From the "In Case You Missed It Dept.":
Great news for all you home video procrastinators, Synapse Films are offering the "OOP" titles from the now sadly defunct cult film DVD labels Panik House and Casa Negra! So Panik's "Pinky Violence" line and Casa's amazing Mexihorror classics are now available at the original SRP, no more overpriced ebaying for you, my FEMALE YAKUZA and BRAINIAC deprived friends! And though the mighty SEX AND FURY is now sold out, it would appear a repressing is in the cards.
The Horses's Mouth:
Blog Announcement!
Casa Negra catalog!
Panik House catalog!
This week brings news of upcoming DVDs by the two companies which most tickle our Worldweird fancy.
Firstly over at their own blog, Mondo Macabro have announced a new DVD coming out "sometime later this year". It's a movie we've never heard of before called BORN OF FIRE, an English surrealist/fantasy film directed by a Pakistani gentleman named Jamil Dehlavi. They compare it to the early films of Alejandro Jodorowsky which is one surefire way to grab our attention! The movie would seem to be, according to an IMDB reviewer, a "beautifully filmed surrealist journey into Arabic mythology", another refers to it as "the first Islamic horror movie". Well, sign us up, that sounds delicious. When more info on this release becomes available we'll let you know.
In other DVD label blog news, our endlessly suffering but ever vigilant pal Bill from Onar Films has announced that all the hassles that may have prevented him from releasing two ALTIN COCUK movies as well as the delirious looking early 60s fantasy film CICI CAN have been ironed out and they are all forthcoming! The latter especially has us intrigued if the amazing trailer Bill posted long ago is any indication of it interest. Said trailer is posted again below for those who might have forgotten its brilliance. But when will these highly anticipated discs make their debut? As ever when we know more so shall you!
Firstly over at their own blog, Mondo Macabro have announced a new DVD coming out "sometime later this year". It's a movie we've never heard of before called BORN OF FIRE, an English surrealist/fantasy film directed by a Pakistani gentleman named Jamil Dehlavi. They compare it to the early films of Alejandro Jodorowsky which is one surefire way to grab our attention! The movie would seem to be, according to an IMDB reviewer, a "beautifully filmed surrealist journey into Arabic mythology", another refers to it as "the first Islamic horror movie". Well, sign us up, that sounds delicious. When more info on this release becomes available we'll let you know.
In other DVD label blog news, our endlessly suffering but ever vigilant pal Bill from Onar Films has announced that all the hassles that may have prevented him from releasing two ALTIN COCUK movies as well as the delirious looking early 60s fantasy film CICI CAN have been ironed out and they are all forthcoming! The latter especially has us intrigued if the amazing trailer Bill posted long ago is any indication of it interest. Said trailer is posted again below for those who might have forgotten its brilliance. But when will these highly anticipated discs make their debut? As ever when we know more so shall you!
Turkey; 1967
Directed by Ilhan Engin
Starring Ekrem Bora and Sema Ozcan
Available from Onar Films
Wow. If you've been waiting for just the right Onar DVD to risk buying sight unseen, I think I may have just found the answer to your dilemma. KADIN DUSMANI or WOMAN DESPISER is one of the very best movies our friends in Greece have ever released. It's a weird, sleazy and often violent thriller in the best Giallo tradition. Fans of those obsessive Italian thrillers will have a field day with this admittedly cheaper Turkish variation, as it holds its own against many better known films of that ilk. It has spooky gothic elements, beautiful girls half undressed half the time, startling violence, necrophilia, hints of incest, cameras tilting into delirium and impressive B&W cinematography. Add to that that this is one of Onar's best looking discs to date and you have the recipe for one of the year's best DVD releases from anywhere in the world. I'm very excited about this one and think you will be too once you take your plunge into the murky waters of KADIN DUSMANI!
The movie opens, as most movies should, with a girl taking off her clothes. The atmosphere drips with a stylish 60s noirish appeal as the sexy maiden prepares for bed. But before she can settle into dreamland, a twisted monstrous hand reaches into her room, flicking the light switch and plunging the scene into darkness. Emerging from this menacing black is a horrifying (if slightly sillylooking) devil-faced creature! Our pretty young thing, justifiably frightened out of her pretty young mind, steps back blindly to evade the creature's grasp only to stumble, hit her head and seemingly give up the ghost. At this point the demon removes his deformed hands and reveals a very human intention underneath as his unsheathed man-mitts move to caress her supple, dead body. Inexplicably, the rooms begins to fill with fog ...
The next scene, some time later, a couple of charming young women are walking home at night speaking nervously of "two girls killed in one week". Parting, the camera stays with one of the girls as she silently enters her large, enshrouded home. The eerie Italian soundtrack music and the murderous nature of the previous scene give it away that this evening is not going to end well for this unlucky dame, and so it goes. Again, we are treated to an undressing tease (though it comes close there is no nudity in the movie, sadly) before another rubbery monster-masked figure appears to claim another victim.
From here the film enters into procedural territory with the lead detective (Turkish leading man and sometime villain Ekrem Bora) interrogating the girls' boyfriends and bouncing around theories to explain these acts of a "sex maniac". The sleaze hinted at in the opening scenes becomes more frank as it is explained that the girls are not only being murdered but also raped, that is raped after they are killed! This movie fairly permeates with sex and/or perversion. Although never graphic nearly every scene incorporates sexy girls doing sexy things. My favorite is set as a particularly Jess Franco-esque nightclub scene with an alluring belly dance that concludes with a shapely sword-weilding dancer decapitating a male mannequin with graceful yet bloodthirsty panache. Sex and violence, these elements are KADIN's bread and butter.
Our first and primary suspect for the ongoing series of murder-rapes is the first girl's fiancee, a rich kid with an overprotective mother, a dead brother and a gorgeous sister-in-law whom our detective hero takes an immediate liking to. But he is just one of many suspects, as each girl seems to have had a sleazy boyfriend with some motive or another for craoking her. The detective at one point even explains that it's his job to "suspect everyone" and indeed, nearly everyone in the film is portrayed at some point in a possibly guilty light. Red herrings abound, as they are wont to do in giallo cinema, and this gives ample opportunity for weird characterisations galore. One suspect is a philandering sculptor who kneads his clay menacingly and closely inspects his tongue in the mirror. Another, a young playboy, caresses a human skull while alone in his apartment and reads aloud about necrophilia. The first suspect is no slouch either as he enjoys rubbing the barrel of a handgun against his temple and displaying an unhealthy interest in his sister-in-law. Even weirder is the detective's own sister, a wheelchair bound spinster who casually mentions how her brother's former wife met with a "peculiar death" to un-nerve his new lover. Alone in her room, she stands, apparently not crippled after all, kisses a picture of her brother and begins to caress her chest sensually as she gazes longingly at the photo. This charming scene is disrupted by (what else) the monster-faced molester gazing at her through the window. Hysterical, she runs to her brother's arms, with no one noticing that she is not actually crippled at all. This dramatic turn of events is never mentioned by anyone even when she pops up briefly later in the movie. Bad continuity or cinematic fever dream at work? Only you can decide that.
As you might be able to tell, this film is all weirdness and little-to-no logic. And that works decidedly in its favor. The finale spins out of control into sheer gothic territory with Ekrem Bora's girlfriend pursued by a host of masked devils though a cobweb infested mansion. The solution to the mystery is no mystery at all if you've been paying attention (or maybe even if you haven't) but that isn't the point. The point, at least when the film was originally produced, is, as mentioned above, sex. To have as many sexy scenes as the Turkish censor would allow and who cares about the plot. For us now, those of us willing to watch such obscure filmic treats as this, the point is weirdness. And KADIN DUSMANI is boiling in odd details, creepy music and irrational motivations and actions. For weird films fans, this one is sheer bliss.
Onar's disc of this once unknown jewel and cult film in the making is one of its best presentations to date. The films is presented full screen, which would seem to be its correct aspect ratio, with a mostly clear and as-pristine-as-Turkish-movies-can-get picture quality. There are some digital artifacts here and there and some dirt and debris, but these are exceedingly minor, especially when compared with almost every other Turkish film you can see anywhere else, including most of Onar's previous releases. So good on 'em for that one. And we get the usual batch of excellent extras including trailers for upcoming and previous Onar DVDs and Ayman Kole's highly informative bio notes on Director Ilhan Engin and star Ekrem Bora. Most interesting is another segment of the TURKISH FANTASTIC CINEMA docu - this one dealing with horror and sci-fi. The sci-fi segment has some great clips from many films including the possibly upcoming ALTIN COCUCK but the horror segment limits itself to only the two heavy hitters of Turkish scares, DRACULA ISTANDBUL'DA and SEYTAN. While of course there are very few actual Turkish horrors there are many more than just these two, Onar has even released a double feature with two of those horrors, and many other movies with horrific elements including the film of this very DVD. Disappointing that they chose only those two very well know examples to highlight, it's great fun and informative nonetheless. To conclude this review I must point out one other small thing that really made me very happy about this DVD - it has excellent subtitles. Subtitle quality has varied extremely on Onar discs, so it pleases me to no end to report that these are probably the best yet. They were very easy to read and in close-to-idiomatic English as they've ever been, making understanding what's going on very, very easy. Bravo Onar! Once again, you lite up my day with amazing worldweird-y fun and excitement! I hope it goes on forever.
We received great news from our friends at CIKO (a Cetin Inanc/Cuneyt Arkin fan group) this week! As of right now they will be selling official DVDr presentations of some of Inanc's wildest 80s psychedelic-action masterpieces for the first time available with English subtitles! Great Gods we've been waiting for something like this for a looooooong time!!!!
First off, the movies they've chosen for us!:
SON SAVASCI ( LAST WARRIOR ) Trailer
CÖL ( THE DESERT a.k.a TURKISH JAWS ) Trailer
VAHSI KAN ( TURKISH RAMBO ) Trailer
DELI FISEK ( BLACK GUN ) Trailer
AC KARTALLAR!
KARA SIMSEK!
ASI KABADAYI!
INTIKAMCI - THE AVENGER - Turkish Stallone + Gibson
These movies are sure to pulverise your usually delicate cineaste sensibilities! So beware! And take care! And be sure to buy all these amazing once rare trash films!
All ye need to do is venture here. They are selling them for $15.90 (US)a pop and $4 shipping for 1-3 titles and $5 for more than 3. Your package will also include a rare Cetin Inanc Turkish lobby card at no extra cost! What a freakin' steal!
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? The time is NOW for Turkish trash heaven to descend upon you!
First off, the movies they've chosen for us!:
SON SAVASCI ( LAST WARRIOR ) Trailer
CÖL ( THE DESERT a.k.a TURKISH JAWS ) Trailer
VAHSI KAN ( TURKISH RAMBO ) Trailer
DELI FISEK ( BLACK GUN ) Trailer
AC KARTALLAR!
KARA SIMSEK!
ASI KABADAYI!
INTIKAMCI - THE AVENGER - Turkish Stallone + Gibson
These movies are sure to pulverise your usually delicate cineaste sensibilities! So beware! And take care! And be sure to buy all these amazing once rare trash films!
All ye need to do is venture here. They are selling them for $15.90 (US)a pop and $4 shipping for 1-3 titles and $5 for more than 3. Your package will also include a rare Cetin Inanc Turkish lobby card at no extra cost! What a freakin' steal!
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? The time is NOW for Turkish trash heaven to descend upon you!
Worldweird Cinema has many friends from all over this tiny globe of ours but none more passionate than our cine-brothers from the very cradle of our particular civilization - Greece. So we'd like to return the favor of their support by pointing to a few places where you can spend your hard earned cash in rocky, hot Hellas. C'mon, they gave us democracy and kept the Persian Empire at bay so it's the least you can do.
Firstly our friend Miltos of Cinehound Forum (our home away from home) fame has two online weird movie shoppes that we must highly recommend to you. If the oddest of the odd from Bollywood (or is it Bollyweird?) is your thang, then check out the newly revamped Electric Larvae store, where Bolly is all they got, but what they got they got galore. Lots of Lolly too, if you know what I mean (I mean Pakistani films if you don't). You can pour through endless pages of boring dramas and comedies at other Indian disc providers or you can just go straight to the worldweird gold all laid out in easy to understand alphabetical (and in English too, for us barbarians) order. You have no excuses for not buying stuff, really.
Not content to only corner the Bollyweird market, Miltos also provides even rarer treats at his DVDr shoppe Kult Paradise. Here you can find movies you can find NOWHERE ELSE. Miltos is a long time VHS collector and he has cherry picked the weirdest of the weird to offer to you, his adoring public. Many of the more obscure films we've reviewed here over the years have come from his collection and now you too can pretend that you're cool and in the know about this stuff just like we do.
Check it out, I'm sure you'll find something that will get your blood pumpin'.
Also, we feel it necessary to point out that Miltos' fellow countryman Bill Barounis, whom all of you should know as the President and CEO of Onar Films, has just put out via that very DVD label a new and completely awesome looking Turkish delight called KADIN DUSMANI or WOMAN HATER, a gothic-tinged Giallo thriller from the late 60s that promises to be one of their most interesting releases to date. Our copy is on its way so we should have a review soon but in the meantime - why not just take the chance and order your own? I really doubt you will regret it. If you don't know anything about it, here's the lowdown and the trailer for it. Don't miss out!!
A genuine TURKISH GIALLO from 1967! At that time, the italians had just started warming up on the genre while their best examples came years later.
This Turkish lost, spooky, misty, gothic giallo horror stands on its own, faithful to itself, quite original in ideas, full of surprises and almost empty as far as "similarities" to other films are concerned! The only surving print was found in very good condition and ONAR FILMS is presenting it in another worldwide premiere.
NOW, ON 500 COPIES ONLY!
Country: Turkey
Year: 1967
Director: Ilhan Engin
Actors: Ekrem Bora, Sema Ozcan, Tanju Korel, Gulgun Erdem, Reha Yurdakul
--------------------------------------
FEATURES:
ULTRA-LIMITED EDITION OF 500 numbered copies
Turkish audio with English & Greek subs
Dolby Digital 2.0
Documentary Turkish Fantastic Cinema - Part 3
Poster Insert
Photogallery
Biographies
Filmographies
Trailers
Firstly our friend Miltos of Cinehound Forum (our home away from home) fame has two online weird movie shoppes that we must highly recommend to you. If the oddest of the odd from Bollywood (or is it Bollyweird?) is your thang, then check out the newly revamped Electric Larvae store, where Bolly is all they got, but what they got they got galore. Lots of Lolly too, if you know what I mean (I mean Pakistani films if you don't). You can pour through endless pages of boring dramas and comedies at other Indian disc providers or you can just go straight to the worldweird gold all laid out in easy to understand alphabetical (and in English too, for us barbarians) order. You have no excuses for not buying stuff, really.
Not content to only corner the Bollyweird market, Miltos also provides even rarer treats at his DVDr shoppe Kult Paradise. Here you can find movies you can find NOWHERE ELSE. Miltos is a long time VHS collector and he has cherry picked the weirdest of the weird to offer to you, his adoring public. Many of the more obscure films we've reviewed here over the years have come from his collection and now you too can pretend that you're cool and in the know about this stuff just like we do.
Check it out, I'm sure you'll find something that will get your blood pumpin'.
Also, we feel it necessary to point out that Miltos' fellow countryman Bill Barounis, whom all of you should know as the President and CEO of Onar Films, has just put out via that very DVD label a new and completely awesome looking Turkish delight called KADIN DUSMANI or WOMAN HATER, a gothic-tinged Giallo thriller from the late 60s that promises to be one of their most interesting releases to date. Our copy is on its way so we should have a review soon but in the meantime - why not just take the chance and order your own? I really doubt you will regret it. If you don't know anything about it, here's the lowdown and the trailer for it. Don't miss out!!
A genuine TURKISH GIALLO from 1967! At that time, the italians had just started warming up on the genre while their best examples came years later.
This Turkish lost, spooky, misty, gothic giallo horror stands on its own, faithful to itself, quite original in ideas, full of surprises and almost empty as far as "similarities" to other films are concerned! The only surving print was found in very good condition and ONAR FILMS is presenting it in another worldwide premiere.
NOW, ON 500 COPIES ONLY!
Country: Turkey
Year: 1967
Director: Ilhan Engin
Actors: Ekrem Bora, Sema Ozcan, Tanju Korel, Gulgun Erdem, Reha Yurdakul
--------------------------------------
FEATURES:
ULTRA-LIMITED EDITION OF 500 numbered copies
Turkish audio with English & Greek subs
Dolby Digital 2.0
Documentary Turkish Fantastic Cinema - Part 3
Poster Insert
Photogallery
Biographies
Filmographies
Trailers
After much soulsearching over the past several months, the decision to reactivate WWC has been made. Let there be much rejoicing! Cool, now that all 8 or so of you are vocally rejoicing, let's get back down to business. Here's a quick look at some upcoming DVD releases that I think will be of interest to the Worldweird faithful. CAVEAT: WWC makes no claims, positive or otherwise as to the quality and/or completeness of the films on this list, do your own research before buying as always!
Let's take a look!! (All cover images from the indispensable DVD Aficionado website.)
42 ST. FOREVER Vol. 5 (Synapse) out 9/29/2009
BLACK MAGIC 2 (Tokyo Shock) out 6/16/2009
DINNER WITH A VAMPIRE (Mya) out 8/25/2009
DOOR INTO SILENCE (Severin) out 6/30/2009
GOZU (Cinema Epoch) out 7/14/2009
GRADIVA (Mondo Macabro) out 8/25/2009
HARDWARE (Severin) out 9/29/2009
HORRIBLE aka ABSURD (Mya) out 6/30/2009
L'IMPORTANT C'EST D'AIMER (Mondo Vision) out 6/16/2009
ITALIAN SEX (Mya) out 8/25/2009
LUCIFERA-DEMONLOVER (Mya) out 9/29/2009
MAFIA CONNECTION (Mya) out 8/25/2009
MARQUIS DE SADE'S PROSPERITIES OF VICE (Mondo Macabro) out 6/30/2009
NAKED AND VIOLENT (Mya) out 9/29/2009
NIKKATSU NOIR box (Eclipse/Criterion) out 8/25/2009
SEX AND ZEN (Eastern Star/Discotek) out on 9/29/2009
SLEEPY EYES OF DEATH (AnimEigo) out 7/14/2009
STORM RIDERS (Discotek) out 9/29/2009
UNTIL DEATH (Mya) out 9/29/2009
VIOLENCE AND FLESH (Impulse/Synapse) out 6/30/2009
Some very, very interesting stuff there. Some more interesting than others, yes, but considering the sad state of affairs that is the Home Video industry at this time it is a veritable embarrassment of riches. Do you duty, buy worldweirdy DVDs!!
Coming soon to this site: A review of the latest Onar opus KADIN DUSMANI!!!! See ya then movie fans!
Let's take a look!! (All cover images from the indispensable DVD Aficionado website.)
42 ST. FOREVER Vol. 5 (Synapse) out 9/29/2009
BLACK MAGIC 2 (Tokyo Shock) out 6/16/2009
DINNER WITH A VAMPIRE (Mya) out 8/25/2009
DOOR INTO SILENCE (Severin) out 6/30/2009
GOZU (Cinema Epoch) out 7/14/2009
GRADIVA (Mondo Macabro) out 8/25/2009
HARDWARE (Severin) out 9/29/2009
HORRIBLE aka ABSURD (Mya) out 6/30/2009
L'IMPORTANT C'EST D'AIMER (Mondo Vision) out 6/16/2009
ITALIAN SEX (Mya) out 8/25/2009
LUCIFERA-DEMONLOVER (Mya) out 9/29/2009
MAFIA CONNECTION (Mya) out 8/25/2009
MARQUIS DE SADE'S PROSPERITIES OF VICE (Mondo Macabro) out 6/30/2009
NAKED AND VIOLENT (Mya) out 9/29/2009
NIKKATSU NOIR box (Eclipse/Criterion) out 8/25/2009
SEX AND ZEN (Eastern Star/Discotek) out on 9/29/2009
SLEEPY EYES OF DEATH (AnimEigo) out 7/14/2009
STORM RIDERS (Discotek) out 9/29/2009
UNTIL DEATH (Mya) out 9/29/2009
VIOLENCE AND FLESH (Impulse/Synapse) out 6/30/2009
Some very, very interesting stuff there. Some more interesting than others, yes, but considering the sad state of affairs that is the Home Video industry at this time it is a veritable embarrassment of riches. Do you duty, buy worldweirdy DVDs!!
Coming soon to this site: A review of the latest Onar opus KADIN DUSMANI!!!! See ya then movie fans!
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