Black Label Society- The European Invasion Doom Troopin’ DVD

Last summer I got to see Black Label Society on this tour at the Sweden Rock Festival and despite the short set they kick ass. You even get to see some video shot from the stage of this gig in the extra material but anyway, this was a great set and the band plays fantastic at this Paris gig and the London Gig is quite special and I recommend you see the backstage stuff about the London gig before you watch the concert part to get some insight into the madness… The filming of the Paris concert is first class and cool effects are used and Zakk does plenty of soloing and is in top form both musically and mentally. This is a great set of tracks focusing mostly in the Mafia and Blessed Hellride albums with only 2 older tracks from the first 3 records played (Demise of Sanity and Genocide Junkies). Great 5.1 sound and picture.. The extra stuff is really great and funny and you really feel like you are on tour with these alcoholics… Excellent double DVD and a great value for the money!

http://www.blacklabelsociety.com

Scott

Death Bed – The Bed That Eats (1977. George Barry)

This bizarre American no budget 16 mm flick is about, eh,  yeah a bed that eats people and stuff. It's based on a dream the director had and was made from 1972 to 1977, its pretty surreal, cheesy, clever, absurd, comic and strange with great use of b&w 20s footage mixed with color, absurd eating noise, inventive DIY special effects. There's some blood and nudity, amateur acting but decent cinematography. You have never seen anything like it  the vibe of the movie is like a (adult) fairy tale mix of "Equinox" and "Children Shouldnt Play with Dead Things".  Was discovered in 2002, after the original prints were lost for 25 year, "Death Bed" had a limited VHS release in England in the late 80s, the director never got his print back....until now.


Jens

The Erotic Adventures of Zorro (1971. William Allen Castleman, Robert Freeman)
People familiar with exploitation producer David F. Friedman's work (“Blood Feast”, “Starlet”, “The Defilers”, “Ilsa Shewolf of the SS”, “Acid Eaters” etc.) will be amazed over the high production values and acting in this entertaining tale. Of course it's sleazy as hell, some scenes are close to porn, but the spoofs are a riot. Trashmovie icon Bob Creese (“House On Bare Mountain,” “Love Camp 7” etc.) is hilarious as Sgt. Felipio Latio (get it?) and John Alderman ain't bad as Estaban. Producer Friedman even makes a cameo as a sadistic soldier. The twist of this version of the classic tale is that Don Diego is gay by day and hero/superlover by night! “Zorro The Gay Blade” (1981), a much higher budgeted movie starring George Hamilton copied the idea.


Jens

Free - Forever DVD

Free are one of my all time favourite bands and this collects up every piece of high quality video that is known to exist. Most of it all from April to October 1970, so it hardly covers their career from 68-73. A lot of years are missing and as these are mostly TV show programs, the band plays the songs pretty straight and restrained it seems, which is a pity, but you get to see them and appreciate what a great band they were. There is a section of short interviews with each surviving member about their huge hit, All Right Now. Not that interesting.. Paul Kossoff’s brother made an interesting film with Paul and his dad and also some live concert footage but sadly with no audio but it is quite cool to see. You can see in the bands eyes they are stoned, where as on the TV programs, they are looking pretty straight…  Great stuff…  The 2nd DVD is their complete performance from the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 audio and the 3 songs that were filmed with multiple camera and angle choices. Maybe someday the footage from the Japan tour 1972, Swedish TV, etc.. will turn up..

Scott

The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1962. Mario Bava)

The world's first giallo has all the usual Bava touches; inspired camera work, black & work use of colors in a expressionistic gothic-like way, a confusing almost surreal story line. An American girl takes a vacation in Rome where The Craven Killer aka The Alphabet Murderer terrorizes the streets while she's losing her mind as she witness some of the killings. John Saxon plays her (wimpy) friend. It's not as nasty as "Blood and Black Lace", but you can see the foundation of the giallo genre. I've read this movie (also called "Evil Eye") was supposed to be a Hitchcock spoof which is complete BS, it's a very serious atmospheric mystery thriller with little violence but plenty of style. Highly recommended for the legions of Bava fanatics which understandable are growing with each year, since Mario is the greatest director of all time.

Jens

Hysteria (1965. Freddie Francis)

Pretty unusual (for a Hammer film) non-horror paranoia thriller with Robert Webber waking up in a hospital after a car crash with no memory. As he tries to find out what the hell happened, he's wondering if somebody is playing tricks on him or is he might be a vicious murderer? A very clever low budget b&w mystery with a lot of twists which belongs somewhere between Hitchcock ("Dial M For Murder") and Frankenheimer ("Seconds"), fans of "The Prisoner" series will probably also enjoy "Hysteria". Robert Webber ("12 Angry Men", "Dirty Dozen") is excellent in the lead, and the title sequence is bloody awesome. Almost up there with Francis' "Girly". The always reliable Jimmy Sangster (“Horror Of Dracula”, “The Mummy”) wrote the script. Freddie Francis is mostly known for straight horrorfilms like “Evils Of Frankenstein”, “Dr. Terror’s House Of Horrors”, “Dracula Has Risen From The Grave”, and “The Creeping Flesh” usually starring Christopher Lee and/or Peter Cushing. He also shot David Lynch’s “The Elephant Man”, “Dune” and “The Straight Story”. Apparently “Hysteria” is very rare, and not available on dvd, I saw the film on TCM.


Jens

The Krays (1990 Peter Medak)

This violent facts-based movie is without a doubt THE best British gangsterfilm I've seen. Forget Guy Ritchie's Tarantino-ripoff rubbish, this is the one to see, its even better than "The Long Good Friday". The sadistic Kray twins (one straight, one gay) is the closest England's ever got to real flashy gangsters, but the twins committed two deadly sins for mobsters - they were more into violence than money, and they loved being celebrities in the media and hung out with stars like Diana Dors etc. Up there with "The Godfather 1 & 2" and "Goodfellas".


Jens

Rabid Dogs (1974. Mario Bava)

This former 'lost film' is a complete detour from Bava’s gothic shockers, but his talent shines all the way through. Some psychos' robbery goes astray and after killing a couple of innocent bystander they carjack a woman, a man and his son. This road thriller is packed with psychological tension, good acting, some violence, and it has possibly the most wicked twist ending of any movie I've seen. It's mostly shot inside a car, without any set pieces or camera tricks. A minor masterpiece. With George Eastman as the sadistic "ThirtyTwo" (his erect penis in centimeters!). Bava is the king, second to none!

Jens

Unknown Passage : The Dead Moon Story (2004)

"Seeing my mom and dad play rock 'n' roll in their 50s let’s it be known that you're never too old to do what you love" - Weeden Cole

Many punk and alternative bands salute themselves as being ’independent’ and are ’living by DIY ethics’, but when it comes down to the nitty gritty truth only one band really practise what they preach, Portland’s rock’n’roll cult icons Dead Moon. When I interviewed their drummer, the extremely likable Andrew Loomis, two years ago ”Unknown Passage” had a few pre-sceenings but no real distribution. So when I bought the dvd at their recent Copenhagen gig, I knew I was gonna see an extraordinary documentary. I was right. Fred and Toody Cole has been married for 40 years, but Dead Moon has ’only’ existed for 20 years. Fred started out very early barely a teenager as ’the white Stevie Wonder’ in 1963, as Deep Soul Cole, and later appeared in 60s garage bands as Barracudas, The Lords, The Weeds, Lollipop Shoppe, and later the hardrock blues act Zipper in the 70s. In the early 80s when Fred & Toody’s kids were old enough to take care of themselves, Toody joined The Rats without any musical skills, but Fred was tried of fucked up bassists so he just taught his wife how to play! And that’s the work ethic of Dead Moon, if you want something done you just do it yourself. Dead Moon has their own label, Tombstone Rockets, their own recording and pressing room in the basement of their ’frontier mini-mall’, they tour by themselves and drive their van some 15,000 odd miles a year. Dead Moon is basically a family of grandpa and grandma Fred & Toody who brought in the younger ’lost son’ Andrew in the 80s when he was pretty strung out on drugs after The Boy Wonders experience, and they’ve been a rock solid unit ever since. All three members are funny, thoughtful and down-to-earth people who are loved by fans all over the world who’re tired of fake ’indie’ music. ”Unknown Passage” isn’t flashy ’behind the music’ nonsense but a wonderful lowkey love poem to one of the few honest hardworking rock’n’roll combos left on the planet. There’s plenty of live tunes, comments from the likes of Steve Turner and and Tom Hennessy (RIP), over 90 mins of neat extras on the dvd etc. If you only buy one rock docu in this decade, ”Unknown Passage” is the one you need!

http://www.magicumbrella.com/

Jens