The Sunday Cult Film Corner: “Jubilee (1978)”

Ahhh what a day. After the black dog of the last 48 hours, things have been moving onwards. Articles and blog posts have been written. And we’ve just had some lovely Indian spice tinged lamb flesh of the highest order.

Yes i am a rather content right now. And to top it all off, a true UBER cult classic has made itself available on YouTube for our viewing please. A truly visionary film from Britain’s true cult director of our times, Derek Jarman. Ladies and Gentlemen, i give to you, JUBILEE.

Directed in 1978, Jubilee beings in Elizabethan England. Queen Elizabeth (Jenny Runacre) wants to acquire knowledge of the future, so is transported by her court mysticist John Dee, to the UK of the 1970s. Here she is presented with a truly hellish post-punk apocalyptic wasteland. Society has crumbled and what remains is in a state of utter decay with police death squads, everything on fire and falling down, while kids murder people out of boredom.. As she moves through this desolate world, she observes the bored, nihilistic actions of a host of characters with names such as Amyl Nitrate, Crab, Mas and Chaos.

Man this film…. I remember seeing it when i was 13 years old (thanks again Channel 4) and it was one of those films that leaves its mark on impressionable youths such as myself. you can truly say they don’t make films like this any more.

Jubilee is seen by many as a “Punk film”, mostly due to the fact that  it contained numerous characters from the punk scene at that time Jordan (a Malcolm McLaren protégé), Toyah Willcox, Nell Campbell, Adam Ant, Demoriane and Wayne County, contained performances by Wayne County and Adam and the Ants, and had cameo appearances by The Slits and Siouxsie and the Banshees. Oh and there was a score by Brian Eno.

But it’s not quite a clear-cut as that. Derek Jarman was more of a member of the avant-garde film scene and wasn’t part of the punk scene. “Jubilee” was also heavily criticised by members of the punk community, such as Vivienne Westwood, for not giving a true representation of punk.

But criticisms aside, this is a film that while not catching the spirit or punk, truly captures the desolate nature that was living in the UK in the late ’70s. Back then, people truly felt that the country was going to hell in a handcart. Rubbish everywhere, graffiti, strikes, far rights gangs, along the rumours that the military was going to instigate an actual coup, the film portrays London and the Thames estuary with that grim, dystopian feel that reminds me somewhat of the totalitarian London portrayed in Alan Moore’s “V For Vendetta”. While some of the film has a staged, episodic feel (which allows the characters to give their numerous monologues), there are some truly outstanding scenes aided by the naturalistic lighting and camerawork, such as the Rule Britannia moment, or the gardener in the suburbs who tends to his plastic pot plants.

I don’t know how long this film will stay up (the last upload was definitely taken down), but if you feel that there is no future in anything, and that life is only worth for destroying, then get you booze and Mandrax laid out, and smash up your living room while this blares i the background….

 

The Sunday Movie Apocalypse! “Sexmission (1984)”

Ahhh sunday, the day of rest. the time of the week where we can all sit down and contemplate the futility of the human condition. The fact that despite our best achievements, the human race is but merely a dried cumstain in the crack of the universe’s filthy underwear. I’m surprised we haven’t tried to off our civilisation sooner.

And with that in mind it’s time for another collection of fabulous misery that is THE SUNDAY MOVIE APOCALYPSE! and this week i have an apocalypse comedy from Poland (which means that it’s going to be a barrel of laughs). Boy and Girls i give you from 1984 SEXMISSION (Polish: Seksmisja).

The film tells of two male human guinea pigs who in 1991 agree to be cryogenically frozen as part of a science experiment. However, of course, something goes wrong and instead of being asleep for a few years, they awake in the year 2044, where they learn there has been a Nuclear War. The twist is that due to genetic mutation from radiation, all the men have died out and the world is now run by women. The film then shows the jarring interactions between the two men and women who have had no dealing with males, as well as their attempts to escape when they are deemed to be a threat to society and are ordered to be killed or forced into having a sex change.

Now despite the title there is hardly any sex int his film (and as a 10-year-old who watched it for the first time, that was especially disappointing). Instead the film is more of a satire on the Gender politics of the time, as well as being as a commentary on the realities of living in a communist bloc society, as what some in the film consider a utopia (i.e. female only) is just brutal and repressive as when the men were in charge.

Of course it being a Polish Sci-Fi film from the ’80s, there isn’t much in the way fancy action scenes but lots of dialogue instead. But this is still an interesting quirky film that give a different slant on the idea of a post nuclear world…

 

The Sunday Movie Apocalypse! “Damnation Alley (1977)”

Good afternoon  my hideous malformed experiments in human DNA manipulation.

Damn it’s so cold in our flat today, i swear that we must be experiencing the effects of a nuclear winter from another dimension. I’ve started chipping off my toes and sucking on them as frozen meatsicles (for the extra protein of course). Of course this has meant that I’m wrapped up in several layers of ragged clothing so i now resemble a bit part player from “threads”. And this has meant that i’m now in the perfect mood and have achieved the set up to present this weeks SUNDAY MOVIE APOCALYPSE!

And this week, we are taking a trip to the barren wastelands in the form of 1977′s DAMNATION ALLEY.

Based on the short story by Roger Zelazny, Damnation Alley tells of a world destroyed by Nuclear War several decades ago. Most of the USA has been transformed into irradiated desert populated by flesh-eating insects and killer mutant hillbillies, while 500mph windstorms destroy anything in their path. Into the hell hole a bunch of survivors travel across  ”Damnation Alley” from LA to Boston to deliver a batch of plague vaccinations.

Now this film is not the best out there. It is pure B-Grade disaterploitation cheese with such luminaries as Jan-Michael “Airwolf” Vincent and George “A-Team” Peppard. But i remember watching it when i was a kid and getting freaked out by the killer beetles. Plus they director and set designer flood the films with rust red backdrops and LOTS of desert, making it looks a pretty hellish place to live, the opposite of the cold,continuous damp and rot of say, The Road.

It’s definitely the sort of film to waste a couple of hours of your pointless miserable life. So get some hot chocolate and sit up close to the screen, safe in the knowledge that our worlds leaders would NEVER do anything as awful as start a nuclear war (shudders…)

 

The Sunday Movie Apocalypse! “1984″

Afternoon mindless drones. Are you ready for your weekly two-minute hate moment? then let us begin….

Now that the silliness of all that Halloween horror has subsided , we can now get back to the glorification of the destruction of society and civilisation as we know it. Yes it’s time again for THE SUNDAY MOVIE APOCALYPSE!

And This week, we have a heartachingly bleak and despondent film that, if you weren’t thinking of slitting your writs before watching this, it will most certainly will afterwards. Oh yes, it’s time for 1984!

If there is anyone out there who is intellectually bereft and only reads Twilight novels, then let me give you a quick synopsis. Based on the Famous George Orwell novel, 1984  is set in a future world that is ruled completely by totalitarian dictatorships where war is constant and every thought, word and deed is monitored and controlled. In this hell lies one Winston Smith (John Hurt), who starts to slowly rebel against this system by committing thoughtcrimes and keeping a diary. He meets another kindred soul named Julia and together they start an affair. But they are found out and tortured by a man named O’Brien (Richard Burton in his last film role). And that’s the film in a nutshell.

to say that this film is bleak is to say that bears shit in the woods and an Icelanders word is his bond. I certainly hope i never find myself in they type of horrid post apocalyptic wasteland (that suspiciously looks like London docklands in the early 80′s) that’s portrayed here. The whole film seems to have a pervading air of despairing nihilism that certainly made me feel rather depressed after watching it. And that was even after knowing what happens to the lead characters at the end of the film.

So i heartily recommend that you watch this film, if only to have a good excuse to curl up in a darkened corner with a bottle of whisky and slowly cry yourself into a drunken stupor. Fun times!!

 

The sunday Movie Apocalypse! “A Boy and his Dog (1974)”

As you may have noticed from my last post, i have foolishly allowed to let a small sliver of hope enter my life as i try to convince myself that everything will be ok. But then i watched a bit of FOX news and very quickly came back to my senses. Man, it will be a miracle if we DON’T destroy ourselves in a climatic spurt of mutually assured destruction. Now that i am back in the right frame for this, it can mean only one thing. Yup  it’s the sunday movie apocalypse!

and this week, a bizarre little tale of companionship and nuclear warfare…. A BOY AND HIS DOG

Based on a short story, ABAHD is a 1974 film starring a very young don Johnson. He plays Vic, a lone scavenger surviving a post-apocalyptic nuclear wasteland. His only companion is a dog, with whom he is able to share a physic link so he can communicate with him via telepathy. Together the have frelationship based on mutual needs. Vic ensures the dog is fed and cared for. In return the dog can sniff out females with whom Vic can (forcibly) have sex with.

Soon they run into a girl named Quilla, who says that she is from a sealed off utopian community an persuades Vic to join him. But very quickly all is not as it seems….

As you can see his is a quirky little drama, that’s even more interesting in that none of the lead characters are remotely sympathetic. Vic is a thug and semi-rapist. The Dog is snobbish and argumentative. The woman is scheming and self obsessed.  And the scenes in the “Topeka” utopian community are both bizarre and unsettling.

so i suggest you gather you little pets together and watch a heart warming tale of how a loving dog helps his master to commit sexual assault on a regular basis….

 

The Sunday Movie Apocalypse! “The War Game (1965)”

Today is a cold, damp grey day in Reykjavik there is a perceptible chill in the air. As we are all huddling  to share scraps of body heat and keep the spectre of chills and bleakness from our cores. what we need is a good bit of family viewing. And this can mean only one thing. yes it’s THE SUNDAY MOVIE APOCALYPSE!!

and this week, the ultimate in doom mongering Mr Chumney-Warner public information films… THE WAR GAME!

Made in 1965 as part of the BBC’s Wednesday Plays, The War Game is a film told in the style of an old school BBC Documentary. It depicts the prelude and aftermath of what would happen to the UK if the Soviet Union conducted a nuclear attack on its shores. At the start there is a bit of old school Blitz spirit and British bureaucratic organisation. But of course all of this is merely pissing in the wind as a nuclear attack completely obliterates the entire command and social structure of the country. The moral of the story? The best laid plans of mice and men count for fuck all in a nuclear apocalypse …

This film caused a load of controversy upon its completion. It eventually was never shown by the BBC and was only available on DVD in the UK until 2003. Although it’s very lo-fi compared to todays productions, the film showed an extremity and reality of a nuclear attack that was too much for the audience of its day. The War Game was a precursor to the likes of “The Day After” and “Threads”. Peter Watkins went on to direct films such as “Gladiators” and “Punishment Park”.

so sit back, close your curtains and see some old-fashioned stiff upper lips get wiped off with an all-consuming firestorm….

 

The Sunday Movie Apocalypse! “The fist of the North Star”

And a good day to you my fellow sentient beings…

As the end of a week comes to a close, it’s always good to take stock and be thankful that another week has gone by where we haven’t destroyed ourselves through nuclear war, biohazard plagues, flesh-eating zombies or the rise fo Justin Bieber (read your scriptures,. he IS the antichrist i tell ye!…)

And what better way to celebrate our continued existence with another round of the SUNDAY MOVIE APOCALYPSE! Now that past couple of weeks have been a little downbeat and well, a little sad. so this week I’m putting a smile on your face with some of the most brilliant apocalyptic kung fu action this side of Japan. Of course this can mean only one thing. yup it THE FIST OF THE NORTH STAR!

the plot of the movie is pretty self-explanatory. After a nuclear war has devastated earth, Ken, a martial arts expert known as the fist of the North Star, is double crossed and left for dead by his brother. But upon his return, he seeks revenge on his brothers, all the while protecting a small band of survivors from marauding mutants and savage gangs.

If you haven’t watched this, then all i can say is that it is soooo brilliant, if rather unintentionally funny. there are some loads of bizarrely proportioned characters (people10 times the size of an average person, etc), while some of the kung fu action breaks most of the rules of physics (can YOU destroy an entire skyscraper in half with a single punch? thought not). Oh and it’s VERY violent as well. Perfect for you sunday dinner.

so get you feet up, sip down that cocoa and prepare to be comforted by the fact that you will not be raped, killed and eaten by a gang of mutant cannibal bikers…

 

The Sunday Movie Apocalypse!! “Z for Zachariah”

Good afternoon my little blobs of despair…

I feel bad that i didn´t post a film last week. But as i was going out into the country, i didn´t really feel bad in the slightest. But as we all know sunday is the Lords day of rest, and the best way to celebrate that day of rest is to watch a movie about the end of the world. Yup it’s the Sunday movie apocalypse!!

and this week i present something a little bleak, downbeat and creepy. I give you “Z for Zachariah”

Now i first read this book, by Robert C. O’Brien while studying English at my High School. It’s a cheery tale of a teenage girl surviving on her own in a remote valley, after a nuclear war has devasted the world. Although alone, she seems able to cope well on her own. But into her world comes a stranger in a radiation protection suit. Initial joy at seeing another person, give way to suspicion and fear that threatens to destroy them both.

The book was made into a BBC play for today in 1984, which moves the story from the US to the Welsh Valleys. We also saw this film at school as well ( i remember some of the guys getting all bothered because of the nude bath scene. Kids eh?).  Unlike the usual orgy of destruction and explosions that come from most past apocalyptic movies these days, Z For Zachariah feels more realistic with the realisation that just because you are not alone in the world, doesn´t mean that you will get along.

So get a cup of tea and some toast, and pray that if there is a Nuclear War, then you little corner of the world comes out fairly unscathed…

 

Night Music: 8tracks Mix – The Earth Awoke and Damned us all

Some nighttime listening to give you all some sweet dreams.

More 8tracks stuff tonight. As well as my own profile, i did some work with people on a side project called Post apocalyptic. We set about creating mixes for when the earth had ended and all that were left were us survivors. We touched on such delights as zombies, neo pagan death cults, cannibalism, nuclear wastelands, alien visitation, weird biological spores and old cthulhu sea gods. Sounds very uplifting doesn´t it?

Well it´s been a while since another mix was made. But with events over the last few weeks and apocalyptic eruptions and ash clouds looking like the end times, i have been tinkering and have come up with the following mix

The Earth awoke and Damned us all…

A nice mix for driving though volcanic death ash cloud. enjoy and sleep well!