Nothing could go wrong!

And for once, nothing did, as the greatest fantasy writers and artists met head-on with the Canadian born film-making magic of Ivan Reitman (whom – presumably in another life – had produced ‘Shivers’ & ‘Rabid’ and directed ‘Ghostbusters’).

As early as 1979, Len Mogel (founder of ‘Heavy Metal’ and ‘National Lampoon’ magazines) had begun making enquiries into the possibility of bringing his massive project to the screen. And by the summer of that same year, director Gerald Potterton was at work on budgeting and scheduling the ‘Heavy Metal’ film project.

In the early stages, several talents were called upon to write a marketable film script, including Harry Harrison, Richard Corben, Berni Wrightson, Angus McKie and Dan O’Bannon. Many of these names were successful artists and designers responsible for the original magazine material, and so this new project must have provided a pleasant dose of deja-vu.

As things progressed into a linear production running from eight individual stories, the following emerged from the plethora of rewrites and eliminations: Corben’s “Den”, Wrightson’s “Captain Sternn”, O’Bannon’s “Soft Landing” and McKie “So Beautiful and So Dangerous”, together with original concepts for “Gremlins”, “Harry Canyon”, “Legend of Taarna” and the link – “Grimaldi”.

Phew! Let’s look at each one separately…

Soft Landing – A 1959 Corvette makes it’s way to Earth to the grinding tones of “Radar Rider” by Riggs. Call it surreal, or call it psychedelic, it is certainly an impressive start, and so we are led into the link story… Grimaldi. A house, a girl and a glowing green ball – the ball threatens, but does no harm, and slowly unravels it’s purpose, granting wishes and dreams, or nightmares (depending on the worthiness of the person). The green fades to a brilliantly lit neon city, and…

…the next segment. Meet Harry Canyon – A New York cab-driver of the 21st century. The New York of tomorrow is degenerate, filled with poverty and violence. This was the look that Juan Gimenez (the Argentinian illustrator) used, so as not to contrast with the New York of today – a statement maybe? And, as I make a habit of not talking about the plot too much when reviewing, I will leave it at that…

Next, an amusing reconstruction of the hero legend. Corben’s Den character comes to life in the shape of Dan, a small boy who is transformed into the title character by the Lochnar (the green ball from Grimaldi). What follows is a hilarious take on the sword-and-sorcery cliché, as Den is almost killed a number of times, throughout which events the boy narrates with the voice of the warrior.

As we leave Den to save the world, a courtroom scene opens and a certain Captain Sternn is on trial for a number of hideously obscene crimes. Until, that is, his defense shows up in the form of a feeble little twerp called Hanover Fiste. This ‘saving grace’ turns against the captain as the Lochnar once again goes about it’s work… Fiste metamorphoses into an outrageously powerful caricature of muscle, and wreaks havoc throughout the ship! Berni Wrightson’s comic strip was used as a model sheet for the directors as they refined the storyboard into the allotted time. What emerges is a surprisingly violent but ultimately hollow experience that should have been a lot funnier than it was.

Gremlins (official title B-17) was a rather strange and unsettling addition, as you aren’t really that sure what’s going on, other than that the Lochnar (yet again) is possessing the dead pilots of a battle torn B-17 bomber. After this, O’Bannon’s story gets a little bit confused, but the design (by Mike Ploog) is nothing short of inspired.

So Beautiful And So Dangerous begins in a conference room filled with the world’s press and politicians, all trying to allay their fears of alien world domination. A Pentagon secretary is possessed and jumps on a lady stenographer. Both are then unceremoniously sucked into a giant ‘globe’ ship. Only the woman survives and is then bedded by an amoral robot, as the ship spirals through space piloted by a duo of coke-sniffing aliens?!!? A brilliant premise that is the funniest segment so far: “Good landing, man…”. But the best is yet to come.

And come it does (sic), in the luscious shape of Taarna, a female barbarian warrior who is called upon to save a race from the murderous machinations of a band of cut-throats and their barbaric leader. Soon we are led into a desolate but fantastic world of stark temples and endless skeletal vistas, and of course Taarna, as she glides gracefully across this barbaric landscape.

It took no less than three artists to finish the designs for Taarna (J.S.Goert, Chris Achilleos and Howard Chaykin). The sets and monuments are superbly majestic, my personal favourite being Taarna’s temple where she dresses – can it be possible to be in love with a cartoon character?

What this amounts to is a sword-and-sorcery fantasy with more than it’s fair share of heroic bloodshed, as Taarna decapitates the clientele of a rather rough bar and is subjected to torture and humiliation at the hands of the blood-crazed Barbarian. One of the techniques used was rotoscoping (using a live actress to mimic the movements the character would use) – I found this slowed down the movements considerably, in turn giving them a more dream-like, fantastic quality than is found in the other stories.

So, in conclusion, there’s got to be something here to grasp the imagination of even the most boring and braindead members of the human race. ‘Heavy Metal’ got an “AA” certificate on it’s original cinema release, but was never – to my knowledge – released on video in the UK. This is sacrilege – it’s such a mind-blowing piece of artistry that I can’t imagine it losing money on either rental or sell-through. If you do manage to get hold of a foreign release, spread the word!

Sadly, there is not the much merchandise presently available, but any collector should be able to hunt down at least a few of the following:

• The Art of the Movie Heavy Metal:Animation for the 80’s published by New York Zoetrope, 80 E.11th Street, N.Y.
• Heavy Metal Music from the motion picture – CBS Records.
• Starburst #41: ‘Heavy Metal’ movie review and centrespread.

This particular article sees your editor in a fairly pissed-off mood as the TV is broken. I am attempting to stave off the withdrawal symptoms by writing TC11. It isn’t working. You might be able to tell…

Killing Moon 1 (32 A4, £1.50) combines glossy production values with occasionally amateurish layout (but hey, look at our first issue. No, on second thoughts, don’t…). You get a look at the video nasties, great eye violence scenes (stop me if this sounds familiar!) and a Sam Raimi interview. Oddo (22 A4, ???) is even more unstructured, but it’s cut-ups of text and pictures feel like wandering through someone’s unconscious. At the other end of the spectrum is Mkultra Vol 2 No 1 (44 A4, £1.50), back under a new captain after a long break and worth investigating for an intelligent mix of reviews & articles.

Strange Adventures is also back, with a summer special on ‘Women in Films’, (28 A4, £1.50) covering vampires, prisoners, superheroines and, gosh, an article on ‘Angel of Vengeance’ by yours truly. Issue 32 (24 A4, £1.20) has an investigation into sword and sorcery films. The publishing empire of Tony Lee also takes in Fax 21 (44 A5, £2.50), news reports from 50 years into the future, where a member of the Two Live Crew is the President of America. If you liked the news bulletins in “Robocop”, you might well enjoy this.

Headcheese & Chainsaws 7 (12 A5, 35p) has been on a diet, but still crams in book, comic and film reviews. Another thin-zine, though less anorexic, more “slimly built” is Scareaphanalia 101-106 (10 A5, $1), maybe the most reliable and consistent American ‘zine, when Michael isn’t getting sucked into his work for ‘Fangoria’. Another American ‘zine worth reading is Monster 63-68 (26 A4, $1 or so), where Tim Paxton keeps the spirit of Godzilla et al alive. Pretty Poison 4-6 (20 A4, £1.50) is developing a fine laid back style, covering lowbrow entertainment, chemical abuse and…sign-language??? Gary also stands up for Pee-Wee Herman, for which he deserves praise. Subterrene 7 (30 A4, 50p) is good value for your money, and like many ‘zines is branching into the Eastern genre, but still provides useful stuff like details of the cuts in ‘Toxic Avenger’.

Midnight in Hell 6 (20 A4, £1) has a weird-but-good cover, draped around weird-but-good fiction, relatively normal reviews and a rather odd column that seems to come from Belgium. Trash Compactor Vol.2 No.5 (44 A4, $3.50) will tell you everything you wanted to know about John Ashley. I didn’t want to know much anyway, but still enjoyed it. Anti Clock Wise 14 (12 A4, 40p) rants about Reading, prison, time and the exploitation of beauty. Thought-provoking extreme liberal (??) drivel. Meanwhile, at the “thought-provoking conservative drivel” end of the spectrum is Parachute Limit Vol 1, No 1-3 (10 A4, an IRC or ‘something interesting’). Produced by a bunch of guys with nothing better to do, it’s the sort of stuff P.J. O’Rourke might have written at college. Some great pseudo-philosophical ramblings: “it intrigues me that women who have no qualms about oral sex have screaming heebie jeebies about letting you borrow their toothbrush”, which may well be THE best line from ANY ‘zine this quarter.

Most cunning ploy to get a longer review is from Anthony North, whose Rattler’s Tale (24 A5, 75p) has now spawned Gaia News (12 A4, £3/year) and Read With Mummy (24 A5, £3/year), among others. Nice try, Anthony, it didn’t work… Orient Express is another new ‘zine (20 A4, £1.50), devoted to covering anime, Hong Kong movies, etc. More enthusiasm than knowledge, I fear, but not without promise. Imaginator 7 (36 A4, £1.95) shows how to do it and is bound to win any awards going for ‘zine of the year. Some day, maybe, TC might be as good. Still on the Oriental front, Anime UK is into its second year. Impossible to give a page count, thanks to the many freebies and supplements i.e. how to read the script the Japanese use for western words! Call it “an A4 envelope full”, well worth the £7.50/year.

Nora K 5 (32 A5, £1) also has a freebie, in the shape of a complete, definitive Traci Lords filmography, purely, of course, so you can avoid seeing any by accident… There’s also news on TL’s present activities and some more droolworthy pictures. I was going to slag off Gore Gazette 105 (10 A4, $1) for describing TC as a “johnny-come-lately” ‘zine, but the Rev.Sullivan later describes us as “excellent” so we’ll let him off, but suggest he gets that schizophrenia seen to! This ‘zine may not last longer, as the wrath of Carolco (makers of T2) is sure to descend if they see the back cover.Get it while it lasts.

The same might be said of Creeping Unknown 19 (40 A5, 85p), as it tells how Nick has drawn the mighty anger of Customs & Excise. You can also find out about ‘The Borrower’ and Lino rants about old people and buses – or is it people and old buses? Mortal Remains 4 (32 A4, $3.25) is a fanzine in the true sense of the word, and Kevin Lewis conveys his enthusiasm for the genre well. As does Spence, in Psychotic Reaction, Vol 2, Issue 1 (22 A4, £1) – he may have a posh glossy cover, but the sleaze and trash quotient is as high as ever (yeah!). Factsheet Five continues to amaze. Listing more ‘zines than you’d have thought possible, if you want REAL high weirdness by mail, this is a great place to start!

And the long awaited (and not just ‘cos I’ve got an article in it!) appearance of Attack of the Sad Man-Eating Mushrooms 1 (36 A4, £1.25??), which gets the prize for title of the quarter, no competition. There’s a selection of great death lines, an article on Albert Fish, some nifty artwork and a Giant Movie Monster filmography, all of which is interesting and varied reading.

Got a note from a company called ‘Destroyers‘, who sell kung fu, Chinese & Hong Kong movies – for more details, write to Destroyers, PO Box 13, London SE15 6BS. Finally, the non-zine area. Anime-day 0092 is going to take place in Sheffield on the 7th and 8th of March 1992. Book now, if for no other reason than I’ll be there so you get the chance to buy me vast quantities of alcohol… More details from Animeday 0092, c/o Sheffield Space Centre, 33 The Wicker, Sheffield S3 8HS.

• Anime UK: Helen McCarthy, 147 Francis Road, Leyton, London E10 6NT.
• Anti Clock Wise: PO Box 175, Liverpool, L69 8DX.
• Creeping Unknown: Nick Cairns, c/o 33 Maltby Road, Mansfield, Notts, NG18 3BN.
• Factsheet Five: Mike Gunderloy, 6 Arizona Ave, Rensellaer, NY 12144-4502, USA.
• Gore Gazette: c/o Sullivan, 49 Hazel St. Clifton, NJ 07011, USA.
• H’cheese & C’saws: Rob Bewick, 33 Ernwill Ave, Castletown, Sunderland, SR5 3EB.
• Imaginator: Unit 1, Hawk House, Peregrine Park, Gomm Road, High Wycombe.
• Invasion of the Sad Man-Eating Mushrooms:
• PO Box 7, Upminster, Essex. RM14 2RH.
• Killing Moon: Alex J.Low, 17 Stewartville St, Flat 2/7, Partick, Glasgow G11 5HR.
• Midnight in Hell: The Cottage, Smithy Brae, Kilmalcolm, Renfrewshire, PA13 4EN.
• Mkultra: Andrej Karczewski, Top Flat, 24 Lordship Lane, London N17 8NS.
• Monster: Kronos Productions, MPO Box 67, Oberlin, Ohio 44074-0067, USA.
• Mortal Remains: Kevin V. Lewis, 1835a S.Centre City Pkwy,#145, Escondido, CA 92025 USA
• Nora K: Steve Rag, 118 High Street, Eastleigh, Hants, S05 5LR.
• Oddo: Oddone Ricci, C.P. 1045, Bologna Centro, ITALY.
• Orient Express: c/o Astounding Comics, 61 Pyle Street, Newport, Isle of Wight, PO30 1UL.
• Parachute Limit: c/o Max, 4122 Mt.Alifan Place #E, San Diego, CA 92111, USA.
• Pretty Poison: Gary Gittings, c/o 307 Bloxwich Rd, Leamore, Walsall, WS2 7BD.
• Psychotic Reaction: 50 Wingfiled Rd, Great Barr, Birmingham, B42 2QO.
• Rattler’s Tale, Read With Mummy & Gaia News:
• Anthony North Enterprises, BCM Keyhole, London, WC1N 3XX.
• Scareaphanalia: Michael Gingold, PO Box 489, Murray Hill Station, New York, NY10156-0489, USA.
• Strange Adventures & Fax 21: Tony Lee, 13 Hazely Combe, Arreton, Isle of Wight, PO30 3AJ.
• Subterrene: Anthony Cawood, 6 Daleside Avenue, Pudsey, Leeds, LS28 8HD.
• Trash Compactor: 253 College St, Suite #108, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5T 1R5.

An interview with Jorg Buttgereit and Mannfred Jelinski

Much of the fame, or notoriety, for ‘Nekromantik’ has come down on the head of director Jorg Buttgereit, but I’m sure he’d be the first to agree that it’s just as much a team effort. A leading player on that team must be producer Mannfred Jelinski – his efforts are not limited to financing the picture, he also is responsible for some of the visual effects, works on the subtitling, and tirelessly promotes all of Jorg’s films around the globe. The two of them work together like any good double act, but when they were over in Britain recently promoting ‘Nekromantik 2’, I managed to corner Mannfred for a chat, though his partner still managed to get the odd word in…

How did you come to work with Jorg?

MJ: I went to some screenings to see what people in the underground were doing and did some video transfers for him. The first film was ‘Bloody Excess’ in the Fuhrer bunker and I found what he is doing very newand refreshing. So we did a documentary together about the punk movement, and then Jorg did ‘Hot Love’ – after that I was pretty sure that this was a man with which I wanted to work!

Were people’s expectations a problem with ‘Nekromantik 2’?

MJ: The public did have some expectations of the film, but that’s their problem! I found it very satisfying to give the story dimensions that I felt were missing in the first one.

Nekromantik 2 isn’t Nekromatik. It’s more like Love Story.

— Jorg Buttgereit

JB: I’m the only one doing films about necrophilia and death-related things, and as no-one else is doing it, I have to do a second one. The corpse fucking is not the important thing for me in ‘Nekromantik 2’, the important thing for me was to make the audience care about the actress. it’s really important for them to be on the side of the girl, despite what’s she doing, and I think it works. The funny thing is that most of the women who’ve seen the film are really pleased with it. If you watch carefully, it’s a kind of feminist movie. Some people may have a problem – they normally understand the things the guy is doing but in the sequel he’s a little bit stupid.

Can you tell me what the censorship situation in Germany is like just now? [There’s been something of a crackdown recently, culminating in a print of ‘Nekromantik 2’ being seized, literally from the projector]

MJ: There are District Attorneys in towns in Germany – I guess they’re collecting films like this. They say to the public “We are fighting for a clean screen” but I fear they are collecting them. They know too much about these films, so I’m convinced that they are fans! I do not fear any interest in me, the only thing they can do is destroy some things in my private comic collection. What have I done? I’ve made some movies, and I stand by them. I think they have a good morality and I can defend them. After the confiscation in Munich, I made a sheet of clippings cut out from newspapers and put them together with a heading that can be translated as “Life is harder than censorship allows”, and that’s the truth. What we do in the film is to tell the truth through a picture of life.

Are you completely opposed to all censorship or do you feel that some censorship is necessary?

MJ: I would draw my own line like the chairwoman of the censorship authority in Germany. She sees all the violence that is done to adults but what she is after is sex with children – there are some things you just can not allow. If it is special FX, I don’t see any reason to take it off the market – it’s better that people see it on TV rather than doing it themselves. I’m not convinced that watching something on TV will affect people afterwards in reality. I studied psychology and it doesn’t say that such a cause and effect happens. The more I think, the more I’m convinced that if you are prevented from seeing something, the more likely you are to do it. It’s a release, like the Greeks had with their theatre.

JB: If there’s a need to show something, I’ll show it. I don’t have this approach of just showing things to offend people. It might sound stupid, but we care about what’s going on in the story, but to convince people of what we’re dealing with, we have to show them.

Are there many other underground film makers in Germany?

MJ:: Yes, but we are the only ones who’re doing it independently. We tried to get some support from German television for ‘Nekromantik’ – they have open screenings – but when the woman who runs it heard the name Buttgereit, she turned her back on us! The regular way is to do it is to try and get money from the Government. There’s some money that can be given to film-makers: you send in your script and maybe they support you, with the whole money or half the money. It takes too long to give them the script and for them to reply and you know what they’re going to say anyway! If we do it ourselves, we are free to do what we want. Hollywood pictures are for too many people – I prefer films that are aimed at a few people, a special group.

So no chance of a Hollywood remake of ‘Nekromantik’, like they did with ‘Three Men and a Baby’, and are doing with ‘The Killer’?

MJ: I think this is unrealistic. They couldn’t deal with a story like this. I think I’m too old for all this moving around – and not just with your body, but also with your mind. I don’t want to do what other people want me to do.

NEKROMANTIK 2 (Jorg Buttgereit) – Monika M, Mark Reeder.

Jorg Buttgereit is very anxious that N2 is not seen as “a gore film”. He’s partly right – while there’s none of the fantasy element prevalent in most horror, this is still closer to the splatter movie than any other genre. It begins with the suicide of Daktari Lorenz, as shown at the end of ‘Nekromantik’, but he’s not allowed to rest in peace. As the final shot of the original movie suggested, he’s dug up by a female necrophile (Monika M) and used as a sex object. This brings the corpse into conflict with her boyfriend (Mark Reeder), who’s worried about his girl – little things, like her insistence he doesn’t move when they’re having sex and the presence of some VERY odd stuff in the fridge…

It’s effectively the same basic idea, viewed from a completely different angle. Sensibly, with everyone ‘knowing’ what to expect this time round, the makers avoided slavishly remaking the original. In some ways the two films are mirror images: while the original was very much a tragedy, the sequel is more upbeat – although he dies 30 seconds into N2, Daktari Lorenz finally gets the relationship he wants! Masculine becomes feminine, with most of the film told from Monika M’s point of view, and the death-ending in the original is replaced by the creation of a new life, with one last twist of the knife which hints at a further sequel, though this isn’t currently planned. Technically, the sequel is obviously more advanced in most areas, right down to the soundtrack, which is available on CD this time, rather than vinyl!

Jorg is developing a recognisable style and there are elements in N2 that will be familiar from his other work. A 360 degree circular pan and a “bridge shot” are very reminiscent of ‘Der Todes King’ and the film-within-a-film theme appears again, with another of the spoof movies included in all three features to date. The scene where the near-mute heroine dismembers a corpse in the bathtub and wraps the bits in plastic bags echoes ‘Angel of Vengeance’, which seems to be a favourite film of Jorg’s judging from this and the scene in ‘Der Todes King’ almost directly copied from Ferrara’s movie.

The direction of N2 is slow and documentary in style, almost real-time on occasion, in what Buttgereit says is a reaction to the current wave of lightning-fast, pop-video visuals, as seen in the Hong Kong movies. This is occasionally carried too far, and a sharper editing hand might have helped the overall coherency as several scenes make their point and then meander on regardless. Odd touches of grubby realism abound, and add to the gritty atmosphere, for example, the men always keep their socks on, whether they’re alive, dead or having sex!

The tone occasionally lightens, with some black humour which helps make the film more watchable than the original. Beatrice M, the girlfriend from ‘Nekromantik’, returns to dig up the corpse of her old flame, only to find she’s been beaten to it, and the scene where Mark Reeder discovers a clingfilm wrapped penis in the fridge is a classic. However, the question of how his girlfriend explains this away is never answered, one of several slightly annoying such omissions.

However, N2 generally hangs together well, and there are dark hints of things outside the scope of the film, like a group of lady necrophiles who gather to watch dodgy videos (anyone who didn’t like the rabbit-killing in the original will NOT enjoy this scene. Though probably less cruel, it’s even grosser and, I reckon, more gratuitous). There are also various in-jokes to spot: the director in a cinema audience, some Karen Greenlee artwork (the female necrophile interviewed in ‘Apocalypse Culture’), a Jelinski gravestone in the cemetery and a statue of a girl leading a monkey that curiously echoes the posture of the couple walking past it.

It may be slicker and prettier than the original, but the feel remains the same. Buttgereit & Jelinski basically don’t give a damn about their films finding an audience, and make the films THEY want – in these days, where the horror film is becoming ever more sanitised, ‘Nekromantik 2’ is a brave antidote to the waves of carefully researched Hollywood products. B+.

Deep inside the Victoria & Albert Museum, amid the stark booty of marble and stone plundered from around the globe, lies ‘Visions of Japan’. The exhibition is composed of three rooms: each a movement in a powerful symphony of experience, each truly Japanese at the core.

Room One, COSMOS, by Kazuhiro Ishii.
Watchwords: Tranquility, Peace.

The symphony starts with a cool and soft tinkling of Koto music, and the smell of clean, fresh pine. Grids of wood stretch out along the walls, framing the massive Jodo-bashira pillar in the foreground. Behind the grids, invisible birds sing, and water flows in harmony. With a natural ease, the music swells and the pillar rotates, sweeping past the tattooed man and the fibre-optic Buddha. All then is silence, under the watchful eye of the master of the Pure Land. Amida Buddha himself stays half-hidden, behind the pinewood, glimpsed through holes barely finger-wide. We are boxed out…perhaos too gaijin for him. Past the muslin shrouded hearse, to the folding tea-house which parts like an origami flower when your back is turned.

Room Two, CHAOS, by Osamu Ishiyama.
Watchwords: Intensity, Overload.

The new movement begins in a blare of teeny-bop rock. This is the present, smelling of cherry blossom, and icon-driven. Select: GODZILLA. And there he is, forty stories tall with bad breath and a skin condition. He stands locked in a grimacing contest with Ghidrah of the three heads, picking his teeth with a plate glas window, stomping on a Tokyo made of plastic and computer circuits. Tesselated manga line the walls under gales of fishermen’s flags, leading you into a maze built from vending machines and car chassis, draped with fake garlands of leaves. Everything dispensers line the streets, straddled by Mr. Safety robots, ever waving their flags like cybernetic cheerleaders. Video games, karaoke and the Thundering Gate surround you, dwarfed by the Fuji-capped Sound Shrine, which roars Tokyo noises at you if you dare to spin the brass wheels. Between the shrines and the Shinto gates, fortunes lie in little numbered boxes, ready to be told. The wooden Gods wait to play oracle, but it’s third time lucky for me. I leave with a can of coffee, three brands of Sapporo, a not-so-good fortune and a high score on Gradius.

Room three, DREAMS, by Toya Ito.
Watchwords: Data, Totality.

Amd the final sonata in synthiKoto. This bare hall of plastic become a shrine to information, prominences of data rising and falling like solar flares. It is a digital urbana, a kazume world. The active air carries the shockwaves of facts, ongoing, unstoppable, relentless and engulfing. It is a voyage into cyberspace, a trip roaming across a digital metropolis. Reality fades like dead TV static.

“Visions of Japan” continues until the 5th of January, 1992.

Jim Swallow