Monday 9 September 2019

Double Date


d. Benjamin Barfoot; w. Danny Morgan; p. Maggie Monteith, Matthew James Wilkinson; cast: Danny Morgan, Georgia Groome, Michael Socha, Kelly Wenham, Dexter Fletcher, Robert Glenister, Rosie Cavaliero, James Swanton

Very, very funny – but also enjoyably gory – Barfoot’s debut benefits from crisp direction and a quartet of solid performances. On his 30th birthday, virginal ginger nice guy Jim goes out clubbing with vampishly glam Lulu and her pretty sister Kitty. Making up the foursome is Jim’s disreputable friend/mentor Alex (the always reliable Socha on absolutely top form). We know from an effective splash panel prologue that the sisters are psycho witch bitches, which Jim and Alex discover in a terrific third act back at the girl’s massive country house. The Lulu/Alex fight is a masterpiece of comic, bloody action, and Swanton (Frankenstein’s Creature) turns up under heavy make-up as the reason behind all this. Middle act visits to Jim’s happy-clappy Christian family and Alex’s trailer park dad (Fletcher, killing it as usual) provide characterisation and context, while also driving the plot. Shot in London in 2016, this premiered in Edinburgh in June 2017 and should not be missed. Available now on digital, DVD and Blu-ray.

Wednesday 4 September 2019

Enjoy Richard Driscoll's unfinished new website

Richard Driscoll doesn’t have a new film out – but he does have a new website: https://dragonstudios.biz

DRagon is the company he created to release Grindhouse Nightmares – and yes, it is supposed to have two capitals letters. That’s not a typical Driscoll typo, but it is a typical Driscoll idiosyncrasy.

To be fair to the man, the site is not finished yet and still contains some dummy text. Also the Facebook and YouTube icons at the bottom of each page actually point to the social media of this fitness coach.

There’s some stuff on here about Conjuring: The Book of the Dead (“based on M R James book Casting the Runes”) which is the latest incarnation of what used to be The Raven Part 2 and has been called many, many things since then. The Conjuring trailer is just a YouTube placeholder but fear not, Dicky-fans, because the actual trailer is on Vimeo, with lots of previously unseen stuff.

Also listed, rather oddly, is Ossidio Assonitis’ The Devil Within Her, which presumably Driscoll has bought the rights to (or think he has bought the rights to). It’s an odd choice. Then there’s Eldorado, Grindhouse Nightmares (under its original title Grindhouse 2wo), Kannibal, Legend of Harrow Woods and three Linnea Quigley-hosted clips shows: Sexploitation, World of Kung Fu and Hollywood Celebrities Exposed.

Best of all is news on a potentially brand new Driscoll feature. What’s that film coming to cinemas in a few weeks? Joker? Well then, Tricky Dicky Risk-All has to bring us… Jester!

This is the story of 2 men from different sides of the street. The first is Arthur Nemski a Youtube blogger and corner shop worker from a normal background who is dragged into a world of vice and murder. Arthur is beaten and bruised when he stumbles into the world after delivering a bag of groceries. Arthur knows nothing about what is to become of him and his alter ego the JESTER.

Next is disgruntled Police Detective Frank McMillan, who decides to take the law into his own hands after the death of his partner. Frank decides to retire from the New York Police Department and transform into The BLACK KNIGHT a Batman style vigilante hero to enforce his own type of law.

The Black Knight was a working title of what became Assassin’s Revenge which included a Joker rip-off character so presumably the two films will share some content. Or not.

(Incidentally there’s no mention on the site of Assassin’s Revenge or Driscoll’s mooted motor sport biopic Born 2 Race though you can watch a trailer for that here. Nor of his oops-too-late Tarantino rip-off concept Once Upon a Time in Hollyweird.)

All the above will allegedly be available online, via the website, from November. It’s ‘DRagon Online Cinema’ and I’m not holding my breath for it. There’s a bunch of other goodies on the site which I’ll let you explore for yourselves, but do please remember that (a) it’s not finished yet, and (b) lorem ipsum dolor. Richie still has to cross the Is and dot the Ts.

As far as I can tell, DRagon Film Studios has no connection with the existing film-making facility Dragon International Film Studios.