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page created: 3/23/06
 The Mondo Macabro Mambo Adam Jahnke - Main Page |
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| At
the risk of greatly oversimplifying things, I would like to propose
that there are two types of DVD users. The first type has replaced
the theatrical movie-going experience with a home theatre. They buy
a lot of brand new, major studio releases on disc and, while they do
pick up a large number of movies sight unseen, they rarely blind buy
something they've never heard of before. The other type is more interested in the archival side of DVD than the technical presentation. What they love most about DVD is the almost wholly unexpected side effect of the most obscure and unusual movies imaginable being widely and affordably available on disc. For them, shopping for DVDs is like a treasure hunt. Not only do they pick up movies they've never seen, they flock to movies they didn't even know existed, the more esoteric, the better. For them... well, for us, since I consider myself (and much of The Bits staff) part of this second group, a label like Mondo Macabro is like a gift from above. After bursting onto the scene a few years ago, Mondo has carved out a niche for itself by raiding the vaults of grindhouse and exploitation programmers the world over. "Big deal," I hear you protest, "there's plenty of indie DVD studios that have done the same thing." True but Mondo's focus on the international scene gives it a little something extra that all but guarantees you'll be exposed to something new and different. Their catalogue reads like an atlas of the bizarre, with vampires from Pakistan, possessed nuns from Mexico, and 2'9" secret agents from the Philippines. For those of you with a taste for the unusual, join me now as I examine four recent discs from the wild world of Mondo Macabro. Everybody else... well, maybe I'll have something for you to read about next time. |
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| Imagine
Heavenly Creatures as staged
by Larry Clark, the director of Kids
and Bully, in provincial
France and you'll have some idea of what this film is like. Both
Jeanne Goupil and Catherine Wagener are chilling as the two girls,
so cold-eyed and utterly selfish. The film's treatment of the
Satanist elements is very straight-forward and realistic. No cheesy
looking horned beasts appearing from fog banks or consulting of the
Necronomicon here. Just a genuine portrayal of how two rebellious
young girls would actually approach a black mass based on their own
reading of forbidden poetry and other books. And while some horror
fans may bemoan the lack of gory set-pieces here, there are at least
a few images and moments, including the disturbing finale, that will
resonate in your mind's eye. The DVD presents the film in anamorphic 1.66:1 widescreen picture that is more than satisfying despite some very minor source problems. The French 2.0 soundtrack is also just fine. Like many Mondo releases, the disc includes a brief "About the Film" essay, helpful in all cases for establishing context and history for these often totally unknown movies. Don't Deliver Us from Evil also includes a trio of informative featurettes. A 15-minute interview with writer/director Joël Séria fills in his background and his inspirations for writing the script, while a 12-minute chat with actress Jeanne Goupil provides insight into the making of the film and its original reception. The 12-minute Hellish Creatures interviews true crime authority Paul Buck on the original Parker-Hulme murder case and its similarities and differences to the film. Wrapping things up is a gallery of promotional stills and art along with a preview of other Mondo Macabro releases. The Mondo preview appears with slight variations on all these discs, by the way, and it's so much fun that I played it every time. Don't Deliver Us from Evil is in many ways a film ahead of its time. Certainly it's themes of bored teens escaping into an immoral world of self-gratification has resonance today, as does its controversial view of the Church. I imagine if you were raised Catholic, the film has even more meaning. Regardless of your background, the film casts an effective spell. Film Rating: B+ Disc Ratings (Video/Audio/Extras): B-/B/B- |
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| The
set-up for this movie is pretty good and staged quite effectively.
We've all been in a situation where someone recognizes us but we
just can't remember their name or how we know them. That part of the
movie carries a genuine sense of unease. But once our heroes arrive
at the world's creepiest mansion, things start to make a lot less
sense. Anna's reaction to seeing Mary eating bloody raw meat off a
countertop like an animal shortly after their arrival at the house
is certainly more laissez-faire than mine would have been. Lurking
around the house is a couple of servants whose purpose remains a
mystery. And after the orgy scene, the movie just spirals into a
surreal series of inexplicable events with characters being
apparently killed, then turning up alive, getting re-killed, and on
and on. The final twist seems inevitable in a totally illogical way.
I have no idea how or why we get to that point but after everything
else, it seems like we must. And even if the movie fails to deliver
on the creepy atmosphere its premise promises, it's never less than
entertaining. Mondo does another fine job on the technical side with this release, with an above average image and two audio options, both English and Spanish language. Neither of them sounds particularly natural but that's hardly a shock on a movie like this one. In addition to Pete Toombs' "About the Film" essay and the Mondo preview, Satan's Blood provides an alternate opening which you can either play on its own or with the film itself. This is one of those academic-style prologues they used to tack onto especially sleazy movies in an attempt to give them some redeeming social value and it's pretty amusing. The disc also provides a fairly extensive gallery of stills and promotional art. Most interesting is a nearly half-hour featurette called The Devil's Disciples. Here, Gavin Baddeley provides a surprisingly informative and thorough overview of the Church of Satan and its most famous representatives, including Aleister Crowley and Anton LaVey. It doesn't have anything specifically to do with Satan's Blood per se but it is worth watching. Film Rating: B- Disc Ratings (Video/Audio/Extras): B/B-/B- |
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| Yes,
there's much to love about Virgins from
Hell. The wild sets, the wilder costumes, the
increasingly baroque tortures dreamed up by Mr. Tiger. Oh, and I
didn't even get to the old hermit character with a knowledge of "traditional
medicines" including the ability to use a live snake to extract
a bullet from Larry's leg. Virgins from
Hell is the kind of delirious exploitation movie made by
people who know they can't compete with big-budget Hollywood action
epics in a fair fight. So they do the only thing they can do. They
don't fight fair. A similarly-themed movie from Hollywood would be
expected to at least make some small effort at making sense. That's
not the case here. Virgins from Hell
is essentially everything the filmmakers could afford to throw into
the pot in 90 fast-paced minutes. Other movies might do it better
but I'll bet they didn't have as much fun. Disc one of this two-disc set features the movie in anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen and dubbed English 2.0 stereo. You also get the original trailer, a thorough and entertaining essay by Pete Toombs called Women in Chains: An Overview of the WIP Movie (that's Women in Prison to you genre virgins out there), and the toe-tapping More from Mondo Macabro preview. If you're thinking a movie like Virgins from Hell doesn't need the double-disc treatment, think again, buddy-boy! The second platter takes you halfway around the world for Destination: Jakarta, 70 minutes of trailers from other Indonesian exploitation flicks from Rapi Films, the studio responsible for Virgins from Hell. It's quite the collection with movies like The Devil's Sword, Hell Raiders and the Jaka Sembung trilogy: The Warrior, The Warrior and the Ninja, and The Warrior and the Blind Swordsman. There's also a 25-minute documentary on Indonesian exploitation to whet your appetite further. Film Rating: oh... let's give it an A Disc Ratings (Video/Audio/Extras): B+/B-/A |
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| At
any rate, I'd heard of the movies from Turkey's genre boom for years
but I never thought I'd actually see one. Now, thanks to Mondo, I've
seen two. And they're just about as mind-bending as I'd hoped. The Deathless Devil is a Turkish superhero opus about a young man who learns that his father was the masked avenger known as Copperhead. Dad was killed years earlier by the nefarious Dr. Satan. The evil Doctor is back now, killing his way through a list of scientists in an attempt to seize control of a device that flies airplanes by remote control. It takes absolutely no convincing to get Junior to don the Copperhead mask and do battle Dr. Satan, his goons and his clunky killer robot. This is a thoroughly ridiculous movie with music cues "borrowed" from the likes of Henry Mancini and Ennio Morricone. It's cheesy fun for the most part but it tried even my bad-movie patience at times and I've got a pretty high tolerance level for this kind of thing. Let's just say that the comic relief provided by Copperhead's Sherlock Holmes aping partner made me long for the subtlety and refined wit of Jerry Lewis circa Which Way to the Front. More entertaining is Tarkan Versus the Vikings, a Turkish sword-and-sorcery epic based on what is apparently a very popular Turkish comic book. Tarkan and his two wolves (which look an awful lot like friendly dogs) are acting as bodyguards to Yonca, the daughter of Attila the Hun. Suddenly, a horde of rebellious Vikings in cahoots with a Chinese dragon lady attack and kidnap Yonca and kill one of Tarkan's wolf-dogs. Tarkan is much more upset about the dog than the kidnapping and vows revenge on the Vikings. Tarkan Versus the Vikings is a little gem of low-budget weirdness. The actors are clad in fur costumes that appear to be bath mats and sport a wild assortment of mismatched wigs and fake beards. Considering the history of Turkish cinema, when the story called for the arrival of a giant octopus I was surprised the filmmakers didn't just insert random clips from old Ray Harryhausen movies. To their credit, they tried to do it themselves, though the resulting effect is less than awe-inspiring. Despite (or more accurately, because of) its shortcomings, Tarkan Versus the Vikings is great fun and a terrific introduction to the wild world of Turkish pop cinema. Mondo is upfront about the condition of the films on this double-feature disc. Basically, we're lucky they exist at all. Most Turkish films of the era were destroyed when the cycle ended in the 1980s. Neither film is in particularly good shape but they're far from unwatchable. The soundtracks in both cases are in Turkish with English subtitles provided. Extras include text-based information about the films, as well as a very good 24-minute documentary on Turkish Pop Cinema. Like so many titles in Mondo Macabro's catalogue, this disc provides prime examples of a type of film that many have heard talked about but few have actually experienced first hand. The next time you're with that friend who thinks they've seen it all and acts so jaded and cynical when trying to find a movie to watch, pop in a disc from Mondo Macabro. It should shut them up for at least 90 minutes or so. Film Ratings (Average): C+ Disc Ratings (Video/Audio/Extras): C/C/B- Adam Jahnke ajahnke@thedigitalbits.com |
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