Hey folks.
Yesterday what happened was that The Duke found himself at one of your shady market-type areas. In-between stalls selling Union Jacks and BB Guns and BB AK-47's and cassette tapes of various songs about "The IRA / UVF (delete as appropriate) are the best ever, don't you know?" I found several stalls selling cheap-as-all-hell budget DVD's. For the price of 2 quid each, roughly, I picked up the likes of D.W Griffith's Abraham Lincoln, Edward D. Wood Jnr's Bride Of The Monster, Reefer Madness, two of Frank Capra's "Why We Fight" WW2 propaganda flicks, Bela Lugosi in The Ape Man, Of Human Bondage and a couple other things, including, would you believe Corrupt Lieutenant starring none other than Harvey Kietel and Johnny Motherfucking Rotten. It can only be the best film ever made.
My advice is to get yourself over to the nearest market-stall, since obscure and wonderfully cheap DVD glories surely await you.
Today, though, I grabbed something a bit more contemporary, by way of Chan-Wook Park's Oldboy, (See below) and Anchor Bay's coffin-shaped DVD box set of Tigon horror classics, although sadly the version of Witchfinder General is exactly the same as the budget one I already had. Still, 29 quid is nothing to ask for a black coffin containing not only the likes of Blood On Satan's Claw but also classics like Haunted House Of Horror and The Beast In The Cellar. Marvelous, is what.
But for you Region 1 types, there's no need to feel down, since there's a shit-load of stuff worthy of a glance or two.
Stuff like this here, in fact;
Exorcist - The Beginning
I gotta say, man, I thoroughly enjoyed this shit right here. In case you didn't know, what happened was that Paul Schrader, writer of Taxi Driver, Last Temptation Of Christ, Raging Bull etc was hired to direct a prequel to The Exorcist. Obviously, a fella with such a CV can't be trusted with a film about a religious type questioning his faith, and being riddled with guilt and uncertainty. Best tell Schrader to fuck off, having finished the film, and hire Renny Harlin of Cliffhanger for to reshoot the thing, adding plenty of CGI hyenas.
It was tacky as all hell, and remarkably stupid, but damn it if I didn't enjoy every OTT second. The only real disappointment, far as The Duke is concerned, is that Schrader's version was supposed to be issued alongside this disc. Instead, though, the studio have decided to give it a limited theatrical release.
I don't know if Schrader's will be much better, to be honest. Who could know? Certainly I'm looking forward to it. Mind you, I still found it highly amusing when a talk-backer on the AICN Message Boards referred to it as "The Exorcist - The Beginning: The Version You've Never Seen Of The Prequel You Didn't Bother To Watch". Good work, rev_skarekroe.
Article comments
1 - Aaman
"Angels And Demons Revealed" is a 'documentary' on the 'Illuminati', yes those blokes who are 33 degrees from normal and ruling the world. Source: Dan Brown's book. Hmmm
2 - Eric Olsen
Being a household geared to delighting the under-4-feet-tall set, we will most assuredly be snagging Bambi, which I haven't seen in ages and the little ones have seen never, and the SquareBob film, which we have yet to endure, post haste.
Thanks Duker, much to digest and assimilate
3 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
yes, i do believe that when eventually, if ever, sprogs bound fourth from a partner de duke, i am at least more than likely to be as excited about their viewing material as they are. The hypothetical partner will probably turn to meth abuse or something.
Aaman, i had every idea that said disc was something like that, and i had every idea it was on account of the success of Dan Browns book, which i have indeed purchased, and might even read one day, who the hell knows?
4 - Phillip Winn
Dude, Spongebob is awesome, and not just for stoners. Or kids. I missed the theatrical of this here film, but the wife and kids gave it nine thumbs up. Which is somewhat scary, come to think of it, since I don't know where they got the extra thumb...
Anyway, check it out when it hits your shore. Eventually. It's worth a few quid.
5 - Aaman
I assume you have one wife and three kids - from your statement:)
Does the Spongebob DVD comes with a Parental Advisory?
6 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Phil, i'm looking forward to it. my niece(sp?) lent me a dvd with some nickelodeon stuff, Spongebob is on there. it's only one episode, or one STORY so i presume thats 15 minutes or so, but it'll give me the gist of it, nonetheless.
7 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
oh, and what do folks make of the schrader trailer? i can't wait, but i do find it odd that it's being marketed just as Exorcist - The Beginning. I'd imagine this will prove highly confusing for folks who don't knwo the sordid backstory.
8 - Eric Olsen
Duker, check out HW's excellent primer on the series here.
9 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
ah, thank you Eric, i will do...
10 - Phillip Winn
Aaman, close. Actually, two wives and two kids.
NO, I'm kidding, you did the math correctly. :-)