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This November on Arrow Video Channel: the exclusive premiere of The El Duce Tapes, the weird and wild films of William Grefé, Ban This Sick Filth! and so much more!
Arrow Video Channel is the passion-driven film platform giving film fans the opportunity to watch a curated selection of movies that the Arrow Video brand is famous for.
On November 2nd, the Arrow Video Channelis premiering the insane, astounding new music documentary The El Duce Tapes, as well as an unmissable selection of brand new additions to the channel.
Directed by Rodney Ascher and David Lawrence, with interviews directed by Ryan Sexton, The El Duce Tapes is a unique, outrageous portrait of a controversial, legendary underground the self-styled “King of Sleaze”, described on American national television as a ‘disgusting pervert’, a hugely divisive, troubled figure who was a skilled musician and prescient provocateur.
In the early 90s, aspiring filmmaker (and General Hospital co-star) Ryan Sexton lugged a giant camcorder into some of the seediest clubs and filthiest apartments in Hollywood. There he filmed hour upon hour of VHS footage of the jaw-droppingly offensive Shock Rock band The Mentors, focusing on their infamous lead singer, “El Duce.”
30 years later, the team behind The Nightmare and Room 237 and the editor of Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on the Exorcist uncover this dusty stockpile of long forgotten – and unseen – footage. They begin to piece together a picture of the man under the black executioner’s hood and what his wilfully offensive act and controversial views might tell us about 21st Century America.
From the very opening scene, The El Duce Tapes is uncomfortable, but utterly riveting viewing, an extraordinary glimpse into a very curious and disturbing corner of music history that, as Sight & Sound says, “leads right to the present day”. Strange, savage and unsettling, the film that John Carpenter calls “dark and irresistible” stands alongside American documentary classics like Crumb, Dig!, American Movie, Hated and The Devil and Daniel Johnston.
Since the world premiere at the Hot Docs International Documentary Festival, The El Duce Tapes have provoked strong, often contradictory feelings. CineVue called the footage “One of the best music docs to come along in a while” while The Last Thing I See hailed it as “by turns powerful and harrowing and disgusting and stomach churning.” Flickering Myth highlighted the “treasure trove of recently-unearthed VHS footage” while admitting “some will simply find El Duce and his music too repulsive to entertain, yet this deftly-edited doc provides a comprehensive account of the man, while underlining our own tirelessly complicit thirst for controversy”.
In addition to streaming on ARROW and a Blu-ray release, The El Duce Tapes will also be unleashed on Limited Edition VHS November 2 in partnership with Witterentertainment.com and Broken Horror Fan.
Also showing on the Arrow Video Channel from November 2nd:
BAN THIS SICK FILTH! COLLECTION
Throughout November, subscribers can experience a rotating collection of some of the most controversial films ever committed to celluloid, including the eye popping, X-rated extravaganza of depravity We Are The Flesh, the erotic antholgy Orgies of Edo, the Hell hath no fury intensity of The Woman and the jaw-dropping nappy-shredding manchild madness of The Baby. Watch at your own risk, repent at leisure!
THE VILLAINESS (UK)
Exploding onto the screen in a kinetic flurry of hyper-stylised action, The Villainess is a stunning vengeance film that draws its inspiration from western classics including Nikita andKill Bill. Deliriously indulging in the excesses of South Korean action, this is a visionary new take on the neo-noir genre and an incredible thrill ride not to be missed.
HE CAME FROM THE SWAMP: THE WILLIAM GREFÉ COLLECTION (UK/US/CA)
In an Arrow Exclusive, plunge into the wild, weird world of William “Wild Bill” Grefé, the maverick filmmaker who braved the deep, dark depths of the Florida everglades to deliver some of the most outrageous exploitation fare ever to go-go dance its way across drive-in screens. You will encounter demented jellyfish men (Sting of Death), zombified witch doctors (Death Curse of Tartu), homicidal hippies (The Hooked Generation) and seductive matrons (The Naked Zoo) – not to mention the ubiquitous go-go dancing college kids, in one of the most wildly entertaining collections of cult oddities of all time!
Showing from November 9th:
BURST CITY (UK/US/CA)
An explosive Molotov cocktail of dystopian sci-fi, Mad Max-style biker wars against yakuza gangsters and the police, and riotous performances from members of real-life Japanese punk bands, this extraordinary celebration of Japan’s punk music scene of the early 1980s is regularly cited as an early landmark in Japanese cyberpunk cinema.
BAN THIS SICK FILTH! PRESENTS: REBEL YELL (UK/US/CA)
The climactic roar of “Don’t fuck with me!” in Burst City perfectly encapsulates the angry howl of youth in revolt against the establishment that has echoed across generation after generation. Rebel Yell is a season of ARROW films that celebrate the rebel and the ever-identifiable need to go your own way, be yourself, find your people, or just let loose a cathartic scream. Including titles such as Deadbeat at Dawn, Teenage Yakuza and more.
Showing from November 13th:
BAN THIS SICK FILTH! PRESENTS: RENEGADE WOMEN
Women who dared to be different. They defy the humdrum monotony of the status quo and challenge expectations. From riot grrrls to kick-ass queens, these women smashed the glass ceiling to disobey, disrupt and do things their own way. Including titles such as Season of the Witch, She-Devils on Wheels and Blind Woman’s Curse.
BAN THIS SICK FILTH PRESENTS: EFFED UP FAMILIES
‘They eff you up, your mum and dad’ – so said the esteemed poet Philip Larkin, who had no doubt been binge-watching some dysfunctional-family horror flicks, like Magnum Force director Ted Post’s indescribably disturbing man-child melodrama from the Seventies, The Baby; Wes Craven’s cannibal classic The Hills Have Eyes, featuring a cave-dwelling clan snacking on passing tourists; or Toys Are Not For Children, a sordid sliver of daddy-issues horror from the American drive-in circuit. Effed Up Families, includes all these and many more, including Russian dad-from-hell comedy Why Don’t You Just Die!, Eighties Freudian vengeance slasher Blood Rage, and José Ramón Larraz’s claustrophobic, erotic psychodrama Whirlpool. It’s fun for all the family, ARROW style!
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❉ News source: Justin Cook PR (US) | Fetch Publicity (UK)
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