Thursday, June 09, 2016

Beyond Naschy Special - Video Watchdog and Jess Franco!


This month we bring you a special episode of the show. If you've listened to many of our shows you will have heard us mention the magazine Video Watchdog in reference to something or some movie. Both Troy and I have been readers of the 'Perfectionist's Guide to Fantastic Video' for decades now and each issue brings new delights. The depth and breadth of the coverage in the pages of this digest sized joy is incredible. Several years ago we met duo behind the magazine and became great friends  resulting in many fun evenings of movie (and music) discussion that often saw the sun rise before we called things to a halt. Call them publishers, editors, writers, film historians or just great folks Tim and Donna Lucas are two of the nicest people in the world and we're proud to bring you a chance to sit in on a conversation with each of them. First up, Donna takes the opportunity to explain the details of Video Watchdog's move to the digital world. Luckily this does not mean the end of the print version of VW (Thank the stars!) but the bells and whistles added to the online versions of each issue are astonishing. And proving just how nice a lady she is, Donna let's you in on an amazing deal - By using coupon code PODCAST at the Video Watchdog online store checkout you receive 50% off the Digital Archive (176 issues) until December 31, 2016. That's right! For the rest of this year you can grab the VW Digital Archive for half off the (already low) digital price! And did I mention that each new issue is online to read free for the first two months after it's published for FREE! Amazing. So go check out the latest issue online and see what's going on! The current issue has tons of reviews and a huge article on Carmilla and the various screen adaptations of that classic female vampire tale.


Longtime listeners will know that back in 2011 I got Tim Lucas to sit down for a couple of chats about Naschy's films resulting in some great discussion. I still think his defense of several aspects of BEAST AND THE MAGIC SWORD are eye opening and it is just such differing, knowledgeable opinions that I want when talking about genre film. Of course, Tim is one of the top genre film writers working today and his recent awards for his Mario Bava commentary tracks show that his skills translate from page to audio very well. Here we spend some time discussing several Jess Franco films and a few of their variations. Movies we touch on include THE OBSCENE MIRROR and it's non-porn Spanish language version THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MIRROR, FURY IN THE TROPICS, THE DIABOLICAL DOCTOR Z, THE EROTIC RITES OF FRANKENSTEIN and Franco's two Fu Manchu films. I think that in my excitement I may have babbled too much but just listen in for the pearls of insight and wisdom Tim brings to the table and it will all even out! I hope!





Here are the links to take advantage of the Video Watchdog Digital Archive Sale and look over the newest issue for free!


Use coupon code PODCAST at checkout to receive 50% off the Digital Archive (176 issues) until December 31, 2016.

Digital Editions: http://www.videowatchdog.com/home/digital/library.html

Free Issue:  http://videowatchdog.com/vw

Free Keeper Issue: http://videowatchdog.com/home/digital/keeper

Digital 'Dog Blog:  http://vwdigitaldog.blogspot.com/

Link to the Naschy Cast page in VW 175: http://content.yudu.com/A2idht/current/resources/94.htm

Video Watchdog Website: www.videowatchdog.com


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Other Side of the Mirror is such a beautiful film! I like to see it as the down-to-earth psychological drama counterpart of A Virgin Among the Living Dead. What's interesting is the original script title is "Through the Looking Glass". Coincidentally, Jonas Middleton's surreal Golden Age porn film of the same name shares similar themes to this film. You make a very good point about viewers needing to bring themselves into the film rather than expecting to be entertained. I know some people found it boring because they expected it to be a giallo/horror or they expected to be blown away from what is sometimes considered Franco's masterpiece.

The Italian version of The Obscene Mirror is essentially a shorter hardcore edit of the French version with many story scenes cut out. The French version includes the funeral, the music performance, a small part of the recital, and the phone conversation has been reedited so that the aunt reveals that the father committed suicide while Annette was away (which explains his absence in the finale). While The Obscene Mirror is less convincing than the original, I love André Bénichou's melancholy replacement score (I noticed you used Miroir-Bossa!) which works perfectly with this re-edit.

I'm really sad to hear of Emma Cohen's recent passing. She was an amazing artist and one of the best actresses Franco ever worked with.

Rod Barnett said...

Thank you Terence for the feedback. I was completely unaware of this Jonas Middleton film of the same name - indeed, had never heard of Middleton until your comment. My knowledge of classic porn is extremely limited.

And thank you for the kind words about the podcast as well. Feeling my way through my reactions to Franco's work has, for years, felt like a surrealistic journey with no end (which is a good thing) and I wanted to try to get across what I've learned about enjoying his work. I still don't know if my experience will help a newcomer but I had Tim's writings to guide me a bit and I hope this show might pull some others into the fold as well.

And yes - I love the score to The Obscene Mirror. I was thrilled to find it and be able to use some for the show.