In 2003, The Trade Bar was the place to be. Trade was a dingy establishment just off the bustling Smith Street. On Monday nights, the inner northern suburbs glitterati would make their way down for cheap beer and good times. Pots started at 10 cents at 7pm, and went up 10 cents every ten minutes … More Cheap beer and body parts in Collingwood: Scream and Scream Again (1970)
“They float!” Anyone who grew up during the early 1990s will remember that line. And we remember the dude who uttered that line: Pennywise, the smirking, shape-shifting, sewer-dwelling clown in Tommy Lee Wallace 1990 mini-series adaptation of Stephen King’s 1986 novel. Now, thanks to Andres Muschietti’s recent filming of the King tome, a new generation … More Floating Spiders: It (1990) and It (2017)
So, last week on Video Shop Daze, I revisited David Cronenberg’s The Fly (1986). A televised rerun prompted the revisiting of this delightfully discomforting contribution to the ‘body horror’ sub-genre. Well, this week, the TV powers that be gave Melbourne viewers The Fly II. This is the little known sequel to that blockbuster. ‘Little known’, … More Bland Biliousness: The Fly II (1989)
Okay, so I was going to revisit The Bodyguard (1992). However, I got distracted by TV re-runs, and so I’m going to do the Time Warp back to another crowd-pleasing romance – 1986’s The Fly. Quite a leap in film choice, you might say. Okay, well, bear with me. This will be fun. I think. … More Framing the Cheeseburger: The Fly (1986)
What is it about those creepy British country manors? You know, the ones that are shrouded in fog and family secrets? Those places that, hell, even the local cops don’t dare venture near. We encountered one such manor in Curse of the Crimson Cult. An equally foreboding abode can be found in 1975’s The … More Unheimlich and Unremarkable: The Ghoul (1975)
“I forgot my key.” “Jenny, I’m sorry.” “Don’t. Love … means never having to say you’re sorry.” And there you have it. “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” The catchphrase that defined a generation. Or captured the spirit of a generation. Well, it wasn’t a generation I was a member of. I was … More You’re Sorry? Bullshit! Love Story (1970)
1989 I’m nine years old. Each Sunday morning, with religious precision, I videotape the music videos on Rage. In this pre-YouTube era, it’s how you get your daily fix of the promotional clips for Ian Moss, Madonna, Martika, Billy Joel, Jive Bunny. The one video I never record for Stevie Nicks’ Rooms on Fire. Stevie’s … More What you had and what you lost: Rooms on Fire (1989)
A few years ago, I was planning a book on British horror cinema. I wanted to look (in part) at how certain British horror films juxtaposed shots of twee English domesticity with scenes of cruelty and kink. All set against a backdrop of the perpetually overcast British countryside. The book was going to be called … More Tea and Sadism: Curse of the Crimson Altar (1968)
Remember soundtrack albums? These were everywhere during the 80s and 90s. A perfect piece of cross-promotion, if you ask me, promoting the artists on the CD (or cassette, depending on your vintage), and promoting the film at hand. Hands down my favourite soundtrack albums were for Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides (1999). Yep, this film … More Our Playground Love: The Virgin Suicides (1999)
The year 2000 was pivotal one for this blogger. Okay, I mean, yes, it was the year of the Sydney Olympics and the Y2K-that-never-was. Okay, this was the year that frosted tips were a fashion statement, and that frightful ‘friends forever’ song haunted the airwaves. BUT 2000 was also the year I discovered the ERC … More My obsession is you: Black Widow (1987)
Video Shop Daze 