#Paul Bishow

[greensparty]

Movie Reviews: The Amusement Park / Punk the Capital

What a week for movie reviews!

The Amusement Park

George A. Romero was a legend of the horror genre. His use of horror as thought-provoking social commentary made his films so much more than just genre films. On the surface they were horror films, but they really had something to say about civil rights, government, consumerism, military, technology and internet culture among other themes. His low-budget indie zombie films Night of the Living Dead is, to this day, one of the greatest horror films ever made! In Oct. 2015, I got to meet Mr. Romero at Rock and Shock. He posed for a pic with me and signed my NOTLD DVD. He could not have been any cooler. Took the time to talk to me and pose for the pic even with a big line. I was so glad that I splurged on that signing / picture as Mr. Romero passed away in 2017. Romero made a 52-minute film about an elderly man at an amusement park in 1973, but it was never released due to the investors finding it to be too gruesome. The film was discovered in 2018, given a 4K restoration and Shudder has acquired it and released The Amusement Park this week.

me with Mr. Romero at 2015 Rock and Shock

Commissioned by The Lutheran Society, the film stars Lincoln Maazel (who later starred in Romero’s Martin) as an elderly man at an amusement park, where he finds himself disoriented and cast aside throughout the day. The entire film is an allegory for how society treats the elderly. It is told in a very 70s horror kind of way, but its clearly Romero.

movie poster

The lost film is always a curious case. Was it actually a great movie that never got completed by the filmmaker, in which case, you have to ask if its true to the director’s vision? Or was it never released because the distributor or rights holders had issues with it? It would be rather exciting to report that this lost Romero film is a masterpiece that has finally been unearthed and was worth the 46 year wait since its completion. Well...I can’t say that. However, it is intriguing. The amusement park itself was such a staple of 70s genre films, i.e. the campy but fun Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park. The roller coaster, the bumper car rides, the food, the crowds...all of these lend themselves to metaphors for fear and anxiety of accepting one’s own mortality. Albeit metaphors that hit you over the head to make their point, but still. The pace was a little slow at times, but where it really works it when Romero uses the editing to heighten the anxiousness. It is cool to finally see this get the release it deserves and at 52 min. it works on Shudder!

For info on Shudder: https://www.shudder.com/movies/watch/the-amusement-park/286f545b09818c85

3 out of 5 stars

Punk the Capital

Punk rock music has always been a musical genre that is political at its core. In using the loud, fast and angry music to bring attention to socio-political issues, it forces its audience to think, albeit thinking while slam-dancing...but still. There have been several documentaries chronicling various regional punk scenes, i.e. the L.A. punk scene in The Decline of Western Civilization, Boston’s hardcore scene in All Ages: The Boston Hardcore Film, and Turn It Around about the Bay Area’s scene. Washington D.C. has always been unique to the punk movement in that the nation’s lawmakers are all in the city, so there was plenty for the punk musicians to get fired up about. The D.C. punk scene has been documented previously, notably in Scott Crawford’s doc Salad Days, which focused on the punk movement during the Reagan era of 1981-89, as well as the D.C. episode of Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways, which addressed a lot of the music from D.C. but mostly the punk scene that Dave Grohl was a part as the drummer for Scream in the late 80s. Now there’s a new doc about D.C.’s punk scene Punk the Capital. After a festival run, it has played virtual cinemas and this week it premieres on DVD and blu-ray from Passion River this week.

movie poster with Henry Rollins

This doc goes deep into the formation of the scene in 1976. There’s plenty of modern-day interviews from those in the trenches including H.R. of Bad Brains, Henry Rollins of State of Alert (his pre-Black Flag band), and Ian MacKaye of Teen Idles and Minor Threat (his pre-Fugazi bands) among others. What was highly impressive is the sheer amount of archival footage used in this doc. Something that gets addressed in a lot of punk docs and they cover here is the DIY approach (why wait for someone else to make something happen for you, when you can do it yourself) and the straight edge movement (banning drugs, alcohol and bigotry at punk venues). Both topics are woven into the fabric of this punk scene.

MacKaye circa early 80s and Rollins modern-day

Selfishly I kinda wanted to see more of Scream, one of my favorites of the D.C. punk scene. There is a deleted scene with Dave Grohl that has been making the rounds this week, but it would’ve been cool if Grohl and/or Pete and Franz Stahl or Skeeter Thompson had been in the doc. I went into this doc having already known a little about the scene and I think Salad Days went deeper into the political activism of the scene in response to President Reagan, but this was more encyclopedic in other ways. The rare archival materials elevated this above a lot of punk docs. The doc ends around 1984 and I kinda wished it had gone further and maybe addressed the punk and post-punk bands that came along after the Reagan era. But in showing the scene from mid-70s through mid-80s, it dives deep. This doc could easily be used in a college class about the punk movement and its great to see the footage preserved!

For info on Punk the Capital: http://www.passionriver.com/punk-the-capital.html

3.5 out of 5 stars

[alterna2mag]

In-Edit 2020 será 100% online

El festival de documental musical, In-Edit, se celebrará del 29 de octubre al 8 de noviembre de forma 100% online. Reafirman así su propósito de “llegar a todos”. Por su parte, la plataforma In-Edit TV ha presentado recientemente su nueva y ampliada versión.

Como cada año, podremos disfrutar de cerca de 50 documentales internacionales y nacionales de gran calidad. “White Riot” (Rubika Shah), sobre el movimiento Rock Against Racism en la Inglaterra de finales de los 70,  será la cinta proyectada en la sesión inaugural. “Sisters With Transistors” (Lisa Rovner), homenaje a las mujeres de la música electrónica, clausurará el festival. 

El programa incluye documentales sobre figuras concretas, como “Rolling Stone: The Life and Death of Brian Jones” (Danny García), o “Keyboard Fantasies: The Beverly Glenn-Copeland Story” (Posy Dixon). Nos encontraremos también con historias menos conocidas, como la que se cuenta en “Dead Souls' Vacation” (Keko Chelidze), sobre la autodestructiva evolución del músico georgiano Levan Svanidze. Revisitaremos el movimiento punk, en concreto el punk y hardcore de Washington DC, con “Punk The Capital: Building a Sound Movement” (Paul Bishow, James Schneider). Conoceremos la escena electrónica de las comarcas de Girona en el tránsito de los 80 a los 90 con “Nou Set Dos” (Albert Domenech, Òscar Sánchez). Y mucho más.

El festival rinde homenaje este año a Marie Losier. La cineasta francesa está detrás de la maravillosa: “The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye”, sobre la relación sentimental y el proyecto de modificación corporal de Genesis P-Orridge (Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV) junto a su compañera, la enfermera, cantante y performer Lady Jaye. In-Edit recuperará este documental para la ocasión y proyectará otros trabajos de Losier.

Visita la web del festival para ver la programación completa.

Vuelve In-Edit Talent, el taller de creación documental musical en formato corto. Para su tercera edición se adaptará a la realidad del momento y contará, por primera vez, con la colaboración del Festival Cruïlla y su proyecto Cruïlla XXS.

Aunque esta edición de In-Edit será online, habrá documentales con visionarios limitados. Ya se pueden adquirir varias modalidades de entradas. Por un lado, están los abonos: abono completo, de panorama nacional, de homenaje (documentales de Marie Losier), y de cortometrajes. Además, se pueden comprar packs de créditos y entradas sencillas.

[juicemagazine]

Punk The Capital

PUNK THE CAPITAL; BUILDING A SOUND MOVEMENT [in Washington D.C.] 1976-1983… a documentary film and archival project.

The long-awaited documentary, Punk the Capital, an 88 min. a film by James June Schneider, Paul Bishow, Sam Lavine, is out now and touring across the USA and beyond, so get out there and see this powerful film about the birth of DC punk rock and harDCore.

[youtube=https://www.you…

[moosterrecords]

Alamo Drafthouse's American Genre Film Archive (AGFA) and Bleeding Skull! announce THE SOULTANGLER Coming to DVD on March 13th 

Alamo Drafthouse's American Genre Film Archive, the largest non-profit genre film archive in the world, and Bleeding Skull!, the site and series of books dedicated to celebrating ultra-obscure genre movies, are excited to announce a March 13, 2018 release date for THE SOULTANGLER on DVD. After a successful run of limited edition releases with Mondo, the art boutique of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, Bleeding Skull! has teamed up with AGFA to share wild horror and exploitation movies from the 1980s and 1990s with the world. THE SOULTANGLER is the first release in this ongoing partnership.

  If RE-ANIMATOR was shot on Long Island for the price of a used car, THE SOULTANGLER would be the result. Insane genius Dr. Anton Lupesky has developed a drug that allows users to inhabit corpses and transform into rabid maniacs! Can reporter Kim Castle stop the carnage and save our species from annihilation?! This epic of outsider filmmaking is a dream-like wasteland that's punctuated with severed heads, evil beasties, and hooded slashers. Filmed in basements and garages, director Pat Bishow's earnest devotion to storytelling in the spirit of H.P. Lovecraft elevates THE SOULTANGLER beyond kitsch and into heavenly territory.

  "Before now, THE SOULTANGLER was only ever released on VHS," said AGFA director Joe Ziemba. "We're so excited to bring this mind-bending movie to a wider audience, and it's a perfect title to kick off the new collaboration between AGFA and Bleeding Skull."

  Special features include: 

- Transferred from the original 1" master tapes!

- Unseen 62 minute alternate director's cut!

- Commentary track with director Pat Bishow!

- Behind the scenes footage!

- Trailers for THE SOULTANGLER and DEAD OF NIGHT TOWN!

- Music video for "Wow" by Hypnolovewheel!

- Liner notes by Bleeding Skull's Zack Carlson!

- Reversible cover art!

  Pre-order THE SOULTANGLER here.

  Watch AGFA's original trailer here.

Access PHOTOS here.

  For developments on AGFA's upcoming releases follow:

Instagram:       https://www.instagram.com/agfa/

Twitter:            https://twitter.com/filmarchive

Facebook:       https://www.facebook.com/americangenrefilmarchive/

Website:          http://americangenrefilm.com/

  About AGFA

The American Genre Film Archive (AGFA) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit located in Austin, Texas. AGFA exists to preserve the legacy of genre movies through collection, conservation, and distribution. Formed in 2009, AGFA focuses on outlaw exploitation movies that were produced from the 1960s through the 2000s. From manic hicksploitation epics to bloodthirsty shoestring goreblasts, each title in AGFA's collection is a celebration of culture that should never be forgotten. Housing over six thousand 35mm film prints and trailers, our non-profit archive counts among its board members and advisors Alamo Drafthouse founders Tim and Karrie League, filmmakers Paul Thomas Anderson, Anna Biller, Frank Henenlotter, and Nicolas Winding Refn, musician RZA, exploitation film savior Lisa Petrucci, and genre film superheroes Zack Carlson, Kier-La Janisse, and Lars Nilsen.