The defunct Northern Irish supernatural filmmaking duo of Andrew Harrison and Darryl Sloan of Midnight Pictures have announced that not only will they be making films again, but that they have a 7-year marketing contract, (possibly due to a renewed interest in trashy low-budget horror films) specifically with their 2000 flick Dark Light about human-vampire hybrids in the military. So is this good news for the duo that have been working away for years up in Portadown on no-budget horror? Perhaps not…
Dark Light trailer:
Maxim Media Marketing, the company behind the deal have a notorious product for sale known as Traces Of Death, (successor to Faces Of Death) which is banned completely in the UK by the BBFC, due to it not having any “journalistic, educational or other justifying context for the images shown.” We’re talking real images of suicide, murder and animal torture- fun for all the family then!
Now, I don’t want to be all Mary Whitehouse about this, (I’ve watched a few clips, believe me… it’s enough) but there’s no doubt about it, this is the tip of the trash iceberg. Morally and artistically it’s total filth and genuine exploitation for nothing more than shock value while the owners of their DVDs oil up their rusty chainsaws in their living room before the next unlucky neighbour unwittingly rings the doorbell to ask them for Amnesty International sponsorship.
But wait… am I over-reacting? I have a huge horror DVD collection, some of it postively drenched in gore and I strongly disagreed with the censorship of films like Wes Craven’s seminal 1972 horror Last House On The Left, which only passed uncut in the UK a couple weeks ago. Pot….kettle? What about getting shopping from Tescos or Primark, isn’t that exploitation of cheap labour? Or DJs downloading mp3 albums, doesn’t that take away record industry jobs and ruin musicians’ livelihoods? Whatever you think, it’s certainly a moral can-o-worms and in a world were even Thom Yorke admits he’s a hypocrite, its a matter of your own judgement.
In other NI horror news, Belfast’s George Clarke has released a new trailer for his upcoming kung-fu zombie film Battle Of The Bone. Although it has a budget of £10,000, BOTB has a similiar look to Midnight Pictures films so I’m hoping the script is humorous enough to make it the next Omega Team Alpha Action Force Six Part II: The Return and with any luck Mr Murphy will have cause to put down that Diet Coke, pint of Harp, other product and/or leave whatever panel gameshow he happens to be on that week and get whitewashing his bedroom to bring back The Blizzard Of Odd, apart from the reason that it was superb Tuesday night telly.
Battle Of The Bone trailer:
2 responses so far ↓
Andy // March 31, 2008 at 12:34 am
I miss the Blizzard of Odd - is a return rumored?!
Eddie // March 31, 2008 at 12:42 am
No, but lets start one…perhaps It’ll spiral into an interview in the Belfast Telegraph something like this:
“well t’internet demanded it, so as soon as RTE agreed my million pound a series fee, I gave the loyal fans what they wanted…another series of BOO”
Leave a Comment