The Missing Page in VW #144

Unfortunately, it has come to our attention that there is a missing page in the new issue of VIDEO WATCHDOG. Its absence cuts off the bulk of Michael Barrett's BRAND UPON THE BRAIN! review and the first paragraph of John Charles' review of CHALLENGE OF THE MASTERS. For some reason, instead of page 51 leading to page 52, it leads to a repetition of page 25, a section of M.J. Simpson's Dabbs Greer interview. Mind you, this was not an editorial glitch, but an accident of the printing process. We've had individual issues come back from the printer with strange anomalies before, but this is the most serious widespread error we've experienced -- and our printer is very apologetic about it.

We intend to reprint both full reviews in VW #146 (December 2008), the next issue on our production schedule, for the benefit of those readers without online access. In the meantime, we want to provide immediate satisfaction for as many of our readers as possible. At the top of this posting is an enlargeable jpg. of the missing page, which you can click on to read. Also, this link will take you to a downloadable pdf file that readers with color printers can print-off and insert into their issue. We have also added this missing page to the free samples selection appended to VW 144 on our website -- just click on the cover.

Thanks for your understanding, and please pass the word along to other VW subscribers you may know.

First Look: VIDEO WATCHDOG #144

Our October issue is now at the printer, which means it's time for me to offer Video WatchBlog's monthly advance peek at our next cover and a link to our website's "Coming Soon" page, where you can find a comprehensive list of its contents and contributors and an enlargeable, four-page free preview sample.

I'm very pleased with the way this issue turned out. When Dabbs Greer died last year, I cast my net looking for an unpublished interview to pay proper tribute to this fine character actor, and found one in the hands of our valued occasional contributor, M.J. Simpson. Unfortunately, Mike didn't have any photos to illustrate the interview (which was conducted in 1999), so I had to assign myself to do screen grabs from a wide variety of his work, ranging from movies like IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE, THE VAMPIRE and Joe Dante's RUNAWAY DAUGHTERS to his extensive TV appearances in shows like TWILIGHT ZONE, THE OUTER LIMITS, THE WILD WILD WEST and THE RIFLEMAN. It was hard work, but fortunately I had a lot of this material on hand and the piece is now very handsomely adorned. It's a terrific interview that reveals the ubiquitous Mr. Greer as a very savvy fellow whose memory was understandably selective but who had some great stories to share. I wish he was still around to see how well Mike's interview turned out.

Doug Winter is also trying something new in his "Audio Watchdog" column by focusing for the first time on a feature film: Anton Corbijn's Ian Curtis biopic CONTROL -- and he will continue to follow this very interesting vein in our next issue's column, in which he will write about the music of Curtis' seminal post-punk group Joy Division (which became New Order following the suicide of Curtis in 1980). It might be fair to say that Joy Division's music falls outside the scope of fantastic cinema, but it has been a seminal force in terms of the expression of horror, existential dread and anomie within the arts, and has left its mark on film and other areas of the arts other than music. I consider this VW's first step in the direction I outlined in our current issue's editorial, where I talked about wanting VW to go back somewhat to its original roots as a place where our contributors can more deeply explore their current obsessions, and write about films available on video from stances other than "the DVD review."

My own contributions to the issue include my promised full-length reviews of Zulawski's THE IMPORTANT THING IS TO LOVE and Dallamano's VENUS IN FURS (both subjects of recent bloggery here), as well as a full-length review of Tinto Brass' THE VOYEUR and my Blu-ray coverage of CLOVERFIELD.

Plus there's Ramsey Campbell on Cecil B. DeMille's SIGN OF THE CROSS, Bill Cooke on the Hammer ICONS OF ADVENTURE set, Kim Newman on SIMON KING OF THE WITCHES, the Umlands on BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: RAZOR, John Charles on CHALLENGE OF THE MASTERS with Gordon Liu, more from new contributor Michael Barrett, and (whew!) pretty much something for everybody... so reserve your copy now!