The Video Nasties Reviewed- Anomalies- Day 6- Blood For Dracula (1974)

Count Dracula is ill as he needs v*rgin blood but can’t find any. He decides to travel to Italy where he learns of a family which includes four daughters. The family is broke and so they think a Count might bring them a few quid if he marries into the family and so the arrangement …

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The Video Nasties Reviewed- Anomalies- Day 2- In The Realm of the Senses (1976)

In The Realm of the Senses concerns the s*xual relationship between a hotel manager (Kichizo) and a maid (Sada). Trigger warning- this film is an arthouse film and hence, not my usual fare. There are no chainsaws, zombies or apocalyptic dystopias. But there is smut. In fact, the film was massively controversial on its original …

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The Video Nasties Reviewed- Section 3- Day 72- Suspiria (1977)

Suzy Bannion has travelled from America to a very prestigious dance academy in Germany. Bizarre events happen right from the get-go, and Suzy is sure that there is more than meets the eye at the academy. Where do I even begin with Dario Argento's Suspiria? Maybe by saying that it's perfect. Every aspect of it …

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The Video Nasties Reviewed- Section 3- Day 10- The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978)

Jimmie, an Aborigine, feels conflicted between staying true to his ethnic roots and trying to make something of his life which entails suffering vile racism from many of the White people he encounters. This erupts in bloody fashion. Chant shows that the Powers That Be didn’t discriminate when they chose films to brand as Video …

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Meathook Cinema Salutes…Jeff Lieberman

I first heard of the director Jeff Lieberman when I recalled seeing the artwork for one of his films, Squirm on the video shelves in the 80's. The sleeve depicting a shower head dripping with worms instead of water with some of them having crawled under the skin of the scared woman in the picture …

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Review- The Marriage of Maria Braun (1978)

This 1978 Fassbinder movie starts with the film's eponymous hero Maria getting married to her husband Hermann in Germany during World War II just as a bomb being dropped threatens to curtail proceedings. Thankfully the couple's union is officially sealed and Hermann then goes off to fight in the war himself. After learning later that …

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Review- Beware of a Holy Whore (1971)

Fassbinder's 1971 film concerns a German film crew waiting for a production to start whilst on set in a Spanish hotel lobby. The film starts with the verbal recanting of a Goofy cartoon. This is possibly the most linear and conventional part of the entire film's narrative but that's not an insult. The rest of …

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Review- Martha (1974)

More Fassbinder goodness with this 1974 film as we see the central character start out as a happy go lucky woman who feels pressurised to find a man, settle down and adjust to married life. Her own parents are revealed to be in a loveless marriage until Martha's father collapses and dies when he is …

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Review- Ali- Fear Eats The Soul (1974)

Emmi, a 60 year old widowed cleaner decides to enter a bar that is playing Arabic music to shield from the rain. She sits at a table on her own far from the regulars who are at the other side of the bar. They dare one of their entourage, Ali to go and ask her …

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31 Days of Halloween 2020- Day 29- Carnival of Souls (1962)

A teenage drag race goes dreadfully wrong with one car being forced off a bridge and into a river. From the car a woman, Mary manages to escape and clamber ashore. However, Mary's life after that isn't the same. She seems to see ghostly figures when she seemingly disassociates herself with everyday life that is …

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