Jess Franco
Like many horror and exploitation fans, I was saddened to hear of the death of the legendary Jesús “Jess” Franco last week. While I’ve haven’t enjoyed everything the man made, his unbelievable output of almost two-hundred films has always impressed me. Among that incredible stack of films, there’s many gems – far more than most...
Steven Seagal’s DTV era, 2002 to 2012 – Part II: The Five Worst
So last week I had the surprisingly hard task of picking my five favourite Seagal direct-to-video era flicks. Not hard because I couldn’t think of five, but hard because I actually had to leave off a few I dig, such as Pistol Whipped (2008) and A Dangerous Man (2009). Yes, I’ve gotten to such a...
Steven Seagal’s DTV era, 2002 to 2012 – Part I: The Five Best
And we’re back! I hope you enjoyed your three weeks holiday from Mondo Exploito, because here I am to ruin your day with a slew of Seagal films for those who wish to brave his post-Half Past Dead (2002) era. I’ve been wanting to do this post for a long time – since the very...
Something Weird Video on DVD
When plucking out Herschell Gordon Lewis films from my collection of Something Weird Video DVDs for the last Starter Pack for the Overwhelmed, I was reminded of the staggering number of exploitation gems Something Weird have uncovered. Something Weird Video is undoubtedly the most prolific distributors of exploitation in the home video market. The Something...
Herschell Gordon Lewis
There have been times – many times – when Herschell Gordon Lewis has left me furious. I won’t coat the Godfather of Gore in sugar, he made some unwatchable movies and the man is no artist. Not that Lewis is claiming to be an artist. To quote him, “I see filmmaking as a business and...
Russ Meyer
It was extremely difficult picking my five favourites of Russ Meyer’s filmography. Meyer – the gigantic-mammary-loving auteur – was one hell of a consistent filmmaker. Of the twenty-plus films he made – and I really do mean made; he not only directed but wrote, produced, shot and edited the bulk of his work – not...
Godzilla: Shōwa and Heisei eras
Wherever your preference lies - Shōwa, Heisei or Millennium - Godzilla fans should thank the great kaijū gods in the sky that we've been blessed with such an outrageous amount of excellent films!
Ralph Bakshi
On the weekend I was at Polyester, a local oddball bookshop, looking at the comics and art magazines when I happened across a familiar sight. Well, several familiar sights. All of them on the cover of one book. Holly Wouldifshecould, Fritz the Cat and Mighty Mouse amongst other loved characters adorned the front of the...
Takashi Miike
Other than Jess Franco and porn directors, there is no other director with a more overwhelming filmography than the prolific Takashi Miike. Amazingly, and making things more daunting, his is a career that only began in the early 90s. With over eighty films and television shows to his credit, it’s terrifying to think how many...
Ringo Lam
My Starter Pack this week focuses on one of my favourite filmmakers, Ringo Lam. He made some of the best and most memorable Hong Kong movies of the late 80s and early 90s, then went on to make a few Van Damme movies and some other stuff which I won’t get into. But during the...
Jean Rollin
Jean Rollin passed away in late 2010 leaving us his final unfinished work, Le masque de la Méduse. A filmmaker as maligned as he was loved, Rollin – no matter where your opinion of him sways – was an extremely important figure in Euro horror. Often he has been unfairly lumped in with the prolific...
Action cinema from Hong Kong’s golden era
I love a good old fashioned bit of action cinema, the more violent, hectic and stunt-laden the better. And where better to go for the excesses of action cinema, than the home of the “heroic bloodshed” genre, Hong Kong. And of course, what better era for such extravagance than the 1980s through to the mid-90s....
