Movie Review: Colour Correct My Cock (2015; Vagrancy Films)

…the whole lot of genre movie trailer compilations, much like the trailers themselves, has always been a mixed bag of sorts, as far as the really good ones, intermingled with the ho-hum ones. Invariably, the best ones out there, are the few and far between which genuinely go the extra mile, as far as special…even unconventional presentation, for lack of a better term, rather than merely juggling the same old mix of weathered, well-worn and oft-seen trailers. When this reviewer, and long-since devoted genre movie trailer collector, first succumbed to the collector’s allure of those eye-popping, albeit quickly digestible movie condensations…often which were cleverly edited, in so much as the trailers, in most cases, was genuinely better than the full-length feature films themselves…the prime go-to source for these eclectic compilations was the likes of people not unlike that of the late Mike Vraney’s Something Weird Video, with their enticing and exploitative trailer collection titles (…liberally rendered in a sort of random, hither-tither, maverick junk-food fashion, including some deliciously psychedelic VHS box art, to boot), including the ‘Dusk ‘til Dawn Drive-In Trash-o-rama Show’…the ‘Shiver and Shudder Show’ (…Ooooo!! Ske-e-e-elly!!)…the hippie-crazed Johnny Legend-hosted ‘Bikers, Blondes and Blood’…the equally insane, dy-no-mite & ‘outta sight’ rapper/hipster/gangsta’ meanderings of host Rudy Ray Moore, in ‘Afros, Macks & Zodiacs’. And who couldn’t possibly keep from salivating uncontrollably over the down ‘n’ dirty prospects suggested in Vraney’s over-the-top ‘Blood-o-rama Shock Show’, featuring a promised ’50 Brain Slurpin’ Guts ‘n’ Gore Movie Trailers from the ‘60’s & ‘70’s…Oh, yum!!!...

Movie Review: Grindhouse Trailer Classics Vol. 1 (Intervision / Nucleus Films)

A few years back the U.K genre specialists at Nucleus Films produced their first of four volumes (up to now) of cult film trailer compilations entitled Grindhouse Trailer Classics. At the time it wasn't available for anyone outside of England unless you had an all-region DVD player...that is, until now. Severin Films’ sleazy little brother, Intervision have now locked their teeth into the region one debut of this collection with their new release making it even more available to the masses. If you have yet to see it, it’s a deliciously diabolical compilation of trash that shows some major love for the lost art of the trailer and grindhouse theaters of yesteryear.

This particular collection is pretty exhaustive as there are well over 2 hours of trailers with the different genres often associated with the grindhouse -- horror, sexploitation, kung fu, Blaxploitation, Nazisploitation and so on. Here's a list of most of what you’re going to catch on this first volume:

Movie Review: Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship and Videotape (2010; Nucleus Films/Severin)

...and to think that we've had it bad, here in the States, with regards to an established movies rating board, and it's effect on horror films, or even the whole of motion pictures, itself; well actually, if one gets right down to it, it isn't necessarily the viewers who have it bad here...it's the film makers, and their desire to get their uncut and unexpunged 'vision' out for the genre-favoring public to see (...though, in favor of the filmmakers, their 'vision' is often eventually realized and seen, upon home video release, giving the avid and indiscriminant viewer a choice between the rated and the unrated). The domestically based MPAA ratings board has gone through a whole spectrum of transition, since it's untried 1922 inception...it's staunch, disciplined and assumedly morally driven members...reputably considered a responsible and morally sound lot...yet, often going back and forth and back again, from easy and liberal, to strict and militant. One cannot help but view the more contemporary archival evidence of the past, in taking an overview of this transition, and be quite taken aback...from a day when an imported Dracula film, exuding blatant images and concepts of sex, immorality, drunkenness, lesbianism, atheism, the domineering/surrendering of religion by/to the forces of evil, grave violation, church desecration, and downright violent imagery of blood-gushing death, dismemberment and impalement, garnished a 'G' rating (...circa 1968, Hammer's "Dracula Has Risen from the Grave"...don't believe me?? Check out the movie's page at IMDB. A misprint, you say?? Now check out the back cover of the home video)...to today's ratings board atmosphere, where mere cigarette smoking can make the difference between a 'PG' and 'PG-13' rating, and the difference between a 'PG-13' and "R' rated movie is sometimes dependent upon how many times the word 'fuck' is used in the film. Hypocritical, you say?? As the great Al Jolson once said, "...you ain't seen...or in this case, 'heard' nothing yet!!" Let's take a trip across the seas, to our neighboring continental British counterpart, shall we?? You just ain't gonna believe this...

This is My Fist to Your Face Style: The Best of Kung Fu Movies, Volume One (2011)

There are few things in this life that bring me happiness like a good trailer compilation. It's like a Valentine's box of candy, except in lieu of chocolate truffles and sugary goo, you get bite sized samples of cinema! Now, like any box of sweets worth its salt, there has to be some sort of loose, unified thread of commonality. Most do not want peanut brittle mixed with that filled chocolate with the mystery pink center. In the small but growing categories of trailer compilations, Southern DVD, a small company out of South Africa, has released BEST OF KUNG FU MOVIES VOLUME 1. While the kung fu sub genre has been somewhat represented on a number of fine compilations, it has rarely if ever gotten its very own disc. That is, until now. So what's being served on the cinematic buffet tonight?

Movie Review: Trailers From Hell Volume II (2011)

Joe Dante's had an interesting career. He started his 30 plus year journey in film by creating theatrical trailers for Roger Corman. This then brought him some directorial opportunities for some of finest genre films of all time (Gremlins, Piranha and The Howling). Dante's worked with the likes of Spielberg and Tom Hanks as well. Pretty impressive, I think. The director's never forgotten his roots and the films that made him what he is. If your not aware of Trailers from Hell, it's a website devoted to movie trailers mainly of the cult film variety with an interesting touch: Commentaries are played over each trailer by some of the best directors and writers in the game today. It's turned out to be quite a fun mix . The folks at Shout! Factory saw fit to compile 20 of these trailers on what is now the second volume of the series.

Buy Trailers From Hell! Vol. 2 on DVD