News

Stars: Chantal Contouri, Shirley Cameron, Max Phipps, Henry Silva, Rod Mullinar, David Hemmings, Rosie Sturgess, Robert Thompson | Written by John Pinkney | Directed by Rod Hardy

As a fan of Australian genre cinema, I find 1979s Thirst to be a fascinating, often overlooked entry in the country’s horror canon. Directed by Rod Hardy, this film stands as an intriguing bridge between the Ozploitation movement of the 1970s and the more refined horror-thrillers that would emerge in the 1980s. While it may not have the same raw, aggressive energy as Wake in Fright (1971) or Long Weekend (1978), it carves its own niche by blending Gothic horror with the uniquely unsettling atmosphere of Australian psychological thrillers.

What immediately sets Thirst apart is its distinct take on the vampire mythos. Rather than leaning into traditional European folklore, Hardy and screenwriter John Pinkney reimagine vampirism through the lens of a shadowy cult, which feels more...

Actor Dennis Hopper was the kind of artist myths are made from. He was an incredibly talented performer with a larger-than-life personality that frequently got him into trouble. His reckless behavior and intense drug abuse could make him incredibly difficult to work with, and he even tried to get Marlon Brando to fist-fight him after a misunderstanding before the filming of "Apocalypse Now," leading to the two being separated on set at all times. In the mid-1970s, however, he behaved so badly while filming a movie in Australia that he was not only declared dead on his feet and banned from driving a car in the state of Victoria ever again, but he was also kicked right on out of the country.

That movie was "Mad Dog Morgan," a disturbing 1976 outback Western based on the true life misdeeds of bushranger and outlaw Dan Morgan (whom Hopper played in the film). The Ozploitation,...

When you look at the true legacy of a scream queen there are a lot of options out there to choose from. When looking at the top of the heap though? I’d argue that there really is only one option. Jamie Lee Curtis has been making horror movies in 6 different decades now and while a lot of them are directly tied to her most famous franchise with 7 of her horror films being in the Halloween series, there’s so much more. In fact, her run from 1978 to 1981 includes the likes of Halloween 1 and 2, The Fog, Terror Train, and Prom Night. All of those movies have now been remade and are considered classics but there is one in there that doesn’t get talked about enough, was a bomb when it came out, but keeps getting better with age. While Halloween II came out and stole the spotlight in 1981, Road Games...

Grant Page, the larger-than-life Australian stunt performer famous for his jaw-dropping work in films including Mad Max, The Man From Hong Kong and Mad Dog Morgan, has died. He was 85.

Page died Thursday when the car he was driving near his home in Kendall on the coast of New South Wales hit a tree, his son Leroy Page told Daily Mail Australia.

Page worked with director Brian Trenchard-Smith on more than a dozen projects, including The Stuntmen (1973), King Fu Killers (1974), The Man From Hong Kong (1973) — where Page fights martial arts expert Jimmy Wang Yu in scenes using knives, cleavers and meat hooks — Deathcheaters (1976), Stunt Rock (1978) and Hospitals Don’t Burn Down! (1978).

And for the documentary Dangerfreaks (1987), Trenchard-Smith filmed Page standing on a ledge outside the perimeter fence on the observation deck of the Empire State Building in New York.

Page “successfully tampered with the laws of physics and probability,” Trenchard-Smith...

If you want to see a wild midnight movie, there’s a little-known Australian movie called Stunt Rock, which might blow your mind. In it, an Australian stuntman named Grant Page (playing himself) visits Los Angeles to do stunts for a TV show and hooks up with a heavy metal band named Sorcery (the band is like Kiss if they also did magic). It has many fans, including Eli Roth, who used one of Sorcery’s songs in his Death Wish remake and is prominently featured in an incredible documentary about Australian exploitation films (Ozploitation) called Not Quite Hollywood.

More than anything, this documentary was a loving tribute to Page, who did incredible stunts for almost every cool action film shot in Australia over the last fifty years, including Mad Max, and Road Games (in which he played the mostly unseen villain). Sadly, Mark Hartley, the director of Not Quite Hollywood,...

Severin Films kicks off the new year with three North American premieres that bring “one of the best labels in physical media” (Polygon) into 2024 replete with classic monsters, barbed-wire garrotes, ‘80s Italo-Sleaze in Uhd and arguably the most depraved bedtime accessory ever created.

For January, Severin presents the ultimate version of Jess Franco’s 1972 mash-up Dracula, Prisoner Of Frankenstein; the rarely-seen Ozploitation slasher Bloodmoon, complete with infamous ‘Fright Break Challenge’; and Andrea Bianchi’s off-the-rails zombie carnage classic Burial Ground, now in eye-popping, flesh-ripping 4K.

To further celebrate everyone’s favorite shambling Etruscans, an all-new Burial Ground t-shirt and Michael Pillowcase will be available in two of this month’s bundles.

January also brings much-requested wide-release versions of previously limited-edition titles — Frank Henenlotter’s black comedy shocker Bad Biology, controversial ‘80s sleaze classic Nightmare and Lucio Fulci’s giallo masterpiece The Psychic — all fully restored in 4K Uhd.

Dracula, Prisoner...

A singularly wacky moment in film history is poked in “Enter the Clones of Bruce.” It surveys the years immediately following Bruce Lee’s untimely 1973 death, when the sudden international thirst for martial arts movies that he’d awoken could seemingly only be slaked by the man himself — or by a host of imitators who popped up under lookalike pseudonyms.

David Gregory’s documentary won’t convince most viewers that the resulting flood of opportunistic cheapies are worth more extensive investigation. But they’re certainly cheesy fun in excerpt, and interviews with surviving participants provide an entertaining window into an anything-goes heyday for Hong Kong cinema. Premiering in Tribeca’s midnight section, this high-kicking flashback should appeal to the same fans who previously enjoyed such prior psychotronic excavations as “Not Quite Hollywood,” “Electric Boogaloo” or this director’s own prior investigations of cult figures Al Adamson and Richard Stanley.

When...

Australian comedian and podcaster Wil Anderson discusses a few of his favorite Australian films.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

The Crying Game (1992)

Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! (2008)

100 Horsemen (1964)

Mad Max (1979)

Walk Into Hell a.k.a. Walk Into Paradise (1956)

Walkabout (1971)

The Chain Reaction (1980)

Wake In Fright (1971)

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)

Time Bandits (1981)

The Road Warrior (1981)

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)

Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)

The Witches of Eastwick (1987)

Crocodile Dundee (1986)

The Castle (1997)

Chopper (2000)

Young Einstein (1988)

Reckless Kelly (1993)

Mr. Accident (2000)

Wolf Creek (2005)

Romper Stomper (1992)

Hammers Over The Anvil (1993)

Unhinged (2020)

The Nice Guys (2016)

Gladiator (2000)

Two Hands (1999)

The Dark Knight (2008)

Ned Kelly (2003)

Monty Python And The Holy Grail (1975)

10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

What We Do in the Shadows (2014)

Kenny (2006)

Borat (2006)

Gallipoli (1981)

Phar Lap (1983)

Seabiscuit (2003)

The Dish (2001)

Other Notable Items

Bruce Springsteen’s disappointing Jeep Superbowl commercial

Neil Young

Gruen TV...

TORONTO -- Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban's Magnolia Pictures is stepping up its game with a new genre label, Magnet.

Magnet's first film out of the gate will be Jeremy Saulnier's comic slasher film Murder Party, set for a brief theatrical release before an October DVD bow. Among those ready for a 2008 release include Hitoshi Matsumoto's Toronto International Film Festival Midnight Madness selection Big Man in Japan; Tony Smith's Viking actioner Severed Ways; Ringo Lam, Johnny To and Tsui Hark's Hong Kong action omnibus Triangle; Mark Hartley's Australian genre film docu Not Quite Hollywood; and Olivier Assayas' thriller Boarding Gate, starring Asia Argento and Michael Madsen.

Magnolia president Eamonn Bowles said that he wanted to brand and label his already extensive slate of well-reviewed genre films, including The Host and District B13.

"These are not trashy genre films. The market has grown up," he added. The slate will include acquisitions, production prebuys and projects produced in-house for theatrical or DVD release.

Wagner already has stated his desire to give Magnolia higher-budgeted projects, and Bowles said some of those likely will go through Magnet, given the strong sales genre titles have garnered on his Magnolia Home Entertainment label.