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An observation that can be made about how violence tends to be depicted in film exists within the dichotomy of entertainment and realism. True crime has existed in both of these realms, particularly in films that create a manufactured reality based on fact and documentary films that offer an unflinching glimpse into our world. The latter of this dichotomy exists in the 1981 documentary film, The Killing of America. The heights of violence and death it contains are confrontational and presented within a cold and calculating narrative. The Killing of America takes the audience on a journey of degeneration through the rise of violent crime and unrest that have plagued life in America since the post-war economic boom period of the 1950s and '60s.

Released just a few years after the mondo film Faces of Death, The Killing of America is a complete antithesis of sensationalism and shock value. Like...

In 2019, while on a trip to Los Angeles, I decided to visit the Museum of Death. I have a complicated relationship with true crime. It’s a morbid and problematic fixation, sure. But there’s a reason why it’s also a pervasive one. We all die, and most of...

Australian siblings and directing duo Colin and Cameron Cairnes have earned a following on the cult horror circuit with their first two features: the low-budget horror comedy 100 Bloody Acres (which won the Midnight X-treme award at the 2013 Sitges Film Festival) and 2016’s Scare Campaign, a gruesome twist on the slasher genre.

Their follow-up, Late Night With The Devil, is framed as a found-footage film about a 1977 live broadcast of a late-night talk show where the host — the Johnny Carson also-ran Jack Delroy (played by David Dastmalchian of Suicide Squad and Oppenheimer fame) — decides to go big for a Halloween night edition during sweeps week with a guest who claims to commune with the devil.

The Cairnes’ mash up themes of 1970s horror classics with the media satires of the era, such as Network and The King of Comedy, to create a thrill ride that won over Stephen King – “absolutely brilliant.

Continuing our series of writers recommending under-appreciated films available to stream, a celebration of a nuanced Orson Welles noir from 1946

In these lockdown times, we should all be scrambling to watch films that will help us to make sense of our out-of-life experience, no? Pandemic thrillers, online horrors, dystopian sci fi – these can all teach us what we need to know, right?

Related: My streaming gem: why you should watch The Killing of America...

Film-lover designed film posters in Rome in 1960s, including one for Federico Fellini’s 8 1/2.

David Weisman, the Oscar-nominated producer of Kiss Of The Spider Woman and an accomplished graphic artist, has died in Los Angeles from illness. He was 77.

Weisman passed away on October 9 at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles due to complications from neuroinvasive West Nile virus.

Born in Binghamton, New York, on March 11, 1942, Weisman attended Syracuse University’s School of Fine Arts in the early 1960’s. Inspired by La Dolce Vita, Weisman dropped out of college and travelled to Italy, where he found work designing film posters in Rome,...

David Weisman, an Academy Award nominee as producer of Kiss of the Spider Woman and an accomplished graphic artist, died on October 9 from complications from neuroinvasive West Nile virus. He died in Los Angeles at Cedars Sinai at age 77, according to his publicist.

Born in Binghamton, New York, in March 1942, Weisman attended Syracuse University’s School of Fine Arts in the early 1960’s. Inspired by the classic Italian film La Dolce Vita and armed with a gift for languages, Weisman dropped out of college to design film-posters in Rome. There he met Federico Fellini, for whom he created a poster for 8 1/2 (Otto e mezzo).

Returning to New York, he collaborated with Otto Preminger, who asked him to create the title sequence for Hurry Sundown. He then became Preminger’s assistant on the film. Weisman also designed the key art for The Boys in the Band, among many others.

In 1967, with...

David Weisman, who was Oscar-nominated as producer of “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” died Oct. 9 in Los Angeles due to complications from West Nile virus. He was 77.

Weisman had a long career as a graphic designer and photographer and co-wrote and co-directed cult classic “Ciao! Manhattan” about 1960s icon Edie Sedgwick.

Born in Binghamton, N.Y., Weisman dropped out of Syracuse University in the early 1960s to design film posters in Rome. He met Federico Fellini and created a poster for “8 1/2” before returning to New York to work with Otto Preminger on “Hurry Sundown.” He also designed the key art for “The Boys in the Band” and many other films.

On “Ciao! Manhattan” he partnered with John Palmer, an alumnus of Andy Warhol’s Factory. He worked as associate director on avant-garde film “The Telephone Book” and created “Shogun Assassin,” edited from a series of Japanese samurai movies.

Weisman begin...

Andy, Mike, Joseph and Jeremy join forces to come up with some recommendations for 31 Days of Halloween. We also do a double-up on Horrorlimination with 4 years of films to argue about.

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Show Notes:

00:02:45 – Discussion about disgusting assholes in our community.

00:09:40 – What We’ve Been Watching

Mike – Little Evil, The Houses That October Built 2 (review), Leatherface

Joseph – It (2017), read the comic My Friend Dahmer, Let Me Make You A Martyr (review), Compliance

Jeremy – It (2017), Poltergeist III, The Strain Season Finale, Firestarter, Blood Drive

Andy – mother!, Psycho III, The Killing of America, Better Watch Out, Synapse Films’ 4K Restoration of Suspiria

00:48:20 – #GetUpInDemGuts: 20 film recommendations for 31 Days of Halloween:

Sleep Tight, Rebirth, Hell House LLC, Lady In White, Compliance, Shutter Island, Marebito, The American Scream, The Eclipse, Funny Games (1997), Halloween III: Season Of The Witch, Murder Party, Grabbers, The Mothman Prophecies, Behind The Mask: The Rise Of Leslie Vernon...

Andy, Mike, Josh and Josh’s girlfriend, Janna fire up the microphones to have a discussion about Adam Wingard’s Death Note, the 2017 adaptation of It and we pay tribute to the late Tobe Hooper. Also, just when you thought it was safe…Horrorlimination!

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Show Notes:

00:02:50 – What We’ve Been Watching

Josh & Janna – Blood: The Last Vampire, Adam Wingard’s Death Note (discussion starts at 00:03:56), Firestarter, Miracle Mile, Sorcerer, The Good Son, Cat’s Eye, Die, Monster, Die, Shin Godzilla, The Killing of America, Stagefright (1988), Deranged, Demon Seed, The Boy (2016), Toolbox Murders (2004), Ghosts of Mars, The Hunger, Avgn X, Josh is also reading Bruce Campbell’s Hail to the Chin book and was called a genius. Janna started “Stranger Things” because Josh is procrastinating. Janna also watched Shiki and is reading “Ax Murders of Saxtown: The Unsolved Crime That Terrorized a Town...

I have a pretty strong stomach, but The Killing of America is one of the most gut-wrenching films I've ever seen. This documentary, a collaboration between director Sheldon Renan and producers Leonard Schrader and Yamamoto Mata is a disturbing look at America's past, present, and future and how history has shaped one of the most violent countries in the world. The Killing of America was completed in 1981, long after the Mondo movie boom of the late '60s - early '70s had died out. It was released quietly to one New York cinema the next year and quickly recalled. It did, however, enjoy a full release in Japan, largely due to the insistence of producer Yamamoto Mata in a wildly different version to the one...

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

In Japan Leonard Schrader's docu about real-life American horrors was called Violent America. The decidedly unflattering picture couldn't find a U.S. distributor when new but accrued a reputation as the ultimate compilation of violent historical images. It's now filed with cannibal and zombie pictures in exploitation movie catalogs, yet it has more in common with Schrader's Taxi Driver. The Killing of America Blu-ray Severin Films 1981 / Color / 2:35 1:85 widescreen 1:37 flat full frame / 95, 115 min. / Street Date October 25, 2016 / 29.98 Starring Chuck Riley (narrator, English version), Ed Dorris, Thomas Noguchi, Sirhan Sirhan, Wayne Henley, Ed Kemper. Cinematography Robert Charlton, Tom Hurwitz, Willy Kurant, Peter Smokler Film Editor Lee Percy Original Music W. Michael Lewis, Mark Lindsay Written by Leonard Schrader, Chieko Schrader Produced by Mataichiro Yamamoto, Leonard Schrader Directed by Sheldon Renan

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

1980s censorship in Japan strongly limited violent images on TV. They didn't see the steady...

In this post-internet world, the sensationalist documentary genre feels less shocking and more level-headed

Widely despised in their day and little remembered now, “mondo” films have a peculiar legacy. Throughout the latter half of the 20th century, these so-called documentaries collected together shocking documents of sex, death and violence from around the world. Today they can seem almost quaint, but at a time when even Abraham Zapruder’s infamous home video of JFK’s assassination was little seen, they engendered plenty of intrigue – and outrage.

The British Board Of Film Censors took a dim view of the genre, initially banning and later censoring its first entry, 1962’s Mondo Cane. The notorious 1978 compilation Faces Of Death (warning, contains grim footage), meanwhile, wound up on the British government’s infamous list of prohibited “video nasties”. Even the genre’s most (grudgingly) critically respected work, 1982’s The Killing Of America, wasn’t submitted...

Thirty five years ago, a documentary was made about the state of violence in the U.S.A. America never had a chance to see it…until now. Severin Films Presents One Of The Most Infamous Documentaries Ever Made For The First Time To North American Audiences The Killing Of America Coming to DVD and Blu-ray™ November 8th …

The post The Killing Of America Coming to DVD and Blu-ray™ November 8th first appeared on Hnn | Horrornews.net - Official News Site...

Just in time for election day, the powerful documentary “The Killing of America” hits streets on Blu-Ray and DVD November 8th from Severin Films. Los Angeles – In 1981, director Sheldon Renan and Academy Award® nominated co-producer/co-writer Leonard Schrader (brother of filmmaker Paul) created a graphic and provocative examination of America’s history with – and penchant for – senseless violence, mass shootings and cold-blooded murder. Piercing, brutal and at times, unflinchingly graphic, The Killing of America was exhibited briefly in New York in 1982…and subsequently shelved. While the ensuing thirty five years have – thankfully – seen the lowering of overall violent crimes in the nation, the documentary’s themes about [ Read More ]

The post The Killing of America on Blu-Ray November 8th appeared first on Shockya.com.

Late this summer, West London's Horror Channel FrightFest 2016 will host an eclectic collection of horror films, including Rob Zombie's 31, Sean Byrne's The Devil's Candy, Darren Lynn Bousman's Abattoir, Jackson Stewart's Beyond the Gates, and Adam Wingard's The Woods:

Press Release: From grindhouse to art-house, feel-good to squeal-good, blockbuster to ghostbuster FrightFest returns in all its gory glory, now housed at the 12-screen Vue Cinema at Shepherd’s Bush, West London, from Aug 25 - Aug 29.

In its 17th year, the world renowned genre film festival will present 62 new feature films, embracing sixteen countries and bringing together established filmmakers, British first-timers and emerging international visionaries from six continents.

The opening night attraction is the European Premiere of My Father Die, Sean Brosnan’s brutal and beautiful feature debut – an ultra-stylish, uber violent revenge thriller that’s a calling card for Brosnan’s brilliant talents. And our...

London-based genre festival to feature 19 world premieres and 35 UK & European premieres.

Horror Channel FrightFest has unveiled the line-up for its upcoming 17th edition, taking place at its new home of the Vue Shepherd’s Bush from Aug 25-29.

Sean Brosnan’s revenge thriller My Father Die [pictured] receives its European premiere as the opening film, while the UK premiere of Sang-ho Yeon’s Cannes title Train To Busan closes this year’s festival.

In total, the 62-strong feature line-up includes 19 world premieres and 35 UK & European premieres. Ivan Silvestrini’s Monolith, Tricia Lee’s creepy chiller Blood Hunters and Nick Jongerius’ gory The Windmill Massacre are among the world premieres.

Meanwhile, Adam Wingard’s eagerly anticipated The Woods will receive its European premiere in the Main Screen strand, playing alongside the likes of Stephen King adaptation Cell, Italian box office hit They Call Me Jeeg Robot and Cody Calahan’s Let Her Out.

Other Main Screen...

It might be missing the industry saturated Park City fervor, but the smaller, shorter, and more intimate Columbia, Missouri based True/False Film Festival is the Rolls-Royce (by way of John Deere) of doc focused cinema. Filmmaker Laura Poitras is not alone in stating that her “love for True/False runs deep – from the smart programming, passionate audiences, inspired buskers, and fabulous venues.” Time and time again, selected filmmakers throughout this year’s edition expressed their love of the fest, while plenty of filmmaker personalities from prior editions could be spotted milling around town as casual filmgoers happy to pay to relive the experience.

With a highly curated program just shy of 50 films shown on 9 different screens (each of which are walkable in just 5-10 minutes of one another) over just 4 days, True/False centers its attention on quality and community, both locally and cinematically. For a city with a...

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is a fake of a movie. It is a concretion of film noir tropes that has none of the pathos or thematic richness that people love noir for. Its paper characters match its comic-booky aesthetic, which was interesting when the first Sin City came out nine years (!) ago, but is stale now. It aims for cheap thrills, which is not necessarily an unworthy goal, but it fails to deliver any of those thrills. The movie is just one bland act of violence after another. The Killing of America is also one act of violence after another, but it actually has something on its mind. And as a cavalcade of actual death, assembled in an unpolished print and unreleased to this day in the U.S., this shockumentary has a billion times more outsider credibility than the hardboiled poser that is A Dame to Kill For. Both...

The Killing of America

Directed by Sheldon Renan

Written by Leonard Schrader and Chieko Schrader

USA, 1982

The Killing of America is an impassioned and emotional showcase of violence in America from the period of the early 1960s into the early 1980s. Resting on the thesis that the society quickly devolved into increasingly acts of senseless violence, the film utilizes rare and disturbing footage of both familiar and unfamiliar events. Rift with a somewhat confused ideology, the film nonetheless packs a punch and suggests where many others haven’t that access to guns are part of the problem, an issue that continues to be debated within American society to this day. Is this little more than a parade of greatest hits for snuff fans or does it reaches deeper, revealing darker truths and realities that we are unwilling or unable to face.

Originally produced for the Japanese market, this “mondo” documentary which has never been released,...

The full Fantasia 2013 lineup has now been revealed, and we have here the third and final wave of titles to share. Prepare to drool!

From the Press Release:

The Fantasia International Film Festival is proud to announce the rest of our 120-feature lineup that comprises our 2013 event, along with a string of additional details that mark our 17th edition as a standout. Fantasia will engulf the city of Montreal from July 18-August 6, 2013. Be sure to visit the Fantasia Film Festival website for detailed essays on every title announced here, as well as all films previously disclosed over the last weeks.

Before we get started on titles... Meet Our 2013 Juries

Main Competition For The Cheval Noir Award For Best Film

Jury President: Laura Kern (Critic, Curator, managing editor, Film Comment)

Jean-Pierre Bergeron (Actor, Director, Screenwriter)

Samuel Jamier (Co-Director of the New York Asian Film Festival, Programmer at Japan Society)

Jarod Neece (Senior Programmer and Operations Manager,...

The Fantasia Film Festival is taking place from July 18th to August 6th in Montreal and will feature over 100 films from around the world. We gave you a look at the initial lineup last month and now have an additional list of Fantasia 2013 films that will be screening, including Curse of Chucky, You’re Next, and Frankenstein’s Army:

Horror Is Child’S Play – Don Mancini’S Curse Of Chucky (World Premiere)

A rarity among genre franchises, the Child’S Play series (begun in 1988) has retained the sure-handed guidance of original screenwriter/creator Don Mancini throughout killer doll Chucky’s decades’-long reign of horror. Mancini, who will be hosting our “scar-studded” world premiere, graduated to the director’s chair with 2004’s Seed Of Chucky, after having co-written or written every entry in the series. His longevity with the project is, of course, matched by the fiendish voiceover work by...