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Posted on 06.10.08 by Jeff @ 8:35 am
Longtime readers of Cinema Strikes Back are well aware of our enthusiasm for the Mondo Macabro DVD label founded by Pete Tombs and Andy Starke (not to mention Pete’s stellar book Mondo Macabro, a bible of sorts around these parts). Pete and Andy are also the producers of Hell’s Ground (Zibahkhana), an excellent Pakistani horror flick directed by Omar Khan, the world’s foremost expert on South Asian horror movies. (Check out our review of Hell’s Ground here.) Hell’s Ground is scheduled to be released on DVD in North America on June 24, 2008.
Pete, Andy and Omar sat down with Cinema Strikes Back’s David, Jeff and Charlie in connection with the screening of Hell’s Ground at the 2007 New York Asian Film Festival for a lengthy talk ranging from the making of Hell’s Ground to the future of Mondo Macabro to Indonesian action star Barry Prima (as well as for a viewing of Omar’s extensive Betsy Palmer memorabilia collection while Omar was out of the room – sorry, Omar). We are now pleased to present Part Two of our interview, which focuses on Mondo Macabro itself as well as whatever filmic oddities happened to come up in discussion. (Part One of our interview, which focuses on the making of Hell’s Ground, can be found here.) Filed under: General and Movie News and Contributors: David and Contributors: Charlie and DVD Companies: Mondo Macabro and Movie News: Pakistan and Movie News: Interviews and Contributors: Jeff and Film Festivals: New York Asian Film Festival 2007 Comments: 2 Comments |
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Posted on 06.02.08 by Jeff @ 10:37 am
Longtime readers of Cinema Strikes Back are well aware of our enthusiasm for the Mondo Macabro DVD label founded by Pete Tombs and Andy Starke (not to mention Pete’s stellar book Mondo Macabro, a bible of sorts around these parts). Pete and Andy are also the producers of Hell’s Ground (Zibahkhana), an excellent Pakistani horror flick directed by Omar Khan, the world’s foremost expert on South Asian horror movies. (Check out our review of Hell’s Ground here.) Hell’s Ground is scheduled to be released on DVD in North America on June 24, 2008.
Pete, Andy and Omar sat down with Cinema Strikes Back’s David, Jeff and Charlie in connection with the screening of Hell’s Ground at the 2007 New York Asian Film Festival for a lengthy talk ranging from the making of Hell’s Ground to the future of Mondo Macabro to Indonesian action star Barry Prima (as well as for a viewing of Omar’s extensive Betsy Palmer memorabilia collection while Omar was out of the room – sorry, Omar). We’re publishing the results in two parts – the first focusing on Hell’s Ground and the second to focus on Mondo Macabro itself as well as whatever filmic oddities happened to come up in discussion. (Part Two of our interview can be found here.) Special thanks to Matt Kiernan for setting up the interview, and to Pete, Andy and Omar for generously giving up their time. We encourage everyone to check out Mondo Macabro – the book and the DVD company – as well as Hell’s Ground and Omar’s website The Hot Spot Online. Filed under: General and Movie News and Contributors: David and Contributors: Charlie and DVD Companies: Mondo Macabro and Movie News: Pakistan and Movie News: Interviews and Contributors: Jeff and Film Festivals: New York Asian Film Festival 2007 Comments: 1 Comment |
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Posted on 05.05.08 by Jeff @ 3:54 pm
Country and Year: Indonesia (1979)  In recent years, the Mondo Macabro DVD label has provided Western viewers with easy access to the colorful world of Indonesian exploitation cinema. Highlights have included the delirious Virgins from Hell (which splits the difference between Russ Meyer’s early work and a Cannon action movie) and Mystics in Bali, one of the most notorious films in the East Asian “black magic” genre. Mondo Macabro has now added another “black magic” film, Queen of Black Magic, to its collection. Just like Mystics in Bali and many other “black magic” films, Queen of Black Magic tells the story of an innocent who falls under the influence of an evil sorcerer and is exposed to the weird world of magical rituals, floating heads, blood, snakes, maggots, and other gross stuff. However, QoBM is a much more polished piece of filmmaking than Mystics in Bali. While Mystics in Bali is basically a series of bizarre special effects sequences connected by only the loosest of narratives, Queen of Black Magic is a flat-out melodrama. Fans of Mystics in Bali should have no fear, however, as QoBM definitely delivers the goods, particularly in the final third of the film, which features all of the exploding people, flying body parts and sorcery duels that fans of the “black magic” genre have come to know and love. Filed under: General and Movie Reviews and Rating: Good ★★★ and DVD Companies: Mondo Macabro and Movie Reviews: Indonesia and Contributors: Jeff and DVD Reviews: Indonesia Comments: 2 Comments |
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Posted on 01.14.08 by Jeff @ 6:42 am
Country and Year: Indonesia (1981)
There are weird movies, and then there is Mystics in Bali: the film against which other weird movies are measured. While some weird movies are 90-minute freakouts devoid of any comprehensible plot, and other weird movies contain startling moments interspersed with long, boring narrative sequences, Mystics in Bali strikes the proper balance between craziness and an interesting (albeit awkwardly told) story. The film tells the story of Cathy, a young Western lass who is determined to learn about Indonesian black magic. With the help of her Indonesian boyfriend Hendra, Cathy tracks down an ancient witch known as the Queen of Leaks. (That’s pronounced “lay-ack”.) Cathy convinces the Leak Queen — a shriveled, cackling hag who sounds like an evil Yoda — to teach her black magic. Over the course of several evenings, the Queen — who has the power to transform, alter and levitate herself — inculcates Cathy in the dark arts. The Queen paints mantras all over Cathy’s body with her elongated tongue, does a strange ritual dance, and causes Cathy to shoot out a forked tongue like a serpent and transform into a pig, among other fun stuff. Filed under: General and Movie Reviews and DVD Reviews and Rating: Good ★★★ and DVD Companies: Mondo Macabro and Movie Reviews: Indonesia and Contributors: Jeff and DVD Reviews: Indonesia Comments: None |
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Posted on 09.04.07 by David @ 2:15 pm
For those of you who haven’t been paying attention, Grady Hendrix’s Kaiju Shakedown is back from hiatus. This week he has an interview with Matt Kiernan of Caroline Distribution, who handles Mondo Macabro and Fantoma. Matt’s an all-around good guy and has some interesting things to say about the prospects of older, foreign films on DVD, so swing over and check it out. Filed under: Movie News and DVD News and DVD Companies: Mondo Macabro and DVD Companies: Fantoma Comments: None |
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Posted on 08.20.07 by Jeff @ 6:56 am
Country and Year: France (1970) Review By: Jeff
On August 27, 2007, our friends at the Mondo Macabro DVD label will be releasing The Blood Rose, another obscure horror film that they have rescued from the dustbin of history, given a digital clean-up, and unleashed upon an unsuspecting public. The Blood Rose is an interesting variation on Eyes Without A Face that will be of particular interest to fans of atmospheric Euro-horror. The film concerns a somewhat amoral artist and entrepreneur named Lansac. Within the film’s first few minutes, Monsieur Lansac dumps his current gal pal, Moira, in favor of Anne, the woman who will become his lifelong muse. Lansac takes Anne out of the city to his family’s ancestral castle in the countryside. Although Anne is immediately taken with the Lansac family estate, she is less enchanted by Igor and Olaf, two diminutive henchmen who live at the estate and dress like cavemen. Despite her misgivings, Anne decides to permanently live at the castle and lets Igor and Olaf stay on. Filed under: General and Movie Reviews and Rating: Average ★★ and Movie News: France and DVD Companies: Mondo Macabro and Contributors: Jeff Comments: None |
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Posted on 07.03.07 by Jeff @ 6:58 am
 The New York Asian Film Festival will be showing the new Pakistani horror flick Hell’s Ground on Tuesday, July 3 at 10:30 pm at the IFC Center. New York-area fans of Asian film, horror movies, and guerilla independent productions will not want to miss this one. Cinema Strikes Back’s correspondents had the chance to watch Hell’s Ground earlier this week, and we can report that the film is a lot of fun, a surprisingly effective horror flick that breathes new life into some of horror’s most tried-and-true plot elements by resetting them in the unfamiliar environs of Pakistan. If I learned one thing from Hell’s Ground, it is that the lush, forbidding jungles of the Pakistani countryside make an ideal setting for zombie mayhem, giving the film a feel that is one part Fulci and one part Fitzcarraldo.  The film concerns a bunch of Islamabad coeds who head out of town in a van for an ilicit weekend trip. The fun comes to an end for the students as they run into a cadre of bloodthirsty zombies and demented village people, including the fearsome, homicidal “Burqa Man.” The film is quite punchy, and is played completely straight for the most part. The gore scenes are particularly well done, with some fine gross-out moments. The film also features a fine musical score that mixes electronica with some really cool, swingin’ Urdu lounge music. (Bring on the soundtrack album!) To be clear, Hell’s Ground is unlike past South Asian horror films such as Zinda Laash and the works of the Ramsay Brothers, as it features absolutely no musical numbers. The film has far more in common with early 1980s slasher films and gore classics like Texas Chainsaw Massacre (which are a clear influence on the production) that with any of the commercial fare that is churned out of Lollywood, the Pakistani film industry. Filed under: Movie News and Movie Reviews and Film Festivals: News and DVD Companies: Mondo Macabro and Movie News: Pakistan and Contributors: Jeff and Film Festivals: New York Asian Film Festival 2007 and Movie Reviews: Capsule Reviews and Movie Reviews: Pakistan Comments: 1 Comment |
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Posted on 03.05.07 by David @ 8:21 am
Fans enjoying the diverse output of niche companies like NoShame, Criterion, Panik House, Blue Underground and Mondo Macabro will definitely want to take a look at this article on the problems these companies are having competing with the big boys in the oversaturated DVD market. ::: For Obscure DVDs, a Precarious Future Thanks to Lang Thompson on Mobius for pointing this out. Filed under: Movie News and Movie News: USA and DVD News and DVD Companies: Criterion Collection and DVD Companies: NoShame Films and DVD Companies: Mondo Macabro and DVD Companies: Panik House and DVD Companies: Blue Underground and DVD Companies: Synapse Films and DVD Companies: Anchor Bay and DVD Companies: Palm Pictures Comments: 1 Comment |
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Posted on 09.23.06 by David @ 6:47 am
Review By: David Austin
The Ramsay Brothers are the undisputed kings of Bolly-horror. For a period of some 10-20 years during the 80s and early 90s, this family enterprise churned out dozens of sleazy movies filled with things that go bump in the dark. Certain elements are de rigeur. You need a) one group of young attractive friends with a reason to be out in the countryside, b) one hideous monster to stalk and kill the group, c) an element of supernatural curse or connection between the monster and the some or all members of the cast, d) a bad comedy subplot. Now, that’s not to say that the Ramsays could never do anything different. 1981‘s Ghunghroo Ki Awaaz is actually a rather well-crafted take on Les Diaboliques and Vertigo that relies more on atmosphere, character and subtle chills than gore and latex. However, the beating heart of the Ramsay’s filmography lies in footage of rubber-faced monsters pursuing buxom starlets through creepy mansions.
Pete Tombs pointed out in his essential guide, Mondo Macabro, that the Ramsay brand of horror is also extremely disreputable, and that requests for their work, even at packed Indian video stores, are met with a cold shoulder. Having tried for myself, I can confirm this to be the case. Aside from the late period horror film Dhund: The Fog, released in 2003, no Ramsay films are for sale in my usual haunts, and only a few horror movies are available, period. Therefore, this DVD set is especially welcome. Finally, western audiences can revel in the seamy pleasures of Purana Mandir and Bandh Darwaza, two excellent examples of the Ramsay style. Filed under: General and Movie Reviews and DVD News and DVD News: Bollywood and Contributors: David and Rating: Good ★★★ and Movie Reviews: India and DVD Companies: Mondo Macabro and DVD Reviews: India and People: Ramsay Brothers Comments: 39 Comments |
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Posted on 09.04.06 by David @ 2:00 pm
AKA: Golok Setan Review By: David Austin  If what the movies teach is true, I want to move to Indonesia. Apparently the entire country is populated with snake queens, crocodile men, witches with removable heads, and armies of busty biker babes in pleather. Indonesian film studio Rapi Films experimented with a lot of different genres during its heyday, including ninja-sploitation (The Warrior and the Ninja), women-in-prison films (Virgins from Hell), and war epics (Hell Raiders). The Devil’s Sword clearly aimed to ride the coattails of 1982’s mega-hit Conan the Barbarian, combining it with the formula that made their indigenous sword and sorcery series The Warrior (Jaka Sembung) so successful – wild costumes, over-the-top violence, and martial arts courtesy of Barry Prima. Finally, the filmmakers overlaid the proceedings with a prog-rock synth score guaranteed to remind you that the film was made in the ‘80s.  Filed under: Movie Reviews and DVD Reviews and Contributors: David and Rating: Good ★★★ and DVD Companies: Mondo Macabro and Movie Reviews: Indonesia and DVD Reviews: Indonesia Comments: 1 Comment |
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Posted on 06.27.06 by David @ 1:38 pm
Genre film fans should be drooling. This week sees the release of an amazing assortment of wild films, including some long-absent classics and some newly-discovered gems. Let’s take a look. Two Sogo Ishii films – BURST CITY and ELECTRIC DRAGON 80,000 VOLTS  New company Discotek has had some solid releases so far, but this time they hit one out of the park. Sogo Ishii has remained criminally underserved by DVD in America, with only his so-so samurai epic Gojoe receiving a proper release until now. Ishii was essentially the Jean-Luc Godard of the Japanese punk scene, creating cyberpunk masterpieces that focused on bosozoku biker gangs, punk rockers and freaks of all kinds. His influence stretches far, from Shinya Tsukamoto to more recent indie punk films like Wild Zero. Filed under: General and Movie News and DVD News and Contributors: David and DVD Companies: Media Blasters and DVD Companies: NoShame Films and DVD Companies: Mondo Macabro and DVD Companies: Panik House and DVD Companies: Discotek and DVD News: This Week in DVD Comments: None |
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Posted on 02.21.06 by David @ 10:32 pm
AKA: Escalofrio; Don’t Panic Review By: David Austin
Satan’s Blood is an archetypal Euro-horror devil worship film, long on violence and nudity, short on plot. All the usual tropes of the devil worship genre are present. Ouija boards, curved knives, ritual sacrifice, and pentagrams all feature prominently, and the atmosphere is classic Gothic, with an old, isolated house, sinister cultists, and exotic Satanist trappings. The film does avoid the usual pitfalls of euro-horror by featuring fairly sympathetic characters and not going out of its way to offend the intelligence of the viewer, but it lacks the creative spark to make it stand out from the many similarly-themed films. Still, the well-crafted atmosphere and occasional stand-out visual make Satan’s Blood a good example of its breed. (Click Here To Read More…) Filed under: General and Movie Reviews and DVD News and DVD Reviews and Contributors: David and Movie Reviews: Europe and Rating: Average ★★ and Movie Reviews: Spain and DVD News: Spain and DVD Companies: Mondo Macabro and DVD Reviews: Spain Comments: 5 Comments |
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Posted on 01.31.06 by David @ 8:15 am
 Just a reminder that the ridiculously fun Mondo Macabro double DVD of Virgins from Hell is released today. Support their effort to bring us the wildest, craziest films that you’ve never seen in glorious anamorphic widescreen and chockful of extras, and broaden your mind all at the same time. ::: Our review Filed under: DVD News and DVD Companies: Mondo Macabro Comments: None |
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Posted on 01.05.06 by David @ 3:40 pm
AKA: Perawan Disarang Sindikat Review By: David Austin
Virgins from Hell kicks off in grand fashion with a veritable army of busty biker chicks in leather short-shorts whooping ass on a gambling parlor, tearing around on dirt bikes, and crashing through walls in battle jeeps adorned with skulls-and-crossbones. It’s as good as it sounds. Most people probably won’t need to know more than that to decide if this is the right movie for them.
VFH is a pure product of the ‘80s, a bastard child of the Roger Corman Filipino women-in-prison (WIP) films, and Golan and Globus’s patented low-budget Cannon cheesefests like American Ninja. Indonesian artisans added their own touches, ratcheting up the gore while combining obviously exploitative subject-matter with a demure ban against nudity. This is the kind of movie where the girls have catfights and shower together, but do it in their bathing suits. (Click Here To Read More…) Filed under: Movie Reviews and DVD News and DVD Reviews and Contributors: David and Rating: Good ★★★ and DVD Companies: Mondo Macabro and Movie Reviews: Indonesia and Movie News: Indonesia Comments: 4 Comments |
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Posted on 11.20.05 by David @ 10:21 pm
AKA: Tarkan Viking Kani Review By: David Austin
Tarkan Versus the Vikings, Turkey’s answer to the Italian sword and sandal films, is more fun than the proverbial barrel of monkeys and just as crazed. Everything in this movie is energetic, outsized, colorful and wacky, from Tarkan’s mighty moustache to the Vikings’ red and blue fuzzy underoos. Tarkan doesn’t just walk around, like Hercules - he runs, he leaps, he literally bounces from place to place. The gigantic melees capture the frenetic flavor of old Errol Flynn movies, but up the ante of sex and violence to please ‘70s moviegoers. It’s like Conan the Barbarian done on $10,000 and amphetamines. (Click Here To Read More…) Filed under: Movie Reviews and DVD News and DVD Reviews and Contributors: David and Rating: Great ★★★★ and Movie Reviews: Turkey and DVD Reviews: Turkey and DVD News: Turkey and DVD Companies: Mondo Macabro Comments: 28 Comments |
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