16.12.10

a cat in the brain (1990)


aka Un Gatto nel cervello. Nightmare Concert. I volti del terror.
"..you're breaking down the barrier, the boundary between what you film and what's real."
A psychopath (David L. Thompson) is killing people in similar fashion to the deaths in the various films of director Dr. Lucio Fulci (Lucio Fulci). Meanwhile Lucio is having problems getting the terrible murders in his films out of his head, and they are making him nervy and neurotic.
A mix of horror and black comedy makes for an interesting self referencing film about the cinematic process.

14.12.10

female prisoner 701: scorpion (1972)


aka Joshuu 701-gô: Sasori.
"He has deceived me."
After being cruelly set up by Sugimi (Natsuyagi Isao), a crooked detective, Matsushima Nami's (Meiko Kaji) desire is for revenge. As she has a lot of incriminating evidence on him and his gangland cronies they plan her 'accidental' death in prison. Will she overcome all the odds and get her revenge?
Mixing arthouse with extreme violence as only the Japanese seem to be able to. This is an entertaining look at how much one woman can endure to achieve revenge; as long as you like sadism, gore, and sexploitation that is.

voyage to the planet of prehistoric women (1968)


"Venus a planet named after the godess of love."
1998 and when astronauts journeying to Venus loose contact with Earth, a rescue mission is sent to find them. They find a planet full of dangerous creatures, which they dispatch before finding their compatriates. What they don't know is that these creatures are being controlled by some sexy Venusian go-go girls, whose existance seems to consist of sunbathing in ski-pants and seashell bras.
Roger Corman basically seems to have had a Russian Sci-fi film hanging around the office and realised if he cobbled it together with some film of Mamie Van Doren and friends standing around, he'd have something approximating a film. So he did just that, and all for a budget that was probably blown on buying some pretzels for the crews lunch.

daleks' invasion earth: 2150 a.d. (1966)


"Forward or you will be exterminated."
The Doctor (Peter Suching) and his companions arrive in the year 2150 to find England overrun by Daleks. They are enslaving people to work in a mine in Bedfordshire, and the Doctor is determined to find out why and stop them.
60's big budget, (compared to the TV series), and unintentionally campy revisioning of the classic TV series.

12.12.10

mrs. brown you've got a lovely daughter (1968)


"If we ever get there."
Herman Tully and his friends (Herman's Hermits) own a greyhound called Mrs Brown. The dog shows promise, but the boys need money to enter it into races. So they decide to form a band to earn the cash and move to London to seek fame and fortune for the dog.
An off-kilter film, that doesn't quite know what it wants to be. An old style MGM musical? A love story? A wry take on society, or a rags to riches tale of working class lads done good. But for all its confusion, its lack of focus, or a definite ending, (nothing really gets resolved), it does prove to be an entertaining and interesting look at an England that has little to do with swinging London.