persona: The Talented Mister Impey

Jason Impey is one of today’s most active self-funded filmmakers from the UK.

Born on February 26^th 1984 in Northampton, Impey had felt a passion for film-making from an early age. His first exercise in film was a short “Split Second”, made when he was just ten years old and named after “Split Second” with Rutger Hauer. Several other shorts followed and at the age of sixteen Jason Impey enrolled on a film-making course in Bedford college.

SICK BASTARD:

Beginning of 2006 saw Jason complete his first feature film, “Sick Bastard” – homage to Andreas Schnaas’ infamous “Violent Shit” films. Impey intentionally shot the film on an SVHS camera to give it that special fuzzy video look. Set mainly in the woods, this gritty picture presents us a string of increasingly violent and bizarre encounters of various innocents with the titular character – an escaped mental patient. “Sick Bastard” can actually be confused for a film made in about ’93, until one of the characters whips out a very modern-looking Motorola mobile! The film was distributed on home video in such countries as USA and Russia and to this day remains one of Impey’s better-known works.

HOME MADE and beyond:

A string of other horror-themed films followed, with Impey making an average of 2-3 films per years using mainly his own private funding: “Home Made 1 & 2” - a trashy and violent fake snuff saga, “Troubled” – an odd mixture of Dogme’95 aesthetics and gore, “Tales of Terror”, “Zombie Village” and others.

While working on a zombie short “Revenge of the Dead” Jason Impey met fellow filmmaker Kemal Yildirim, his exploitation soul-mate. The two have collaborated numerous times since and are running “Exploitation Pictures” together.

Jason Impey loves retro aesthetic, so his digital films often feature sequences shot on actual film and most scripts have sly references to 70’s-80’s exploitation classics.

The trouble with censors: TORTURED (2008)

Impey’s most epic and challenging project to date has got to be “Tortured” – a nasty rape-revenge film in the vein of “I spit on Your Grave”.

Shot in less than a week for just a few thousand dollars, “Tortured” is a modern-day grindhouse film. When it was screened in London on the double-bill with Yildirim’s giallo “Penance”, several people walked out the cinema in disgust at foul dialogue and graphic scenes. Knowing the draconian laws of BBFC, Impey never even attempted to release “Tortured” in the UK, realizing that they would have literally cut the film to shreds. Still, “Tortured” ran into trouble with censorship when submitted for a home video certificate in the States. All the graphic sexual violence had to be removed, resulting in about 10 minutes’ worth of cuts. The cut version was re-titled “Escaped Convicts” and is due to have a release in a matter of weeks.

I have recently received a screener of Impey’s latest production – torture porn called “Tormented” and will review it soon.

Apart from making films, Jason is also a huge collector of rare films and memorabilia, the Video Nasties being his favourite items.

Bastard! Bastard!! Bastard!!! - PIECES

MIL GRITOS TIENE LA NOCHE (Spain, 1982)

Plot in one sentence: A chainsaw-wielding killer is cutting up college campus girls to create a "perfect" woman out of their bodyparts
What works:
- CAM music.
Apparently in Spain PIECES came out with an original score by Librado Pastor and that score wasn't all that hot so for the US release the film was re-scored. New menacing, minimalist melodies and sound effects all work incredibly well. Some cues from PIECES can also be heard in D'Amato's ANTHROPOPHAGUS sequel, ABSURD. ABSURD score is credited to Carlo Maria Cordio, so perhaps CAM was also a "beard" for Cordio.

-Christopher George as Lt. Bracken.
I loved George in Fulci's "City of the Living Dead" and he doesn't disappoint here, either.
His wife Linda does, though.
Her "Bastard!" scene from this film has since become legendary, a true masterclass in overacting.
Another Christopher George picture I could recommend is "The Exterminator" - trashy fun with some awful dialogue and nice violence. In PIECES Christopher George's assistant is played by a prolific Spanish actor and stuntman Frank Brana.

PIECES was a first film in which I saw actor Jack Taylor, known for his collaborations with Jess Franco on such films as SUCCUBUS and FEMALE VAMPIRE.

Director Juan Piquer Simon claims to have also filmed some explicit nudity scenes for PIECES that didn't make it past the censors and denies that Joe D'Amato had anything to do with co-writing the film.

PIECES is by no means a good film in a traditional sense, but it's brutal and quite memorable for its awful performances which lend the whole thing an almost surreal quality.
It's definitely among the must-see European gore films of the 80's.

-Stock footage from Simon's '79 film SUPERSONIC MAN was used to represent Boston exteriors in prologue to PIECES


Directed by J.P. Simon

Written by Dick Randall, Joe D'Amato

Starring Christopher George, Ian Sera, Linda Day.

persona: Howard VERNON, perennial mad doctor

HOWARD VERNON (15.07.1914-25.07.1996)
With his high forehead, square face and a piercing gaze Howard Vernon is best remembered for his excellent portrayal of Dr. Orloff, a mad doctor character that appeared in a string of European trash films, beginning with Jess Franco's 1962 film "Gritos en la noche". He can also be spotted in small roles in such "big" productions as Woody Allen's "Love and Death" and John Frankenheimer's "The Train".

Today I happened to watch two Eurocine-produced cheap gothic films starring the late great Vernon: Pierre Chevalier's oddity "Orloff and the Invisible Man"(1971) and Jess Franco's depressing "Revenge in the House of Usher"(1982)
Both are very slow and don't make much sense but "the Howard Vernon factor" redeems these trash-films, at least to an extent.

"Orloff and the Invisible Man" I loathed upon first viewing.
It is slow. Set-ups are unimaginative. Story is clichéd.Acting from the "lead" Paco Valladres is beyond wooden. For some reason he is wearing a Dracula-like red-and-black cape. Whether that was an in-joke from the filmmakers I don't know. But music is good and Howard Vernon has a fairly sizable role. Vernon was a man cut out for wearing period costumes and military uniforms. Here he's nothing but convincing as a deranged 19th century man of science.
Raymond Heil is credited as DoP. He did a much better job shooting new footage for Franco's "The Sadist of Notre Dame"(1979).

"Revenge in the House of Usher" is a visually striking yet leaden-paced no-budget experiment from Franco. There's nothing much to be salvaged from it except for Vernon's interesting performance as an eccentric Professor Usher, who claims to be 100 years old. He is staying alive thanks to injections of fresh human blood drained from attractive females chained up in the basement of his castle. Antonio Mayans co-stars but his acting is hard to decipher from behind a beard and a period costume.



My favourite Vernon role has to be that of Professor Nosferatu in Godard's essential sci-fi/noir "Alphaville"(1965). It's not a big part(Vernon even goes uncredited) and apparently Godard had originally wanted a different actor for the role, but Howard certainly makes it memorable.
He was generally good at portraying totalitarian leader figures and was typecast as a Nazi, to his displeasure.



Vernon is also one of the few saving graces of "Zombie Lake" for me. His dignified presence lends this insane Eurociné zombie ripoff a much needed touch of gravitas.


He was sometimes underused by Jess Franco, for example in "Les Demons" or "Devil's Island Lovers" but the two continued to collaborate regularly on numerous projects of varying quality nearly till the end of the 80's.
Howard Vernon died in Paris aged 82 on July 25th, 1997.

trashy giallo: FRENCH SEX MURDERS

Shoot me, but "French Sex Murders" is one of my favourite European genre films.
Sure, acting is terrible, story - inane. But atmosphere conjured up by director Merighi is fantastic. And "Howard Vernon factor" cannot be overlooked, either. I really wish I could re-watch this film before writing, but I haven't a copy at hand.Seriously, there aren't many other "bad" films that I had such fun with. My memories of "French Sex Murders" are a kaleidoscopic whirlwind of colourful imagery, absurd situations and hilariously overacting characters.

Pacing is not perfect, but I never really get tired of "French Sex Murders" the way I do, from, say "Death Carries a Cane" or "Solamente Nero". I haven't had the opportunity to watch any other of his other films, but just by directing "French Sex Murders" Ferdinando Merighi will always have a place in my heart. Same goes for those amazing guys at "Mondo Macabro" who had released "French Sex Murders" in a colourful anamorphic transfer.There are some lovely, lovely shots there. It's time to admit that I do judge genre films primarily by cinematography. Despite "French Sex Murders" obviously being a quickie project for all involved there's still some care on display. Some good tracking shots, plus night scenes actually shot at night, plus some cheesy and plentiful gore plus music that echoes the score for Jess Franco's "Eugenie De Sade".

"French Sex Murders" is one film I'm looking forward to acquiring on Bluray.

CASA D'APPUNTAMENTO (Italy, 1972)
Directed by Ferdinando Merighi
Written by Ferdinando Merighi, Marius Mattei, Dick Randall, Paolo Daniele
Starring: Robert Sacchi, Rosalba Neri, Howard Vernon.

Perhaps Argento’s last truly great film : TENEBRAE

TENEBRAE (Italy, 1982)

A typically confusing giallo filmed with undeniable artistic flair.

Plot in one sentence: An American thriller writer on a promotion visit to Rome is stalked by a maniac killer.

What works:

-Cinematography

“Tenebrae” has a very distinct look – no warm light, dominant greys and whites plus an occasional splash of red that turns murder into an Art installation.

-Goblin score.

Bizarre disco-music was apparently a hit on Italy’s dance-floors at the time.

What doesn’t work:

-Plot is impossible to follow upon first viewing. All dialogue scenes are shot as if Argento didn’t want to immerse himself in them, revelling in exuberantly filmed stalking scenes and murders instead.

Stylistically “Tenebrae” is very well though out and has aged well. Making cold unemotional thrillers set in dehumanized world hasn’t gone out of vogue since 1982, either.

Anthony Franciosa (Deathwish 2) may have been an asshole on set, as Argento claims, but he’s still one of Dario’s less bland leading men. Enzo G. Castellari’s relative Thomas Moore (Ennio Giorolami) has a brief role as a store detective who catches Ania Pieroni’s sexy kleptomaniac.

Giampaolo Saccarola has a tiny part as a morgue attendant.

Tenebrae left me underwhelmed and confused upon initial viewing.

It’s not a frightening or particularly suspenseful film.

Tenebrae all but fails in terms of clear narrative.

But hallucinatory flashbacks and stark tableaux stick with you and make revisit the film again.

Dir. Dario Argento

Cast: Anthony Franciosa, John Saxon, Daria Nicolodi

Persona: Georges SIMENON

Georges Simenon and the Movies

Born 13 February 1903 in Liege, Belgium, Simenon was a man of letters when writing still meant something, before TV or the Internet. He’s become one of the most widely adapted for the screen writers of all time.

Now matter how successful commercially, these adaptations always fail to capture the amazing psychological density present in Simenon’s “romans durs” (“hard” novels).

Why do I like Simenon?

He’s one of a kind, insanely prolific (literally hundreds of novels under dozens of pseudonyms) yet dismissive of the literary world at large.

Maigret series

I like early “Maigrets” (“The Yellow Dog/Le Chien Jaune”, “A Man’s Head/La tete d’homme”) and very late ones (“Maigret and the flea/Maigret et l’indicateur”, “Maigret and the Nahour case/Maigret et l’affaire Nahour”)

Romans Durs

My all-time favourite “romans durs” are “The man who watched trains go by/L’homme qui regardait passer les trains”, “Magnet of Doom/L’aine des Frechaux” and “Monsieur Monde vanishes/Le fuite de monsieur Monde”.

Film adaptations

The most successful adaptation is perhaps Jean-Pierre Melville’s “L’aine des Ferchaux” (1963) starring Charles Vanel and Jean-Paul Belmondo. As with most Simenon-based films, it detracts from the plot of the book but somehow still comes off as satisfactory. Even though some magic is inevitably lost when Simenon’s characters are visualized onscreen, Melville successfully tells his own tale of alienation using the novel as a mere starting point.

Legend of European cinema, Melville later went on to direct the excellent “Un Flic” with Alain Delon.

Simenon films

Simenon himself at first collaborated with filmmakers on adaptations of his novels. Most notably, he co-wrote “Night at the Crossroards/La nuit du Carrefour”(1932) for Jean Renoir, based on an early “Maigret” book. Inspector Maigret in this version was played by director’s brother, actor Pierre Renoir.

After encountering a few dodgy producers Simenon gave up trying to maintain “quality control” of increasingly numerous film adaptations and begun considering them as simply means of income.

Simenon biography

Apart from writing around 300 novels, Georges Simenon is himself a subject of dozens and dozens of books in every language.

From biographical standpoint, his American period(he fled to the states in 1945 avoiding the Nazi collaborator “purge” which swept Post-War Europe) remains the most obscure.

Georges Simenon died a recluse in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1989.

Marc Simenon

Writer’s son Marc Simenon went on to direct a number of pictures, such as “Sex Explosion”(1971) with Richard “Ninja Master Gordon” Harrison. Marc Simenon’s films often starred his wife, actress Mylene Demongeot (the “Fantomas” series).

To those interested in discovering more about life and work of the extraordinary novelist and myths surrounding him, I would recommend Pierre Assouline’s book “Simenon: a biography”.

comatose state: "OASIS OF THE ZOMBIES"

OASIS OF THE ZOMBIES/L’ABIME DES MORTS-VIVANTS

Written and Directed by Jess Franco

Produced by Marius and Daniel Lesoeur

Starring: Manuel Gelin, Antonio Mayans, Henri Lambert.

Plot in one sentence: Bland French teens travel to African desert in search of gold and get eaten by Nazi Zombies instead.

“Oasis of the Zombies” is a strange film, perhaps unique. It’s very obviously dire and uninspired, yet something made me re-watch it several times.

“Oasis of the Zombies” is a kind of film where you talk about successful shots, not scenes. Certain shots I really like:

-A wide high-angle shot of a student running up the stairs to inform the protagonist(Manuel Gelin) of his father’s death;

-Jerky zoom into some roadside rubble filmed from a moving jeep;

-Over-the-top scene of Henri Lambert’s character going crazy after a grisly encounter with the living dead;

-Final disappearance of the Nazi zombies via a simple dissolve;

Kinetic and over-the-top desert battle flashback scene is also great fun, only Uncle Jess didn’t shoot that. The stock footage of tanks and fighting troops was lifted from Alfredo Rizzo’s “I Giardini del Diavolo”(1971). Rizzo directed the abysmal “Bloodsucker leads the Dance”(1975) starring Femi Benussi, Giacomo Rossi-Stewart and Luciano Pigozzi and also acted in the infamous Nazi trashfest “Beast in Heat/La Bestia in Calore” by one Luigi Batzella a.k.a Ivan Kathansky.

I don’t really like “Oasis of the Zombies” that much, but nevertheless happen to own both a tape and a DVD of it. Well, a trashfilmaddict indeed…

Is “Oasis of the Zombies” worth watching? Not for 90% of the viewers. Will I be rewatching it at some point? Afraid so…

George Eastman's journey: "NAKED TRIP"

My picture “Naked Trip” was featured as a part of UK independent film special at OCCHIO SULLE ESPRESSIONI.

Below is the English version of the review:

A story of filmmaker George Eastman, his Mafia debts, sex adventures, vice, extreme ideas…

The trip of the title is a flight from all these things, with arrival at the beach as a possible promise of a new journey…

An all right film in general, technically competent and with decent plot.

The story is not only extremely banal, pulpy and crude, but also occasionally ironic, winking at the cinema of the decades forgone.

The hero’s name is also notable – a homage to Luigi Monefiori, actor/screenwriter of the Golden Age of Italian extreme cinema.

B/W palette gives a feel of a “mafia movie” enhanced by heroes being clad in suits, sunglasses, ties and white shirts.

Music composed by Alexander Zhemchuzhnikov (with additional cues by Jason Impey) is well-suited, lending the picture a touch of class.

Perhaps scenes in the car are a bit too repetitive, but it’s also true that they form the essential narrative skeleton of the film.

Notable performances include expressive Jason Impey and also Jennifer Newland.

Special thanks to my colleague at OCCHIO SULLE ESPRESSIONI

R.I.P. PIETRO MARTELLANZA (1938-2010)

A sad bit of news carried over from CINEMADROME:
Italian character actor Pietro Martellanza a.k.a Peter Martell died yesterday. Martellanza has had quite a varied career, appearing in such Euro-classics as "French Sex Murders", "Death Walks at Midnight" and Jess Franco's "Killer Barbys VS Dracula", as well as being subject of a 1997 short documentary "Starring Peter Martell". He was 72.

Kung Fu plus axe violence:"THE BIG BOSS"

Tang shan da xiong (Hong Kong, 1971)

Written and Directed by Lo Wei

Starring: Bruce Lee, James Tien, Nora Miao.

Plot in one sentence: Bruce Lee uncovers a drug-trafficking plot at an ice factory and beats the crap out of all the baddies.

Shot in Thailand over a month on a $ 100 000 budget “The Big Boss” is the trashiest of the four official Bruce Lee films.

What works:

-Certainly Bruce Lee.

-One or two instances of fairly graphic violence. Some stabbings, axe violence, severed human heads in blocks of ice plus a corpse hacked with an industrial circular saw – not bad for 1971!

What doesn’t work:

- Relatives whom Bruce’s meant to protect are a pack of thick, hateful, physically unattractive people. Good thing they ALL die!

- Bruce’s romantic interest’s name sounds like “Chow Mein”(no wonder he ends up bedding a prostitute instead).

- Ever the stickler to promises, Bruce doesn’t really get fighting till all his mates have been massacred(the last 20 mins)

Even not being a huge Martial Arts cinema enthusiast I admit that Bruce Lee films are something special. “The Big Boss” is a favorite – this cheap and dirty little film is the nearest Bruce has ever come to making an out-and-out exploitation film.

“The Big Boss” has some dull stretches, namely the primitive dialogue and perfunctory exposition scenes which do bog it down at times. Patient viewer will be rewarded with some great fight scenes toward the end.

There’s a brief scene where Bruce Lee kicks a guy, making him crash through a wall, leaving a human-silhouetted hole. Apparently, Bruce didn’t like that bit, but director Lo Wei got his way. It certainly is a bizarre comic-bookish touch which doesn’t quite sit well with the rest of the film but that’s precisely why I like it – nothing like a bit of transgression now and then!

Delirious psychedelic funk score adds to the overall trashy ambiance. Apparently, there are like 3 distinctly different scores for “The Big Boss”. I haven’t a clue which version I’ve got.

At least it doesn’t include “Pink Floyd” music, like “Ninja Terminator” did.

If I had to describe “The Big Boss” in one word, I would use “boring”. Why do I champion this film then? Because it’s a rare example of a Martial Arts film that doesn’t try and work-in a few “comic relief” scenes to dilute the violence or introduce any “spiritual journey of the warrior” crap to disguise it. Unlike Jackie Chan films, “The Big Boss” has the balls to be just what it is – politically incorrect, exciting and crude ode to violence and rebellion regardless of consequences. In other words, it’s just plain amoral. “The Big Boss”, I salute you!