News

Music and movies: They've gone hand-in-hand since the first "silent" films ever shown on Earth by the Lumiere brothers in 1895 reportedly had piano accompaniment. By the time "talkies" were invented, music was as much a part of a filmed experience as the images, and many of the early sound films focused heavily on musicians and musical performances. In fact, while the first film with a recorded and synchronized soundtrack was 1926's Don Juan, the first movie with both synced music and dialogue was 1927's The Jazz Singer, which followed a Jewish man trying to make it as a musician.

Despite the early stumbles culturally, music-focused films were some of the earliest and most influential of the medium, and that's only continued for the entire nearly 130 years it's existed. People just love watching other people perform on screen, and over time, that passion turned into a truly staggering number of movies about bands.

It’s easy to make a bad film, and virtually impossible to make one that’s so bad it’s good. Miami Connection – the 1988 martial arts extravaganza that often threatens to become a musical – rides the line between cinematic perfection and borderline unwatchable flawlessly, making it a staple on all best-bad movie lists alongside The Room and Troll 2. As with those examples, what distinguishes Miami Connection from other awful films is the genuine sincerity everyone involved had toward the project. How anyone thought a film about a synth-wave rock band fighting a hoard of drug-dealing ninjas could be the basis for a serious message about the dangers of violence is a question beyond the capacity of the human mind, but seemingly Y.K. Kim thought otherwise. It’s terrible. It’s also amazing. It’s the kind of film that threatens to dismantle a hundred years of critical writing. Love it or hate it,...

Some movies are artistic masterpieces, while others are complete wastes of time. This is true across all genres, with just as many bad films as good. However, just because a film may not be successful in the way its filmmakers intended does not mean it was a total failure.

Related: 10 Bad Made-For-tv Monster Movies

Sometimes, a movie is so bad that it becomes unintentionally funny. These films tend to gain a cult following and become significantly better when watched with the mindset that the movie is actually a comedy instead of whatever the filmmakers originally envisioned it to be.

Updated on May 24, 2023 by Angelo Delos Trinos: As long as movies are one of (if not) the most popular form of entertainment in the world, there will always be bad films. This isn't a slight against the medium, since even the worst movies can be the most unexpected sources of laughs and joy.

Aptly named for the acidic smell of deteriorating film, Vinegar Syndrome made an auspicious debut in 2013 with its inaugural release, The Lost Films of Herschell Gordon Lewis. In the decade since, they have unearthed, restored, and distributed hundreds of cult, exploitation, horror, action, and adult films.

Popping in a new Vinegar Syndrome disc is a bit like cinematic Russian roulette. It’s always interesting, but you never know if you’re going to get an obscure masterpiece, a campy B-movie, a so-bad-it’s-good slice of fun, or a dud. The unknown is half the fun, and discovering those diamonds in the rough makes it worthwhile.

In celebration of their anniversary, I’m highlighting 10 hidden gems from Vinegar Syndrome’s first 10 years.

To narrow the choices, I’m ignoring the heavy hitters like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 and The Amityville Horror, box sets like Forgotten Gialli and Home Grown Horrors,...

The May 2022 lineup at Mubi here in the United States has been unveiled, most notably featuring a Cannes Takeover timed with the 75th edition of the festival. At long last, Arnaud Desplechin’s Philip Roth adaptation Deception will arrive stateside alongside Karim Ainouz’s documentary Mariner of the Mountains. Reaching further back into the festival’s history, Ruben Östlund’s Force Majeure and The Square, David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, Gaspar Noé’s Irreversible, and Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank will also come to the service.

Their Franz Rogowski series will also continue with Great Freedom and Love Steaks, while works from Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Gia Coppola, Joachim Trier, Jeff Nichols, Satyajit Ray, Takashi Miike, and more will also arrive.

Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.

5/1/2022 | Everybody Street | Cheryl Dunn

5/2/2022 | Love Steaks | Jakob Lass

5/3/2022 | Our Lady of the Nile | Atiq Rahimi

5/4/2022 | Time Piece | Jim Henson

5/5/2022 | R100 | Hitoshi Matsumoto...

I love “so bad, they’re good” movies. From canonical classics like Plan 9 From Outer Space and The Room to deeply flawed gems like Miami Connection and Samurai Cop, the best “so bad, they’re good” movies are more than simple guilty pleasures. As that designation suggests, they’re movies that make it genuinely hard to answer the seemingly simple question “Is it good?”

When it comes to gaming, though, it’s always been tougher to find proper “so bad, they’re good” titles. Games like Deadly Premonition, Metal Wolf Chaos, and Harvest all arguably belong in that category, but most bad games are just fundamentally unenjoyable experiences that are fun to mock. Games that fall so far into “bad” that they somehow end up landing closer to “good” are rare.

That’s what makes Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin so special. In some ways, it’s a legitimately good game.

Originally filmed in 1984, John Liu’s “New York Ninja” was left unfinished as the martial arts standout lacked the resources to have the film completed, and shortly after decided to retire from show business all together. Cut to the current year, where Vinegar Syndrome was able to get a copy of the unfinished negatives and soon realized that the film was a hidden gem ripe for re release to the modern crowd of cinephiles who embrace the absurdity of 80s over-the-top schlock. In order to remaster the film required all new audio and soundtrack, and to best capture the aesthetic of the period, Vinegar Syndrome relied on the talents of cult icons like Don “The Dragon” Wilson, Linnea Quigley, Cynthia Rothrock, Ginger Lynn Allen and Michael Berryman, along with music by Voyag3r to breathe new life into the long-lost film. The result, a perfect midnight film that has the...

Tammy And The T-rex – The ‘Gore Cut’ screens Friday, November 22nd at Webster University’s Moor Auditorium(470 E Lockwood Ave) at 9:00pm. A Facebook invite for the film can be found Here

A cinematic whatsit on the order of Miami Connection or Dangerous Men, but this time replete with recognizable stars, Tammy & the T-Rex was initially released as a PG-13 teen film circa 1994, but earlier this year resurfaced in a “gore cut,” which reinstates a few bloody scenes excised to achieve that PG-13 rating. The plot concerns a mad doctor who implants the brain of murdered teen Michael (played by Paul Walker of The Fast & the Furious fame) into a mechanical tyrannosaurus rex, and, once in t-rex form, Michael reunites with his sweetheart (Denise Richards of Starship Troopers and Wild Things) and takes revenge on his tormentors. Imagine a cross between Saved by the Bell, King Kong, and The Re-Animator,...

Headlining today's Horror Highlights is an exclusive Q&a with The VelociPaster writer/director Brendan Steere, who gives us some insights into his dino-centric horror comedy ahead of its release on August 13th. We also have a teaser trailer and festival screening details for the short film Cole & Colette (written by Harker Jones), as well as information on the world premiere screening of Hilton Ariel Ruiz's Zombie with a Shotgun.

Q&a with The Velocipastor Writer/Director Brendan Steere: "Brendan Steere, the genius behind cult sensation The Velocipastor, gives us the 411 on the upcoming DVD release of the film!

Was it the success of other, funny-but-frightening genre movies of late responsible for Velocipastor?

Well, the idea started back in 2011, so back then I was more inspired by things like Grindhouse and Machete. Afterwards, it kind of evolved into just a pastiche/love letter to all the “so bad it’s...

In today’s film news roundup, Andre Caraco and Paul Noble receive promotions at Sony, Stanley Kubrick’s anti-war drama “Paths of Glory” gets restored, Drafthouse Films gets launched and “The Chainsaw Artist” wraps.

Exec Promotions

Sony Pictures has promoted veteran executives Andre Caraco and Paul Noble to the posts of co-presidents of global marketing.

Sony Pictures President of Worldwide Marketing and Distribution Josh Greenstein made the announcement Tuesday.

“As you all know, taking a more global approach to our marketing efforts has been a top priority for some time now, and we wanted Andre and Paul’s titles to more accurately reflect the increasingly collaborative and global scope of their work and oversight,” he said in a staff memo. “Andre and Paul will now partner on all marketing efforts to ensure our campaigns are aligned with our global moviegoing audience.”

Curaco led the studio’s national publicity team from 2006 to 2016. Since then,...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.

Complete Unknown (Joshua Marston)

Armed with two top-notch leads and a compelling premise, Joshua Marston‘s third feature, Complete Unknown, spends a lot of time hinting at which direction it will go, without going anywhere at all. Tom (Michael Shannon) is living with his wife Rehema (Azita Ghanizada) in New York City, spending the majority of his days drafting agricultural policy emails in a cramped government office. It is...

On July 26th, Drafthouse Films invites viewers to attend an unnerving dinner party with their Blu-ray / DVD combo pack (including Digital HD) release of Karyn Kusama’s The Invitation, complete with an audio commentary, a booklet, and more:

Press Release: Dubbed “the best horror film of the year” by Maxim, the stylish chiller The Invitation will arrive in a Blu-ray + DVD combo pack on July 26, 2016, from Drafthouse Films. In this taut psychological thriller from award-winning director Karyn Kusama (Girlfight, Jennifer’s Body), the tension is palpable when Will (Logan Marshall-Green, Prometheus) shows up to a dinner party hosted by his ex-wife Eden (Tammy Blanchard, Into the Woods) and new husband David (Michiel Huisman, “Game of Thrones”). The estranged divorcees’ tragic past haunts an equally eerie present; amid Eden’s suspicious behavior and her mysterious house guests, Will becomes convinced that his invitation was extended with a hidden agenda. Unfolding over one dark evening in the Hollywood Hills, The Invitation blurs layers of mounting paranoia, mystery, and horror until both Will-and the audience-are unsure what threats are real or imagined.

Kusama’s thriller opened the Midnight section of the 2015 SXSW Film Festival before receiving wide acclaim during the nationwide theatrical release. For Kusama, who first made her mark with the breakout 2000 hit Girlfight, The Invitation boasts a triumphant return to her independent roots, as well as an impressively-crafted script written and produced by screenwriting duo Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi (Crazy/Beautiful, Ride Along). Also starring isEmayatzy Corinealdi (Miles Ahead, “Roots”) and John Carroll Lynch (“American Horror Story,” Zodiac).

Special features on the Blu-ray and DVD of The Invitation include audio commentary with Kusama, Hay and Manfredi, “The Making of The Invitation,” music videos for original songs by Craig Wedren and Benjamin Newgard, the theatrical trailer, a HD digital copy of the film and booklet featuring an original essay by critic Britt Hayes.

About Drafthouse Films

Drafthouse Films, the film distribution arm of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, is a curated brand of provocative, visionary and artfully unusual films new and old from around the world. Following the earnestly simple motto of “sharing the films we love with widest audience possible,” Drafthouse Films debuted in 2010 with the theatrical release of Four Lions, which was named of Time Magazine’s “Top 10 Films Of The Year.” Their diverse and unique slate includes Joshua Oppenheimer’s highly-acclaimed, Oscar® nominated documentaries The Act Of Killing and The Look of Silence, produced by Errol Morris and Werner Herzog, Michel Gondry’s surrealist romance Mood Indigo starring Audrey Tautou, Midnight Movie sensations Miami Connection and The Visitor and rediscovered classics Wake In Fright, Ms. 45 and Roar (in conjunction with Olive Films).

Recent and upcoming releases include Anders Thomas Jensen’s dark comedy Men & Chicken, starring Mads Mikkselsen; and the documentary Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made, the true story of three eleven-year-old boys who filmed a shot-for-shot adaptation of Spielberg’s classic during the 1980s..

Drafthouse Films distributes films theatrically, through home video, VOD and their direct-to-consumer platforms integrating into the ever-growing Alamo Drafthouse entertainment lifestyle brand, which along with Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas includes: Mondo, the collectible art boutique; Fantastic Fest, the largest international genre film festival in the Us; and the pop culture website Birth.Movies.Death.

The post The Invitation Blu-ray / DVD Release Details & Cover Art appeared first on Daily Dead.

Amir Shervan's Samurai Cop (1991) was a miracle of modern megalomania.Shervan's film, the tale of a samurai trained renegade La cop taking down the yakuza in the USA, is the rarest of beasts. A cult film that earned its cult through the blood, sweat, and tears of a cast and crew that appear to have been completely convinced that they were making a good film. These kid of films of course make for the best kinds of cults, those that can appreciate the blind sincerity that can only come from a full heart and a kind of blind ambition to make something great. The Room had it, Birdemic had it, Miami Connection had it, and Samurai Cop, in spite of its completely ridiculous premise, definitely...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Because I’m a fan of musical accompaniment in storytelling, I’d recommend hitting play on the track below to accompany your reading.

Hopefully, if you are reading this, you know about our Late Nite Grindhouse program. Late Nite Grindhouse was a crazy idea I had of solely showing horror, cult and genre cinema theatrically at midnight. Being located in St. Louis, Missouri was a tough thing for a film fanatic of genre cinema. I would see theaters in major metropolitan areas like Los Angeles and New York or a college town like Austin, Texas – courtesy of the terrific Alamo Drafthouse – get these great repertory films that would show theatrically. I wanted in on that. I figured, that I would work with a theater that shared the same dream I had of celebrating film. Granted, I wanted to show a specific type of film but I was also wanting to build a community.

facebook

twitter

google+

Sometimes, for differing reasons, cinema trips take an unexpected turn for the better. Here are some examples...

As part of our survey on the behaviour of audiences in British cinemas, and how well cinema chains respond to it, we asked for examples of good and bad practice and behaviour in UK picture palaces.

Here are 45 examples of when things went right (for a variety of reasons!)...

Dealing With Complaints

"Wall-e - Vue Norwich. A group of young teenagers carried on their 'bantz' - except we didn't call it that back then - beyond the ads and trailers and through the short film. It was still going on when the titles rolled so I tattle-tailed on them and Vue staff were fantastic and removed the lot of them."

"I found most adults stop talking or turn off their mobile phones if you ask them politely. They aren't trying...

I have a soft spot for Drafthouse Films, one of the few film distribution companies whose ongoing mission statement seems to be “Oh, this movie is really good and/or weird, let’s buy it.” How else do you explain their astonishing library of movies, which includes everything from The Look of Silence and Miami Connection to The […]

The post The Delightful ‘Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made’ Has Been Acquired by Drafthouse Films appeared first on /Film.

Remember that scene in The Boondock Saints, where Rocco can’t comprehend how Connor and Murphy MacManus pull of their death-defying assassination stunt after breaking through a hotel air vent? You know, this rant?

That’s exactly how Dangerous Men makes me feel.

The late John S. Rad’s film is a technical clusterf$ck, from unsynced audio to horrendous jump cuts without any foreseeable logic. This is a poorly constructed film in every imaginable category, from actors who are dead on arrival, to a story that can’t be more than a few sentences long. Yet if you’re reading about Dangerous Men, then I assume you’ve already seen Roar and Miami Connection. In that case, you’re probably already dying to hear what abhorrent cinematic atrocities await in this year’s only true cult phenomenon – Drafthouse’s latest resurrection release.

Do you really need a plot summary here?...

Dangerous Men's Iranian born director John S. Rad (Jahangir Salehi Yeganehrad) left only this odd cinematic totem of his existence on earth when he died in 2007, soon after the film's belated (and extremely limited) theatrical release in 2005. While he'd stated in at least one interview that he had spent his life pursuing creative endeavors, it's hard to track down anything other than Dangerous Men, and that one only because of the heroes at Drafthouse Films. Unlike Drafthouse Films' releases of similarly bonkers oddities like Miami Connection, The Visitor, and Roar, which had some ensemble elements to their creation, Dangerous Men only exists because of John S. Rad's unflappable determination to will it into existence. Every single major on screen production credit has Rad's name proudly attached....

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

The latest trailer for Dangerous Men promises that it's like nothing you've ever seen before. And while that is a pretty bold claim to make in 2015, after watching this 90 second sneak peek, you'll realize that this teaser is not lying. The new trailer arrives with 6 character posters for Drafthouse Films' Dangerous Men. It is the latest epic mind-melter from the curatorial force that brought us Miami Connection, The Visitor and Roar.&#160

In 1979, Iranian filmmaker John S. Rad moved to the U.S. to shoot his dream project, a rampaging gutter epic of crime, revenge, cop sex and raw power. Just 26 years later, he completed an American action film masterpiece that the world is still barely ready for today: Dangerous Men. After Mina witnesses her fianc&#233's brutal murder by beach thugs, she sets out on a venomous spree to eradicate all human trash from Los Angeles.

Armed with a knife,...

Everyone knows that feeling when they discover a truly bizarre movie for the first time and just can't wait to share it with friends, if only because watching it with other people confirms that it was not a hallucination and the movie in question actually exists. Over the last few years one of the best places to find these wholly unique gems that time forgot has been Drafthouse Films. They're the demented cinephiles who dug up and re-released Miami Connection, the explosive rock 'n roll martial arts movie that blows the lid off of the ninja-filled drug smuggling scene of the 1980s, and Roar, a movie filled with too many lions and "How are all these people not dead?" moments to really count. And now they've announced their latest acquisition, a movie...

Read More...

Drafthouse Films, the curatorial force behind exceptional repertory releases such as the ninja-blasting synth-rock monolith Miami Connection, the psychedelic sci-fi brainmelter The Visitor, and the most dangerous movie ever made, Roar, have announced the acquisition of their latest cult sensation, Dangerous Men, following a packed-house screening of the film at Fantastic Fest. The fanatical brainchild of Iranian polymath John Rad, Dangerous Men is a passion project that remained in obsessive production for nearly two decades before finally debuted in Californian theaters in 2005. An unflappably prodigious creative force, Rad handled much of the technical duties of the film, appearing multiple times in the film's credits as the director, writer, location scout, producer, executive producer, and more. You can finally get your first glimpse of this lost film in the first trailer.

Despite initially languishing at the box office during its limited theatrical release, and never finding a likeminded audience before Rad's...

What is "Dangerous Men," and when can you have its sickness in your head? This afternoon, in Austin, TX, the madmen (and madwomen) who put on Fantastic Fest each year held one of their secret screenings. The first secret screening, held a few days ago, was for Guillermo Del Toro's "Crimson Peak." I would imagine many people walked into the second secret screening hoping for some big-budget movie, like "Cloud Atlas" from a few years ago or some intriguing arthouse title from another country, like "Goodnight Mommy" at last year's fest. Nope. Instead, what Tim League and his accomplices did was premiere their latest acquisition title, a film they've been chasing since the day they started the company. This is along the lines of "Miami Connection" or "The Visitor" or this spring's remarkable "Roar!", films that were released once before but that never got the right kind of support...

Fantastic Fest isn’t your ordinary film festival. They do more than just screen movies, but one of their most talked about events is their secret screening. In the past, they’ve screened cult classics like Miami Connection, Roar and The Visitor and this year they promise something bigger to add to their “Holy Fucking Shit Library.” The festival’s editor, Greg MacLennan has cut a teaser trailer for the special event, and it alone is reason enough to get excited. Whatever movie they plan on screening, Fantastic Fest is calling it the Holy Grail of Holy Fucking Shit. Watch the teaser below and let us know if you have any wild guesses as to what movie they chose to screen next Tuesday night.

The post Fantastic Fest releases a video to tease their 2015 secret screening appeared first on PopOptiq.

There’s just too many movies. In the U.S. alone, every year seems to bring with it a new record broken for theatrical releases. If we’re in the midst of a golden age of anything, it would appear to be endless choices. In this age of cinematic oversaturation where even The New York Times has finally taken a stand to not review every film given a theatrical release in the U.S., is there even room for dormant quasi-cult films to reach any kind of audience? Drafthouse Films seems to think so. The independent distributor has released Oscar nominated films like “Bullhead” and “The Act of Killing,” but not enough attention is given to the other kind of new release they specialize in: unearthing strange, seemingly lost older movies and giving them a new lease on life through limited theatrical runs and eventual VOD and Blu-ray releases. In...

Often times people watch a movie and wonder to themselves, "Who thought this was a good ideac" Usually, this thought is given to films that are incompetently put together or just dumb plot ideas. Rarely does that thought come up because of the safety of the entire cast and crew. This brings me to Roar, a movie where husband/wife duo of Noel Marshall and Tippi Hedren set out to make a film showcasing the plight and beauty of African big cats, and things... went a little awry. The cast and crew had to endure over seventy bloody attacks from the animals, which resulted in injuries ranging from director of photography Jan de Bont being scalped (resulting in 120 stitches) and Melanie Griffith needing facial reconstructive surgery. The film itself wants to have a light touch, but the entire time you are on edge knowing all of these people are really getting hurt.

Evan falls hard for Louise after arriving in Italy. He doesn't know that much about her, but he's in love with her just the same. The more he discovers about her, though, the more he realizes just how different Louise is from anyone he's known before. Lovecraftian love abounds in Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead's Spring, coming out on Blu-ray and DVD as a Best Buy exclusive on June 2nd before hitting other stores on August 11th, and we have the film's home media release details and cover art:

Press Release -- "A young American in a personal tailspin heads to Europe to escape his past and falls for a beautiful woman with a dark and deadly secret in the unique and unforgettable Spring. From Drafthouse Films, FilmBuff and Anchor Bay, the genre-bending horror romance that's been described as a brilliant cross between Before Sunrise and An American Werewolf in London...

Aside from having good taste when it comes to acquiring some of the best titles from modern cinema Drafthouse Films also has a knack for finding gems long forgotten in cinema's past. And not just the already established cult faves like Ms. 45 and Wake in Fright. Drafthouse Films find new titles for us to engage with and obsess over as well. Were it not for the work of Drafthouse Films I would not have believed that ninjas were controlling the drug trade in Miami back in 1987. Miami Connection taught me otherwise. And I also would have not have attempted to drunkenly dance to the theme music from The Visitor at the closing party of a local film festival last October if it were not...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Going through Drafthouse Films entire catalogue for the gift guide has reminded why I love film so much. It literally connects to every aspect of life. They have films that are just plain doofy fun. This episode will cover titles 6-10 in their lineup. First up is the guerilla documentary The Ambassador in which filmmaker Mads Brugger uses hidden cameras to show how damn easy it is to pose as a fake diplomat, get a fake passport and smuggle blood diamonds our of a Central African Republic. Prepare to feel disgusted, not a little angry and happy to have laughed at some seriously deserving douchebags. The Miami Connection also has to be seen to be believed. Fantastic Fest has always been a place to rediscover lost...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

I adore bad movies. I own Foodfight! on DVD. I’ve made countless friends furious when I forced them to sit through Manos: the Hands of Fate. I own a VHS player partly so I can watch my copy of Miami Connection. Terrifyingly personal psycho-drama turned black comedy The Room, no-budget bigfoot horror Night of the Demon, the many sordid works of Neil Breen, real estate agent by day, least charismatic person to ever act by night- these are movies that I enjoy, truly, and, strange as it may seem, they mean something to me. When I tell people that Birdemic is one of my favorite films ever, I mean it in every way, with no ironic distance. As silly as they are, as strange as the cult of bad movie watchers is, these things are more than just trainwrecks to be watched with a sense of sadistic joy; they’re odd,...

Drafthouse Films is still a relatively young label in the grand scheme of things — their first release, Four Lions, only hit theaters in late 2010 — but they’ve already established a clear and successful identity through their films. They’ve already seen two of their titles receive Academy Award nominations, and they’ve remained unpredictable in their choices thanks to a roster that includes dramas, comedies, documentaries and more as diverse as Pieta, Miami Connection and The Final Member. That proud tradition of finding and loving odd world cinema continues with what will be their thirtieth release, The Tribe. The Ukrainian film won multiple awards at this year’s Cannes Independent Critics’ Week, but the film stands out for more than its numerous accolades. Director Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy‘s feature debut is a tale of youthful drama and abandon at a boarding school for the deaf, and it’s told entirely in sign language. No...

As a lover of undeniably bad movies like Miami Connection, Troll 2 and Plan 9 From Outer Space, this new video from PBS Idea Channel host Mike Rugnetta hits close to home. In it, Rugnetta posits that you can’t intentionally make a film that’s so bad it’s good. Once you start thinking about this, it’s sort of like debating the whole chicken or the egg thing. Rugnetta’s argument is that making a good bad movie basically requires intent and an understanding of what makes a good movie in the first place – or maybe a good bad movie – which means you’re actually making a good movie that just sort of pretends to be bad. The best good bad movies (which the French refer to as nanar) are so effective because of the earnestness and...

Read More...

Oh Drafthouse Films, how I love thee. I must sound like a broken record when reviewing their releases on here, but the one overarching thing I can say about them—other than the fact that they’re completely bonkers—is that they’re consistent in whatever they do. They can put out truly remarkable and weighty films (The Act of Killing), totally warped freak-outs from up-and-coming auteurs (A Field in England), what-the-fuck cheesy masterpieces (Miami Connection), and unsettling lost classics (Wake in Fright) among others (A Band Called Death, I Declare War, Bullhead, and many many more). Their newest film, E.L. Katz’s Cheap Thrills, is certainly Wtf and totally warped, but the best part is that it has a delightfully devious tinge of philosophical weight to it that you could blink and miss it but still manage enjoy all of the gross out dark humor. It’s quite possibly...

If you’ve been looking for a second film to headline a double-feature night alongside Miami Connection, you’re going to want to kick in some funds to help finish Kung Fury. A low-budget throwback to ‘80s action cinema – if your standard ‘80s action film featured a badass kung fu cop going back in time to kill Hitler and ride dinosaurs – David Sandberg’s film looks sure to please the cult film crowd if this new trailer is any indication. Featuring robots, Vikings, Norse gods, a trip to Asgard and Hitler as the world’s deadliest kung fu master (his nickname? Kung-Fuhrer…), there’s a little something for everyone in Kung Fury. Sandberg has been shooting with friends when he has time and now has enough footage for a...

Read More...

Welcome back for day eight of Daily Dead’s 2013 Holiday Gift Guide! It’s our last day, so we’ve got one last hurrah of awesome horror and sci-fi themed gift ideas that would perfect for you or anyone who loves horror and sci-fi movies as much as we do around here.

To wrap up our second gift guide week, we’ve got another super-sized edition chock-full of awesome ideas to get you through the holiday shopping season. From film memberships to Walking Dead games and jewelry to zombie slippers, there’s pretty much a gift for every type of horror fan here.

Check out Daily Dead’s final selections for the 2013 Gift Guide and be sure to check back here for more holiday-related fun, including the lowdown on our “Five Days of Deadmas” contest that begins next week!

Movies: Today’s movie selections aren’t movies per say, but rather,...

The guys at Destroy The Brain.com have dusted off a 1979 obscurity for their monthly Late Night Grindhouse midnight series this weekend (December 6th and 7th). The Visitor is a film I’m completely unfamiliar with. I do have a vague recollection of seeing the VHS box on video store shelves decades ago but I know I never watched it. Apparently, like Miami Connection and Samurai Cop, two other recent Late Night Grindhouse entries, The Visitor has developed a cult following in recent years and someone somewhere thinks it is worthy of big-screen reassessment. Its slumming cast includes Oscar winners Mel Ferrer, John Huston and St. Louis’ own Shelley Winters, as well as Glenn Ford, director Sam Peckinpah and Lance Henriksen, so I’m game.

The Visitor was an Italian-American co-production, a mixture of horror and mysticism that ripped off several of the horror/sci-fi cycles of the ’70s (Omen...

Can we get a little shout out to Drafthouse Films? As the majors continue to put more money into big franchises (see everything being released in 2015), it's guys like Drafthouse (and A24, Roadside Attractions, IFC Films, etc.) that keep cinephiles excited. And in addition to taking on challenging foreign films and edgy American movies, Drafthouse has also resurrected cult fare as well. "Miami Connection," "Wake In Fright," and the forthcoming "The Visitor" are just some recent examples and there's one more to keep an eye on: Abel Ferrara's "Ms. 45." The director's controversial 1981 movie is getting dressed up to hit theaters and VOD, and a new/old trailer has arrived. Starring the late Zoë Lund, the film follows a mute garment district seamstress who takes matters into her own violent hands after getting raped twice in one day. And as you might guess from the title, there will be blood.

Drafthouse Films releases can go one of two ways. The first are serious or important movies that tend to stay with you until far after you’ve seen them. Some examples of this would be their absolutely essential release The Act of Killing, the proto-punk doc A Band Called Death, the subversively twisted comedy Four Lions, or the meditative and literally testosterone-filled Academy Award nominated Bullhead. The second are eccentric misfit films that have been lost or ignored, only to be resuscitated by the geek-cred publicity powerhouse that is the Drafthouse empire. Some examples of this would be the 1980s cheese-tastic ninja-fest Miami Connection or Wake in Fright, the 1971 Aussie outback thriller directed by First Blood-helmer Ted Kotcheff. Now comes The Visitor, the 1979 Italo-freakout perfectly credited to a guy named Michael J. Paradise and starring a bafflingly eclectic cast that includes John Huston, Glenn Ford, Shelley Winters, Lance Henriksen,...

What do legendary directors John Huston and Sam Peckinpah, Poseidon Adventure actress Shelley Winters, Lance Henriksen, a “cosmic Christ figure,” a demonic eight year old girl, and the fate of the universe have in common? They all feature in the obscure 1979 sci-fi-horror film The Visitor, which Drafthouse Films has announced it will rerelease in remastered form this Halloween weekend (a VOD/digital and home entertainment release will follow in January of next year.)

I can’t claim to have seen The Visitor myself. But Drafthouse Films creative director Evan Husney describes the film as having “the highest Jdpm (jaw-drops-per-minute) ratio...

[Photo by Annie Ray] Tim League does not like being idle. At least that's the impression you'd get from the outside. In the last two years alone he has seen his movie theater, the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, expand from four locations in Austin, Texas to nearly two dozen across the nation. He created his own theatrical distribution company, Drafthouse Films, which has 22 indie and international films like Four Lions, The Act of Killing and Miami Connection to its name. He converted an old illicit massage parlor into an exceptional cocktail bar called the Midnight Cowboy. He became a father to twin girls. And not only does he put on Fantastic Fest, the U.S.' largest genre film festival, every year, but this year they've added a brand new film marketplace to the...

Read More...

Image: Yaiba wrapped Food Truck - serving free tacos beginning at 11am today.

When Team Ninja told us they'd be bringing cosplayer Jessica Nigri--and more importantly, snacks--to Pax Prime, we demanded photographic evidence that this all went down.

After the jump, see what the "Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z" team had in store for the show.

Nigri was in attendance dressed as Miss Monday while fans could grab free tacos from the "Yaiba"-themed truck earlier this week. If you're still at the show today, got one of the wristbands from the truck earlier this week, and over 21, you can also check out the Midnight Zombie Movie Night hosted by Dead Ninjaz After Dark, who will be screening "Miami Connection" and "Zombies vs. Ninja" between 9:00 Pm and 1:30 Am at The Big Picture, 2505 1st Avenue.

Image: Cosplayer Jessica Nigri (center) with web based animator, Monty Oum (right)

Image: Yaiba...

New Indie of the Month On your shelf of Contemporary Classic Bad Movies, make room alongside The Room, Birdemic, Miami Connection and Ben & Arthur for The Oogieloves in The Big Balloon Adventure (Lionsgate), a mind-bending kiddie romp that’s perhaps most famous as the lowest-grossing wide release in cinema history. “But it’s a children’s film!” I imagine some of you yelping. “It’s not fair to hold it to the standards of more mature fare.” Here’s the thing: even by kids' movie standards, Oogieloves goes into areas of crazy hitherto unexplored. Whether it’s the array of name stars (including Cloris Leachman, Chazz Palmintieri, Toni Braxton, Cary Elwes, Christopher Lloyd and Jamie Pressly) embarrassing themselves...

Read More...

Last week, my partner hosted a screening of Miami Connection, Drafthouse Films’ release of the heretofore largely unseen low-budget Tae Kwon Do musical from 1987, for a small group of friends. Ever the meticulous party-planner, she made the viewing interactive by constructing, amongst a litany of other viewing activities, a series of Bingo cards that our friends could play while watching the film. At first, I was a bit worried that this might make the viewing of a ridiculous ‘80s cult film all too predetermined, forcing our friends to anticipate amazing lines like “I thought we are all orphans” or the transcendent pro-friendship tunes of Dragon Sound ahead of time rather than experiencing these moments organically, as she and I did the first time we saw Miami Connection. Thankfully, I was proven wrong. The interactive viewing was a great success for our dear Miami Connection virgins, and everyone went home whistling “Against the Ninja” whether they wanted to...

Drafthouse Films, the distribution arm of the Alamo Drafthouse cinema chain, has announced plans to rerelease the infamously nuts, 1979 sci-fi/horror/action movie, The Visitor. The movie stars legendary film director John Huston (The Maltese Falcon) as — per the official synopsis — “an intergalactic warrior battling alongside a cosmic Christ figure against a demonic eight-year-old girl and her pet hawk, as the fate of the universe hangs in the balance.” (Now, that is something I might be tempted to pay $50 to see on the big screen, particularly as Huston’s costars include Shelley Winters, Lance Henriksen, Franco, Nero, and his fellow director,...

The story behind Miami Connection isn't a new one. Y.K. Kim, the movie's co-star, writer, producer and co-director was discovered by a director while Kim was shelling a book about taekwondo. Director Richard Park later met with Kim and pitched him the idea of a movie. Kim saw it as his big break opportunity, his chance to make a really great action movie and so he did what anyone with a dream and a possible way into the system would do: he put it all on the line using up his savings, mortgaging his school and borrowing heavily to finance his dream project and oh, what a project. [Continued ...]...

Hey, Toronto! Drafthouse Films is coming north with local partners Films We Like bringing The Miami Connection and Wake In Fright to the big screen at the Tiff Bell Lightbox starting March 29th! If you're a regular reader here you already know plenty about both titles but, if not, check the trailers below for a taste and mark the date down in your calendar....

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Austin - The biggest acquisition story out of this year's SXSW festival so far came when Drafthouse Films picked up "Cheap Thrills," and now that I've seen the film, I can vouch that it is money well-spent. Drafthouse Films has demonstrated eclectic taste in what they will or won't pick up so far, and any company that will release "Miami Connection" and "Bullhead" and give both the same amount of attention and support is a company that intrigues me. This summer, they're releasing "The Act Of Killing," a documentary that made my top ten list last year after I saw it...

Drafthouse Films have shown some impressive curating muscle with their growing slate of cult and indie films old and new, and Toronto-based Films We Like has picked up their latest for theatrical release in the great white north, beginning with this T-Dot double-header of raging machismo with Ted "Rambo" Kotcheff's Aussie outback terror Wake In Fright (1971)- a seminal film in kicking off the Ozploitation explosion and bizarre Wtf musical actioner Miami Connection (1987) from co-director/star Y.K. Kim.

While both films celebrate the bizarre rituals of manliness in their own way Wake In Fright through drunken hooliganism, kangaroo hunts (animal lovers beware), a creepily shirtless Donald Pleasence and the "aggressive hospitality" of the sun-soaked outback, and Miami Connection through nonsensical martial arts misadventures, moustaches and musical interludes by rock band Dragon Sound in other ways they couldn't be more different. Wake In Fright is likely the best film Ted Kotcheff ever made,...

Drafthouse Films have shown some impressive curating muscle with their growing slate of cult and indie films old and new, and Toronto-based Films We Like has picked up their latest for theatrical release in the great white north, beginning with this T-Dot double-header of raging machismo with Ted "Rambo" Kotcheff's Aussie outback terror Wake In Fright (1971)- a seminal film in kicking off the Ozploitation explosion and bizarre Wtf musical actioner Miami Connection (1987) from co-director/star Y.K. Kim.

While both films celebrate the bizarre rituals of manliness in their own way Wake In Fright through drunken hooliganism, kangaroo hunts (animal lovers beware), a creepily shirtless Donald Pleasence and the "aggressive hospitality" of the sun-soaked outback, and Miami Connection through nonsensical martial arts misadventures, moustaches and musical interludes by rock band Dragon Sound in other ways they couldn't be more different. Wake In Fright is likely the best film Ted Kotcheff ever made,...

Drafthouse Films have shown some impressive curating muscle with their growing slate of cult and indie films old and new, and Toronto-based Films We Like has picked up their latest for theatrical release in the great white north, beginning with this T-Dot double-header of raging machismo with Ted "Rambo" Kotcheff's Aussie outback terror Wake In Fright (1971)- a seminal film in kicking off the Ozploitation explosion and bizarre Wtf musical actioner Miami Connection (1987) from co-director/star Y.K. Kim.

While both films celebrate the bizarre rituals of manliness in their own way Wake In Fright through drunken hooliganism, kangaroo hunts (animal lovers beware), a creepily shirtless Donald Pleasence and the "aggressive hospitality" of the sun-soaked outback, and Miami Connection through nonsensical martial arts misadventures, moustaches and musical interludes by rock band Dragon Sound in other ways they couldn't be more different. Wake In Fright is likely the best film Ted Kotcheff ever made,...

Drafthouse Films have shown some impressive curating muscle with their growing slate of cult and indie films old and new, and Toronto-based Films We Like has picked up their latest for theatrical release in the great white north, beginning with this T-Dot double-header of raging machismo with Ted "Rambo" Kotcheff's Aussie outback terror Wake In Fright (1971)- a seminal film in kicking off the Ozploitation explosion and bizarre Wtf musical actioner Miami Connection (1987) from co-director/star Y.K. Kim.

While both films celebrate the bizarre rituals of manliness in their own way Wake In Fright through drunken hooliganism, kangaroo hunts (animal lovers beware), a creepily shirtless Donald Pleasence and the "aggressive hospitality" of the sun-soaked outback, and Miami Connection through nonsensical martial arts misadventures, moustaches and musical interludes by rock band Dragon Sound in other ways they couldn't be more different. Wake In Fright is likely the best film Ted Kotcheff ever made,...