I had the pleasure of doing a commentary with the brilliant Lindsay Hallam for the Radiance Films 4K restoration of Harry Kumel's exquisite Daughters of Darkness (1971), out now. More information on the Blu-ray on the Radiance Films website.
Trouble Every Day: Material vampires and the defeat of science
Honoured to have contributed a video essay, 'Material vampires and the defeat of science', to the limited edition 4K UHD and Blu-ray of Trouble Every Day, released by Eureka Entertainment. The essay was masterfully edited by Jonathan Zaurin, my thanks to him for doing such a wonderful job. More details on the Eureka website.
Woman Hell: Woods Are Wet, or Justine in Japan
I have written an essay for the 88 Films release of Tatsumi Kumashiro's 1973 Woman Hell: Woods Are Wet, part of Nikkatsu's Roman Porno range. Thanks to Jasper Sharp for asking me to write about one of my favourite 1970s adaptations of the Marquis de Sade. For anyone interested in the book I am writing... Continue Reading →
Behind Convent Walls: ‘Anarchic Nuns and the Artistry of Desire’
I loved talking about Walerian Borowczyk's anarchic, playful, lustful Behind Convent Walls for Arrow's limited edition Blu-ray. Big thanks to Kat Ellinger for asking me and to Jonathan Zaurin for being a brilliant partner in crime as always. More info on the Arrow website.
Inside the Mind of Coffin Joe
It was such a pleasure to contribute a video essay on Coffin Joe and demonic surrealism to Arrow's superb limited edition blu-ray set. New restorations, ten films, archival material featuring José Mojica Marins and tons of extras from Stephen Thrower, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Jack Sargeant, Lindsay Hallam and Tim Lucas among others. Co-produced by Kat Ellinger... Continue Reading →
The Shiver of the Vampires 4K
I contributed a video appreciation of Jean Rollin's The Shiver of the Vampires (1971) to Indicator/Powerhouse's beautiful 4K release. Available from the Powerhouse website.
A Woman Kills (La femme bourreau)
I'm very happy to have contributed an introduction + a commentary alongside the brilliant Kat Ellinger to Radiance Films' release of A Woman Kills (La femme bourreau), directed by Jean-Denis Bonan, a one-time Jean Rollin associate, in 1968. Lost for 40 years, A Woman Kills is a radically odd serial killer story that was shot... Continue Reading →
Blind Beast: A Perverse Cinema of the Body
I wrote an essay on Blind Beast (1969), Yasuzô Masumura's hallucinatory masterpiece of perverse eroticism, for the Arrow Video Blu-ray, released 23 August 2021.
The Savage Surrealism of Fando y Lis
I contributed an essay on Fando y Lis and surrealism to the new monumental Alejandro Jodorowsky box set from Arrow. Jodorowsky's first feature Fando y Lis (1968), an infernal adaptation of Fernando Arrabal's Panic play, psychedelic Western El Topo (1970) and delirious spiritual initiation The Holy Mountain (1973) are presented in new 4K restorations, and... Continue Reading →
Hammer’s Women: Lisa Gastoni
I contributed a video profile of the fascinating Irish-Italian actress Lisa Gastoni for Hammer Volume 5: Death and Deceit, which includes Visa to Canton/Passport to China (1961), starring Gastoni as a beautiful, mercenary spy. Gastoni is best known for the roles of seductively transgressive women she played in Italian films such as Wake Up and... Continue Reading →