The next issue of VIDEO WATCHDOG - now at the printer - will be a Eurocrime special with extensive coverage of the poliziotteschi (po-leet-zio-tess-ky, or Italian cop movie) genre. I'm always a little sensitive about publishing too many photos of firearms in a given issue, but this issue has so many that the NRA should have taken out an ad. So what do the poliziotteschi films have to do with fantastic cinema? you may ask. Well, these films are over the top, for one thing; secondly, they share with Italian horror and fantasy cinema many of their most familiar directors (Sergio Martino, Fernando Di Leo, Umberto Lenzi, etc), and they also share with the best horror cinema a means of using entertainment to reflect socio-political realities that could not be addressed more directly. We have a feature article by George Pacheco offering a concise overview of the genre, and also John Charles reviewing the two Fernando Di Leo Italian Crime box sets from Raro Video as well as a preview of Mike Malloy's forthcoming DVD documentary EUROCRIME! THE ITALIAN COP AND GANGSTER FILMS THAT RULED THE '70s.
Furthermore - and this was pure synchronicity - Larry Blamire weighs in with a Star Turn column devoted to a memorable guest star appearance on Patrick McGoohan's DANGER MAN (aka SECRET AGENT) series. No, not gonna tell you which one - it's a secret! But he's written a remarkable appreciation of a guest star and you'll want to be the first person on your block to know her identity. (Oops! gave you a little hint there - forget I said that!)
But maybe you're only in it for the horror? Well, we have a lengthy review I've written of the German BLOOD AND ROSES DVD that compares the European and English-language versions of the movie, as well as additional coverage of BYZANTIUM, THE CHILDREN, THE HAUNTING, FANTASTIC VOYAGE, HOUSE OF WAX, THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE, SECONDS, SCHLACKEN THE PAINTER (like BLOOD AND ROSES, another J. Sheridan LeFanu adaptation), TERRORVISION, THE VIDEO DEAD, THE UNSEEN, VAMPIRA AND ME... and THE DISCO EXORCIST! Furthermore, back in gun territory, we have John Charles on Grindhouse Releasing's THE BIG GUNDOWN and Kim Newman on the most recent Charlie Chan releases. It's a great, variety-packed issue, if I do say so myself.
It will ship to subscribers and retailers around the second week of June.
A number of you have been asking where the new Digital Edition is. Well, it's coming. The way we are liking to do things is to publish and ship an issue, create the next one, create the previous digital edition once people have had a chance to digest the print version, and so on. Donna is preparing the Digital Edition now, as a matter of fact. We think you're going to love what Larry is doing with the digital version of his column. We're so glad we asked him aboard.
