Mockbuster (2026)

“Hugely Entertaining Look at Making Movies for The Asylum”

It’s highly likely that everyone visiting this site will have seen at least one movie made by American ultra low budget exploitation outfit The Asylum (“We make shitty movies for people with bad taste. And alcoholics.”). Highlights include ABRAHAM LINCOLN VS ZOMBIES, MEGA SHARK VS GIANT OCTOPUS and the entire SHARKNADO series. But what’s it like to direct one of these hastily shot, cobbled together pieces of trashy cinema? To work with stars like Michael Paré or Eric Roberts? And to do it all within the allotted shooting schedule of six days?

Well that’s what MOCKBUSTER, which is getting a Digital release from Miracle Media, is all about. Film-maker Anthony Frith, who up until the point of starting this project had basically only made corporate training films and silly YouTube videos, decided to film his journey when he applied to The Asylum to direct a movie. And they said yes.

The extra element here is that Anthony wasn’t based in Hollywood but in Australia, and when the studio okayed his project it was up to him to find a cast and crew all by himself while still waiting for a script to turn up and with very little prep time. What MOCKBUSTER does is follow his progress through production ‘conferences’ (often taking place on a park bench), casting, script read throughs and the shooting of the movie - an extremely loose and not at all faithful version of the Edgar Rice Burroughs classic THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT. 

Full marks are due to Mr Frith who, as well as weathering the storm of insane low budget film-making, also managed to make an impressively entertaining documentary about the whole experience. Even of you’ve never seen an Asylum movie, and if you never have any intention of doing so, MOCKBUSTER provides a fascinating, valuable and above all highly enjoyable look at movie-making that’s decidedly outside the mainstream. Absolutely worth a look if you have any interest in how movies are made. Here’s the trailer:

Anthony Frith’s MOCKBUSTER is out on Digital from Miracle Media on Monday 27th July 2026

The House of Hammer: Volume One (2026)

 

        As well as bringing out their own output in 4K editions in lavish box sets, and providing some much-needed releases for some of the other British horror movies made during Hammer’s heyday, the Hammer label is now also venturing into ‘video magazine’ territory. From this initial ‘issue’, The House of Hammer looks as if it promises to be an ongoing series that will collect documentaries, talking head pieces, short films and other bits and pieces that either work better outside of being attached to a formal Blu-ray movie release, or possibly got missed off previous discs, about which more later. This first volume consists of two Blu-ray discs and a 120 page book, along with the usual luxury packaging. So let’s take a look at what we get:

Disc One

The centrepiece (and very much the highlight) of the first disc is the first part of Masques, Monsters and Madmen, what promises to be a lengthy (part one runs 111 minutes) documentary on the history of American International Pictures . Director John Hamilton has assembled quite the collection of experts (including himself) to talk about the company, and these include Jonathan Rigby, Steve Haberman, Chris Alexander, Heidi Honeycutt, Richard Klemensen, Bruce G Hallenbeck and David Pirie. Of course any history of AIP is going to have a major Vincent Price element so its good to see both Vincent’s daughter Victoria and Keeper of the Sacred Flame Peter Fuller in here too. The documentary is divided into three parts: ‘The Drive-In Empire’, ‘Made in Britain’ and ‘The American Invasion’ and covers AIP’s beginnings, their Poe cycle of movies, and there’s welcome emphasis on the relationships between AIP and UK companies Anglo Amalgamated and Tigon. In fact that’s where we cut off this time around, with discussion of WITCHFINDER GENERAL and THE HAUNTED HOUSE OF HORROR but the documentary stopping short of THE OBLONG BOX.

Also on disc one is The Land Demands Blood, a 38 minute piece about Cornwall and featuring interviews with film-makers and writers all with Cornish links, including Mark Jenkin (BAIT, ENYS MEN, ROSE OF NEVADA). It’s divided into four parts with part three looking at Hammer’s PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES and THE REPTILE.

Finally for new material we get Off the Leash, a 45 minute piece from Jonathan Rigby looking at the career of Michael Gough. The disc is rounded out with Ticket to Happiness, a 30 minute obscure Hammer short written and directed by Peter Bryan and starring Michael Goodliffe and Charles Lloyd Pack, and a collection of lobby cards from STOLEN FACE that were missed off the 4K release of that film.

Disc Two

Disc two kicks off with a decent thumbnail summary of the history of film censorship both in the US (Chris Alexander, Heidi Honeycutt, John Logan) and the UK (Jonathan Rigby, John Hamilton and David Pirie). Do you know what the ‘X’ stood for in the UK certification? Find out here. That’s followed by Making Monsters, a 39 minute interview with special effects artists Dave and Lou Elsey who have worked on numerous big budget Hollywood projects, often influenced by the classic horrors of old. My favourite story was how they wanted a CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF look to one of the lycanthropes in Joe Johnston’s 2010 THE WOLFMAN.

After that is the highlight of disc two for film music fans as David Huckvale spends 39 minutes looking in some detail at the scores for Harry Robinson’s TWINS OF EVIL and James Bernard’s CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN and DRACULA, with some choice bits from THE MUMMY’S SHROUD, THE DEVIL RIDES OUT and THE MUMMY in there, too. 

To tie in with this first issues’s AIP theme there’s the archival Roger Corman at FoFF (37 minutes), recorded in 1995 and featuring Roger providing an introduction to two of his black and white pictures, taking part in a panel that also features Norman J Warren and Robin Hardy, and finally being interviewed by Stephen Laws. 

We finish off with the Q&A panel from the CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN restoration premiere from last year in which surviving star Melvyn Hayes was joined on stage by Kim Newman, Wayne Kinsey, David Pirie and Lucy Bolton. And as a tiny epilogue there’s the UK trailer for QUATERMASS II in which Valentine Dyall urges you to ‘Run!’ in his fruity voice.

The set also includes a 120 page book which wasn’t provided for review but which will apparently contain essays on the making of CRY OF THE BANSHEE, Caralan Productions, and more AIP. Overall, how much this set is going to appeal to the average buyer is difficult to say, because on the downside, and with the absence of any kind of ‘host’ to what is essentially a video magazine, (and with not even some explanation or curation on the menu pages), it could also be described as a collection of Blu-ray extras with no actual film to act as a thematic centrepiece. It’s all absolutely worthwhile stuff but at times it’s hard to shake off the feeling that quite a lot of it was intended to be included as extras on other discs, but there just wasn’t the time or space to do it. That said, the whole thing really is an impressive set of talking head and documentary pieces, and British horror obsessives are going to love it. 

The House of Hammer: Volume One is out in a two disc Blu-ray set from Hammer Films on Monday 15th June 2026

Like Tears in Rain (2025)

"A Fitting Tribute to a Fine Actor"

Sanna Fabery de Jonge's new documentary about her godfather Rutger Hauer is getting a digital release on Viaplay exclusively through Amazon Prime Video.

Throughout his adult life Rutger Hauer was obsessed with recording on film  everything that was happening around him, including behind the scenes on his motion picture projects. He kept all the tapes in a storage facility, where they were destroyed in a flood. However, after his death in 2019, a further box of long-unseen material was discovered at his home. de Jonge has combined this with interviews with some of the people Hauer worked with including directors Paul Verhoeven, Robert Rodriguez and Jason Eisener and actors Vincent d'Onofrio, Mickey Rourke, Whoopi Goldberg and Miranda Richardson to produce this tribute to Hauer the man. 

As such, it does its job very well indeed. In 80 minutes LIKE TEARS IN RAIN gives you a very rounded portrayal of Rutger Hauer, detailing his early life and career and going on to talk about his move to Hollywood. Don't expect detailed behind the scenes gossip of films like BLADE RUNNER or LADYHAWKE because that's not the point of this, although they are mentioned (you have to wait to the end for most of the talk about his role of Roy Batty in BLADE RUNNER which is fair enough). It is, however, a delight to see people like Paul Verhoeven talking at length about him with such affection, and you come away thinking Rutger Hauer might have been a very nice chap to know. Provided he liked you, that is. Here's the trailer:

LIKE TEARS IN RAIN is getting a digital release on Viaplay exclusively through Amazon Prime Video on Monday 10th March 2025

The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee (2024)

 

Currently showing on Sky Arts (after its UK premiere at London's Frightfest back in August), here we have a very well put together biographical documentary on one of the world's most famous film stars, and one whom horror film fans hold in a special place in their hearts.

Hosted by Lee "himself" (actually a marionette voiced quite convincingly by Peter Serafinowicz) we are led through the man's entire life, touching on his wartime exploits, his early years treading the boards and getting bit parts in movies, to his success at Hammer and beyond. 

With any Christopher Lee documentary there's always the question of how much of the running time should be devoted to his horror films (and especially his portrayal of Dracula). Writer-director Jon Spira manages a very good balancing act here, with a potted history of Lee's start at Hammer, his move to Europe in the early 1960s, and then his return to the UK. Aside from trailers, the only actual footage from a Dracula movie is SCARS OF DRACULA, presumably because that property is owned by Studio Canal and most of the others by Warners. It's enough though, and allows a decent amount of time to be devoted to Lee's subsequent 1970s Hollywood career, as well as his later starring roles in JINNAH, LORD OF THE RINGS, and the STAR WARS franchise and beyond. They even manage to fit in his Fu Manchu films and working with Jess Franco, meaning my only personal quibble would be omission of his involvement with Richard Lester's Musketeers movies, but you can't have everything. 

The film includes contributions from film directors Joe Dante, John Landis and Peter Jackson, producer Paul Maslansky, actors Caroline Munro and Harriet Walter (Lee's niece) and biographer Jonathan Rigby. Rather than a superficial puff piece (as they used to be called) THE LIFE AND DEATHS OF CHRISTOPHER LEE  comes across as a meticulously researched, well thought through piece of work that provides a fitting testament to an extremely talented man. Here's the trailer:

THE LIFE AND DEATHS OF CHRISTOPHER LEE premiered on Sky Arts on 24th October 2024

Hammer: Heroes, Legends and Monsters (2024)

 

To commemorate the 90th anniversary of Hammer Films, and following its big screen premiere at London's Cineworld in Leicester Square, HAMMER: HEROES, LEGENDS AND MONSTERS, a brand new documentary about one of the world's most famous film production companies, will be screened on Sky Arts, Freeview Channel 36 and Now on October 31st 2024.

Narrated by Charles Dance (a good choice), there won't be anything here that Hammer obsessives don't already know, but nevertheless, this is a well-presented history of Hammer Films with lots of interviews that include Hammer cast regulars Martine Beswick, Caroline Munro, and Madeline Smith. In a change from many documentaries Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, while mentioned, get less discussion time here to allow for profiles and anecdotes on more of the behind the scenes artists like Terence Fisher, Brian Clemens,  James Bernard, Jimmy Sangster, Anthony Hinds and Michael Carreras, the latter two to some extent via interview footage from previous BBC documentaries.

It's also great to see acknowledged Hammer experts Jonathan Rigby, Wayne Kinsey and David Pirie giving their thoughts, while the presence of Sarah Appleton will be a reminder to some of us that her late father (and another eminent author on British genre subjects), Denis Meikle, is sadly missing from this lineup of genre luminaries. Meanwhile, John Carpenter, John Landis, Joe Dante and Tim Burton (but no Martin Scorsese although I expect he was asked) are the directors who get to pay tribute to the studio. 

Quibbles? Well, the TV series Hammer House of Horror is only mentioned in passing, and Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense doesn't rate a mention at all. These may not have represented the pinnacle of Hammer production quality but they are important, not least because many of the people watching this will still be able to remember them. If there was a limited running time perhaps some of the stuff about the very early days could have been cut to make way for it. There's a very odd (and misjudged) bit of AI at the end that has justifiably put many people's backs up. All I can suggest is that you close your eyes when the tarot dealer takes off their hood

All in all, though, it's rather a delight to see HAMMER: HEROES, LEGENDS AND MONSTERS finding a place on a major TV broadcaster's schedule, not just because of its content but because it suggests that Hammer is very much a going concern and still in the public eye after all these years. It's a lovely way for fans old and new to spend just over 90 minutes.

HAMMER: HEROES, LEGENDS and MONSTERS will premiere on Sky Arts on Thursday 31st October 2024 

Werner Herzog: Radical Dreamer (2022)

"Fine Profile of a Living Legend"

Thomas von Steinaeker's documentary of the iconic German film-maker is getting a Blu-ray release from the BFI. 

It was always going to be difficult to provide a summary of the man and his work in 90 minutes, but von Steinaeker does an excellent job of getting Herzog himself to do most of the talking, taking us through important moments (and locations) from his childhood and then talking a little about most (but by no means all) of his films.

As such RADICAL DREAMER provides and excellent introduction to Herzog and his films, such that you don't really need to have any prior knowledge of him to enjoy this and find it supremely educational. You also don't necessarily even need to know who the other interview subjects are, but chances are you'll have heard of Robert Pattinson, Christian Bale and Nicole Kidman even if you're not so familiar with Wim Wenders or Volker Schlöndorff.

If you are a seasoned Herzog fan then you'll still find the above's comments providing fascinating insights. His relationship with Klaus Kinski is touched upon for long enough for anyone to take home the fact that Kinski frequently acted like a madman and that Herzog obviously did an excellent job of either controlling that madness, or throwing it straight back at him. Probably the best compliment RADICAL DREAMER can be given is that it had me checking my shelves to ensure my Herzog collection was complete because it's been too long since I've watched one of his movies.

Extras on the BFI's Blu-ray consist of an extra 15 minutes of interview footage, a gallery of poster art from Herzog films, and a trailer for the documentary. There's also THE COLONIST, a short film from Robert A Smith whom Herzog mentored. It's an atmospheric piece with some striking landscape visuals and filled with vivid colour and well worth spending ten minutes watching. The first pressing of the disc also comes with a booklet featuring new writing on Herzog. Here's a trailer:

WERNER HERZOG: RADICAL DREAMER is out on Blu-ray from the BFI on Monday 19th February 2024

Scala!!! (2023)

"A Joyous & Nostalgic Celebration of a Unique Cultural Entity"

Following on from the utterly gorgeous book published by FAB Press on the very same subject, Jane Giles and Ali Catterall's documentary on the iconic Scala cinema gets a Blu-ray and Digital release (full detail of platforms below) from the BFI.

It's a fascinating, well put-together documentary that chronicles, through first-hand reminiscences from a wide variety of interviewees, the rise and fall of the London cinema (eventually based at King's Cross) whose audience was almost as bizarre and eclectic as the films that were screened there. 

The only place you could see stuff like Curt McDowells' 1975 THUNDERCRACK, Russ Meyer retrospectives, and even Kubrick's A CLOCKWORK ORANGE in the UK (the illegal nature of which led to the cinema's undoing) I only attended the Scala twice in its heyday, for two of the Shock Around the Clock film festivals organised by Alan Jones and Stejan Jaworzyn, but I'm happy to testify that SCALA!!! really does convey the sticky, grungy, crazy atmosphere of what the place was like at that time. It was obviously loved by an awful lot of people and that love comes across in the 96 minute history we get of it here.

Extras include an extra hour of interview footage with the likes of Peter Strickland, Mary Harron, Douglas Hart, Kim Newman, Stewart Lee, Jane Giles and Stephen Woolley. Osbert Parker's animations and Davey Jones' cartoons for the documentary are also included in their entirety. There's the twelve minute London Film Festival introduction from programmer Jason Wood, in which he quite rightly states that all culture has value and  that something that means nothing to one person may mean the world to another, so don't be a snob. Wise words for us all to live by.

There's a short film included also called Scala, which is a 35 minute archival made for cable documentary, and you also get a four minute shot on video student film about the Scala in 1992. Three short 'Scala favourites' are also included - Relax (23 minutes), Flames of Passion (18 minutes) and Viv Albertine's Coping With Cupid (19 minutes). Cabinet of Curiosities is 18 minutes of curios from the cinema with narration by Jane Giles, who also talks us through 15 of the Scala's monthly programmes. Finally, Giles and Ali Catterall provide a commentary for the film.

The BFI's Blu-ray also comes with a booklet with original writing on the film from Jane Giles and Ali Catterall, plus even more memories from those who were there and a piece from Osbert Parker about his animations. Here's the trailer:

SCALA!!! is out on Blu-ray and on Digital on BFI Player, iTunes and Amazon Prime from Monday 22nd January 2024

Once Upon A Time in Uganda (2023)

"Utterly Charming and Loads of Fun"

Did you know there was a Ugandan exploitation film industry? Well, perhaps industry is overstating it seeing as the films that have been made so far are the work of one man - writer / director Isaac Nabwana. Now his career so far has been documented in this extremely entertaining and heartwarming documentary which is getting a release in Odeon Cinemas in September from Blue Finch.

Nabwana grew up with a love of Chuck Norris and Rambo-style action movies and refused to let the fact that he had no money or resources stop him from putting together movies like WHO KILLED CAPTAIN ALEX? THE UGANDAN EXPENDABLES, and EATEN ALIVE IN UGANDA. In his 'studio' pretty much the only thing not homemade is the camera he films with. The rest, including lighting rigs, gantries and any and all props and special effects are homemade, with the acting 'talent' being unpaid enthusiasts.

With few of his target audience owning DVD players and no chance of cinema distribution, many of Nabwana's films have gone straight to YouTube (where you can still find them). The film takes as its starting point the story of how a man from New York saw one of the trailers and was so taken by it that he sold everything to come to Uganda and help Nabwana (he ended up as his publicist and as an actor) make movies, culminating in Nabwana being a guest at the Toronto International Film Festival. 

        It's one of those 'man with no money fighting against the odds to realise his dream' stories and the ghetto in which he has created his life's work provides a harsh, but understated, backdrop to what is very much a heartwarming story that's a joy to watch from start to finish. Well worth watching and if you feel you have the stamina you can check out Isaac's films on YouTube afterwards. Here's the fantastically exuberant trailer:

ONCE UPON A TIME IN UGANDA is getting a cinema release through the Odeon circuit from Blue Finch on Tuesday 5th September 2023 which will also include a recorded Q&A with Isaac Nabwana

Stephen King On Screen (2023)

A new feature-length documentary about the screen adaptations of the works of Stephen King is getting a digital and Blu-ray release from Signature Entertainment. 

The film kicks off with a sequence whose intention is solely to incorporate as many references to King's work as possible (the end credits state 300!). King obsessives will doubtless have a lot of fun trying to spot them all while the casual viewer will wonder if they've rented the wrong film. Eventually, however, things settle down into what essentially consists of a series of interviews with directors and other technicians who have been involved with adapting King to the screen.

And that's the main criticism to be levelled at STEPHEN KING ON SCREEN, which is that there's zero in the way of analysis or criticism in here. A lot of movies made from Stephen King stories are pretty terrible and there would have been quite a bit to be made from an examination of exactly why. There's also pretty much zero about the challenge of adapting his work for a visual medium. 

Seasoned aficionados will find a fair bit to shout at the screen about - "Horror as a genre didn't really start until 1960 and PSYCHO" - well done Tom Holland. Controversial (and just plain wrong) comments such as these could (and should) have been trimmed as it wouldn't have affected the overall documentary.

Mainly, however, STEPHEN KING ON SCREEN feels like a lot of glued together 'making of' featurettes you might get on the DVD of a film, or for publicity purposes. It's great to have Frank Darabont talking at length about THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION or THE MIST, or Mike Flanagan talking about DOCTOR SLEEP and these segments are definitely worth watching. But the lack of a chronological walk through of King's movie adaptations, and especially an examination of the 'King explosion' of the early 1980s, would have been welcome. King's own contributions to the screen such as MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE and SLEEPWALKERS don't even warrant a mention. The overall result is a patchy affair that lacks a firm editorial hand and relies way too much on who was available for interview rather than trying to be something more in depth and comprehensive. 

STEPHEN KING ON SCREEN is out on from Signature Entertainment on Digital on Monday 26th June 2023 and Blu-ray on Monday 18th September 2023