www.list.co.uk/film HORROR CANNIBAL APOCALYPSE (18) 93min (Optimum) ●●●●●
it’s a coming-of-age story-cum-road movie set in the African continent – and shot in glorious Cinemascope by BAFTA-nominated cinematographer Erwin Hillier. Opening in Port Said,
Egypt at the height of the Suez Crisis, the titular ten-year-old boy (impressive first-timer Fergus McClelland) finds himself orphaned when his parents are killed during an air raid. Thereafter, the plucky scamp undertakes a lengthy and perilous journey to his aunt in Durban, South Africa, en route encountering various untrustworthy adults, a Syrian peddler, a rich American tourist, before being adopted by a world-weary hunter (the marvellous Edward G Robinson). It’s a kid’s film for grown-ups. Extras: interviews with McLelland and Mackendrick fan James Mangold. (Miles Fielder)
MUSICAL/COMEDY CAN’T STOP THE MUSIC (PG) 118min (Optimum) ●●●●●
This fictional Village People biopic/musical was released in 1980, and flopped dramatically at the box office, winning ‘Worst Picture’ at the first Golden Raspberry Awards. Blame it on America’s lack of tolerance at the time – not tolerance of the gay culture it parades (Greenwich Village’s Stonewall riots were over ten-years past by then) – but
During the late 1970s/early 1980s a handful of Italian directors unleashed a spate of cannibal films (including the infamous Cannibal Holocaust) most of which were promptly banned as ‘Video Nasties’ in 1984. Despite being firmly exploitation cinema, they had a surprising power as ‘the noble savage’ took revenge on the white colonialists pillaging their land.
Antonio Margheriti, however, eschews the traditional rainforest setting, moving the action in Apocalypse to an urban cityscape, starting in the jungles of Vietnam before quickly moving to Atlanta as genre favourite John Saxon fights the urge to give in to ‘contagious cannibalism’ picked up from two marines he rescued during the war. Spreading like a disease (using many of the conventions popularised by zombie cinema) there’s the requisite dose of flesh eating and gore, mixing deranged Vietnam vets with gut munching cannibalism. Firmly entertaining but not the best entry in this notorious subgenre. Limited extras. (Henry Northmore)
ADVENTURE SAMMY GOING SOUTH (PG) 118min (Optimum) ●●●●● A welcome DVD premiere for this lesser known, handsomely mounted and now digitally restored Alexander Mackendrick film from 1963, his first directorial credit after Sweet Smell of Success. Based on a novel by WH Canaway (who would go on to adapt The Ipcress File),
tolerance for six-minute dance sequences saturated with red glitter and diamante. America was OD-ing on disco by 1980, and needed another choreographed rollerskates and leotards routine like a hole in the head. Two decades on
however, it’s a camp treat, (and a cult success at recent LGBT film festivals). The story of DJ Jack Morell (Steve Guttenberg) and his DIY boy band contains more ropey plotlines, slow motion male gymnasts and fertility-threatening jeans than you can shake a police baton at. Although ‘YMCA’ is the only hit song, the remaining fluff is packed with sickeningly cheerleaderish, fabulously naff, polyester charm. No extras. (Claire Sawers)
DOCUMENTARY ONE CONTINUOUS TAKE (E) 253min (Panamint) ●●●●●
This fascinating two- disc set revisits and attempts to revive interest in pioneering and innovative documentarian Kay Mander. The first disc is taken up with Dr Adele Carroll’s 2001 film One Continuous Take featuring Kay Mander, now living in Kirkcudbrightshire, recalling her life and work, with clips from many of her films. Mander’s main period
of directorial achievement were the war years and the second disc is basically a retrospective of her short documentaries. Of particular interest is 1940’s Transfer of Skill which chronicles the more adaptive and creative wartime craftspeople; Highland Doctor (1943) about the life of a doctor in the Outer Hebrides; Homes for the People (1945),
DVD Reviews Film FILM BOOKS
Robert Downey Jnr
Let’s start with a little bit of Robert Burns. Altogether now: ‘Corn rigs and barley rigs and/Corn rigs are bonnie/I’ll not forget that happy night/Among the rigs with Annie.’ Burns’ ballad ‘The Rigs O’ Barley’ was allegedly written in the late 1700s and was liberated by composer Paul Giovanni for the soundtrack of Robin Hardy’s 1973 Hebridean island-set horror The Wicker Man. If only there were more Scottish films as gloriously nutty as Hardy’s singular masterwork. If only there were more books like Allan Brown’s mischievous, meticulously researched and now revised (it was originally released in 2000) Inside the Wicker Man (Polygon ●●●●●). Glasgow-based writer Brown attempts to iron out the half-truths and myths that have grown up around this mysterious film. His retelling of the journey from inception to completion of the film has an epic sweep and Brown records every tantrum and tiara. The book also contains Anthony Shaffer’s screenplay for a sequel, stills from lost footage and interviews with cast and crew and a selection of abusive and celebratory early reviews of the film. Inside the Wicker Man is thoroughly enjoyable and this new edition contains an illuminating new introduction by Brown which brings things up to date.
By comparison Ben Falk’s Robert Downey Jnr: The Fall and Rise of the Comeback Kid (Portico ●●●●●) is a rush job. Film and television journalist Falk talked to friends and colleagues of Downey and then threw together this unofficial biography to coincide with the release of Iron Man 2. Falk lays out the familiar story of early talent, drink, drugs and redemption well enough and the photographs are pretty good, but really it’s difficult to care.
The latest film studies guide from Kamera Books turns its Gatling gun on Spaghetti Westerns (●●●●●). Film critic and author Howard Hughes’ analysis of the genre follows the publisher’s usual format of an expansive introduction that breaks down the tenets of the genre followed by a closer look at some of the key films in the form. It’s a decent enough addition to this series of books but despite everything Hughes’ analysis often lacks substantiation (you can’t bunch Guilio Questi’s 1967 film Django Kill – If You Live, Shoot with the cinema of Alejandro Jodorowsky and Andy Warhol and not expound on it).
Finally Paul Copperwaite’s Movie Charts (Octopus ●●●●●) brings some
welcome humour to the often po-faced world of modern cinema-related publishing. These are ‘Comedy Graphs of the Films You Love’, and by use of all manner of graphs (pie, Venn, graph etc) it analyses the ‘Required Elements in a Sex Scene’ and executes a ‘Review of Managerial Choices made by Gandalf.’ It’s very funny. (Paul Dale)
made by the (then) Daily Herald to expose poor housing conditions and A Plan to Work On (1948) about the urban growth of Dunfermline. Extras include special booklet. (Paul Dale) DOCUMENTARY THE GARDEN (E) 77min (Dogwoof) ●●●●●
Possibly the first film about guerilla gardening, Scott Hamilton Kennedy’s engrossing 2008 film tells a remarkable true story about hope born out of insurrection.
In the aftermath of the 1992 LA riots, there suddenly appeared a
14-acre community garden on a barren field littered with rubbish and syringes at the intersection of 41st Street and Alameda Avenue. Dubbed the South Central Farm, the produce garden soon began yielding
fresh lettuce, ripe tomatoes and sweet papayas. Now the local farmers could enjoy their own crops rather than relying on food stamps. For over ten years, the communal farm thrived. In December 2003 it appeared that the days of this inner-city oasis were numbered. As the farmers receive eviction notices and bulldozers prepare to level the garden to make room for warehouses, Kennedy documents the two-and-a-half-year court battle to save this place of beauty and sustenance. Limited extras. (Paul Dale)
24 Jun–8 Jul 2010 THE LIST 57