ARTE Trash salutes Ed Wood in November

Nothing brings us greater pleasure than the return of Arte Trash. Thursday nights around 1am pan-European viewers can watch the lowest of the lowest, the sickest of the sickest and the weirdest or the weirdest. Here’s what’s coming up…

OCTOBER (continued)

Oct 28: Baixio das Bestias
A man falls in love with a teenage girl, who is exploited by her own grandfather, who sometimes takes her to a gas station to show her naked to whomever pays him some money.

NOVEMBER

November is Ed Wood month. Hailed as the worst director ever (though, honestly, here at DV we’ve seen a lot of worse movies), Arte Trash is keen on showing you if Wood deserves this reputation or not. Three of his movies, starting with his most notorious one, will be aired on Thursday nights. (The following comments and summaries come from Amazon.)

Nov 4: Plan 9 From Outer Space
Plan 9 is the story of space aliens who try to conquer the Earth through resurrection of the dead. Psychic Criswell narrates (“Future events such as these will affect you in the future!”) as police rush through the cemetery, occasionally clipping the cardboard tombstones in their zeal to find the source of the mysterious goings-on. More than just a bad film, Plan 9 is something of a one- stop clearinghouse for poor cinematic techniques: The time shifts whimsically from midnight to afternoon sun, Tor Johnson flails desperately in an attempt to rise from his coffin, and flying saucers zoom past on clearly visible strings. Fading star Bela Lugosi tragically died during filming, but such a small hurdle could not stop writer-producer-director Ed Wood. Lugosi is ingeniously replaced with a man who holds a cape across his face and might as well have “NOT BELA LUGOSI” stamped on his forehead.

Nov 11: Bride of the Monster
Bela Lugosi plays Dr. Vornoff, a mad scientist working on a race of superbeings in his lab. His process of clamping a metal lampshade onto the heads of his subjects and zapping them with radiation usually kills them, but the monstrous Lobo (Tor Johnson) survives and becomes Vornoff’s assistant. Vornoff’s plans go awry, though, when he tries to get a nosy reporter to mate with Lobo and winds up being given the atom treatment himself. Suffice it to say that there’s a grappling match between Vornoff and Lobo until the evil doctor falls into a pit and wrestles a rubber octopus. Stock footage of lightning and an atomic explosion round things out for a great non sequitur of an ending.

Nov 18: Glen or Glenda?
Often mentioned as a contender for the title of Worst Movie Ever Made, Glen or Glenda? (a.k.a. I Changed My Sex, a.k.a. I Led Two Lives, a.k.a. He or She) remains Ed Wood’s weirdest film–and, for the director of Plan 9 from Outer Space, that’s saying something. Yet Glen or Glenda? goes way beyond camp, into some unique zone of demented personal expression, an essay/collage/autobiography that is no less fascinating just because it comes from a second-rate mind. Wood himself, under the pseudonym Daniel Davis, plays a transvestite struggling to reveal his tendencies to his wife (the toneless Dolores Fuller, Wood’s missus in real life). Mixed in with this exploitation story is a ton of irrelevant stock footage, as well as disconnected glimpses of Béla Lugosi bellowing at the audience; Lugosi’s dialogue is a tapestry of non sequiturs and portentous warnings.

Now you see it, now you don’t… Trash!

What on earth has been happening to Arte Trash? Without any information it’s been jumping from day to day, on different slots to boost. Here’s an update from August onwards.

AUGUST

Fri 6: Alucarda
A young girl’s arrival at a convent after the death of her parents marks the beginning of a series of events that unleash an evil presence on the girl and her mysterious new friend, an enigmatic figure known as Alucarda. Demonic possession, Satan worship, and vampirism follows.

Fri 13: Bubba Ho-Tep
Elvis and JFK, both alive and in nursing homes, fight for the souls of their fellow residents as they battle an ancient Egyptian Mummy.

Thu 19: Sympathy for the Devil
Jean-Luc Godard films the Rolling Stones. Part of the “Summer of the 60s” season.

Thu 26: Les Idoles
Part of the “Summer of the 60s” season. Gigi la folle, the wrongly innocent sweet blonde played by Bulle Ogier, was inspired by pop singer France Gall, whereas Charlie le surineur, played by a wild Pierre Clémenti, is more or less Johnny Hallyday: a supposed natural-born rebel, in fact a totally artificial marketing produce. Jean-Pierre Kalfon, the last of the idols, plays a dishevelled and mystic palm reader turned into a frantic singer, a compromise between the Beatles under their indian period and a bunch of psychedelic bands such as they existed then. The three of them dance and sing all along like roaring lions, giving a very impressive performance of raw pop power. The portrait director Marc’o gives of the French youth on the eve of May 1968 is of a world seething in unrest, reading supposed rebellion orders on the lips of their teen idols. (adapted from an IMDb review)

SEPTEMBER

Fri 3: Lions Love
Agnes Varda directed this fascinating cinema verte like fictional film in 1969. The film traces Gerome Ragnai and James Rado (the composers of HAIR) and Andy Warhol actress Viva as they try to break into the Hollywood lifestyle. American feminist icon filmmaker Shirley Clarke is featured in an extended role, also playing a fictionalized version of herself. Clarke is attempting to get studio financing for a film project that seems to be consciously satirizing the struggles Varda must have had in getting this film made. This film is funny, beautifully shot and imaginatively edited. It is a must see for fans of Varda and the French New Wave. (taken from the IMDb)

Thu 9: This Filthy Earth
The tragic story of two sisters whose lives are disrupted by two men. Amidst a landscape of rural hardship and a community consumed with superstition, events unfurl which threaten their sibling bond.
According to Arte, Andrew Kötting places himself next to Lars von Trier, John Boorman and Pasolini with his debut movie. Poetic and powerful trash.

Thu 16: Tokyo Drifter
In this free-jazz gangster film, reformed killer “Phoenix” Tetsu drifts around Japan, awaiting his own execution until he’s called back to Tokyo to help battle a rival gang. Seijun Suzuki’s “barrage of aestheticised violence, visual gags, [and] mind-warping color effects” got him in more trouble with Nikkatsu studio heads, who had ordered him to “play it straight this time.” Instead he gave them equal parts Russ Meyer, Samuel Fuller, and Nagisa Oshima.

Thu 23: Calamari Union
Finnish film Calamari Union by Aki Kaurismäki is not at all a motion picture with a defined setting, but more of a visual experience with surreal touches which must be seen many times to feel the plight of hapless rock musicians in an urban milieu. The band exists of 14 people, 13 of which are called Frank.

Thu 30: Les Lèvres Rouges
Watch out: this starts at the later hour of 01:10! But try and stay awake for this Belgian cult classic by director Harry Kümel. You may know this film under its English title, Daughters of Darkness.
A newlywed couple are passing through a vacation resort. Their paths cross with a mysterious, strikingly beautiful countess and her aide.

OCTOBER

Oct 7: Macuaima

Based on the 1928 book by Mário de Andrade, the modern-day parable follows the misadventures of a black man who is miraculously born to an old woman, who is supposed to be of the indigenous peoples of Brasil, in the jungles of the Amazon. Though born fully-grown, he has the heart of a playful child. After the death of his mother, he comes face to face with a spring that turns him white. With that change, he and his two brothers move to Rio de Janeiro, but are interrogated by street terrorists upon their arrival.
ARTE says: “A radical and excentric take on a Brazilian classic novel.”

No ARTE Trash on Oct 14, but on October 21 a German comedy, Johnny Flash, is scheduled.
Experimental filmmaker Werner Nekes describes in this, his first comedy, the extraordinary career of the pop king of the Ruhr, “Johnny Flash”. This obstinate offspring of the Potzkothen family succeeds in becoming, thanks to the unflagging support of his mother, his manager and „that girl at Music Satellite“ a celebrated pop star. In the final sequence of this satire on show business and mother-son-love, Johnny and his mama wander off into an uncertain horizon, just as Charlie Chaplin once did at the end of his films …

Gib Gas, Ich Will Spass!

When the cast of a movie is mentioned only by their first names, it can only mean two things: either you’re watching a porn movie or a film with musicians. And a title like “Give gas, I want fun” doesn’t exactly help clarifying which of the two you’re watching. Which may explain why the English title of this film is Hanging Out. Which… come to think of it… may also be a sexual reference.

But no, dirty mind, Gib gas, ich will Spass is not smut, but a music film with Markus and Nena. The former a highly successful pop star, the latter an unknown pop star. And now, a quarter of a century later, the roles seem to be reversed. Because there’s a lot of chance you know Nena from her global hit “99 Luftballons” (a.k.a. 99 Red Balloons), but who is Markus? Think of Patrick Wolf who is accidently teleported to the 1980s and – these teleportations never go great, just watch The Fly – discovers his poppiest of sounds. Mind you, this film was made in 1983, when Germany found its new voice and answer to punk and new wave by inventing the Neue Deutsche Welle (literally New German Wave). Back in 1982, “Ich Will Spass” by Markus might have been refreshing rather than annoying. Make up your own mind because this is Markus’s biggest hit and the title track of the film (as performed in a music show where the average age of the viewer was 56):

So he wants fun, our Markus. And he’ll get it in this film as he’s the new boy in school, short trousers but a fast bike. Because rebellion, like a mullet, doesn’t grow in one day. Markus, who plays Robby, has the hots for Tina, as portrayed by Nena. Tina finds Robby silly rather than sexy and has more sexual feelings for Tino, who works full time on a fair and has his own convertible. And a mullet. And – what would romance be without language? – because Tino and Tina sounds cool.Tina convinces Tino to run off together, but when she can’t make it to the rendez-vous spot in time, Tino drives off with another chick. Her suitcase already packed and hoping to see Tino again, Tina convinces Robby to drive away together. Robby, naive enough to think Tina loves him as much as he loves her, gladly accepts. Tina’s feelings towards Tino are addressed in one of Nena’s biggest hits Nur geträumt: “Ich hab’ heute nichts versäumt, denn ich hab’ nur vor dir geträumt” (I haven’t wasted today, because I only dreamt of you). Don’t believe me, here’s the clip from the English dubbed version of the film:

And, of course, the search for Tino will ultimately end in Tina losing her heart to Robby. Seems like a sugar sweet teen flick, how can this be of any value to the cult-loving readership of DV? Well, there are several reasons: no matter how bad this film can be – and believe me, this will be a guilty pleasure – it’s nowhere as embarrassing as Crossroads or most of Madonna‘s output. The director is Wolfgang Büld, who had previously made a couple of documentaries about punk and reggae. Büld had noticed the Neue Deutsche Welle movement was becoming more mainstream and felt like pushing the genre by making a teen flick with the movement’s protagonists in several of the roles. Apart from Markus and newcomer Nena in the leads the film also included a cameo by the band Extrabreit.
Nevertheless, the film is pretty weak in as much as the ‘story’ is flimsy (it’s basically Robby and Tina driving after Tina’s love interest you couldn’t care about) and the jokes are either silly or horrible: one running gag is Tina’s classmate, seen in the clip above, who is always eating meat products. It’s not that I explained it badly, that’s what he does: he mainly boasts about how much he loves eating sausages and how many he can eat. I’ll pause briefly, so you can chuckle at this hilarious concept. A boy who eats fried meat… utter and utter genius! Equally hilarious is having older actor Karl Dall play a handful of tiny roles, in an attempt to make the viewer chuckle “Look, it’s Karl again, ha-ha!” And of course it doesn’t help that it’s a movie that’s mainly made to push the music. In the following clip, Robby and Tina have made it to the airport, just too late to catch Tino. Tina manages to make contact with him and they agree to meet each other in Venice. After this, Nena has to link the fluttering Tina running back to Robby to one of her songs (Ganz oben). The result, complete with a hilarious drunk pilot, looks like this:

Which makes it all the more surprising to see Robby and Tina end up in Venice. While arguing, Robby is abducted by a group of nymphomaniacs (I wish I was making this up) and Tina chases the gondola on foot, with Nena’s Tanz auf dem Vulkan as soundtrack to the scene. But watch at (or fast forward to) 2:47 to spot a surprising cameo…

Admit that this is a cameo you wouldn’t have expected in such a bubblegum movie. Ultimately, Carla Rhode of Der Tagesspiegel reviewed the film best: “I would have like to have fun too, but Nena, Markus and director Wolfgang Büld left me unsatisfied. What did the film attempt to be? A story about runaways, a musical or was it just a handful of uninspired scenes chucked together to fill the voids between songs by Nena and Markus?” Then again, I told you this would a guilty pleasure and it’s up to you whether a couple of Nena songs, Nena’s nude back and a reference to Don’t Look Now are enough to watch a corny movie for 85 minutes. Not that the film pretended to be Goethe. After all, the title is Gib Gas, Ich Will Spass.

3/10

P.S. Büld must’ve liked the experience because, two years later, he made Der Formel Eins Film, an equally corny film promoting Formel Eins (the German Top of The Pops) and featuring a.o. Falco (Jeanny, Rock me Amadeus, …)

Arte Trash in June

Here’s the June schedule of ARTE Trash. It promises to be quite a month…

Jun 4: Zinda Laash (Dracula in Pakistan)
Professor Tabini is experimenting on an elixir that he believes will beat death. When he tries it on himself, however, things don’t work out as planned and he dies. When his assistant finds him no longer among the living, she carries him down stairs and slaps him into the crypt in the basement. Unfortunately for her, he rises from the grave and chomps down on her neck.

Jun 11: Mercano, El Marciano (Mercano The Martian)
When his pet is killed by a probe from earth, Mercano, a Martian, travels to earth angered. Landing in Buenos Aires, at first noone takes any notice of him.

Jun 18: Gib Gas, ich will Spass
Pert Tina (played by Nena – of “99 Luftballons” fame) is sick of school and the muff in her Bavarian village. She wants to go with Tino – attendant of a visiting auto-scooter – who has to leave the place for dubious reasons. However he lets her down and leaves alone. Now Tina persuades fellow student Robby, who has a crush on her, to take her on a random trip with his motor-scooter. It seems only to be a matter of time until he realizes that she’s just using him to follow her boyfriend – or will the shy Robby manage to win her heart on their chaotic journey?

Jun 25: O Fantasma
Young and handsome Sergio works the night shift as a trash collector in Lisbon, Portugal. He can’t force himself to connect with his pretty female co-worker Fatima, who displays an avid interest in him, so instead Sergio roams the city with the trash company’s pet dog. Eventually Sergio becomes fascinated with a sleek motorcycle, and then also its arrogant owner – a young man totally indifferent to Sergio. The frustrated trash collector’s surfacing desires unleash his darkest impulses, sending him down a dangerous path of violence, depravity and degradation.

ARTE Trash: the 2010 season

We nearly forgot to mention it, but 2010 also meant the welcome return of ARTE Trash, a season of extraordinary films on a pan-European channel. In the 90s we complained when we had to stay up until 2 am to watch Moviedrome, but in 2010 we welcome any sort of television channel dedicating some night to cult movies. And even if you missed them, there’s still the world wide web to catch up on those films, because ARTE Trash may offer a couple of films you’d never heard of.

JANUARY
Jan 15: Marquis
Jan 22: Animal Love (Ulrich Seidl)
Jan 29: Twentynine Palms (Bruno Dumont)

FEBRUARY
Feb 5: Geierwally (Walter Bockmayer)

MARCH
Mar 12: Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance
Mar 19: Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx
Mar 26: Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades

APRIL
Apr 2: Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril
Apr 9: Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in the Land of Demons
Apr 16: Lone Wolf and Cub: White Heaven in Hell
Apr 23: Daddy, Darling (Joseph Sarno)
Apr 30: Abigail Leslie is back in town (Joseph Sarno)

MAY
May 7: The Happiness of the Katakuris (Takashi Miike)
May 21: Bad Boy Bubby (Rolf De Heer)
May 28: Attack of the Giant Moussaka

JUNE
Jun 4: Zinda Laash (Dracula in Pakistan)
Jun 11: Mercano, El Marciano (Mercano The Martian)
Jun 18: Gib Gas, ich will Spass
Jun 25: O Fantasma
(For more info on June’s movies, go to this post)

JULY
July 2: The Battle Wizard (Shaw Brothers)
July 9: Love Camp (with Laura Gemser)
July 16: Go Go Second Time Virgin (Koji Wakamatsu)
July 23: Avant que j’oublie
July 30: Beauty’s Exotic Dance: Torture! (pinku)

AUGUST
Aug 6: Alucarda

Arte’s schedule only runs until August 6 at this point, so further episodes of Arte Trash – if any – will be posted here soon.

Une Aventure

The more movies you see, the fewer you’ll remember. Have you ever gotten the feeling you’re reading the synopsis of a movie and it takes a few moments before you realise you’ve already seen the film?

Tonight pan-European channel ARTE will broadcast Une Aventure, a 2005 movie by Xavier Giannoli.  Giannoli and co-writer Jacques Fieschi took Sophia Burnett‘s idea and turned it into a feature film. The title is quite vague, but the German title (Ich Darf Nicht Schlafen) reveals more: Ludivine Sagnier is a young woman who’s both narcoleptic and afraid to fall asleep.

The movie begins with Julien (Nicolas Duvauchelle) arriving home from work. In the hall of his apartment he spots Gabrielle, in night garments and seemingly estranged. She says something, but he can’t understand her because of the glass between them. He meets her again the next day and falls madly in love with her, despite already having a girlfriend.

I can only imagine the creators of this movie did a lot of research about the mental problems of Gabrielle’s character, but they forgot to wrap that idea into a compelling story. Some critics have remarked the similar tone between Une Aventure and Blue Velvet, a movie you shouldn’t try and compare your movie with.

The movie couldn’t make me get involved, even though there are nice scenes and it’s always nice to see Ludivine Sagnier act. Especially if you know the movie was released in the same year as Sagnier became the mother of Bonnie. The father was one… Nicolas Duvaichelle.

There’s no real reason not to watch it if you get the chance to do so, but four years later you’ll only remember this movie when you’ve mentally combined “Ludivine Sagnier” with “narcoleptic”.

5/10

Qui êtes-vous, Polly Maggoo?

Bonjour, tout le monde! If you don’t understand that sentence, it’ll be pointless to tune in to France 2 this Tuesday night (at 01.00). The movie shown is the obscure cult movie Qui êtes-vous, Polly Maggoo? (1966). If you are French or understand the language well, it’ll be well worth staying up for. If not, there are DVDs of the movie out there.

The movie was directed by photographer and filmmaker William Klein. It’s Klein’s debut feature (after a documentary about Cassius Clay). The movie opens with a fashion show, where a designer is about to show his new collection: iron plates bent around the models’ bodies. One girl complains the plate is cutting into her flesh, but never mind those minor details. Fashion magazine editor Miss Maxwell enters the room, ignoring the people in the audience muttering “There’s that dragonfly.” Maxwell likes the outfits, says it’s excellent (which is echoed by everyone else in the room – dragonfly or not, she’s famous and powerful) and claims the designer has “re-invented woman”.

One of the models is Polly Maggoo (Dorothy McGowan), the it-girl of 1966. Polly enters her room, only to find it filled by a camera crew and the producers of the television show “Qui êtes-vous?” (Who are you?), a show that claims to bare the soul of the interviews. The real question here is: who are you, Polly Maggoo?
Polly’s first attempt at self-analysis is abruptly stopped due to technical difficulties, her second attempt becomes a completely different story and, to top that all off, the production team lay words in her mouth. Who is Polly Maggoo? A beautiful girl with ugly teeth, who decides to keep her mouth opened rather than have her teeth fixed? A modern form of Cinderella? An American girl who becomes a model in Paris and learns a couple of French words and idioms every day? All of those? None of those?

The big producer of the show thinks Polly is nothing more but an empty shell: lots of poses on the outside, nothing on the inside. A model is like an onion: peel off the layers and you end up with… nothing.

Someone has a different opinion: Prince Igor (Sami Frey) is madly in love with Polly and wants her as his princes. The majesty of this small country has two spies sent to Paris, to dig up more information about Polly and to convince her to come to her monarchy. Despite displaying only incompetence, the spies manage to get near to Polly. Polly accepts the poster of the prince, which is apparently a sign of engagement in the Prince’s country.

Polly has another suitor: Gregoire (Jean Rochefort) is one of the people working on the tv show and feels rather confident: the more he sees Polly (while falling in love with her), the more he sees his role in the tv show grow. He assures himself, the producer and even Polly there’s more to Polly than just her outside.

Or is there? Is Polly nothing more than an empty shell with clothes, the flavour in the month who doesn’t know the month is almost over (the world changes, next thing you know mankind may travel to the Moon)?

Qui êtes-vous, Polly Maggoo? is a child of its time. If you didn’t know this was made in 1966, you’d guess it. London and Paris were in love with fashion (think of Carnaby street), pop-art hit the streets and above all the movies. Add to this the director of the film: William Klein came to Paris as a GI in 1947. He met the woman of his life there and has mainly operated from France ever since. In a way, this is reflected in Polly’s character. She’s also an American in Paris and in one of her daydreams she imagines how Gregoire’s family would react to her (the obvious stereotypes: is it true all the food in the US is canned? etc.).

For another link to Klein’s life, look at Miss Maxwell’s character. It was apparently based on Diana Vreeland, Klein’s former boss. She’s so satirized some wonder why Vreeland never sued. Miss Maxwell was played by Grayson Hall by the way: the actress was flown over from America for the role and had to learn French to do her part.
All of which brings us to the heart of the movie: it’s a satire, a mirror of its time laughing at itself. True, a movie like dates easily, but if it wants to be a sign of its time, that is not that big a problem. Yes, it looks as if it was made in 1966, but wasn’t that the subject of the movie? And have things changed? Really? Aren’t we still obsessed with models and celebrities? Aren’t we keen to think those models are dimwits? So we’ve been to the Moon ever since this movie was made, but did that change us?

A bit more annoying is the movie’s style: yes, it’s 1966 and it’s about fashion (albeit in glorious black and white, but executed to perfection – as one could expect from a director who’s also a photographer), but that swinging sixties style has always annoyed me. For me you’d have to be a Blow-Up or Femina Ridens to get away with it. Qui êtes-vous, Polly Maggoo? only succeeds in this partially, but it does. Maybe thanks to its satirical tone. Think of a Swinging Sixties satire, a Godard movie where the politics are traded in for fashion and philosophical rambling (I swear, a couple of scenes sound as if Godard and his gang were co-writing the film) and feel sorry for Polly Maggoo. Or not.

Here’s the opening scene (in French only), so you can check the lovely steelmetal dresses:

Here’s a scene with English subtitles. The tv crew ask Polly to tell the audience who she is:

P.S. It’s only a minor role, but always worth mentioning: Delphine Seyrig (Daughters of Darkness) also has a part in this movie.

WANNA WATCH ON TV?
France 2: Wed 30 July, 01.00-02.40

PREFER TO SEE IT ON DVD?
OPTION 1: ARTE’S RELEASE
NTSC Region 0
Aspect Ratio: 16/9
Languages: French or English
Subtitles: English
Bonus: In and out of Fashion (a documentary on Klein with many excerpts)
Available at the ARTE shop

OPTION 2: CRITERION’S ECLIPSE SERIES
A box set containing Klein’s movies Polly Maggoo, Mr. Freedom, Le Couple Temoin
Available at Amazon.com

Arte Trash is ready for 2008

If you are lucky enough to have access to the wonderful pan-European channel ARTE, then you may be more than glad to read that after only being shown every fortnight in November and going on hiatus in December, ARTE Trash returns in January and promises to be back every week.

But wait, don’t choose the wrong day to sit in front of your tv set ready for an overdose of erotic or bloodthirsty movie: ARTE has moved the show to a new date (sadly, that’s Friday) and a slightly earlier slot (23.30).

The good news? ARTE Trash returns with a promising first month: brand new Spanish horror, a Takeshi Miike and a genuine slice of British horror from the Seventies.

To celebrate the return of a tv programme that shows horror (so rare a treat these days), I’ve written a small guide for the first three movies, so Delirium Vault readers can know what to expect: feel lucky, punks!

JANUARY 2008 SCHEDULE

11/01: Películas para no dormir: La habitación del niño (2006)
“Películas para no dormir” (Films To Keep You Awake) was a six-part series of horror films made for tv but directed by horror directors. Amongst them Ibanez-Serrador (Who Would Kill A Child?), but also Jaume Balaguero (Darkness, Los Sin Nombre…), Mateo Gil (Abre Los Ojos) and Alex de l’Iglesia.
Alex is the son of underrated director Eloy de l’Iglesia (Cannibal Man, The Glass Ceiling), but has been building a quite interesting filmography himself: Accion Mutante, El Dia de la Bestia, La Communidad… He also directed “The Baby’s Room” a.k.a. “La habitación del niño” which is kicking off ARTE Trash’s 2008 series.

18/01: Gozu (2003)
From the acclaimed director Takashi Miike comes a Yakuza/ horror film to shock and amaze audiences everywhere! When Minami is sent to kill his mentor Ozaki who is in the midst of a nervous breakdown he embarks on a journey of unexplained natural phenomenon that only the director of such films as “Audition”, “Dead or Alive” and “Ichi the Killer” can provide in this surreal Lynchian/Cronenberg-like movie.
Some claim this movie is Miike’s masterpiece, some think it’s too ethereal for that. Be the judge of it yourselves.

25/01: Doomwatch (1972)
The waters surrounding an island become contaminated by chemical dumping, and people who eat fish caught in those waters become deformed and violent.
Tigon gave Peter Sasdy the chance to make this slice of British horror.
Doomwatch was based on a tv series with the same name, which was shown from 1970 to 1972 on the BBC. Most of the cast returned for the film, which – to say the least – was not received with a warm welcome. As for the series, good luck with finding the episodes: the BBC erased most of the tapes after transmission, so what was left was found elsewhere. The entire second season can be found, but several episodes of series 1 and 3 are missing. The penultimate episode, “Sex and Violence” was never transmitted and the last episode, “The Devil’s Demolition”, was never completed (after the production was abandoned). In 1999 Channel 5 tried to revive the series, but only the feature-length pilot was made and shown. I guess our lesson is, if you want to make a successful series, you’d better not call it “Doomwatch”.

ARTE Trash will continue in February…