Ant Timpson { Filmhead }
ALWAYS BET ON BLACK
Posted by Ant on 29 December 2009 at 22:38
Sometimes you don't need to see the first film to appreciate the sequel. While others lap up the faux humour in pastiches like BLACK DYNAMITE, I'm happy to find my yuks in films like this.
FACES OF VINCENT
Posted by Ant on 27 December 2009 at 22:25
BREAKFAST TV SINKS EVEN LOWER
Posted by Ant on 18 December 2009 at 15:49
Click to witness the horror.
THE GODFATHER OF MASH
Posted by Ant on 18 December 2009 at 10:32
I'm working on a long interview/ story about the man who I think deserves major kudos for creating what is known today as a 'mashup'. It's an interesting tale. 
An excerpt:
THE TRUE STORY BEHIND THE BIRTH OF THE VIDEO MASHUP
1995. Olympia, WA.
In the basement of a two-story house, a man inserts a vhs tape into a vcr. He then withdraws an album and places it on the turntable.
The man sees a spider crawl into the vcr. The spider is not real, the man is on the Hawaiian Sativa express. The film is The Wizard of Oz and the album is The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd.
The timing is crucial. The play button is pressed as the stylus is placed.
Look out man, magic is in the air.....
This is how the romantic envisions the birth of the contemporary pop-culture mashup. The true story behind the birth of the fusion known as The Dark Side of the Rainbow will probably never be known.
What we do know now is that it wasn’t the first, nor the most influential mashup of all time. That honour belongs to an analog video mashup.... (to be continued)
BAD sANTa
Posted by Ant on 18 December 2009 at 10:02
This is how I should always go on live TV. Hungover and drinking. This was the wild and crazy (err no) Sunrise Xmas party. We looked at top films from the year. I think I put LOVE EXPOSURE as #1. Or was it ANTICHRIST. Either way I brought the Xmas cheer.
PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2
Posted by Ant on 8 December 2009 at 14:59
Comments | PermalinkHAVE YOU BEEN GOOD?
Posted by Ant on 3 December 2009 at 22:36
CLU GULAGER'S CHILDHOOD TRAUMA
Posted by Ant on 1 December 2009 at 16:58
Ever since his hilarious performance in RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD (85) I've had a real soft spot for the actor Clu Gulager. His solid turns in films like EDDIE PRESLEY (93) and THE KILLERS (68) cemented his reputation as a maverick outsider actor in the world.
His son John is a filmmaker now (FEAST) and his whole family has a history of being cinematic gypsies, performing everywhere and making amazing short films since the 70s.
My friend Anne Heller filmed this segment below with Clu in Austin about a terrifying operation he had as a small child that was filmed on a bolex 16mm camera.
REC2 BUZZ WINNERS
Posted by Ant on 1 December 2009 at 10:35
After much deliberation and assessing all the buzz created for REC2 the esteemed judging panel have decided to split the prizes amongst a few sterling efforts. Originally we wanted to give the full amount to just one individual or team but it was virtually impossible to choose between the top contenders. They all did great work. Some others had incredible ideas that unfortunately just didn’t pay off in terms of buzz or hitting the right target audience for the film.
We hope that the winners are happy to split the winnings amongst themselves and the rest of the entrants at the very least had some fun in the process.
Congratulations to the following teams and the cash they won.
$1000 - Armageddon/ Compound joint campaign
$1000 - Christian Ranter & Thriller Street Campaign
$1000 - Team Jake Hijack/ Zombie Insurance
$500 - Zombie Bear
$500 - Running of Zombies Wellington Hijack
$500 - Robert Holt REC2 Mashups
$500 - Virus Warning Signs Guerilla Campaign
Thanks to everyone for participating. Judging is final and we need all teams to fire us their bank account details in an email.
PARIS STOCK DROP?
Posted by Ant on 2 November 2009 at 17:13
After dropping off 24Hour Marathon prints to the vault, I saw this billboard on the NW and thought it was funny as hell.
REC2 Trailer
Posted by Ant on 2 October 2009 at 12:26
We're giving away $5000 cash for whoever can make the most BUZZ about the release of REC2 on Nov Friday 13th.
See here for more details. Submit your own BUZZ. And find out what the hell BUZZ is.
NZ FILM MONTH - A FIGHT FOR SCREEN SPACE
Posted by Ant on 8 September 2009 at 13:18
Dear Person Interested in NZ Film,
I think the below is a fair and true statement to make.
"Local films are made with lots of love and passion".
A great romance is someone falling in love with a story and wanting to create it for others to embrace. Bitten by this love bug, local casts and crews work in harmony on something they all want to love. The fairytale ending is seeing the story unfold on a big silver screen.
But like all great love affairs it usually ends in...tragedy.
The film misses out on a festival preem, snags no distribution and sits on a shelf or at the most, dribbles out a few dvd copies down the line.
This doesn't just happen to self-funded films. It can happen with NZFC funded films.
Everyone talks about changing models of distribution and how the playing field has changed.
"forget cinemas" - They shout - "your market is downloads".
Well I might be a naive bigscreen purist but to me there is something inherently powerful about seeing films on a large screen and not a 17" monitor. Films shown in a collective environment have the ability to create a frisson that no downloaded film can equate to. If we get to the mindset about doing away with any theatrical plan for smaller local films, you may as well kill the NZFC and put the monies into NZONAIR.
With the upcoming findings from the Minsterial review of the NZFC it'll be interesting to see how much thought (and money) will be devoted to the idea of infrastructure to support the release of local product.
Films that don't have major distributors behind them or enthusiastic exhibitor support usually end up going direct to video after a possible fest preem. Sometimes a self-distributed release will score a few days here and there at their local supportive arthouse but virtually never at a plex.
France, Spain and Germany have thriving film scenes and its mainly down to two reasons. Quotas and language barriers. If we all spoke Te Reo the local film industry would actually be better off for it. As an english speaking small country we will always be competing with bigger budgeted, marketed product. We can never evolve without some sort of subsidy or distribution structure in place.
IDEA #1
Should the Government allocate some monies to subsidise one 100% devoted New Zealand content digital screen in plexes/ arthouses in each major city in the country? Thereby guaranteeing that NZ digital films will always have screen space available. In a commercial enviroment it's practically impossible for small films to get in front of young audiences as they don't have the marketing clout of studio product or the leverage associated by having a pipeline of upcoming product.
At present a few small indie operators support local digital product by offering limited screen space out of some sense of patriotic duty. I was an arthouse cinema manager when things were tough, I know how they think and more importantly how they feel.
They usually offer space because of the following :
(1) They like the filmmakers gumption and have a sense of patriotic pride
(2) They have some dead space coming up
(3) And rarest of all - they genuinely believe in the commercial aspect of the film.
How to kick apathy in the arse? Lets look at a rather successful model in another medium that has cross over similarities.
IDEA #2
NZ Music managed to get a quota iniated onto local Radio and the quota appears to have been eclipsed (even by those who tried to fight it) by the support and growth of the NZ Music scene.
Why is there no NZ FILM MONTH?
NZ MUSIC MONTH is something that has been nurtured and supported and has paid off in many ways.
Could we transplant some of the concept to NZ FILM, where there's a focus on local content with plexes offering screen space to whole new audiences for a limited time? There could be a concentrated effort from all involved to celebrate local features/shorts and get these smaller films onto screens that are usually completely out of their reach. There would be direct and focused energy to celebrating NZ FILMS of all shapes and colours.
At present there is so much time and energy devoted to making these films by hard working (often with no pay) cast and crews but very little has been thought about the end game for all these films. The end game also means trying to get money back to these people for all their hard work.
This has to change. The old thinking was "why throw good money after bad". This was told to me by the departed CEO of the NZFC. Why bother releasing and spending money on a film if people don't want it?
It's a good question (except if its a film you funded) but it overlooks the obvious. Who says it's not good? Exhibitors who want the next Dark Knight? Or the NZFC who originally turned down the local blockbuster Second Hand Wedding?
Nobody knows anything.
What we do know is that NZ audiences do like seeing their stories on the big and small screens. We've had enough successes to know this. Breakouts and surprises can happen all the time but without committed space and support, we'll never know the true potential of any film unless we support it to the full extent.
We can't ask exhibitors to just hand over designated screens on a yearly basis without some sort of fiscal reimbursement as that screen makes them a lot of money.
But maybe we could ask for one digital screen to be available for one month a year where we have a celebration of all NZ Film. We could make quite a party of it.
I know I'd buy a ticket.
Would you?
Ant Timpson
Matt Horrocks at The Reservoir has been making some notes on the NZFILM scene. Well worth checking out
Notes
"You're tearing me apart Lisa!"
Posted by Ant on 6 September 2009 at 12:50
Tommy Wiseau's incredible melodrama-from-hell THE ROOM keeps getting more and more love with each passing year. There is a planned THE ROOM mega screening at the Staples Centre - for - wait for it - 20,000 ROOM fans.
THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH
Posted by Ant on 13 August 2009 at 16:41
This Halloween come join us celebrate our 10th year with the Vendetta 24 Hour Movie Marathon. This year we are going all out. Where else could you see a live Wurlitzer accompany a nudie flick? No where on earth except The Hollywood Cinema is right.
Check out our Facebook Event Right here
Or Visit our Website Right here
WHEN DAVID MET ALEJANDRO : The shocking and sad tale of New Zealand's First Exploitation Movie.
Posted by Ant on 7 August 2009 at 17:49
DEATH WARMED UP
Dir : David Blyth
New Zealand. 1984.
Director – David Blyth, Screenplay – David Blyth & Michael Heath, Producer – Murray Newey, Photography – James Bartle, Music – Mark Nicholas, Special Effects/Makeup – Kevin Chisnall, Production Design – Michael Glock. Production Company – The Tucker Production Co/The New Zealand Film Commission.
Cast: Michael Hurst (Michael Tucker), Margaret Umbers (Sandy), William Upjohn (Lucas), Norelle Scott (Jeannie), David Letch (Spider), Gary Day (Dr Archer Howell)
Before being expelled from Otago University in 1984, I saw a New Zealand film that was profoundly influential on me. That brief period in Otago provided many fond cinema memories. Two double-features that cemented my love of offbeat cinema that screened to this 17yr old were SALON KITTY & JOYSTICKS and THE BURNING & SHOGUN ASSASSIN, but it really was the kiwi film DEATH WARMED UP that ripped my eyes to what could be achieved locally.
The first 10 minutes of DEATH WARMED UP set the loopy parameters for this deranged answer to the more established international genre scene. Blyth's grungy (16mm blowup) film engages immediately with ravings about immortality from Dr Archer Howell, a mad scientist played by Kiwi born Aussie Gary Day. "We are the new messiahs!", he screams to a shocked colleague who wants no part in his madness and soon departs. Howell then brainwashes that colleagues son (a very young Michael Hurst) turning him into a teenage terminator who shotguns both his parents to smithereens. Hurst ends up in an asylum for years while Howell slips away to a deserted island and launches Trans Cranial Applications.
Cut to a title card reading 'NOW...' with an aryan looking Hurst, his hot girlfriend and a freckly ginga couple all heading to said deserted island on a ferry skippered by jovial chubby Ian Watkins. The diminutive Hurst has nothing but revenge on his bleached blonde mind as he seeks to settle the score with Howell and his growing army of zombie psychos.
There's a good case for DEATH WARMED UP being more seminal to kiwi genre fans than Jackson's Bad Taste in that it was New Zealand's first film to heavily borrow exploitation elements from the international horror scene and package them up with enough antipodean flavours to energise a generation of movie mad kiwis. Whereas BAD TASTE's brilliant home movie aesthetic appealed to the backyard sensibilities of the nations burgeoning home movie revolutionaries, DEATH WARMED UP had previously stuck a inspirational hypodermic into Aoteroa's collective horror heads that we too could make gleefully gory genre films.
Blyth's solid direction showcases his penchant for fetishism (Hurst budgie smuggling and shower scenes) and enthusiasm for anarchy (Jonathan Hardy's completely inappropriate blackface cameo) in a briskly paced tale that fuses themes from Dr Moreau, Amicus pics and covers them with a punky new wave giallo veneer. The film was called a 'depraved waste of taxpayers money' by those wishing to take the New Zealand Film Commission down a peg or two. Blyth left NZ to more accepting climes in the US/Canada where he was attached to a couple of major horror sequels that ended rather poorly and one title called NASTY HERO that remains missing to this day.
Many years before making DEATH WARMED UP, a young Blyth had had his mind completely blown by witnessing the midnight cult classic El Topo at the NZ Film Festival. Fueled by the madness of the film, he traveled to London and through various friends found out that his new idol, El Topo's legendary director Alejandro Jodorowsky was living in Paris. After walking the streets of Paris he came across a shop called Arcane 22 where inside Jodorowsky performed Tarot readings. Blyth spilled his heart out to the strange man, who then laid out the tarots and pronounced that the troubled Blyth to immediately return to New Zealand and make a movie. Blyth came home to New Zealand, collaborated with writer Michael Heath (who wrote one of Tarantino's favourite films NEXT OF KIN) and made DEATH WARMED UP.
In a spooky turn of events the film was invited to the paris science fiction and horror Film Festival where it won the gran prix from the head of the Jury.
The President of the Jury was Jodorowsky.
The film has finally been released uncut on DVD in New Zealand through Mark Galloway's Screenline New Zealand Cinema label which is releasing many back catalogue titles on DVD. I suggest you pickup a copy and own a killer piece of NZ history.
Visit the site Screenline
The film's history to DVD would make an interesting documentary. Very quickly it goes something like this:
The film was made for $800,000. It quickly had its international rights picked up by Skouras International for $100k who eventually went bankrupt resulting in the films interneg going missing. The film was then released locally by Endeavour (John WHALE RIDER Barnett) Entertainment who apparently cut the film to R13 for homevideo. Unfortunately no uncut elements survived the process, this includes any 35mm prints. The original 16mm elements were accidentally burnt by an intern in Wellington. The NZ Film Archive never kept a 35mm print. The DVD released by Screentime is the only uncut DVD, as its a composite of elements from a 1" master with uncut vhs inserts.
It all sounds like something a Mad Scientist would love.
