Tormented (1960)

Public domain films are quite literally that. Films that for; whatever reason, have fallen out of copyright (Meaning noone legally owns the rights) and that the films are free to be used by the public in whatever manner suits them whether thats screening the film to a wider audience, cutting it up to spice up there own personal projects or even (As was very popular in the early 90s) chopping out the weirdest bits and using them to make a trippy Dance music video.

Arguably the most well known of these public domain films would be “Night of the living dead” but really its a sprawling and constantly growing set of content that cover most genres decades and styles.

Companies like Mill creek entertainment and Treeline films can make a tidy profit from grab bag compilation sets. charging between £10 and £20 for sets of 50 to 100 films all tied loosely to a specific genre…I myself own 3 of those sets (Horror classics, sci-fi classics and Nightmare worlds) and they’re infinately useful in bulking up a film collection and introducing you to films that are either so godawful you wouldnt touch them with a barge pole or so forgotten that they havent been re-evaluated since the late 80’s/early 90s

“Tormented” is one of these films. though arguably it had a hell of a boost in reputation by being featured on an episode of “Mystery Science theatre 3000”  (And its a very enjoyable episode thats currently up on youtube and I recommend watching the riffed version of this rather than the unriffed one) unriffed this film is quite slow and unfortunately I now own it at least 3 times (The MST3K version, the version on my mill creek set, and a copy on my “Something weird video” copy of “The Monsters Crash the Pyjama party Spooktacular Spectacular” (which I will talk about at some point because its a bloody interesting DVD release)

There isnt really a tremendous amount I recall about Tormented that I dont already mention in the review. Its definately not a masterpiece but at the same time it does have at least 1 or 2 small things that are trying to work in its favour…though I go into way more detail in my video review of this:

(The Poster is literally the coolest thing about this film…I want this film poster in my house some day…gorgeous stuff…)
by tytdreviews

So! In January I set myself a soft #goal of getting to 50 subs before my channels first anniversairy in June. Well! As of this week I’ve smashed that goal with a month and a bit to go! I’m frankly stunned and overjoyed! So thank you so much to everyone whose helped me reach this goal. I never thought I’d get 1 sub let alone 50+ of them! I’m very grateful and really can’t thank you guys enough for supporting my channel :) here’s to hopefully many more! #subscribers #youtuber #youtubegoals #goals #subs #youtubelife #grateful #onmyway


via Instagram https://ift.tt/2J7dXqU

by tytdreviews

The Independent (2000)

I have to be honest; im totally in the dark as to why this film is as unknown as it is. This is a genuinely funny movie. Hardly a comedy classic mind; we arnt talking a “Clerks” or “Spinal tap” but I’d argue its most definately in the same class as the likes of “Best on show” or “A Mighty Wind”. this is a mockumentary following a schlock movie director planning one last big movie and Stiller absolutley OWNS this movie. he’s one of the funniest parts of this.

It may be forgotten but it’s quality shines through…it may be a bit muddled as to whether it wants to be a straight comedy movie or a mockumentary but I love it all the same. A totally underrated classic that I found for 50p in a charity shop. I do not regret this decision. when you look at forgotten and obscure media you’re more often than not in for a bad time I find. but every so often you’ll land on a cult classic in the making like this and it makes all the “Phantom from space” style movies more than worth it.

(My favourite parody film in this is probably “Christ for the Defense”)
by tytdreviews

Eraserhead (1977)

This was the first David Lynch film I chose to review on my channel and I chose it for a couple of reasons, first and formost I’m a massive fan of Lynch’s work (In particular all his works in “Twin Peaks”, Blue Velvet and Inland Empire…even if that last one is a bit overly long) his style is so unusual and tonally interesting it’s quite literally like walking into a dream/nightmare over which you have no control. Things just happen in Lynch’s films. they happen because things dont have to have a reason, life doesnt necissarily have a purpose and we’re all here just trying to give our lives a function till we expire. (A bit dark but yeh).

Lynch Straddles the line between Mainstream cinema and experimental video art and while he’s never quite been fully accepted into the mainstream. It could be argued that by many he is seen as the ambassador for experimental film to “Normal people” a wayward guide showing that the hard rules of storytelling and film making arnt actually as solid as first thought.

This subversive nature was what drew me into film making in the first place and what attracted me to video art ultimately…Eraserhead to me could be seen as the Catalyst that led me to where I am today so ultimately im very grateful to the “Lynch’s” of the world and we desperately need more subversive creative types in these modern turbulant times.

I also chose Eraserhead because; well. it’s a just plain weird experimental film. and when I think of Art house and experimental cinema my mind instantly flicks to anything from the chicken baby to the lady in the radiator to that surreal and mesmorising shot that is the films poster. The Red Triangle as a format exists to cover the kind of films that I cant do on TYTD. more extreme horror movies, Video nasties, erotic cinema, art house films. Stuff that I just wouldnt feel like I was doing justice placing it next to the likes of “Ring of Terror” or “Let’s ruin Dads day” and Eraserhead definitely deserves being in my “Red Triangle” series. This is another one that I kind of feel a bit mixed about in terms of my review. I feel like I didnt really fully nail down why I love this film in this review. I dunno;  I just kind of feel like I maybe could have said more…so I may end up revisiting this one again in future…But yeh! for now; enjoy! and I’ll be looking to do more Lynch in future!

(One dose of nightmare fuel and insecurity about parenthood comin’ riiiiiight up!)
by tytdreviews

That Warm Fuzzy Glow (Why Medium Matters) – Opinion Piece

Largely for completionists sake; I thought it best to share this post here. This was an opinion piece I wrote a short while ago about how the format you choose to present your film in can be detrimental to how well/poorly it is recieved by an Audience. whether you choose to present it in HD, VHS, DVD hell even laser disc quality. the medium will effect the film differently each time. whether you need that pin point precise sharpness or maybe you wish to use the fuzz that VHS can offer to your advantage as a direction. I believe that choosing your format should be as important as shot compisition or the way the film is edited. (I also use this piece as a way to put across my genuine love of all things VHS so do prepare to see me wax lyrical about the joys of it)

(Ever since I optimised my editing desk to include a HD to SD to VHS converter deck I really must say that cutting stuff like this has been a breeze!)
by tytdreviews

The Descendents of Wing Chun (Fo Shan Zan xian sheng) (1978)

This was one of the biggest fake out’s I think i’ve had on my channel to date. I picked this movie up expecting basically a very straight laced Kung-fu movie. And in many ways I think in its original dub this film probably was a lot more straight played than the english dubbed version is. Popping the disc in however I felt like the floor had dropped out from under me. It became very clear very quickly that all the mysticism, philosphy and general profoundness found in the original dub had been completely binned in favour of funny voice acting and playing the film down. Im not saying that this film was intended to be completely without humour; there are moments here that defiantely have that vibe both physically and in the dub. But here it makes “On the Busses” look like “The Kings Speech” rediculously over the top but one I can ultimately reccommend in terms of just how weird tonally it is.

(My only regret is that the character “Fatty the Kung-fu Yorkshireman” never made it into another movie #Sadtimes)
by tytdreviews