rounded issue, I wax nostalgic on my life-long love affair with the poster for THE ASTOUNDING SHE MONSTER (1958), Shane M. Dallmann tackles a host of recent genre blockbusters (SAW VI, HALLOWEEN II and ORPHAN), Kim Newman is tickled by William Grefé's Floridian frights STING OF DEATH and THE DEATH CURSE OF TARTU, Ramsey Campbell burrows into the horror western THE BURROWERS, Douglas E. Winter documents the shortcomings of the soundtrack releases of Michael Mann's MANHUNTER, Constantine Nasr reviews Bill Warren's gigantic KEEP WATCHING THE SKIES - THE 21ST CENTURY EDITION, and my "Watchdog Barks" editorial ponders the escalating absurdity of the Blu-ray supplemental extra.

Go here for a preview of the issue, including four free sample pages and a complete rundown of what's inside!

Remembering Peter Fernandez

I regret today's announced passing of legendary voice artist and director Peter Fernandez, best-known to the general public as the voice of Speed Racer, at age 83 after a reportedly long fight with lung cancer.

Like many of his colleagues a seasoned radio actor, Peter became one of the main voice staples of the New York-based Titra Sound studios, which resulted in his perenially youthful voice -- which aged sublimely into what David White earlier today characterized as "a gravelly tenor" -- being heard in countless American International pictures imported from Italy and Japan (everything from BLACK SUNDAY and ALAKAZAM THE GREAT to MOTHRA and THE LOST WORLD OF SINBAD), as well as dubbed imports like ULTRAMAN, SPACE GIANTS, GIGANTOR, MARINE BOY, PRINCE PLANET and, of course, SPEED RACER.

He went on to direct the English versions of numerous European import features in the 1960s through the '80s, including CINEMA PARADISO and various works by Lina Wertmuller. He continued to work as a voice artist/director as recently as Nickelodeon's COURAGE THE COWARDLY DOG in the late '90s, and last appeared onscreen as one of the racing commentators in the excellent live-action feature SPEED RACER a couple of years ago. He was also a very nice man.

GIRLY and GOODBYE GEMINI reviewed

Judy Geeson and Martin Potter as two siblings born under a bad sign in GOODBYE GEMINI.

Here is a link to my review of Freddie Francis' GIRLY and Alan Gibson's GOODBYE GEMINI, two psychological horror pictures from 1969 and now available on DVD from Scorpion Releasing, which is featured in this month's issue of SIGHT & SOUND.

FILM COMMENTs on Video WatchBlog

My sincere thanks to Ben Simington, Paul Brunick and the editors of FILM COMMENT magazine for including Video WatchBlog on their new list of "The Top Film Criticism Sites." Forty or so other sites were so honored, and with this article including such prestigious bloggers as Glenn Kenney, Dave Kehr, Paul Schrader, Matt Zoller Seitz and Gary Tooze (whose impressive DVD Beaver is referred to as "the next generation heir to Tim Lucas of VIDEO WATCHDOG," making me wish, in my advanced years, that I could bequeath him some of my bills as well as my legacy), to be part of this roll call is a major professional compliment.

Update: Paul Brunick informs me that the list has also been cross-published at SLANT Magazine's The House Next Door blog, click here, which offers a more attractive presentation, share widgets and user comments.

Happy Ba Steele Day

My god it's all so lovely when you can go out and it's a Wednesday and the sun is shining down like golden buttah and you're 23 and brown as toast, sitting outside at a quaint little trattoria with Alberto Moravia, who wants to write a screenplay for you -- molto piacere as long as I don't have to crawl out of another freaking coffin or come oozing around the side of another marble column! Prego, cameriere, another bottle of Valpolicella -- affretatevi, if you please! Federico may be calling!

The Buried Pleasures of SUSPIRIA

Every Dario Argento fan, upon seeing SUSPIRIA for the first time, reacts to this shot of Suzy Banyon (Jessica Harper) entering the secret domain of Mater Suspiriorum with the same gleeful note of recogition. Here the art direction seems to pay specific tribute to Argento's directorial debut, THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE [L'uccello dalle piume di cristallo, 1970]. But upon reviewing parts of the film again, I noticed something I hadn't caught after I don't know how many viewings.

In the opening scene at the Freiberg airport, we are given this subjective shot of the exit, whose double glass doors precisely mirror the double-doored art gallery entrance where Tony Musante is trapped to witness the attempted murder that sets BIRD in motion. Since this scene was not actually shot at a real airport, it is quite possible that this exit was literally composed of the same set components as were used in the earlier film.

Another celebrated SUSPIRIA moment among the eagle-eyed is this almost subliminal image, from Suzy's point of view, as her taxi drives her through the Black Forest. As a flash of lightning casts unbidden shadows, we see what appears to be a maniacal hand wielding a wicked blade.

I've always considered this flash -- which exists outside the main narrative but serves to make the night appear full of unimaginable horrors -- to be one of the movie's moments of real genius. It looks so spontaneous but it must have been extremely well planned. But again, while revisiting SUSPIRIA recently after I don't know how many viewings, I happened to catch another subliminal during the taxi sequence -- possibly unintentional -- for the first time.

Right after Suzy presses a piece of paper bearing the address of the Tanz Akademie to the glass separating her from the taxi driver (Fulvio Mingozzi) -- another glass barrier! -- there is yet another flash of lightning, revealing yet another subliminal. What? Didn't catch it? Here, have a closer look...

Yes, that's a reflection of Dario Argento himself, evidently directing the scene from the back seat of the taxi! To the best of my knowledge, no one else has previously documented this hidden image (if so, I'll happily credit them) and it's a particular delight to discover after all this time. It makes me wonder how much still remains to be unearthed from the endlessly rich textures and scenics of SUSPIRIA -- buried references to all of Argento's previous features, perhaps?

I can cite two other examples right away. If something seems familiar about Albert (Jacopo Mariani), the malevolently grinning child in the background of this shot, it is because Master Mariani wore the same, or very similar, shoes and socks when he previously stepped into frame at the end of the startling pre-credits scene of DEEP RED [Profondo rosso, 1975]. My thanks to Thomas Rostock for confirming this in his note below. And isn't Daniel (Flavio Bucci), the school's blind piano teacher, an echo of Karl Malden's Franco Arno in THE CAT O' NINE TAILS [Il gatto a nove code, 1971]?

I don't pretend to have all the answers, but I suspect this film still has much left to reveal.

A Better Beginning: Reprinting VIDEO WATCHDOG #1

Publisher/art director Donna Lucas restoring the images accompanying a discussion of HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN in VW's first issue.

While VIDEO WATCHDOG magazine has been marking its 20th anniversary, VW publisher Donna Lucas has been quietly engaged in one of the greatest restoration projects in the magazine's decades-long history. No, it's not the ultimate exposé of how CATACLYSM became part of THE NIGHTMARE NEVER ENDS, nor is it a meticulous comparison of five different versions of Jess Franco's LA COMTESSE PERVERSE... it's Donna's own painstaking digital recreation of VIDEO WATCHDOG #1.

When we decided to reprint our premiere issue, Donna's first idea was to scan the contents of a surviving copy and turn it over to our printer. Simple, right? However, the realities proved more complex. First of all, the original paste-up boards used to create the issue -- with PMT (photo mechanical transfer) illustrations affixed with spray adhesive to windows cut into each laserjet-printed page -- were long missing. Secondly, the original print job was so clumsily executed that a straightforward scan yielded typographic results that were somewhere south of acceptable. Fortunately, a thorough search of the attic at Chez Watchdog yielded a box of considerable value, containing not only the original layout boards but also most of the original illustrations and drawings that Donna used to create this landmark issue back in 1990.

Original artwork by Stephen R. Bissette and yours truly awaits its chance to be rescanned.

The discovery of the original artwork, as well as some photographic material, proved to be a real godsend to this undertaking, as the scanning of the PMT images, whether from a printed copy or from the original PMT's, tended to throw up some nasty moiré patterns. However, by meticulously rescanning each layout page in high definition from the original sheets, and inserting completely fresh digital scans of the issue's stills and original art from the original materials whenever possible, Donna has ensured that the 20th Anniversary edition of VIDEO WATCHDOG #1 will be much more than just a reprint.

"If you were to ask me what percentage of the pictures are now in better quality, I'd have to say 100% of them!" Donna explains. "Even when I didn't have access to the originals, I removed specks and dots and flaws from what I had to work with. Some pictures that were badly cropped in the original, like the center spread from SUCCUBUS, will be seen in this new printing as they were meant to look the first time. Likewise, some pictures that were too dark in the original issue, like some of the shots from CUT AND RUN, have been brightened, so you can now see the actors' expressions and can tell what's going on in them. We are also printing this new edition on paper that's consistent with the way VIDEO WATCHDOG is printed now, so it will be light and flexible in ways the original wasn't."

The text in the issue has not been changed. The only variation that has been made to the issue in terms of content is its back cover. Whereas the original edition showed an image from the Jess Franco film THE AWFUL DR. ORLOF, the reprint edition offers a scan of the same back cover image taken from Donna's and my own personal copy, inscribed to us in gold by Franco and his wife and longtime associate Lina Romay.

"I've always felt that our first issue stood apart from every other issue we did, in terms of quality control -- or the lack of it," Donna says. "When our readers receive this new, improved version of #1, I think they're going to feel like their collection is complete for the first time!"

Orders for the 20th Anniversary edition of VIDEO WATCHDOG #1 (at the printer) are now being accepted here and at our toll-free number, 1-800-275-8395.

FIRST LOOK: VIDEO WATCHDOG #157

Donna is just now putting the final touches on the inside covers, but the front cover -- an image of Romy Schneider from HENRI-GEORGES CLOUZOT'S INFERNO made still more scintillating by Charlie Largent -- is ready for unveiling!

You may note that this is indeed our 20th anniversary issue and, for the first time in those 20 years, my name is on the cover. Other contributors like Kim Newman and Steve Bissette have had this honor, but this is a first for me, in this country anyway. For those of you who have been clamoring for me to write more for VW, I actually wrote more than half of this issue -- the Franco essay alone is our longest single-piece feature article ever, practically novella-length at 34 pages (advertising free, of course), plus there's three-page "Watchdog Barks" editorial and I also reviewed some films, including CLOUZOT'S INFERNO. So no one can say I didn't give this anniversary issue my best shot.

Also in this issue, David J. Schow performs a post mortem on FEATURES FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, a book that McFarland and Company withdrew from sale slightly more than a month after its publication date. It's our longest book review ever! Plus Kim Newman on SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD, John Charles on some Paul Naschy rarities, and much more. For more details, visit out Coming Soon pages here.

Press Release: It's Official

DIRECTOR IRENE MIRACLE AND AUTHOR/PUBLISHER TIM LUCAS OF VIDEO WATCHDOG TO COLLABORATE WITH THE FACTORY DIGITAL FILMMAKING PROGRAM AT DOUGLAS EDUCATION CENTER

'The Baggage Claim' Will Begin Filming in Late July 2010 at Douglas Education Center

MONESSEN, PA., May 17, 2010 – On any ordinary day, walking into the The FACTORY Digital Filmmaking Program complex at Douglas Education Center (DEC) would be both exciting and imaginative - as students learn the building blocks to develop a positive career in filmmaking. These days the ambiance is absolutely electrifying as students and teachers gear up for this summer’s “The Final Product” production.

Golden Globe-winner Irene Miracle (director of DAWNLAND: CHANGELING as well as an actress noted for such films as MIDNIGHT EXPRESS, Dario Argento’s INFERNO and PUPPET MASTER) and students from The FACTORY Digital Filmmaking Program at DEC will team up to produce THE BAGGAGE CLAIM in late July 2010. The film is based on a screenplay by Tim Lucas, Saturn Award-winning writer/publisher of VIDEO WATCHDOG magazine, and the cult fiction favorites THROAT SPROCKETS, THE BOOK OF RENFIELD, and the epic biography MARIO BAVA – ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK. THE BAGGAGE CLAIM will be produced under the auspices of The Final Product - the last course students enrolled in The FACTORY Digital Filmmaking Program at DEC will take prior to graduation. “The Final Product exemplifies the Factory’s philosophy of immersing students in a real world production situation by teaming them with working filmmakers on viable projects,” said FACTORY director Robert Tinnell. Previous productions have been directed by Tom Savini, whose make-up effects school is part of Douglas Education Center, as well as by Tinnell, an industry veteran whose directing credits include FRANKENSTEIN AND ME and whose screenplay for THE LIVING AND THE DEAD will be directed by Brad Anderson in the coming year.

Irene Miracle is eager to begin collaboration with DEC. “What delights me about Robert Tinnell and The FACTORY Digital Filmmaking Program at Douglas Education Center is the feeling of being surrounded by an incredible number of like-minded poetic creators, and that together we’re all aiming for the stars. That may explain why this little film we are planning will be so crowded with people, quick scene changes, and a heart beat that takes the world into a quick dance.”

Screenwriter Tim Lucas notes, “I sat down and wrote THE BAGGAGE CLAIM in a single sitting, in longhand, hardly changing a word as I typed it up. Irene loved it, and when Robert Tinnell came aboard and we saw what was possible with his resources at DEC, we revised it together with an eye to those possibilities. It was one of the happiest writing experiences I’ve ever had.”

Lucas goes on to say, “In some ways, THE BAGGAGE CLAIM is an opportunity for a group of artists experienced in horror to speak more warmly to our audience by sharing what we’ve learned about life and relationships by this point in our lives, while telling a story in an unmistakably fantastic vein.”

DEC students enrolled in The FACTORY Digital Filmmaking Program will have a unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience in a variety of positions during the creation of the digital production of THE BAGGAGE CLAIM. All aspects of filmmaking will be put to use while students work hand-in-hand with film industry professionals. Education and experience will be used in the field in a green screen environment.

“My students and I are thrilled to be working alongside this wonderful group of film professionals,” said Robert Tinnell. “There is a tremendous need for students to have practical, hands-on film-making experience prior to graduating into the real world of professional filmmaking, and I am very pleased that DEC is creating an atmosphere where creativity and learning are one in the same in achieving that aim.”

For more information, call 412-684-3684 or visit www.dec.edu.

Here's a link to the actual press release.

Joseph W. Sarno 1921-2010

Joe Sarno and his wife/assistant Peggy Steffans Sarno, photographed in 2002.

Michael Raso of RetroSeduction Cinema has contacted me with the sad news that writer-director Joseph W. Sarno passed away this evening at his home in Manhattan after a short illness. He was 89.

Sarno toiled in the sexploitation industry, but I dislike referring to him as a sexploitation or even an exploitation director, though his films were certainly sold this way. In films like SIN YOU SINNERS (1963), SIN IN THE SUBURBS (1964), RED ROSES OF PASSION (1966), CONFESSIONS OF A YOUNG AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE (1974) and ABIGAIL LESLIE IS BACK IN TOWN (1975), he introduced to American "dirty movies" new and serious dimensions of human psychology and a profound sensitivity to female sexuality in particular. He may well have been the erotic cinema's first proponent of sexual experimentation, which he explored not salaciously but as an exposé of human relationships, yearnings and frailties. His films deal with infidelity, group sex, paganism, sexual accessories, encounter group therapy and, most recurrently, "mind-fuck" situations -- the kind that come about when a free spirit visits a conservative village and liberates its pent-up energies. (I once asked Joe if Pasolini's TEOREMA had been an influence, and he not only hadn't seen it, he'd never heard of it.) Above all, his films are about how people change other people.

Most of his work was shot in the state of New York, with the exception of a trilogy of Florida works made in 1968-69, though he sent his biggest shock waves through the genre with the 1968 release INGA, which introduced Marie Liljedahl and commenced a whole series of films shot in Sweden, where he and his assistant wife Peggy (who, as Peggy Steffans, had starred in the 1963 Adolphus Mekas film HALLELUJAH THE HILLS) "vacationed" every summer.

INGA was historic for filming what may well be the first authentic female orgasm ever shot, and Sarno's insistence on authenticity was one of the secrets of his success. He once told me that, in several of his softcore films, the actors had actual sex below frame to authenticate the passion in their lovemaking scenes -- and it can be felt. (As I think back over his work, for me, the most erotic moment may be a pointed glance between two lesbians who haven't yet connected in THE YOUNG EROTIC FANNY HILL, a moment that makes an otherwise subpar offering rewarding viewing.) Among his Swedish films are THE INDELICATE BALANCE (1969), DADDY, DARLING (1970), THE SEDUCTION OF INGA (1971), YOUNG PLAYTHINGS (1972, with Christina Lindberg), LAURA'S TOYS (1975) and BUTTERFLIES (1975, with Maria Forsa), all of which offer production values wholly on par with the work Ingmar Bergman was producing at the same time.

Aspects of fantasy and horror entered Sarno's work with VEIL OF BLOOD (1973), the LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS-like A TOUCH OF GENIE (1974), the Jekyll/Hyde spoof THE SWITCH, OR HOW TO ALTER YOUR EGO (1974) and SACRILEGE (1988). Beginning in the early 1970s, Sarno also very quietly began directing hardcore sex films under a series of aliases, but they all contained telltale thematic ties to the work of which he was most proud. Notable titles in this grouping include THE TROUBLE WITH YOUNG STUFF (1977) and the INSIDE films devoted to sex-stars Gloria Leonard, Jennifer Welles, Annie Sprinkle and Seka.

I first discovered Sarno's work at the drive-in during the 1970s, and I knew it was different and important then. Andrew Sarris recognized Sarno's value nearly a decade earlier, praising it in the pages of THE VILLAGE VOICE. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to champion his work to a new generation of fans in the VHS and DVD era, and even more grateful that I had the pleasure of speaking with him occasionally by telephone. This is a great loss for real adult cinema and, for me, a personal loss.

"Mata Hari's Filing Her Report..."

Anyone who knows and loves Dario Argento's SUSPIRIA will readily smile at the way those words sounded as they were spoken in the film by the catty, young ballet student Olga, played by Barbara Magnolfi... but in fact they weren't spoken by Magnolfi at all. This, and Olga's other great line ("Names that begin with S are the names of... SNAKES!"), were actually dubbed by the American actress Carolynn de Fonseca, whose eternally breathy, warm, girlish and schmoozy voice was a hallmark of Italian film dubbing for close to five decades.

It's my sad duty to report -- from her husband Ted Rusoff (the nephew of Samuel Z. Arkoff and a dubbing actor/director/legend in his own right) via VW associate editor John Charles -- that Carolynn de Fonseca passed away about six months ago. According to Rusoff, they worked together on "approximately 1200 dubbing projects over the course of 45 years."

For those of us who adore the Italian cinema and were raised on its dubbed imports, who mentally drew lines of continuity in accordance with the invisible family of voices they shared, this news is tantamount to learning that Vincent Price's wife in THE LAST MAN ON EARTH (1963), Nevenka in THE WHIP AND THE BODY (1963), Cleo in TERROR CREATURES FROM THE GRAVE (1965), Aura in THE WITCH IN LOVE (1966), the eponymous narrator of THE WILD WORLD OF JAYNE MANSFIELD (1968), Edwige Fenech's ditzy best friend in BLADE OF THE RIPPER (1971), the nymphomaniac in SLAUGHTER HOTEL (1971), Maciara in DON'T TORTURE THE DUCKLING (1972), Gianna Brezzi in DEEP RED (1975), Anita Ekberg's KILLER NUN (1978), the Roman landlady in INFERNO (1980), the woman in love with the refrigerated severed head in MACABRO (1980), the mother with the breast-fixated zombie son in BURIAL GROUND (1981) and the tragic Frau Bruckner in PHENOMENA (1985, "These are the things that can happen in the life of a woman!") have all left us in one fell swoop.

A remarkable compilation of some of her dubbing credits can be found on her Wikipedia page here, and on her IMDb page here. She also made various onscreen appearances which are noted in these filmographies.

We send our sincere sympathies to Mr. Rusoff and our eternal gratitude to Carolynn de Fonseca for a lifetime of mostly invisible, yet highly distinctive, service.

"Her Mind Was the Most Erotic and Dangerous Part of Her Body."

Mimsy Farmer seduces Robert Walker, Jr., posing as her long lost brother, in ROAD TO SALINA.

... so read the US posters for Georges Lautner's largely forgotten ROAD TO SALINA (1970), which lingers, if at all, in the popular memory as an embarrassment made by an aging Rita Hayworth shortly before her retirement from the screen. I watched it tonight, for the first time uncut, and can't figure out why it has acquired such a low reputation.

It still awaits its DVD debut, so you can only see it via an old Charter Entertainment VHS or DVD-R, where it's badly cropped and less than smoothly dubbed, so that works against it... and yes, at 52, Rita Hayworth is no longer GILDA, but that's not the movie we're watching. Rita's actually fine, playing a delusional woman in middle age, sick with loneliness, who mistakes a young drifter for her son, missing for the past four years; Robert Walker Jr. (the son of one of Hitchcock's STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, fresh from his near catatonic appearance in the commune sequence of EASY RIDER) is very watchable as the boyish, spaced-out protagonist with Clint Eastwood's DIRTY HARRY haircut, who decides to take a break from his bad luck and be mothered for awhile... but he soon gets sistered too. Mimsy Farmer is electrifying as the sexy, teeth-baring, peroxide pixie whose free and faux-incestuous ways tempt Walker to stick around for awhile in a "hot box" in the middle of nowhere.

I would argue that ROAD TO SALINA is exactly what a Seventies film noir properly was and should have been: the depiction of a steamy Venus Fly Trap that you or I might easily wander into, and not be too quick to extract ourselves from -- not another second-hand gumshoe story set in a Hollywood B-movie version of the 1940s.

8th Annual Rondo Awards Results

BEST FILM OF 2009 -- DISTRICT 9
BEST TV PRESENTATION -- "DOCTOR WHO": 'The End of Time'
BEST CLASSIC DVD OF 2009 -- AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON: FULL MOON EDITION
BEST CLASSIC DVD COLLECTION -- THE WILLIAM CASTLE COLLECTION
BEST TV COLLECTION -- "ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS" (S4)
BEST RESTORATION -- FAUST (1926)
BEST DVD EXTRA -- "Beware the Moon" documentary
BEST DVD COMMENTARY -- Fred Dekker: NIGHT OF THE CREEPS
BEST DOCUMENTARY -- AMERICAN SCARY
BEST BOOK -- BELA LUGOSI AND BORIS KARLOFF: The Expanded Story of a Haunting Collaboration by Gregory William Mank
BEST MAGAZINE -- RUE MORGUE
BEST ARTICLE -- "Bad Moon Rising" by Jovanka Vuckovic
BEST COVER OF 2009 -- MONSTERS FROM THE VAULT #26
BEST WEBSITE -- Dread Central
BEST HORROR BLOG -- The Drunken Severed Head
BEST CONVENTION OF 2009 -- MONSTER BASH (Pittsburgh)
BEST FAN EVENT -- TRIBUTE TO FORREST J ACKERMAN
FAVORITE HORROR HOST -- Count Gore De Vol
BEST HORROR PODCAST -- RUE MORGUE RADIO
BEST CD -- STAR TREK II: WRATH OF KHAN
BEST HORROR COMIC BOOK -- BATMAN: GOTHAM AFTER MIDNIGHT
BEST TOY, MODEL OR COLLECTIBLE -- Twilight Zone's "Talking Tina"
COUNT ALUCARD'S CONTROVERSY OF THE YEAR -- "No, but I can burn one for you." Studios offer some classics on DVD-Rs only.
CLASSIC MOST IN NEED OF DVD RELEASE OR RESTORATION -- ISLAND OF LOST SOULS
WRITER OF THE YEAR -- GREGORY WILLIAM MANK
ARTIST OF THE YEAR -- GARY PULLIN
FAN ARTIST OF THE YEAR -- ROBERT SCOTT
DVD REVIEWER OF THE YEAR -- KIM NEWMAN
MONSTER KID OF THE YEAR -- ELIOT BRODSKY of Monsterpalooza
THE MONSTER KID HALL OF FAME -- The six latest inductees are: Bill Lemon, Ray Meyers, Dennis Druktenis, Robert "Bob" Carter, Frederick S. Clarke and Bill Warren.

Rondo Voting Ends at Midnight Tonight

Hey, everyone! Today is the last day for voting in the 8th Annual Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards, so get right over to the Rondo website and cast your ballot! Vote for whomever and whatever you like; the important thing is to participate -- but naturally Donna, the Kennel and I would appreciate your votes for VIDEO WATCHDOG and its contributors wherever appropriate.

This blog has been extremely intermittent of late, so I would not feel right about accepting the Best Blog Award. I encourage followers of this blog to consider Pierre Fournier's Frankensteinia blog instead; it is in the truest spirit of these awards and got my vote.

I would also particularly like to remind you of the INFERNO screening at the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles, nominated as Best Fan Event. It was a great evening, we had an audience that snaked around the block, and a terrific 30m Q&A with Irene Miracle and Keith Emerson. I'd love for them both to have Rondos of their own!

Full contents details about our next issue, VIDEO WATCHDOG 156, including free reading samples, are now posted under Coming Soon on our website, or you can find yourself magically transported there by clicking here.

First Look: VIDEO WATCHDOG #156

Cover just completed -- isn't that a beauty? We will be posting full contents details and free samples on the website's Coming Soon page in the days ahead!

Frankensteinia, Edisonia, Fournieria, Rondomania!

Over at his Frankensteinia blog today, Pierre Fournier observes the centenary of the the Thomas Edison Company's FRANKENSTEIN (1910), featuring Charles Ogle as the Creature. On a more poignant note, this means, in a broader sense, that the Frankenstein movie, as a subgenre, turns 100 today. The mystery critic known as Arbogast on Film has selflessly spearheaded a movement to encourage voters to elect Frankensteinia as Best Blog of the Year in the current Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards competition -- and, as much as I think Mr. Arbogast is similarly deserving, I think Pierre's blog cuts more to the quick of Classic Horror, not to mention Monster Kiddom. You could do worse than to vote Pierre Fournier Monster Kid of the Year.

Rondo voting ends in less than two weeks! Visit the Rondo Awards website soon to cast your ballot! And please remember VIDEO WATCHDOG (and Best Fan Event nominee INFERNO Midnight screening) as you make your selections!

Farewell to Carol Marsh

I just learned from the Classic Horror Film Boards that CAROL MARSH, the British actress best remembered as Lucy in Hammer's DRACULA (HORROR OF DRACULA, 1958), has passed away at the age of 80. Marsh, who made a wonderful Alice in the 1949 version of ALICE IN WONDERLAND, ironically passed away on March 6, the day after the release of Tim Burton's new version. As memorable as she was in both films, my favorite of her roles may well be her first, as the strangely feral innocent enamored of Richard Attenborough's kid gangster Pinky in BRIGHTON ROCK (1947, pictured).