Next of Kin (1982)

"Stylish Ozsploitation Gothic Well Worth A Look"

Second Sight present us with a welcome Blu-ray (and download and on-demand) release for this obscure Australian horror picture from director Tony Williams.

When her mother dies, Linda Stevens (Jacki Kerin) inherits Montclare, a retirement home set in the middle of nowhere that looks as if it belongs in a Pete Walker film. Her mother's diary tells of peculiar goings-on and soon people are turning up dead. Is there a ghost haunting Montclare or is it someone with leanings towards becoming a prospective Australian giallo star?

For much of its running time, NEXT OF KIN feels as if it's trying hard to emulate the EuroGothics of the 1960s and 1970s like Narciso Ibanez Serrador's 1969 LA RESIDENCIA, but with a level of grit you'd be more likely to find in British pictures of the period. Tipped into the mix, however, is some genuinely unsettling imagery that keeps you guessing as to what is actually going on.

It's in the final act that NEXT OF KIN really comes into its own, providing us with an array of startling images, some gory murders and, almost out of nowhere, some stunts that wouldn't be out of place in a Brian Trenchard-Smith film. It's all atmospheric entertaining stuff and if you're a fan of horror movies from this era and you haven't seen it now's your chance.

Second Sight's Blu-ray comes packed with extras (hooray!). There are two commentaries - one with director Tony Williams and producer Tim White, the second with cast members Kern, John Jarratt, Robert Ratti and Mr Ozsploitation Documentarian himself, Mark Hartley. 

You also get extended interviews from Hartley's documentary NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD (which is excellent, by the way, & also well worth seeking out), plus a look at the shooting locations, deleted scenes, trailers, the complete sequence of the ballroom dancing footage someone is watching on the TV, an image gallery and reversible sleeve art. There are also a couple of Tony Willliams' short films from 1971 - Getting Together and The Day We Landed on the Most Perfect Planet in the Universe. An excellent package of classic ozsploitation goodness.

Tony Williams' NEXT OF KIN is out on Blu-ray (and download and on-demand) from Second Sight from Monday 25th March 2019

Felicity (1978)

“Bumper Package of John D Lamond Ozsploitation Classics”

       If the term Australian Erotica sounds like a bit of an oxymoron then it’s unlikely your opinion is going to be changed by this package of three (!) movies from the late 1970s, all produced by John D Lamond and now getting a UK release on Blu-ray for the first time courtesy of Severin Films.

The ‘A’ feature here is FELICITY. Shot in the same bright travelogue style as Just Jaeckin’s EMMANUELLE, it details the adventures of its title character (played by Glory PREY Annen), starting off in a girls' boarding school run by at least one nun who can’t mime playing the piano. Felicity spends her time reading The Story of O and getting up to beneath the sheets fumbling with her classmates in the grimmest-looking girls’ dormitory ever committed to film.

A birthday gift from her father sees Felicity travelling to possibly the wettest, most miserable version of Hong Kong ever depicted in a film of this type. She stays with an older couple who take her to a pool party where it’s so cold you can see everyone’s breath. Felicity gets seduced on the bonnet of his car by a gentleman with an enormous moustache (it's not the moustache that does the seducing before you get excited). Then she gets taken on tour of what look like the backstreets and ghettos of Hong Kong by a Chinese girl she befriends, culminating in one of those bathhouse-type scenes where you feel relieved for her to finally be inside somewhere warm.

       Numerous sexual encounters later, Felicity falls for a nice Australian bloke (Aha!) and the final act of the movie is about them breaking up and getting back together again. If you’re a fan of 1970s sexploitation you’ll probably want to see FELICITY as it seems to be considered by some as one of the classic softcore films of the period.  

The same might not be said of the two other films on here. ABCS OF LOVE & SEX: AUSTRALIA STYLE starts off very strangely with some animation before launching into a terrible song and dance number for its opening titles. After that the film plummets downhill as it shambles through the alphabet. AUSTRALIA AFTER DARK is a pretend-documentary that tries to suggest the country has a dark side full of oddball / sexy / sleazy goings on but is best viewed with your best comedy hat on and plenty of coffee to keep you awake.

       You have to hand it to Severin, though. As well as all the above you get commentary tracks on all three films, plus interviews with Glory Annen, John D Lamond and cinematographer Gary Wapshott. A terrific value bundle if this is your sort of thing.

FELICITY is out on Blu-ray now from Severin Films