Shaun of the Dead – Edgar Wright (2004)

“A romantic comedy... With zombies” The tagline says it all. I’d heard good things about this movie and when I saw the DVD at a rather cheap price at an airport, I thought “well, it might worth giving it a try” and worth it, it was. British cinema, since the nineties, have put forth some really cool films that are bound to be classics. This one ranks among the best of them. Simon Pegg, as Shaun and Nick Frost as Ed are hilarious. Clever observations on the lifestyle of the English, ups and downs of a romantic relationship and zombies snatching the intestines of people out. Basically, it’s a parody of zombie movies, winking here and there to all the zombie fans out there. However, its style of parody is not as 'disturbing' as Scary Movie series' is. It is only a movie that does not take itself too seriously. If I had watched it before I saw Undead, I would have liked it much more than I did. But see both of them if you are into zombie movies and watch out for that cricket bat, we might have a new Ash coming our way.

From Sonic Splendour # 4

Pig – Nico B. (1999)

23-minute-long, 16 mm, b&w underground film by the Dutch filmmaker Nico B. This is also the latest project of Rozz Williams, the late frontman of Christian Death and several other bands, and a source of inspiration for the likes of Trent Reznor and Marilyn Manson. Written by Williams, Pig depicts the relationship between a killer (Williams himself) and his victim (James Hollan). It does not contain any dialogues. Just bizarre imagery, coming right out of the killer’s mind... We see him reading from a book called Why God Permits Evil, full of swastikas all over, and applying several different torture techniques on his victim, including sewing his penis and nipples together. The uncanny soundtrack, also by Williams, adds up to the irritating atmosphere of the film. It says “Rozz Williams spoke of the film as a form of exorcism and transition of his personal demons” at the back of the DVD. What an exorcism... definitely not for the squeamish.

From Sonic Splendour # 4

Le Sang D’un Poéte (Blood of a Poet) – Jean Cocteau (1930)

A surrealist movie from the French poet Jean Cocteau. It starts with a painter getting shocked to see one of his paintings start talking. When he erases the mouth in the painting with his hand, the mouth passes onto his hand and start talking from there. The movie continues with fifty more minutes of strange, meaningless (not in a bad sense) images from the subconscious. André Breton, in his “Manifesto of Surrealism” emphasizes the importance of subconscious in art and describes surrealism as: “I believe in the future resolution of these two states, dream and reality, which are seemingly so contradictory, into a kind of absolute reality, a surreality.” So applies Cocteau this notion in his film successfully. (Surrealism dwells in images rather than words.) Very much in the vein of An Andalusian Dog by Luis Buñuel (co-written by Dali) this movie is full of that excitement, enthusiasm and the spirit of experimentation that you can only gather from the early examples of cinema. Some people might find it incomprehensible, but there is really nothing to understand. Just watch it and get high.

From Sonic Splendour #4

Undead – Spierig Brothers (2003)

Maybe you have read our interview with Duke Hendrix, maybe you haven’t. If you have, then you must have seen that we talked about Undead, another movie from Down Under (One Aussie commentor in IMDB says that he/she is ashamed that this movie was produced in Australia and begs people from other countries to believe that the people in the movie definitely do not represent Australians). Spierig brothers, with this movie, are carrying the torch once held by Sam Raimi and then Peter Jackson. With quite a low budget (of course not as low as that of The Killbillies) they were able to make a gory zombie movie... With aliens. The ever-peaceful fishing town, Berkeley is disturbed by a strange a meteor rain, due to which people start to turn into zombies. The local looney, Marion apparently knows something about these zombies, because he is well prepared, complete with a triple rifle he prepared for such occasions as zombie invasions (we later learn that, in the past he was attacked by some zombie fish and abducted by aliens). He tells other survivors that the aliens are trying to take over the planet, using zombies. The protagonists, the beauty pageant queen of the town, a couple (the wife is pregnant), all -irritating and all-cursing sheriff and his female deputy, along with Marion tries to escape and reveal the secret behind these events. The blue filter that Spierig brothers used creates a suitable atmosphere for the movie. The FX are nicely done and there are some pretty good action scenes, too. The film, not taking itself very seriously like the best examples of this genre, guarantees constant fun. Good party movie.

From Sonic Splendour # 4

The Junky’s Christmas – Nick Donkin, Melodie McDaniel (1993)

This is a 21 minute stop motion clay-mation. So, what makes it special? For one thing it is “presented” by Francis Ford Coppola... But most importantly, it is written and narrated by William S. Burroughs, the Beat hero, grandfather of punk, el hombre invisible and several other titles I cannot remember. So, how did this happen? Burroughs was a multi-talented artist, who had his bony old hands in almost all of the arts. As it happened he recorded an album with a group called The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy. The album was called Spare Ass Annie and Other Tales, “Spare Ass Annie” being a story from his book Interzone. The thirteenth track in that album, The Junky’s Christmas (yet another story from Interzone) was turned into this 21 minute animation. It was apparently made as a music video for VH1, featuring the music of The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy. It starts with the images of Burroughs, reading the title story, which is about Danny the carwiper, trying to find a fix on the Christmas day. When he finds the so-longed-for fix and is about to score in a cheap hotel room, he hears some moaning from the next door and he sees a young man who is also in desperate need of a fix. In a quite Burroughsian way, Danny discovers the Christmas spirit and gives his fix to the young man while he himself remains sick. The movie ends with Burroughs and his friends having a Christmas dinner complete with Burroughs slicing the Turkey (with a switchblade) and singing Merry Christmas with his deadly Texan voice. Not a masterpiece but I enjoyed watching it.

From Sonic Splendour #4

Cabin Fever – Eli Roth (2003)

When this movie is under discussion, people tend to argue about how scary or not scary it is, as it is labeled a “horror movie”. I think, if a label is so desperately needed, we can call it a gore/comedy, even if there are not enough funny moments to call it so.

Apart from being one of the latest films in the school of “a-group-of-youngsters-go-to-a-cabin-in-the-woods-and-die”, it also belongs to another tradition, which started with H. G. Lewis’s 2000 Maniacs!, a movie depicting how a group of “yankees” are butchered by the inhabitants of a southern town in America. The fear against southerners has long disturbed the northern psyche in the United States, who in return employed this fear to make similar blood red movies. Going to one of those towns meant that you might be chainsawed, eaten or at best hung on a butcher’s hook alive.

Cabin Fever has a convention breaking function. Eli Roth plays with the preconceptions and prejudices of both the characters and the audience. The old guy in the ‘yokel’ shop and Deputy Winston are characters who turn all expectations upside down. The leg shaving scene, the guy who swallows a harmonica and the finale are among the highlights of the movie. Plus all the blood-puking, and devoured flesh you grindcore/gore fans out there need!

From Sonic Splendour #4

“But You’re a Zombie!”: An Interview with Hendrix/Fish Films

Hendrix/Fish Films are in their own words, “a bunch of guerilla filmmakers” located in Sydney, Australia. They make the kind of films they’d like to see. Their first feature movie The Killbillies (2001), “a story about hillbillies and feuding” with hermaphrodites, hillbillies wearing strange masks, zombies (some of them very horny), psychedelic experimenting aliens, blood&shit and surf rock in it, only costed 2000 Aussie bucks and was selected for the 2002 “Zombie-dance” in Austin, Texas. I talked to Duke about past and future projects in 2003 for Sonic Splendour magazine. So, tune in...

Sonic Splendour: Hi, Duke! How is everything in Sydney? Have you finished shooting Bloodspit yet?

Duke Hendrix: Sydney is very strange at the moment, we are getting hail and thunder storms every night which at first was very inspiring but after a while it just gets boring. At this stage we are fine tuning Bloodspit, adding the soundtrack and some digital effects. We are hoping that it will be finished next month, though I'm not certain when the DVD release would be.

SS: Before talking more about past and future projects of Hendrix-Fish films, let me ask you how you guys met each other and decided to come together as a film company to make the kind of films you would like to watch?

DH: I first met Leon in his little shop called Independence Jones, it was a collectible shop that sold telivision memorobillia, things like The Munsters board game and Batmobiles etc. I'd been dealing in that kind of stuff as well but I’d been doing collectible fairs. My stuff was getting too much to drag around, I was looking for a shop and he was looking for a partner, so I moved in. After a while we started talking movies, we found out that both of our favourite films were Flesh For Frankenstein and Animal House. I'd already made a few shorts including Zombie Crackhouse and I was ready to film another called Frankenbilly. I asked Leon to come down and play the part of a hippie. After that it was all movies for us.

SS: So could you talk a little bit about Crack House Zombie and Frankenbilly? I also remember reading somewhere that you worked as a co-writer in a feature movie called Waste. Would you like to give us some information about them?

DH: Zombie Crackhouse was a short I filmed in black and white super 8 for a short film cable tv contest called “Graveyard Shift.” Basically it was about an ex vietnam vet who is working as a care taker in a graveyard. In that same graveyard there’s a bunch of zombies making crack. So our hero grabs his axe and takes the law into his own hands, (so to speak). The film got into the top ten and was played on tv which was kind of a strange experience. Frankenbilly is basically a short version of The Killbillies, I had made a few little shorts with the character Boy, and when the “Graveyard Shift” came around the next year I decided to to a proper little film with Boy in it. Frankenbilly is about an inbred family who grow hemp plants on their farm, the trouble is hippies are stealing the plants and smoking them. So Pa makes a hillbilly Frankenstein monster that goes around killing them, the trouble is that he is also in love with Boy’s dolly. That film came second in the contest out of around a thousand films, tons of people got to see it and liked it. My personal favourite short we did is one called earth versus the vampire wrestlers from outer space. I love that because it's so bad, it doesn't make sense at all and it makes me laugh every time I see it. Waste is a feature that we co-wrote with my brother for a producer in Queensland. It's about two pot smoking guys who realize they have to grow up fast. I didn't like the script changes I think it screwed the film, having said that there are some good bits. It's just been released in the States on DVD.

SS: How did you come up with your “names”? It’s not hard to find out where “H. P. Crowley” comes from... How about Duke Hendrix (Duke Ellington, or maybe John Wayne, and Jimi Hendrix???!) and Leon Fish?

DH: Ha ha ha, you’re right, the name Duke Hendrix came from John Wayne, and Jimmy Hendrix. I was looking for a name from two people who were the exact opposite and you can't get more opposite than those two. John Wayne was whiter than white, a real straight and a tough guy. Hendrix a black drugged out guitar hero. I think the names go well together. Leon Fish was taken from the first novel he wrote by the same name. Leon also invented the name Ringo Ray. We like to do that, invent names for people in our films. I invented a name for a girl who stars in Bloodspit, “Candy Whorehole.” You can guess where I got that name.

SS: Since this is mainly a music magazine, I might as well ask you about your musical tastes. One can tell that you enjoy surf rock as you used songs from bands like The Atlantics and Zen Genies...

DH: I’m a real big Beatles fan, mid period Beatles ya know, Rubber Soul, Revolver, The White Album. But I love surf and punk as well. The Zen Genies were a punk band around Sydney in the late 80's early 90's. All their songs had Horror themes, like Surfin Vampire, Hitman Frankenstein etc. Their frontman was wild, he used to do Frank from Blue Velvet with the gas mask and stuff then molest the girls in the audience singing a song called 'baby wants to fuck.' I had to put their songs in my films.

SS: What about your careers as writers? Can you talk about your book Cooking with the Hillbillies?

DH: We did Cooking with the Hillbillies a long time ago, I think that was the first book Leon Published, it was basically old recipes we found from pre-World War II cook books and changed them around some, there’s also a little story in there and things like Pa's Top Ten things to put in your bomb shelter. In the first edition you also got a little kit that made Boy's dolly. I’m not sure if you can still get it, but Leon has some cool books there. We just finished a book version of Bloodspit which we hope will be out in time for the DVD.

SS: What do you think about the film industry in Australia? Did you see Spierig Brothers’ movie Undead? If so what do you think about it? DH: Yes I have seen Undead, I enjoyed it. It’s not the type of film I'd do with that budget but other than Undead, there’s basically no scene genre film scene in Australia. We don't know anyone who makes these types of films. It’s strange because when we make one, there is always a lot of interest but we never see others do it. I do get mail from time to time from people interested in making a genre film asking for advice but I never hear from them again, so much for my advice.

SS: Are there any future projects after you finish Bloodspit?

DH: We have a few projects in mind, one is a documentary that I can't speak about just yet. We have another genre film we are developing called Flesh Cut. That will be a Frankenstein type thing. We are also thinking about doing a sci fi thing. We are just going to wait to see how Bloodspit goes before we decide on the next one.

SS: You told me that you have seen the movie Dunyayi Kurtaran Adam (The Man who Saves the World, a.k.a Turkish Star Wars). Do you now about any other Turkish movies? What do you think about them. And what do you think about Turkey and Turks that live in Australia?

DH: I really want to see the Turkish Exorcist, I’ve heard so much about that, but I can't find it anywhere. Also the Turkish Star Wars. I hear they are great. I would love it if someone made a Turkish Bloodspit that would be so cool. I’d much rather that than win Cannes or something. We have two Turkish guys working on Bloodspit. They were both born here but their parents were born in Turkey. One of them is my assistant editor and his brother is doing digital effects for us. Both of them are very good at what they do and we get along with them great, so they will be working with us forever I hope.

SS: Popular cinema seems to preach intertextuality nowadays, with Matrix trilogy being a mixture of different genres, philosophical/religious beliefs etc and Tarantino claiming to have stolen from every movie that has been made while making Kill Bill. Do you think The Killbillies has a similar intertextual attitude?

DH: We have never conciously layered our films with any hidden messages or philosphies, having said that people can read what they like into them. I’ve had people say to me that the overall message in The Killbillies is family values, and if people want to think that, that's fine by me. Our films have no meaning really they are just supposed to be good fun, although there are a lot of strange things happening in Bloospit I’m sure people will read into things while watching it. But yeah like Tarantino we have stolen from everywhere ha ha ha. Bloodspit is essentially an ode to Paul Morrisey Films and to Udo Kier. Everyone does an Udo accent in Bloodspit. SS: Final question: what happened to your website http://www.bloodspit.com/? Are there any other places on the internet where we can download the trailer of Bloodspit?

DH: Someone built the website for us, then they dissapeared. We didn't even know where to go to pay for it to keep it running, but there will be a Hendrix/Fish website coming up soon, that will have a new trailer and stills as well as information on all our films and Leon’s books.

SS: Do you have any final words before we finish the interview? Would you like to give our readers some advice about low budget filmmaking?

DH: Well my advice to anyone that is making a film is, make something that you want to see, because at the end of the day, you’re gonna be stuck with it. Don't try and please an audience, please youself, if you’re happy, there will be others that will like it. What I have found is that no matter what you do, someone somewhere is gonna like it. It's a big world out there.

PS: Hendrix/Fish films finished their movie Bloodspit after this interview was published. They released it from Troma. The Killbillies is available from Cryptkeeper. Watch the trailers on youtube: The Killbillies & Bloodspit