John Carpenter’s The Thing runs riot on day-time game show Countdown. Bloody hell. An animation from Peeophole Circus. Awesome.
 

 
Via b3ta
 

 
The incomparable Mae West proving she was still “Hard to Handle” at the age of 77. Here Ms West sings the Otis Redding classic from the 1970 movie Myra Breckinridge. The film, based on the novel by Gore Vidal, and starred Raquel Welch, Farrah-Fawcett and Mae West, but was sadly a flop. Watching this fab little clip, who couldn’t be won over by the incorrigible Statue of Libido?
 

 
Previously on Dangerous Minds

Mae West Room in the Dali Theater-Museum

 
With thanks to Tommy Udo!
 

 
I had a good chuckle while visiting the site Zontar of Venus who recently posted various old posters and stills from the musical fantasy film The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. The movie was released in 1953 and was the only feature film written by Dr. Seuss.

To be honest, I tried watching it again a few years ago and couldn’t make it past the first 30 minutes. I remembered it being much more fantastical when I was a kid, I guess.

More images and posters over at Zontar of Venus.
 

 

 
Via Nerdcore

 
Here’s something for you folks with a taste for the bizarre: a video mix of Indonesian horror films and garage/psyche rock from Southeast Asia.

Look Back In Angkor featuring music by Srei Sothear, Sin Sisamouth, Prum Manh, Meas Samon, The Gang Of Harry Roesli, Aka, and lots of tracks by artists unknown that appeared on rare homemade audio cassettes.  
 

 
Attention old skool hip-hop fans, there is a little seen, uh, cinematic relic from the mid-80s, the Run DMC-starring Tougher Than Leather that’s been recently posted on YouTube. You might want to clap eyes on this one pronto because I don’t think it will be there for long.

Directed by Rick Rubin, produced by Russell Simmons, with a screenplay written by Rick Menello and Rick Rubin, Tougher Than Leather is a mind-blowing mix of a blaxploitation flick and a spaghetti western. It co-stars the Beastie Boys, iconic 80s punky pornstar Lois Ayres and actor/musician Richard Edson (Stranger Than Paradise and a gazillion other films).

Spike Lee was originally offered the script, but did the right thing and wisely turned this turkey down. Here’s a portion of a Washington Post review by Richard Harrington

Run-DMC’s “Tougher Than Leather” is vile, vicious, despicable, stupid, sexist, racist and horrendously made. Call it rap-ploitation, but since it’s a pure product of Russell Simmons’ Rush/Def Jam rap empire, that’s just another word for business as usual. Sometimes there’s no difference between in-house and outhouse.

—snip—

Blacks, Jews, women, gays—they’re all fodder for this gang. Are crass exploitation and ugly race- and gender-baiting excusable because the perpetrators are often themselves victims? No, particularly when it’s done as gracelessly as it’s done here.

Dangerous Minds pal, photographer Glen E. Friedman had this to say on his blog this morning:

If you’ve never seen this fictional 1988 “student film” of Rick Rubin’s then you must ASAP, especially If you are a fan of Run-DMC, The Beastie Boys, Rick Rubin, or Def Jam during the early years, (there’s also a classic Junk Yard band performance at a backyard party, and Slick Rick to name a few.)

I have no idea how long Tougher Than Leather will last on YouTube, and it’s not on DVD as far as I know, but it’s a classic, tasteless epic, that needs to be seen to be believed. It actually played in theaters to riots. Some great cameo’s too (Rick’s dad, Russell Simmons dad [RIP] who put in two of the greatest performances in the film, to name a few, besides the infamous Richard Edson, and Lois Ayres, George Drakoulias and I running down the street for a hot second at around the one hour mark too).

If you live in lower Manhattan you may also recognize some of the locations all within a walk from the original Def Jam offices at 298 Elizabeth street. I shot some stills on the film that I’ll add below (the poster up top was based on one of my photos as well.)

Enjoy, I know you will. I’m re-watching, after not seeing it for over 20 years, as i’m putting together this post, and it’s blowing my mind.

When this film was shot, in 1986, I actually lived two blocks away from the Def Jam office (I was on Elizabeth and Spring, Def Jam’s HQ was just north of Houston Street in a little house between tenement buildings). It’s difficult to imagine this now, but 25-years ago that neighborhood was so full of crack dealers that I carried a switchblade with me at all times (My rent was $250 for what would rent for $2500, or more, today).

A roommate of mine, who didn’t actually live in the apartment, he just used it as a photography studio, also shot some set stills for Tougher Than Leather . I came home from work one day, still wearing the ridiculous Von Trapp family-esque uniform of a restaurant where I was working at the time. Usually I changed right after my shift, but that day I was too lazy and just wore it home on the subway. With my key still in the door, the three members of Run DMC turned and looked at me like I was a strangely-dressed bug. I recall quickly changing into my normal clothes and slipping out to let them finish, mortified at what they saw me wearing. True story and one I can tell better in person, but it’s more embarrassing than this version!
 

 
There’s a handful of films that have altered my consciousness in ways that are hard to describe. It’s a chemical thing. You watch the movie and you walk out of the theater with your senses deranged and your comfortable notions of “reality” challenged or, in some cases, obliterated.

I saw Blue Velvet on the day it was released to theaters on September 26, 1986. I saw it on a big screen in Manhattan and was completely consumed by David Lynch’s extraordinary vision. I felt as though I’d taken a hit of some new exotic psychotropic - a compound composed of Andre Breton’s dehydrated spinal fluid, essential oils extracted from Luis Bunuel’s pineal gland and diacetyl-slathered popcorn. I exited the theater and made my way to the nearest bar where I waxed poetic for hours about the mindfucking movie I had just seen and was eventually shown the door by a perplexed bartender who thought I’d probably done one line of cocaine too many. Great art is exhilarating but try explaining that to a man whose life’s soundtrack is a bombardment of wild epiphanic rants uttered by men who have seen angels and devils fornicating in the amber waves lapping at the edges of their shot glasses. I had left Blue Velvet carrying its vibration with me and was in jeopardy of being declared a public nuisance.

On this birth date of Dean Stockwell, let us luxuriate in one of the most magically weird moments in cinema’s history.
 

 
The best band that emerged out of the fertile soil of the UK punk movement in the 1970’s, is, for my money, The Damned. Sure, I love the Pistols, but they imploded as quickly as they emerged. The Clash were good but got bloated by the end. (Plus, I am forever bitter about having “Car Jamming” forced on me at a formative age. Really, guys?) But The Damned have never let us down. From their debut, Damned Damned Damned to the psychedelic rock infused masterpiece of their 2008 album, So, Who’s Paranoid, they have never sold out, gotten stodgy or taken the easy way out. With each album, you can hear a band that started off strong only get progressively better and more bold. Simply put, The Damned is one of the greatest bands ever and the time has finally come for their story and music to be embraced in documentary film mode.

Wes Orshoski, who was one-half of the directing team behind 2010’s excellent documentary, Lemmy, which coincidentally (or not) featured Dave Vanian and Captain Sensible from The Damned, has started work on the as-of-now untitled film project. As a longtime fan, this is extremely exciting and if it’s at least as good as Lemmy, then this is truly going to be a long overdue treat.

For more information, you can read about this on The Damned’s Official Site.
 

 
Sometimes you can judge a film by its poster, as can be seen by this fab poster by artist Paul Garner for an imaginary flick, Carry On Zombie. Indeed, I’m so taken with Mr Garner’s illustration, I’d pay good money to see Sid, Kenneth, Babs and co. as the living dead.

Based in Brighton, Garner has produced an incredible array of art work for magazines, papers,  CDs and posters, all of which is available for view over at his site.

I do hope Mr Garner’s excellent poster will inspire someone to resurrect (ahem) the Carry On… franchise. Meantime, here’s a trailer for one they made earlier, Carry On Screaming.

Carry on Zombie poster copyrighted to Paul Garner.
 

 
With thanks to Neil McDonald
 

 
It’s rare these days for a film to genuinely creep me out. After decades of watching horror movies, the great, the good and the intolerably bad, it takes a lot to shake me up. So when I tell you that Ben Wheatley’s Kill List got under my skin like one of those leech-like critters in David Cronenberg’s They Came From Within, it’s both a warning and a recommendation. Kill List should come with its own rating FYU (fuck you up).

Kill List manages to to do something that only really good art does: it is the thing it is about. This hellaciously unnerving film is as evil as the evil it depicts. When I reflect on some of the most disturbing films I’ve seen - Psycho, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Exorcist - I recall them not as compositions of various crafts - acting, direction, etc. - I re-experience them in their totality, a dark brand seared into the folds of my brain matter. These are not mere movies, they’re a form of magic, as arcane as alchemy and as modern as Blu Ray. They deposit the Devil’s cash in your memory bank, where it gains interest over the years, but the only checks you can write against it are in your nightmares.

Kill List has a mindbending plot, fine acting, direction and a superb score. You can find out more about the film online. The critical chatter is mostly positive. But this is not a review. It is, as I said, a warning and a recommendation. For fans of the kind of horror that sinks into you like the fangs of a blood-famished vampire, Wheatley’s infernal concoction should do the trick.
 

Toivelauluja star Pirkko Mannola astride Die Antwoord’s Renault. Zef timewarp.
 
This sparkly little clip from 1961 Finnish movie Toivelauluja is just all kinds of groovy. A blend of teen flick, Hollywood musical and old fashioned melodrama, Toivelauluja (Songs After The Heart’s Desire ) was one of the first Finnish movies to be shot in color…and what delicious color it is!  Interesting to note, this was made two years before Bye Bye Birdie.

The song is a cover of Cliff Richard’s “Living Doll.”