As Antipodean horror films continue to make their presence felt at Frightfest; our man down under David Michael Brown goes walkabout with giant crocs and outback killers to bring you the latest Aussie horror news.
 

28th March 2008.

As with most countries of the world, the Australian DVD market is in an odd state. While the majors insist on releasing bare bones releases of most of their titles, thinking all the public want is cheap basic DVDs, its left to the independents to battle it out for the more obscure titles available and produce product with a bit of imagination. The other interesting thing is censorship; while there are still many films that fall foul of the ‘powers that be’ you can still get uncut copies of the likes of Cannibal Holocaust, The New York Ripper and I Spit on Your Grave from your friendly neighbour DVD store and not face the wrath of the local constabulary. There are a few select companies who are definitely worth a mention.

Umbrella Entertainment will be familiar to any of you fans of 60s television who frequent the basement of The Cinema Store. Box sets of the likes of The Saint, Department ‘S’ and Jason King were all Australian exclusives until the rest of the world caught up but there is plenty more to Umbrella’s catalogue than kitsch retro TV detectives. The company prides itself with its extensive repertoire of Australian exploitation classics; from Turkey Shoot to Patrick, Road Games to Long Weekend, the works of Brian Trenchard Smith, Patrick Franklin and Anthony. I. Ginnane have all been given deluxe special editions with lashings of extras. Many put together by Mark Hartley, the man who is bringing us the forthcoming documentary Not Quite Hollywood. This month sees the release of a double disc deluxe set of Stone, the Seventies biker classic starring Hugh Keays-Byrne, the man who made Toecutter such a memorable character in the first Mad Max. Not content with spreading the word of Australian films, Umbrella has also put together a very impressive collection of Dario Argento films including Deep Red, Tenebre, Phenomena, Bird with the Crystal Plummage and Cat ‘O’ Nine Tails and a stunning double disc special edition of Suspiria. All include the documentary Eye for Horror plus a plethora of trailers, interviews and behind the scenes footage. The company has also released fully uncut widescreen versions of Zombie Flesheaters, Zombie Holocaust, I Drink Your Blood and Dawn of the Dead. The soft-core world of Radley Metzger is explored in a three disc box set; the set includes Camille 2000, The Lickerish Quartet and Score. A Mario Bava box set including Black Sunday, Black Sabbath, Hatchet on a Honeymoon and Shock along with the 60 minute documentary Maestro of Horror and a few British horrors including Blood on Satan’s Claw, Horror Hospital and Tower of Evil also form part of their extensive back catalogue. In recent months their releases have included uncut double disc editions of Walerian Borowczyk’s The Beast, Face’s of Death, a Woman in Prison box set and Howard the Duck! You get the picture, they are pretty much the Australian version of Anchor Bay because the real Australian Anchor Bay or Starz seems content in releasing keep fit DVDs and direct to DVD dross.

Madman Entertainment made their name with Anime but have released an eclectic mix of Asian delights, both live action and animated. The Lone Wolf and Cub series rubs shoulders with Kimba the Lion, Sonny Chiba box sets and the Weather Woman films. Madman also released a taster of Russ Meyer’s excessive catalogue including Faster Pussycat Kill! Kill!, Vixen and Supervixens. All featuring a great line in extras including commentaries and documentaries the discs are replica’s of the UK releases but with vastly superior sleeves using the original poster art. Recently the Death Note movies, along with their anime counterpart, have made a welcome appearance along with more high brow titles. Madman’s Director’s Suite boasts collections by Wim Wenders, Michael Haneke, Takashi Miike and the afore mentioned breast man rubbing shoulders with more legendary Hollywood giants like Billy Wilder.

One of the most interesting Aussie DVD companies is Siren Visual. Their back catalogue includes the gory delights of Fulci’s City of the Living Dead and Lenzi’s Cannibal Ferrox along with a huge selection of the Shaw Brothers immense catalogue including Human Skin Lanterns, the Mighty Peking Man and a swelter of titles from Mike Vraney’s Something Weird label in the US including films by Herschell Gordon Lewis, David Friedman and many more. Recently they have entered into the salacious world of anime porn with their Hentai collection and a few old Frightfest favorites including Takashi Miike’s Gozu and the incredibly disturbing Ex-Drummer. By now it may well seem that the Aussies get away with blue murder with all these uncut delights but that’s not so I’m afraid. Siren Visual recently tried to release In a Glass Cage and The Gore Gore Girls but were refused a certificate by the OFLC. Yes, the film was shocking in 1972 but the combination of awful performances, hackneyed dialogue and amateurish special effects are not going to harm anyone in 2008. The banning of Agustí Villoronga’s deeply disturbing In a glass Cage a few years ago is probably more understandable but no less agreeable. The story of a Nazi doctor and paedophiliac whose failed suicide has left him bitter and twisted and in a wheelchair is hardly family viewing and not for those easily offended. The fact that Siren have also been allowed to release uncut prints of Miike’s Ichi The Killer and Black Sun: The Nanking Massacre makes even less sense as both films push the boundaries of what is acceptable in cinema and quite often are nothing short of repugnant. As we know though, understanding the brains of our friendly neighbourhood censors, no matter where in the world, has never been easy. Recent highlights from Siren Visual include their own Alejandro Jodorowsky box set, including an exclusive book, Taxidermia and Paul Williams excellent London to Brighton. We always seem to get the Brit flicks way after the event.

As it’s becoming obvious many of the Australian companies cut deals with the likes of Blue Underground, Anchor Bay and the like to get titles. For a brief period licensing was the name of the game, sticking an Aussie sticker over a US release being the easy way around. For Stomp Visual this was the only way to go for many of their initial releases including the majority of the first few years of Blue Undergrounds releases. That was until they started packaging their own product which included The Toxic Avenger and the majority of his Troma friends. In a slightly bizarre move the Troma quiz in which you are rewarded for your Troma knowledge with a glimpse of naked flesh or a murder scene was deemed inappropriate by the Aussie censors, instant salacious gratification in exchange for knowledge just isn’t on. It was ok to release Bloodsucking Freaks uncut, just remove the quiz! These were followed by a slew of lesser Fulci tiles like Manhattan Baby and a few dodgy Italian apocalyptic thrillers like 1990: Bronx Warriors and 2019 New Barbarians. Stomp Visual also tried their hand at some Bava titles but the less said about their versions of Twitch of the Death Nerve and Kill Baby Kill the better.

While there are a lot of great titles being released many collectors still look Stateside for their DVD fix. Many of the smaller companies in Oz don’t have the funds to produce 5.1 mixes and some of the titles are lacking in the extras department but then we are talking about a very small market compared with the US and even the UK so to be honest it’s not that surprising. The import titles are there to be found, at a price, it’s still hilarious to see DVD store owners quickly put their cardboard box of unlicensed Zone 1s under the cash desk but if you are after Ozploitation titles then you can’t go wrong with the homegrown product.

Hopefully you’ll enjoy this rambling overview of the Aussie DVD market over the last couple of years or so, I’ll return to the subject every so often if a few titles worth importing come around.

Be lucky

Dave.

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