Night Cap 4/18/21 More entries on the Covid Reading List, Film Festivals this Week and a few random notes

This week word on some of the magazines I have been mainlining over the last year. Yes I posted on some over the last few months (Drive-In Asylum, Grindhouse Purgatory, Monster Maniacs, Shock Cinema) but there have been others as well 

However before I dive into the magazine I wat to give a shout out to Peter Gong at Phoenix Comics in Hicksville New York. Since I discovered his store I have been back about  once a week to check out comics (mostly manga) and movie magazines. I've been tying a bunch of different titles to see what I want to keep reading and Peter has endless suggestions.

Actually the real reason I've been going back is to just to talk to Peter because he seems to know something about everything. Yes, we've talked comics, but also movies and lots of other things. What  love is that Peter truly cares. He not only  helps you find what you want but as I said above, he gives great suggestions

If you are on Long Island, or elsewhere close by it's worth a trip in to see the store. Just be warned it is jam packed with stuff  piled everywhere so odds are you are going to find something to lighten your wallet.

BARE BONES
A long dormant digest/magazine restarted last year and has been improving with each issue. Focusing on pulp novels, magazines, film and comics the issues are filled to the brim with all sorts of stuff.  Issue three had a killer article on the original Planet of the Apes series with a focused discussion on how all the films took material from the original novel. Issue four had  a look at KONGA, GORGO and REPTILCUS in film, novels and comics. The current issue has a killer look at the Whistler film series. The articles are becoming more interesting with each appearance.

DARK SIDE
British magazine that has some great articles with lots of cool pictures. While some pieces are not as well written as others there is always something of interest. A recent issues look at Peter Cushing in the Hammer Frankenstein films was magnificent.

THE SPAGHETTI WESTERN DIGEST
Michael Haus' ever growing collection of articles, art and interviews on Euro Westerns.  I  have been using it as a kind of palate cleanse to balance out all the horror and mystery material I've been reading. Growing in size with each issues, the current issue three is 336 pages, there is always something to delight. If you are a fan of Euro Westerns this is a must. (The current issue has a very long list of announced westerns that never happened and is guaranteed to make you ponder what if...)

NOSTALGIA DIGEST
Decades old magazine started out exclusively on old radio but it has broadened it's coverage. Published quarterly, nominally, to tie into  the old time radio  revival series that spawned it (they tell you what is playing each week) the magazine has killer articles on films, sports, daily life and the stars of long ago. I've been reading it for years, and frankly the magazine has been in a golden age with fantastic articles  in every issue.

LOST FILM FANZINE
John LeMay who has been turning out book length looks at things like unmade kaiju  or classic horror films turned the covid quarantine into an excuse to make a magazine that high lights lost and unmade films. Only slightly covering the material in his books the quarterly issues give us lots to ponder. My only gripe is he loves to have multiple covers for each issue

LOST FILMS FANZINE PRESENTS MOVIE MILESTONES
John LeMay is at it again with a zine that specializes in looking at one subject. They've done the influence of One Million BC in one issue and Japanese Disaster films in another. It's great stuff.

MONSTER!
Sister magazine to Weng's Chop this is a digest size magazine that focuses on monsters in the movies. A mix of articles and reviews  this is everything you ever wanted to know about every horror film ever made. Even schlock direct to video films get love and detailed discussion. If you a horror fan the magazine is a vital reference since I don't know where you are going to find some of this material anywhere else. Their issues long look at the Ramsay House of Horror  for example is eye opening.  A must

CINEMA RETRO
Killer British film magazine is magnificent. When they cover a film they cover a film. I read a few issues years ago, however I recently picked up a copy of their special issues on Road Show Films of the 1960s and fell in love with them all over again. I ended up picking up some of their cheaper back issues because they are so good. How good are they? Their back issues, especially the special issues, can cost a small mint.

HOGAN'S ALLEY
Technically I haven't started on the magazine yet, but I did just pick up the entire run to date as a warehouse find  despite having several issues in the middle of the run. HOGAN's is a kick ass look at cartoons and comics over the last century and a half. Each issue is full of articles and interviews that tach you things you never knew before.  Its one of the best magazines I've ever read. I only stopped reading it because I stopped seeing it at the local Barnes and Noble.

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THERE ARE FILM FESTIVALS THIS WEEK!!!!!!!!

Focus on French Cinema starts Tuesday and runs for over a week it is a survey of some great films, each one running for one day.

The awesome Cabane à Sang runs next weekend, one day on line and one day in person in Quebec. I highly recommend it for all lovers of horror and crazy films.

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A couple of notes regarding housekeeping:

If you should read Unseen and then find that a review disappears only to reappear a few weeks later it's not me, blame the powers that be.at the distributors. I've had a couple of films get switched around when I was asked by the people I was dealing with why I posted early.  I understand covid is shifting everything around but I'm tired of getting caught in the middle. It just happened again when I was asked if I wanted to do something for a press day that was a week after the release I had been given. It was only when I inquired that I was told of the new date.

If you are one of the people who sees the notifications of what is going up  here at Unseen on Twitter then you'll want to know that Thursday through sometime on Monday I will not be tweeting (actually I also will not be answering emails either) because I'm going on vacation. I'm heading to Vandergift PA and the Riverside Drive in for their April Ghoul's Super Monster-ama (Details here). I  am going off the grid and only taking my 3G stupid phone, a camera and clothes. I need not to be able to tinker with things I need to let go. A report will follow. I expect to watch the Oscars in the hotel room. Reviews will be posted the whole time.

What Has Steve Been Reading Part 4: Drive-In Asylum

While I was reading Monster Maniacs I discovered a reference to Drive-In Asylum a fanzine that specializes in films that played at drive-in theaters. What hooked me was not the kind words they had for the articles but their discussion of the fact that the fanzine is full of old ads for films. I love those so I ordered what I could from their Etsy page and hunkered down.

What an awesome publication.

An old school fanzine that is essential xeroxed, folded over and stapled together Drive-In Asylum is a glorious throw back to a time gone by. Few people do fanzines like this any more and we are worse for it. The folks behind the magazine understand that it isn't just about writing on old films you have to make it a whole experience and that is what they have done. The mere act of holding one of their issues messes with you head to the point where you don't know what year it is.

I love it.

The magazine is a mix of reviews, remembrances and interviews about the films that delight the people writing them. The first issue I picked up (issue number 8) was full of discussions around a film they love called FOLKS AT THE RED WOLF IN or TERROR HOUSE or one of a dozen others.It begin with an interview with actress Linda Gillen who talks about he role in the film (and meeting Mae West). It then goes on to other pieces which talk about the love for the film so many people have (including Mae West).

One of the things I love is that they don't use regular illustrations for the film, but instead reprint ads for it under the various titles, as well as use newspaper articles and pictures that were published during the making of the film.

Inbetween it all are collages of movie ads from newspapers listing when and where all sorts of B and grindhouse films were playing. If you remember a time when studios actually ran ads in newspapers you are going to find this a delight. More so when you realize the sort of films that actually got a release.

Every issue is like that. They are packed with all sorts of great articles and interviews and ads that make you want to grab a stack and read them on a dark and stormy night while having hot coco and cookies.

I can not say enough good about them.

Right now they are about to publish issue 20 and they have had 4 additional special issues as well. The issues can be had at Etsy and are worth every penny. (Issue 1-7 are currently out of print pending a decision to publish a compilation. Special issues 2 and 3 are going to be reprinted between no and Halloween, otherwise everything else is available).

Bill and the other people connected with the fanzine can be found on Facebook and on their brand spanking new YouTube channel. Right now thy have five podcasts where they talk about a chosen double feature. Each one runs about two hours.

Go buy issues or go listen to the podcast- it's all great stuff and if you love drive-in style films you must discover and follow these guys.

Grindhouse Purgatory or what is Steve reading part 3?

My library is literally all over the place. Most of it is in storage at the moment as I shift things around. Pretty much the only things left are the essential (to me) film reference books. However there is only so many times I can reread things.

I needing some sort of real cinematic information in book form I picked up the 3 most recent issues of  Grindhouse Purgatory from 42nd Street Pete... and was so happy I went back and bought the entire run.

Started because Pete wanted to do something on the order of Screw magazine but with interest in all of the things that went on in and around the grindhouses of 42nd street and elsewhere the magazine is a mix of personal remembrances, reviews, interviews and pieces on a wide range of subjects. Simply reading the pieces in order without looking at the contents has been trippy because things bounce around.  While some details of some films isn't always spot on, some "reviews" take the form of a discussion of seeing a film decades before for the first time, you really don't care because the storytelling is so good.

Or mostly good. I'm not going to lie, some pieces are just okay. Its not that they aren't heartfelt, but they aren't well written. On the other hand go two or three pages and something will blow you out of the water.

If you want to try the magazine- and if you love exploitation/ grindhouse or just films in general I highly suggest you do, start with the Greatest Hits compendium and the current issue 15 a tribute to Sid Haig.

The Greatest Hits is a collection made up from the first three issues, with some deletions.  It gives you a wonderful sense of what the magazine is with frank reports of going into grind houses and porno palaces on The Deuce, 42nd St in NYC in the bad old days, reviews of films that played the houses, plus bits on wrestling in the 80's, discovering films because you had to see one film with an actor on a double bill (in the days before VHS) and all sorts of stuff. Its an amazing reference/time capsule of days gone by. As someone who was there for some of the glory days of grindhouse this is the real deal. There are great articles on cannibal films, the Blood Island films, what it was like to run a drive in, how Pete ran a video store in the early days of home video, and looks at a bunch of films you probably never heard of.

On the other hand I do have to warn you that the Greatest Hits has a couple of articles in it that are not cinematic but sociological. Pete gives us the low down on visiting the massage parlors, whorehouses and adult book stores.  There is nothing really wrong with the pieces, hell from the standpoint of letting you know what it was like in NYC during the bad old days they can't be beat, on the other hand I got about halfway through each and found I connected with the nostalgia but didn't care beyond that.(Part of it in reading a number of the early issues the stories seem to repeat)

At the same time the looks inside the adult film industry (there are a couple pieces in issue 4) intrigued me more since they spoke to something more than just one guy's experiences with sex.

And I should point out that most of the reviews are really informative. Forget nice and neat reference books, this magazine is full of pieces that tell it like it is. They don't mince words in calling a film crap or heaping praise. This is a friend talking to you not a NY Times reviewer trying to seem snooty.(They often talk about the 42nd St SRO audience reactions to classic grindhouse films like Cannibal Holocaust).  What I like is that Pete gives people the room to talk about the films they love or hate, with the results that, say in issue 5's look at STAR CRASH, we get a long look at film most people dismiss,

The Greatest Hits is worth a look for a taste of the magazine, with the understanding it is a bit rawer than later issues. With later issues the magazine found a footing and  as less scattershot.

If you loved Sid Haig you must get the tribute issue #15. While the issue is full of great short pieces on him it's in the long pieces that this becomes a must have.

First there is a long excerpt from a four hour interview with Haig. He holds nothing back and talks about his whole career. It is one of the best interviews I've ever read since it reads like two friends talking- which is what it is. His whole career is represented and it is so good I want to see what the whole talk was like.

Then there are several long reviews on Haig's films like those with Pam Grier or what many consider his best role in PIT STOP. Told with love and stories from Sid the reviews make you want to go out and see the films you've missed.

I love this magazine a great deal and it's worth a shot (assuming you realize it can be hit and miss like the grindhouse) and can be had at Amazon and elsewhere.

Monster Maniacs or What is Steve Reading Part 2

Monster Maniacs is a new fanzine that primarily focuses on horror in comics. If you are wondering why I am going to talk about something comic related it is because the discussion bleeds into the realm of film since Justin Marriot and his writers talk about the monsters of cinema.

Only two issues of the magazine have been produced but they are choice. Full color beauties the magazine reprints panels, and pages from various horror comics as it seeks to illustrate some killer interviews from artists, scholars and fans who talk about their love of form.

The first issue starts taking about other magazines such as MONSTER! as a magazine we should be reading, the issue then settles down to focus on art and comics with a discussion of National Lampoons dips into horror, Atlas' pre-code horror, Cracked magazine's short live For Monster's Only. Issue Two talks about Charlton Comics, Vampirella, Web of Horror, poster magazine and more.  Both issues are full of stunning art from people like Bernie Wrightson

While the interviews are great the art is even better. I love getting a chance to really look at all of the great art that was turned out in the hope of scaring people to death. I particularly love the articles on Atlas and Charlton's best horror stories since it made me go -"Oh yea I remember that". I also liked to look at the chosen panel and wonder what in the hell that meant for the whole story they were describing. (I never had many Charlton or Atlas comics, most newsstands growing up only had them sporadically, but when they did I snapped them up.)

I love these issues to death. My only real complaint is that as good as the issues are I know I am just a half step out side of being the perfect audience. While I understood a lot of the discussions in the interviews there is a point when discussing some of the older comics where I felt overwhelmed. I am not versed enough to completely know who some people were. But that is okay because being overwhelmed and sticking with it in a situation like this is how you learn.

Monster Maniacs can be had at Amazon

Shock Cinema or What is Steve reading?

Over 25 years ago Steven Puchalski started publishing Shock Cinema and he is still going strong. I have been a reader for decades. I would pick up an issue here and there depending upon when I saw one at a newsstand and the go through it for films I had to run down.

Over time the magazine drifted from just being a collection of reviews into a full on movie magazine specializing in anything not big and Hollywood. Reading the magazine was, and still is an education because Puchalski had such a wide spectrum of interests that you always ran into something that intrigued you enough to try and track it down.

Recently with the Covid crap I have been getting back to a point where I can do more reading. With less films being flung my way I am reading more. Since my library is largely in storage due to shifting rooms around, I have been looking for things to read and I recently pulled out an old issue of Shock Cinema.  I was instantly in heaven all over again.

What delighted me was the easy mix of facts and discussion. The reviews looked at the films as something more than just a thing to be reviewed, but as a living breathing animal. The discussion did talk about quality and if it as worth seeing but also tossed out facts about the films and the filmmakers that you simply don't get with most reviews today. Puchalski and the others know what they are talking about. They are just happening upon a film because it was sent to them, but because they are in love with the form. Facts drip out about the people connected with whatever they are talking about not because they looked them up, but because the genuinely know the works of whomever, or whatever  they are talking about.

Rereading some of the interviews realized that the interviewers ability to talk to a subject about their entire career, often with more detail than the subject, was something I strove to do with my interviews here at Unseen. I want to know as much about a subject as I can before I talk to them. While I may not be as successful as those at Shock Cinema, at least I'm aiming to copy the best.

When I finished the magazine I also realized that I needed to get all the back issues. There were bits and pieces in the magazine that I wish I had had available to me recently. With Covid altering the release schedules I have some reviews of some older films lined up and I wish I could have had the context the Shock Cinema reviews and interviews could have given.  Additionally I was also having a blast rereading and finding new films to track down or revisit. To that end I ordered the entire run of the magazine (in a couple of orders). Clearly my dance card will be full for several weeks.

One of the things I have loved about reading the early early issues from the mid-1990's is the pleas to information on getting good copies of many films we now have readily available. Films that are mainstays of Asian Cinema are talked about being sourced from convention dealers or odd sources. Everything is VHS and there is no internet. Oh how things have changed.

Do yourself a favor and get some issues. All the information can be had here. The list of available issues is there. What I love, and what pushed me toward getting the run is the website has a listing from issue 4 until 54 what everything that is reviewed, who is interviewed or discussed. Look it over and you will find just how wide their net is.

I can't recommend them enough.