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If we consider The Blood on Satan’s Claw, The Wicker Man and Witchfinder General as the unholy trinity of Folk Horror cinema, then it feels only appropriate to consider The Owl Service as one of the key titles in the pantheon of folk horror television. Alongside titles like Children of the Stones, Robin Redbreast, The Stone Tape, Murrain and The Baby episode of Nigel Kneale’s Beasts it forms a group larger than cinema’s unholy trinity, but equally as important to what we now call folk horror.
A Simple Eye, on Edition Wandelweiser Records, comes in the label’s standard packaging: a sparsely decorated, with text only, fold-out card wallet; the spartan nature of the artwork reflects the sound associated with the Wandelweiser group, representing the most minimal end of modern composition and performance. True to this, Pierre Gerard’s album is indeed sparse and restrained - though not necessarily quiet or meditative.
Here we have a three-CD set that brings together the two studio albums, and one live album released by this San Francisco power metal five-piece on Atlantic Records. The set highlights the bands often formal, though at times quite head-bangable, vein-bulging, and memorable take on the Power metal form. So, while you may not find anything terrible mould-breaking or startling original within, if you enjoy the genre this is something you’ll be wanting to put in your collection.
Take Back The Night is a post-modern mix of unreliable narrator-led thriller, low-key creature feature, and trauma drama. It tells of an LA-based edgy female artists-come-influencer, who may or may not have been raped by a shadow creature. Here from Arrow Video is a Blu-Ray release of the film, featuring a commentary and a good selection of extras.
Love (Szerelem) is a Hungarian drama from the early 1970s, which focuses on the relationship between a woman and her ageing mother-in-law. The woman’s husband is a political prisoner, but she keeps the truth from her mother-in-law- who believes her son is away in America making a film. It’s a felt, at times grim, at others haunting and enchanting film- which studies keeping hope alive, compassion, and the end of life. Here from Second Run- one of the key reissues of world/ arthouse film- is a blu ray release of the film, which features a new 4k scan, a commentary track, and a few other extras.
From the mid-1970 The Amusement Park is one of the lost pieces of George A. Romero's filmography. It’s a strange, often nightmarish, and bizarre public information film focusing on ageism- all set in a fun fair. Here from Acorn Media International is recent a release of the film. It comes in the form as either a DVD, Blu-Ray, or Digital release of the film- I’m reviewing the first of these. The disc takes in a commentary track, and a few other extras.
Formed in 2021, Nadia Peter's Perpetual Bridge served as her bridge from the DJ world into that of her own creations and compositions. With this fall's Astral Departures, Perpetual Bridge sees its first full length release and the broadening of the project's scope. Outside of defty mixing ambient and electronic music, Nadia has added a visual component to her presentation and created short, experimental films to accompany the lush sonics of Astral Departures.
Works For Solo Piano brings together ten works penned by Spanish composer Gabriel Erkoreka between the mid-’90s and the early 2020s. The composition featured here are often rapid ‘n’ urgent in their feel and attack- yet there is also a feeling of mood-to-felt harmonics, as well as touches of playful invention present.
The Hadopelagic zone is the deepest ocean region, lying within trenches that range between 20,000 to 36,000 ft deep. And it is from this that this German black metal duo derive its name. The band were formed in 2016, bringing together Hekla (guitar, vocals) and Augur (drums). They have a handful to their names taking in the self-released demo cassette XXXVI XXXI N XXV XXVIII O (2018), the split CD The Orphic Chasm with Kosmokrator (Ván, 2020), the split CD Conjuring Subterranean Vortex with Thorybos (Amor Fati, 2020) and now, their latest offering Nereidean Seismic End is unleashed.
Suburban Sasquatch is a so-bad-it’s-damn great SOV film from the early 2000s. It features bumbling-if-trying their best acting, a ridiculous cheap wardrobe from a fancy dress for the monster and characters, Windows 98 graphics/ blood splutters/ gunshots, very cheap gore and joke shop rubber limbs thrown around, and a general feeling of lo-fi camp. Here from Visual Vengeance, those resurrectors of SOV/ ultra-low budget genre fare is a recent Blu-Ray release of the film- taking in a new director’s commentary track, and bulging 'n' bloody sack of archive extras.
London-born director Nicolas Roeg started off his career in a very impressive and distinctive form. Going from the trippy to violent gangster meets burned-out rockstar drama of Performance (1970). Onto the visually arresting & arty coming-of-age drama Outback (1971), through to moody and chilling horror of Don’t Look Now (1973). Sadly, like many great filmmakers, his talent did waver ‘n’ wane - and I guess (been kind) you’d say 1991’s Cold Heaven is one such dip. The film tells of an adulterous woman whose doctor husband dies and miraculously comes back to life- it’s a decidedly haphazard & TV movie/straight-to-video-like mix of soapy romantic drama, Christian heavy faith supernatural fantasy, with very watered-down traces of thriller/ supernatural horror. Here from Ronin Flix, is a bare-bones region A locked release of the film.
In The Flicker is album number five from this British three-piece, who blur the lines between electro ambience, avant jazz, and general drowsy ‘n’ improvised sonic experimentation. It’s a seven-track album appearing on London’s Not Applicable- as either a CD, or digital release- I’m reviewing the former.
Anna Utenhoven is a two-track release from UK’s wall noise project The Night Porter. It takes its name/ influence from an Anabaptist woman from the Spanish Netherlands that was martyred for her faith. She was buried alive in 1597, and was the last person executed for heresy in the area. The digital release features two suitable raging ‘n’ battering examples of the HNW form.
Synthfluencers Die Alone is a new six-track album from Ottawa’s Reaching Needles. It finds the project aptly, at times creatively bringing together elements of textured noise, synth-scaping, and walled noise. The release appears on Fort worth’s Hot Fuzz as either a physical cassette release, or a digital download- I’m reviewing the latter.
Crippled Black Phoenix are a gothic art rock band based in the UK with a truly impressive number of recordings, dating back to 2007. The group has over the years seen contributions from members of many other famous projects, such as Converge and Electric Wizard. I see them often tagged as progressive rock, and while this makes some sense as they have some epic-length songs and ambitious genre-mixing ideas, I wouldn't say there's any technical musicianship to be found here, and it's clear their primary influence is the ethereal pagan post-rock of later Swans, as well as European traditional music, stoner and Viking metal. Their newest album Banefyre is a massive piece of work, a double album of ninety-seven minutes.
The Real is something we can never get to, if you believe in its theorization in psychoanalysis, for it only makes an appearance through other forms in the world that we can see or imagine – the Real requires filtering, otherwise it escapes us altogether. The synthesizer is essentially filter, so are recording devices, which are themselves not anything realer than anything else, but their mechanisms manage to mimic the slippery structure of the Real. In the field of sonic production, the Real is somehow "realer" than it might be in images or objects, for it offers direct access to the materiality of sound that couples a production to its playback, bringing making and hearing into a smooth continuum with one another. I have no idea if Giulio Aldinucci thought of this for his latest release, Real, but the results are nevertheless proof of the mystery, complexity, and elusiveness of synthetic music and its relation to something "real".
Touture&Death is a no-nonsense/ old-school example of the walled noise form, which is both equally brutal and compelling. The release features two twenty-minute ‘walls’- the first is nicely constricting ‘n’ compressing, and the second is a rushing ‘n’ raging affair.
Here from Unearthed Films, those resurrectors of worldwide extreme fare is a Blu-ray release of Dr Lamb. The 1990's Hong Kong production/ Cat III film focuses on a mentally disturbed ‘n’ deranged taxi driver- who picks up, kills and dismembers a series of women. The films a blend of police procedural drama, candy-coloured neon post-noir, and demented psycho drama- topped with moments of inappropriate/ awkward humour, and brutal sexualized gore. The Blu-Ray takes in a new commentary track, and a nice selection of other extras.
Tin Can is a claustrophobic, at times decidedly unease Sci-fi film, which blends in elements of body horror and glum artiness. The film focuses on the near future, where a fungal-based pandemic is sweeping through Canada’s human population. One of the key scientists behind the cure lands up being kidnapped & placed inside a tin can-like medical treatment facility- hence the film's title. Here from Epic Pictures is a Blu-Ray release of the film- featuring director/writer commentary, a making-of, and a few other things.
Moss Covered Technology is the minimal electronic/ambient solo project of UK-based Greig Baird. My first encounter with the project was its second release 2018’s And His Many Seas (Fluid Audio)- with this album I greatly appreciated the way Baird used and structuring field recordings with electronics. Seven albums later, and in 2022, Brick And Air is released; and it's a step further in the Moss Covered Technology voyage.
Monolithic Torment Forever is a two-C96 release that pays tribute to transgender wall noise creator Emily/ Cory Aideen, who sadly took her life in June of this year. She was behind the likes of Root Cellar, Monolithic Torment, Submachine Gun, and solo work- been both a great noisemaker, as well as a kind and considerate soul- who has gone on to be called ‘the queen of harsh noise wall’. The first tape takes in tribute from one hundred and one artists who admired/ respected her work, and the second takes into side long example of Emily’s own walled noise.
With physical copies set to release on Halloween, Acid Witch's latest, Rot Among Us, is prepping the horror metal scene for its material release with digital debauchery. Their first full-length since 2017's Evil Sound Screamers (also tied in with Halloween), Slasher Dave and the boys continue with the horror and holiday madness with ten tracks of bloody mayhem and vile villains. Taking their synthy, soundtrack-esque direction and working darkness and metal back in with aplomb, Rot Among Us is a heavy metal hayride through horror movies, murder, and drug fueled frenzy.
From Australia’s Imprint, Essential Film Noir Collection 3 is a four-film Blu-Ray boxset- featuring Paramount-released noir, dating from between the years 1946 & 1955. We get a good mix of different examples of the genre- going from a noir/ melodrama blend, a mistaken identity thriller, a courtroom drama, and an early example of a home invasion thriller. Each film receives a classy new scan, as well as each featuring a new commentary track, and a good selection of interesting extras to boot.
Madigan is a gritty, hard-bitten cop thriller from 1968 directed by the legendary Don Siegel (Dirty Harry, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Play Misty for Me) starring Richard Widmark (The Alamo, Who Dares Wins and To the Devil A Daughter) in the title role as Detective Harry Madigan, Henry Fonda (12 Angry Men, My Name is Nobody and The Grapes of Wrath) as Commissioner Anthony Russell, and Harry Guardino (Dirty Harry, The Enforcer and King of Kings) as Madigan’s partner. Detective Rocco Bonaro.