Around 1970 I remember seeing a re-broadcast of this black & white 25 minute tv special when I was just a kid. I didn't realize it was an episode of a 1963 tv series called "Hollywood and the Stars". If I recall, it ran one Saturday afternoon on our local UHF station WDCA - Channel 20 - in Washington, DC, in between a few old horror movies. (Thank you Dick Dyzell!)
This fun collection of clips ranging from monsters of the silent movie era to classic Universal-type monsters to the z-budget zombies of Ray Dennis Steckler's "Incredibly Strange Creatures..." cult flick, from classic horror stars to giant monsters, is a long time fave of mine. And as I didn't see it posted online anywhere I thought I'd slap it up just in time for Halloween. And so, in the words of narrator Joseph Cotten, "Now, don't send the children to bed. We want all of you to meet... Monsters We've Known And Loved."!
This year's Horror Realm convention (known as Zombiefest a few years back) has a TON of guests from the original Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead movies, plus John Amplas, star of George Romero's Martin, the lead actress from the recent scat-tastic cult film Human Centipede, and a Basket Case reunion! Plus other horror actors, artists, authors and... wrestlers! There will be film screenings and a costume ball dj'd by yours truly! And Trash Palace will have a dealer's table there Saturday afternoon and Sunday and, yes, Bella Buttons - the world famous Trash Palace pooch - will also be in attendance! Oh boy!! For more information on the 2010 Horror Realm convention check out the Horror Realm website at http://www.horrorrealmcon.com/
Speaking of Bella Buttons: Below you can check out a very brief 34 second excerpt of a video review from last year's 2009 Horror Realm convention shot by some blokes called Visions Magazine. If you look closely you'll catch a brief glimpse of me chatting with blogmeister Max Cheney aka The Drunken Severed Head. Or The Severed Drunken Head, depending on what angle you are looking at him. But more importantly it ends with Bella Buttons manning her own little doggie DVD store. For the full 4 minute video clip check out this Youtube link.
Several years ago my buddy Shabby unearthed this short UK tv documentary on French music legend Serge Gainsbourg and now you can check it out over at the Purple Zombie DJ blog. I found it really entertaining and quite informative considering it is only 25 minutes long. But I think, possibly because of the short running time, they focused a bit more on the scandals and sensationalism of Gainsbourg's life and I kind of wish there was a little more time spent looking closer at his music. Still, this fast-paced little doc has some great interviews with Jane Birkin and others that knew him, some nice footage of Gainsbourg singing as well as interviews (including the infamous F-bomb dropped on live tv in front of Whitney Houston), recording sessions and other rare footage.
I always get strange looks when I tell people I had a very "small part" in a movie about John Holmes. But in the late 1980s a co-worker of mine at Joe's Record Paradise, Jeff Mentges, actually pulled off the feat of shooting a feature-length movie - on film! - a biopic based on the life of porn star John Holmes aka "Johnny Wadd". The mostly black & white feature had a brief run at The Biograph theater in Georgetown, Washington, DC and at the old American Film Institute (AFI) at the Kennedy center in DC. This Friday Of Flesh and Blood will once again rear it's gigantic, throbbing head at the AFI in Silver Spring, Maryland for a 20th Anniversary screening. Most of the cast is expected to show up. Of Flesh and Blood beat Boogie Nights by several years and Wonderland by several decades. Although shot on a minuscule (by comparison) budget with all the roles portrayed by non-actors (guilty as charged!) OFAB has some surprisingly effective moments. The murder scenes, for instance, are particularly disturbing and have much more of an impact to me than those in the big-budget Wonderland. Breon as "Johnny Wade" (the characters' names have been slightly changed to protect the innocent - from getting their arses sued!) is suitably trashy and Joe Lee's performance as club tycoon / alleged crimelord Eddie Nush (sic) is excellent. His portrayal of Nush / Nash comes across as much more believable than the ones in the other 2 aforementioned flicks. The original jazz/noise score by Jeff's post-punk band No Trend is also truly effective. I myself am only in the movie for about 5 minutes total, however my gorilla suit somehow has gotten more screentime than I did.
Local film documentarian Jeff Krulik, whos Heavy Metal Picnic played at AFI last Friday, sent out this press release email below: In the late '80s, Jeff Mentges turned his attention from fronting infamous DC band No Trend to attending film school. Not content to graduate with a short film like the rest of his classmates, he decided to produce and direct a 16mm narrative feature film. The result: Of Flesh and Blood, a black-and-white noir retelling of porn star John Holmes' sordid descent into drugs, mayhem and murder. Shot for just $15K and featuring his former co-workers and denizens from Joe's Record Paradise, as well as beloved school janitor Al Breon in the starring role, the film had its grand premiere on August 15, 1990, at the Biograph Theater in Washington, DC. This special anniversary screening is as much a celebration of low-budget 16mm independent filmmaking before digital video took over as it is a 20-year reunion for everyone who was involved in making it happen.
Plus, for those No Trend fans out there, now's your chance to meet Jeff Mentges, in a rare local appearance. Also invited is the entire cast and crew, including Dr. Joe Sasfy, Dick Bangham, Steve Lorber, Cha Cha Lemeaux and Brian Horrorwitz of The Ubangis.
Below is a brief clip. As it states at the beginning this video was shot directly off of the editing machine screen and the actual film looks MUCH better than this which I can attest to. Also the intro music before the clip is not actually from the film itself.
Of Flesh and Blood screens this Friday, August 23rd, at the American Film Institute at 9:30pm, Rated R (although in this film there is no nudity nor sex per se it is still quite raw in the language dept. ie- they say "fuck" about a gazillion times.)
LINK: Of Flesh and Blood screening information at the American Film Institute can be found on their website at http://www.afi.com/silver/new/nowplaying/2010/v7i3/mars.aspx#offle
This Sunday, July 18th, our in-house band The Ubangis perform at another ALL AGES Sunday matinee at The Quarry House Tavern in lovely Silver Spring, Maryland (8401 Georgia Avenue)! And looky here: Our good buddies The Midnight Creeps are back in town making their de-butt appearance at Quarry House! Come check them out for some fur-ocious female lead old school punk rawk, baby! Also on the bill are the Casio-tastic stylings of The Sweet Sixteens (from Indiana) and the amazing Poppetes all the way from Sweden! You don't wanna miss this one! The show starts at 2pm and ends promptly at 5pm. (When we said 'matinee' we f'ing meant it!) And it's ALL AGES so bring yer foetus!
If you saw "Grindhouse" a few years back then you remember director Robert Rodriguez's wild fake trailer for the fictional movie "Machete". Well now it's been made into a real movie and this week he released this timely trailer presented here for promotional use only.
