The Protector — The Protector (UHD/ Blu Ray boxset)

From the mid-80’s, The Protector was Jackie Chan’s second attempt at breaking into the US market. It’s a speeding bullet-paced buddy cop action movie- with some neat daredevil stunts, more than a few bloody shoot-outs, and towards its end some great martial arts action. The film regards a Hong Kong-born New York-based cop (Chan) returning to his homeland with his NYC partner to track down the kidnapped daughter of a gangster. Here from 88 Films is a deluxe four-disc set- two UHDs & two Blu- Rays- release of the film- it takes in three different cuts of the picture, two commentary tracks, a few extras, and an eighty-page book.

Celer — Capri

Originally released in 2009, Capri features the prolific act when it was a duo, before Danielle Baquet-Long tragically passed later that year. Light drones create ambient vignettes of nature's ephemeral moments, what we take in daily, not realizing that their impermanence forms the solid foundations of our being. Much of the original material was left off of the 2009 CD release, but Two Acorns and Stephan Mathiew have remastered and released the entirety of the original tapes, expanding this to its complete 2xLP/2CD glory. On the surface, the thirty-six tracks may seem daunting, but their brevity and transience linger on in the background of one's mind, subtly processing subconsciously, getting the body and soul ready for Capri's inevitable next playthrough.

Decadent Evil 2 — Decadent Evil 2 ( Blu Ray)

Appearing two years after the first film, Decadent Evil 2 is another slice of vamps ‘n’ pole dancer-focused horror from Charles Band. It sees the return of Marvin, the randy Homunculus. Trying to be a good vamp, Sugar, and her DJ boyfriend Dex- hunting down a king vampire. Once again, it’s a fleshy/ bloody affair- though the latter is calmed down somewhat, with a more mystery/ who is the king vamp vibe going on. Here from Full Moon Features is a Blu-ray release of the film.

Melvins & Napalm Death — Savage Imperial Death March

When I first heard about this collaboration between The Melvins and Napalm Death, I thought I had a good idea how this was going to sound- but aside from a few tracks, this album sounds nothing like I was expecting. And I think it’s fair to say that for the most part, Savage Imperial Death March is very much a dive into the odd, off-kilter, and downright weird.

Mancunian low-budget Movie Mogul

Cliff Twemlow On Severin

One of last year’s real big surprises in the world of Blu-ray box sets was Bloody Legend: The Complete Twemlow Collection, as it was a wholly entertaining, fascinating, and at times heart-warming set. The Severin released boxset brought together the work of one of the UK’s unlikeliest movie moguls- Cliff Twemlow, a Mancunian bouncer/ body builder, who went on to write/star in/produce a series of low-budget/ largely SOV films in the early 80s to early 90s- these moved between action, thriller, sci-fi, and horror. His most notable/notorious film was 1983’s G.B.H., which landed on the video nasty list, though he was connected to other ten feature films, many of which got their first real full/proper release on the boxset. Opening up the set was the excellent 2023 documentary Mancunian Man: The Legendary Life of Cliff Twemlow, which really pulls you into the set. I caught up with Severn’s David Gregory and Jake West, director of Mancunian Man, to discuss the boxset and all things cliff.

Repetitious History - A Quick Trip Into The World Of The Fall

The Fall

MES( Mark E Smith- The Falls main creator) possessed the ability to cram phrases into impossible spaces - “I’m hunting and I’m trying to find” delivered as “hut’na tryna find”; the eight-syllable “mere pseud mag editor’s father” hastily squeezed into a manipulation of time and space, heralded by the prior line “twice each at least”, the latter naturally repeated thrice.