Shameless Promotion Alert: 5 Mins After Midnight

Hello GUTS fans and new readers thanks for visiting, please check out this new podcast my best pal Bobby Hazzard and I just started all about our favorite movie Trick or Treat and subject: Heavy Metal music. We go really in depth, 5 Mins at a time on this film and sometimes it could take up to an hour and change. I was originally inspired by my old friend Brett Stillo who does a 5 mins of Big Trouble in Little China podcast. Since Bobby and I are big metal nerds, I figured we should talk about one of our favorite movies. Please subscribe and support 5 MINS AFTER MIDNIGHT. Thanks to Jeano Coffinberry for the artwork below. Thanks to Sammicurr.com and Fangoria for all the resources.

 Here's the FB Fanclub link.

 Download the Episodes here.

DEEP RED CATALOG LIST

Toe Tag Joe tape that William Wilson of Videojunkies alerted me to.

This is just a promo post for those not on all the social media brain tendrils bullshit circuit (aka smart people). I added practically all 507 titles of the bootleg catalog for everyone to enjoy and seek out. There are a few I couldn't figure out how to add like Endurance (which is available here), the comp tapes that only Skunkape can find, the real autopsy videos and The Devil (Hong Kong 1981). We'll be back with the usually wackiness in a few days, in the mean time check out this list!
https://letterboxd.com/goofygrapeape/list/list-of-films-in-deep-red-bootleg-catalog/

Obvious Men Behind The Sun fan.

TOG NEEDS WRITERS

Over the years we've had many writers go through the revolving door here at the Theater of Guts compound/ satanic temple, rumpus room and lounge but they've all moved onto other things or maybe they lost the building key, who knows?

At any rate, we need fresh blood, so my pals over at http://www.moviejawn.com/ , a wonderful print and online zine I write for have agreed to help me recruit some damn good film critic snobs to tackle anything we haven't covered about Chas Balun's VHS bootleg catalog. The categories went from American Trash, Cat 3, Italian Horror, Emanuelles, Japanese Horror, Hong Kong Action, even Troma stuff like Combat Shock and unrated Class of Nuke Em High. 

What's that you say, you have no idea what that is? Chas Balun was the 90's version of Lester Bangs, only instead of trashing records and hobnobbing with punk celebs, he gave so much to the horror community, by supplying them with uncut copies of rare, unseen foreign horror in an age rife with hypocrisy and censorship (which we're rapidly returning too sadly). He offered films like Nekromantik, The Beyond and Last House on Dead End Street on a dubbed videotape for a small price and waxed nostalgia like in his brilliant magazine Deep Red, which this site is a tribute to. There's also gonna be a resurrection of said zine coming soon in the future.

WE DO! WE DO!

Here's how it goes, you pick a film that you think fits in the realm of sleaze, gore, trash anything that would've been mentioned in the pages of Deep Red or sold as a bootleg. Vhs nostalgia nerds are welcome here. Hell, even Criterion smut like Salo and The Sweet Movie is fair game. 

Just message Erok Hellhammer (aka Crankenstein) on FB and he will set you up with a list of what's been covered and not covered and a film link or mp4. For example the movie Dr. Gore is one that we need reviewed. So please get in touch.

MESSAGE EROK

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Nekromantik 2

Nekromantik 2. Directed By Jorg Buttgereit, Starring Monika M. (1991).

There are a couple of things I noticed first hand while watching this film after successfully avoiding it for years. It's downright classy and yet all the scum and filth is now under a microscope for you to masturbate too--ahem--I mean see clearly, no longer is it able to hide in the grime of super 8 blown up to the next film stock level. There's more women this time around and even thought they perform repulsive, vomit inducing acts, they all look stunning. Monika M. takes over for the previous corpse fornicator Beatrice, whom we see for a few minutes but she doesn't want to be a third wheel and bails.

It's over, you laid a rancid beefncheeser after that Arby's pig out session!

I liked how in this film there's a lot of thrift store nic nacs (like a 60's Fred Flintstone bank, a naked lady toilet paper holder), it's kitschy and the same kind of garbage I collect. Buttgereit is injecting humor this time around, (even though I still found that cum squirting papier mache suicide penis from the previous movie pretty hilarious, but I'm in the minority).

Available at the finer Ross Dress for Less establishments.

There's an emphasis on the Rom part as opposed to the Nekro, but rotting corpse fans still have lots of eye candy to chew on. Monika M. is the main protagonist wrestling with her revolting obsession to grind the rigor mortis out of the excruciatingly green, slimy dead body of Rob, (Daktari Lorenz's character from the 1st film). She is a major fan of his and even has his suicide headline tacked on her wall!

Mark (Mark Reeder), a dude who does noises for porn flix crosses paths with Monika at a movie premiere, which even has a Hitchcockian cameo by Jorg himself! There's a wacky parody of My Dinner With Andre that was on a Mighty Boosh level of goofiness. Reeder directed a Berlin punk documentary called B-Movie: Lust & Sound in West Berlin, which has a cavalcade of stars, including Blixa Bargeld, Nick Cave, David Hasselhoff and even the late David Bowie!

Holy Shit, Ladies and Gentlemen here comes "The Hoff" to sing this Einsturzen cover of "Dah Dah Dah"!

The new found couple have a fun time eating soft boiled eggs, riding a Ferris wheel-- you know typical date stuff! Critics have bitched about the pacing, and by that, I mean people on IMDb who can't figure out how to spell properly! Sheesh! R.I.P. film criticism!

So, Monika gets out her baby saw, yellow kitchen gloves and starts cutting up the dead corpse of Rob. I guess she already got her rocks off and wants this used up sex toy out of the apartment, I mean it's embarrassing already!

God! For a nurse, she seems to be pulling in a lot of hard work off the clock at least the girl in the first film had time to relax with a nice "Countess Bathory style red bath! "Calgon, Take Me Away!" I mean just watching her saw off that pustule, decomposing head looks like grudge work, that's the part on Dexter they make look effortless! My favorite part is how she actually puts Cling wrap on the stumpy, shriveled black rotten penis (what is she saving it for later--why not, it's the weekend)!

I just can't quit you Miles Davis and I hope these spaghetti sauce stains come out.

When Slayer wrote "Necrophiliac", I highly doubt they imagined a foxy babe that's dissatisfied with fucking the living. I was thinking this could be the subject of the next "50 Shades" movie, I mean isn't that what this new scary version of mainstream America wants?

There's a super tripped out piano song that's just what I was thinking "Love Me Deadly" needed!

The relationship dynamics are pretty intelligent, even if they are hardly noticed by Mondo snuff, Faces of Death fanatics craving their next shock value injection. 

One vile scene, which Skunkape explained to me, shows adorable seals that were butchered and mutilated, but apparently they were about to die and Buttgereit used this for shock value as he did with the skinned rabbits from the original film. During this part I'd image Crazy Ernie, the seal clubbing car salesmen from UHF would jerk off to this scene. This horrendous tape is used as a passive aggressive jab at us the audience and the boyfriend character, it's forcing us to come to terms with what we find arousing versus repugnant. It's mean spirited but necessary, especially aimed at gorehounds who connect snuff, porn and typical slashers as all in the same league.

I give Jorg all the credit, he does a great job and this is a lot better sequel than I expected. I think this one was worth the wait. The first time I became aware of this film was through Deep Red Alert #1, which came out the summer I entered high school and yes, I was attracted to the naked babe sitting atop of the grisly fetid looking dead fucker. It's the same reaction I'd imagine the grindhouse going crowd watched the 40s exploitation Kroger Bab flick Mom and Dad and focused on the vagina erupting a human baby and ignored the spewing liquids and shrieking mouth, they just zoomed in on the surrounding pubic area. OK now I'm officially disgusted with myself thanks a lot Jorg! I'm confident that's the reaction he was driving for, nice work!

SHAMELESS PROMOTION ALERT! Graham Rae was kind enough to mention TOG in the Nekromantik comic book, which is available from https://www.facebook.com/weissblechcomics/. All you have to do is message them and paypal the money, it's totally easy, go order one now.

NEKRO 2 IS STOMACH CHURNING AND THOUGHT PROVOKING AT THE SAME TIME. I'M GLAD, IT'S NOT PRESENTED IN ODORAMA!

Shameless promotion alert: TOG Media conglomerate uprising

OK, so those familiar with one of my all time fav t-shirt dealers of Redbubble should know I've partnered up with Loogyhead (he has a new name but all you need to know is that he's talented and can churn out the goods). We've got a few designs now for that spring weather coming up, so be a fashionite with our new Gates of Hell vomits up our logo design right here, Whattya gonna spend your money on anyhow more toilet seats? Get buying sos we can trek on down to the dispensary or the beer store and get more inebriated. Thanks for all the support sincerely Bartles and James. BUY OR DIE RIGHT HERE

for those not familiar here's loogys other redbubble shirt pages.

SHAMELESS PROMOTION ALERT: Support Liquid Cheese

Let me take this long overdue time to promote one of the best print zines currently out there by sometime contributor and all around genius writer, creator and fascinating dude Dave Kosanke for mentioning TOG in the pages of his wonderful magazine Liquid Cheese. I've been hooked lately on that mag and bought a couple of issues and so should you! Here's the link http://liquidcheesefanzine.storenvy.com/products/18075248-liquid-cheese-42. In practically every issue there's artwork by Rick Melton one of the most insanely talented artists working today. My favorite aspect is the dirt on Cinema Wasteland, because I've never been to any horror convention or comic con for that matter and wonder what goes on there, who's cool, who's a dick whatever goes down is discussed and it's always a laugh riot! Kosanke was also featured in the legendary Xerox Ferox book (which everyone should own a copy of). He also has a vintage porn zine called T.O.S.S. that's brilliant and you can just tell he genuinely cares and loves this shit as much as we do.

Melton's Blood Sucking Freaks artwork almost makes it look dignified!

Black Friday is coming up and you know you don't want to get trampled to death Wal-Mart/ Pete Townsend style, it's better to live another day to fight against fascism! We all love you Dave and print is still king, because facts and research will always outweigh blogs and making up bullshit weekly world news style! That is all for this commercial. BUY OR DIE!

Unsung Heroes Book by Eric McNaughton

Unsung Horrors edited by Eric McNaughton and Darrell Buxton, with a foreward by Joe Dante. (2016)

Mike Hauss, Monster/ TOG film critic extraordinaire hooked me up again with a reviewer copy for this follow up by Eric McNaughton to his excellent 70’s Monster Memories, which was tackled a year ago. If you dig the Paxton/ Fenton zine Monster and who doesn't, it's almost as popular as vaping, maybe more and doesn't cause sterility or popcorn lung! Then you'll definitely chip a tooth over We Belong Dead (http://webelongdeadofficial.blogspot.co.uk/) a UK based magazine that offers a PDF that's compatible for various formats like Kindle.

Fellow "Monster Historian or Monstorian" Mike Hauss is a swell guy and I like to think of him as the most reliable dude in terms of delivering a hilarious diatribe on a trash flick and we kind of share the same brain at times because our opinions are very in tune. When most of my writers are dealing with brain block, kids and families eating up their time it’s nice to count on someone that can deliver the goods!

At first glance of the cover for this book, I was hooked on that cover art by Paul Garner, it’s a total knockout, I love seeing Orca, Blackula and Winslow Leach hanging out together! Hauss kicks off this phantasmagoric ocular feast with a Giallo called SEVEN DEAD IN THE CAT’S EYE, a genre that I normally can’t stay awake during, but I may just fire up some high octane java and give it a whirl after this endorsement!

Joe Dante gives an informative and amusing forward, he knows his shit of course and is a huge influence on practically everyone in the horror genre, we're obviously big fans or Trailers from Hell, so much that we parodied the name for Skunkape's Youtube page (click the skunkape icon on the side for the link). We get rave reviews for some tepid stuff like THE ASPYX, featuring Jesus of Nazareth himself Brit actor Robert Powell and William Castle’s feline frying insect swan song BUG, which I just saw a few weeks ago.
These critics do a fine job of expressing how enthusiastic they are, without condemning each movie's weaknesses, to entice the reader to check them out on their own and I think that's fair. Psychotronic’s Mike Weldon used that method and you knew what he didn’t want to give the time of day or what he raved about.

SSSSSSS had a traumatic effect on my childhood, I saw it on channel 5 in NY during their legendary Creature Feature weeks along with another reptile on the loose classic ALLIGATOR.

Shit! I've fallen and I can't get up do I call pest control or the hospital? 

I like the hodgepodge of Euro choices, French, Japanese, Italian and the UK are represented and had I picked this book up as a youngster, I would’ve been influenced to seek out these hard to find movies. There’s some really great poster art and the design of the book is almost intoxicating with its vivid colors. One of my favorite witch burning flicks INQUISITION is reviewed by Keiran Fisher, it’s one of the best in the Spaniard Wolfman’s collection and one of his early works that I'm very fond of.

David Dent even surprised me with a rare unheard of flick called CHOSEN SURVIVORS, which I plan on checking out very soon. Clocking in at almost 500 pages, this is an essential reference guide that is league with most beloved dog eared texts out there and has many films that even the most jaded viewer could learn something from. Highly recommended and a lot of fun to read!

Special thanks to Eric Naughton and Steve Kirkham for providing me with this PDF.