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H.M.S. Defiant is a 1962 historical adventure movie directed by Lewis Gilbert (Alfie, Educating Rita, and Moonraker). The film was also notable for being co-written by Nigel Kneale (Beasts, Quatermass and the Pit and Halloween III: Season of the Witch) alongside Edmund H North (The Day the Earth Stood Still, Patton and Sink the Bismark) and Frank Tilsley (a TV writer best known for his work on BBC Sunday Night Play, BBC Sunday Theatre and Champion Road). The film also had a pretty strong cast of actors including Sir Alec Guiness (Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Bridge on the River Kwai and Kind Hearts and Coronets), Dirk Bogarde (Death in Venice, A Bridge Too Far and The Night Porter), Maurice Denham (The Day of the Jackal, Animal Farm and Countess Dracula) and Nigel Stock (The Great Escape, Young Sherlock Holmes and Cromwell).
Daughters Of Darkness stands as one of the more mysterious, haunting, and creepily classy Euro horror films of the 1970s. It's largely set in an out-of-season large seaside hotel, where a newlywed couple met a striking blond-haired countess and her female assistant, who may/ may not be vampires. The film blends low-key disquiet with a building feeling of dread, with touches of unsettling erotica, arty unease, and light splashes of troubling violence/ gore. Here from Radiance is a recent Blu-ray release- taking in a 4k scan, a new commentary track, and a good selection of new/ old extras- including an eighty-page book.
Tulsa Terrors is a 2024 documentary, looking at the birth of straight-to-video/ SOV in Tulsa, Oklahoma, following through into more recent times, where the city's low-budget filmmakers are still creating cheap horror genre films. Here from VCI Entertainment – either as a Blu-ray or DVD- here’s a release of the film, taking in a few extras.
Who? is an original and subtly uneasy blend of thriller, mystery and sci-fi genres. The early 70s British film regards an American scientist, who is involved in a car crash in East Germany- he’s taken in by the German’s his face/ most of his body are rebuilt from metal implants- and when he’s seemingly returned to the West, it’s unclear who is behind the mask. Here from 88 Films- as either a new Blu-ray or DVD- release of the film, taking in a new scan, commentary track, and a few other extras.
The Ghost Of Peter Sellers is a late 2010s documentary charting the deeply problematic and ultimately disastrous making of Ghost In The Midday Sun- a 17th-century set pirate comedy. The early 70s film brought together two of the UK’s great comic talents, Peter Sellers & Spike Milligan, with the then up-and-coming director Peter Medak. The doc is helmed by Medak himself, and is a rather bittersweet look at working with an unpredictable comic genius, making for a very insightful, well-realised, and at times quite moving film. Here from the fine folks at Severin, as part of their recent series of reissues of Mr Medak's filmography, is a Blu-ray release of the film, taking in a few extras.
With its genesis in the 2015 A/V festival Electropia: Art, Space, and Sound at mo.ë vienna, Austria, the four artist concept album, Wiener Wasser, presents differing takes on water, its nature, and properties.
First released in 1974, Hall Of The Mountain Grill, was the third album from British space rockers Hawkwind. It's seen as one of the band's most consistent releases, as well as one of the all-time great guitar-focused space rock albums of all time. Here from Atomhenge is a recent CD reissue of this stone-cold/ spaced-out classic, with the whole album getting remastered, and topped off with six rare/ bonus tracks.
Homicide Costume is a new two-track release for Halloween from Sebastian Tomb. It sees the Berlin-based wall noise project, offering up (what initially seems) to be a slightly more formal/ if active take on the genre, compared with their often more progressive/envelope-pushing sound, the project is known for.
It wasn’t called the Golden Age of Hollywood for nothing. From the early 1920s to the early 1960s, Los Angeles cemented itself at the centre of the moviemaking world for, well, ever. Pioneering in its use of sound and colour, this revolution was spearheaded by the rise of the studio system and the birth of star power, but at its beating heart sat a handful of directors who went on to shape cinematic history - the likes of Welles, Huston, Capra, Hitchcock, and of course, William Wyler.
If Detonation! Violent Riders (Bakuhatsu! Boso zoku) isn’t the coolest-looking biker film, it’s close. Although it's fantastic shots of riders and an all-too-cool lead combine with an exploitative approach to sex and violence, that means it won’t be for everyone. At its core, 1975’s Detonation! Violent Riders is a riff on West Side Story, with the action and tragedy of rival biker gangs clashing given authenticity by real-life racer Kôichi Iwaki playing his namesake central character.
Playful White Fingers is an early 70’s Roman Porno, which blends in elements of crime drama with its fleshy encounters. The focus is on a naïve & sentimental twentysomething woman, who gets whisked off her feet by a pickpocket, becoming more corrupted the deeper she gets involved with him & his connections. Here from 88 Films, as part of their series of reissues from Nikkatsu studios' Roman Porno cycle, is a Blu-ray taking in a new HD scan, a new commentary, and a few other extras.
The Island is a derranged redneck thriller/survival horror, Hong Kong Style. The mid-80s films start off fairly wacky/ light comedic, but as it progresses, things become more deranged and murderous. Here from Eureka is the first time release outside of Asia of the film, with a new 2k scan, two new commentaries, and a few other things.
Jess Varley's feature debut, 2025, The Astronaut, stars Kate Mara as astronaut Sam Walker, alongside the always brilliant Laurence Fishburne as General William Harris, and Gabriel Luna in a supporting role. Varley, who previously directed two segments of the 2021 horror anthology Phobias (which earned praise from The New York Times for her standout work), wrote and directed this one. When I saw Fishburne's name attached, I was sold. I will watch anything that man is in.
Smote's (aka David Foggin) latest release, Songs From the Free House, is a heavy work of tribal drumming, low-register chanting, and dense electronica, with a bit of Tolkien-like mythos sprinkled in.
Riding an old school riff attack straight into the 2020's, Atlanta GA's Occulsed hit Everlasting Spew with their sophomore album, Antegnosis. Hearkening back to Death Metal's vile, swampy, Tampa heyday, Occulsed focus on grime and a good time, blasting out some slimy, inspired fury. Metal is a wonderful style, open to many varied forms and approaches, celebrating those who want to experiment and push the envelope, as well as those who want to strengthen the bones of the genre-defining acts that inspired them to pick up their instruments. Occulsed consists of death dealers with over twenty years of experience, highlighting what it is that made them love the scene that made the genre a household name (well, in my house at least). Their modern old school death metal is perfect for both new and old fans alike, moving fast and furious, pummeling the listener with gloom and doom the entire time.
Lost Conversions is a recent two-track release from this Mtskheta, Georgia wall noise project. Each track runs at dead on twenty-five minutes. The first is thick and densely sludgy, while the second is a more eerily droned-out affair.
Nine Rivers is a solo piano album that sits somewhere between rapid free jazz and manically bounding modern classical composition. As its title may suggest, it features nine tracks- though it’s really most effective taken as one forty-seven & a half minute journey into manic & unrelenting piano playing.
Here from ESP-Disk' is a release of 2023 collaboration between Chicago avant jazz saxophonist/ composer Anthony Braxton and Detroit’s noisemaking duo Wolf Eyes. The release takes in two sixteen to nineteen-minute tracks, coming in the form of either a vinyl or CD release. I’m reviewing the latter.
The Sandown Clown is a single-track trip into lightly searing 'n' snapping walled noise meets eerier dark ambience. It’s themed around a late 70s UFO encounter, when two children on the Isle of Wight claimed they saw/ talked to a 7-foot-tall, clown-like being.
For some, role-playing/ cosplaying is their all, making their day-to-day dreary/ drab existence seem barely. Here, from the late 60s, is Negatives- a lightly kinky at points disconcerting arty British drama focusing on one such character- a timid and unsure of himself London antiquarian. The film is a rather lulling-paced affair, dotted with moments of sly erotica, psychological distress/ unfolding, and jarring moments of intensity- where fantasy and reality collide. Here, from Severin, as part of their series of reissues of films by Hungarian-born British film director Peter Medak, is a Blu-ray release featuring a new scan, a good selection of extras, including on a second disc another film, 1963 Sparrows Can't Sing, a kitchen sink comedy drama that Medak was the assistant director on.
American-based label Give/Take are doing great things when it comes to dark and heavy music. Based in both LA and Minneapolis, they generally lean towards music produced in the US, but with a roster that includes Justin K Broadrick, Carthage and DB Armitage, it’s clear that they also have a predilection for music made on this side of the water. So, when Hana Piranha and Mishkin Fitzgerald both of longstanding prog-rock outfit Birdeatsbaby and metal combo Crimson Veil launched their side project HVIRESS, Give/Take leapt on board to release their long-awaited debut, BITCHHOUSE.
Marja Ahti is a Swedish/Finnish sound composer working in the electroacoustic domain with a prolific slew of solo and collaborative works in the last 5 years on labels such as Erstwhile and Hallow Ground.
Heart Of Grief is a recent four-track release from Liverpool’s Silver Dove, which finds the project mixing in elements of formal guitar playing, pedals, and field recordings into their walled noise sound.
Here’s a two-way US wall noise split bringing together Cincinnati’s The Perishing Of Faith and South Carolina’s No Fun HNW. Each party offers up their take on searing, nasty, and totally hopeless walling, with each roll-in around the thirty-minute mark.