Julian Upton/Various — Offbeat:British Cinemas Curiosities, Obscurities a

Offbeat is a truly fascinating look at the lesser-known and largely unheard-of side of British cinema, from between the 50s and  80s. The impressive and balky tome features over one hundred and fifty in-depth reviews, as well as essays with decidedly intriguing subjects/focus such as British Swashbucklers, Asylum based horror, and CIA-funded cartoons.  The book was first published in 2013, for this revised edition we get a bumper one hundred and fifty pages of new material- with even more reviews and essays.

The book appears on UK’s Headpress- coming as either a paperback, Ltd hardback edition or an eBook- I’m reviewing the first of these.  It’s a weighty, and well-bound A5 paperback edition running at just shy of six hundred pages. The book brings together text, poster artwork and stills. In total the book features seventeen contributors- so we get a good selection of different approaches/ takes on film writing.

The main of the book is taken up by the reviews- these date from the years 1954, through to 1986- and are laid out chronologically. Each runs between two to three pages- featuring a good mix of plot summing ups, critical review, and interesting facts/observations. The type of films covered in this part of the book are decidedly genre varied, with often fairly intriguing/ original concepts. So going by decade- in the  50’s we go from Alias John Preston-a psychological thriller featuring Christopher Lee in its lead role, onto creature features like The Abominable Snow Man and The Trollenberg Terror, through to brutal schoolroom drama The Violent Playground.  For the 60’s we move from the noir/whodunit of Girl In The Head (1962), through to the teen pre-marital sex drama of The Yellow Teddy Bears, or the occult horror of Witchcraft.

For the 70s we move from coming-of-age drama/ comedy Deep End, which is set around a swimming pool. There’s the creepy and unsettling thriller The Night Digger, the psychological classroom set tense mystery Unman, Wittering and Zigo, or the single mother meets insecure rock star drama of Made. And for the 80s- we go from cheap Viet war action filmed in Berkshire How The Brave Sleep, onto policemen send up The Boys In Blue which featured comedy duo Cannon & Bull. There’s the SOV gangster thriller G.B.H, or period drama Comrades which tells the story of The Tolpuddle Martyrs.

As for the essays, we get fourteen dotted throughout the book-these each run between two and six pages a piece, and once again we get a most interesting blend of subjects. Going from rock and roll films, The Children’s Foundation Films, underage sex and murder, Ken Russell in the ’80s, and the forgotten certification of AA- which existed between 1970 and 1982.

The blend of reviews and essays in Offbeat makes for a rewarding blend of brief reads, and more in-depth studies- which is rather nice, and means, on the whole, it gives the book longevity. I’ve been a fan of British cult cinema for the last twenty or so years- and I’ll have to say maybe 70% of what’s reviewed/ discussed here I wasn’t aware of- so that is most impressive.

So, in finishing if you have even a passing interest in cult/ more obscure side of British film Offbeat is most certainly a must-purchase publication. To buy direct, and support the folks over at Headpress- do drop by here