101 Films

[black&huge]

is 101's releaes of The New Kids just a tadbit preferable over the MVD release? I read it's a single layer disc for the former assuming it's the same with the latter as well but I'd rather have the 101 for the slip case

[swo17]

Just noticed this label is putting out a few Corman-produced titles of interest next month:

Caged Heat
Crazy Mama (these two Demme films were previously only released as Shout exclusive Blu-rays)
Rock 'n' Roll High School (Shout's newly restored version only available in a cursed steelbook)

[jazzo]

On October 25th, 101 are releasing a US-friendly Blu-ray of the 1992 Stephen Volk-scripted BBC telefilm, GHOSTWATCH, which shocked and terrified a former empire in 1992, and which, if you haven't had the pleasure of experiencing it yet, is just phantastic (heyohhhhh), but something you should definitely go into cold.

Seriously.

[colinr0380]

"It was what you wanted wasn't it? We just gave you what you wanted"

I will add some UK specific context to Ghostwatch which may not come across to US audiences and which involves major spoilers, so may be worthwhile but do not read on if you want to go in fresh:

SpoilerShow

This was presented on BBC1 in the UK on Halloween night in 1992 as a "Screen One drama" with wonderfully misleading trailers but ones which did not entirely forewarn the large general audience for a 'ghost hunting show' that what they were seeing was a fictional piece. That evening was also a Saturday and people looking for horror content were most likely gravitating towards the content on the other two channels of BBC2's all night horror fest and Channel 4 showing a repeat of The Fog. So as well as being the mainstream channel, people not particularly interested in horror may have just unwisely gone for Ghostwatch over the more overtly scary stuff!

Then there is the whole casting aspect where to emphasise the verisimilitude of the situation all of the main presenters were played by actual well known BBC names: Michael Parkinson was the big one, bringing his interviewer gravitas to hosting duties for this silly ghost-hunting show, and providing a perfect blend of professionalism and slight condescension towards having to do the show, which pays off in the possession climax. Craig Charles, big at the time for his Red Dwarf role (and these days is a BBC Radio 6 Music presenter) is perfect acting as an example of the way that the BBC would take someone currently popular in one thing and then throw them into every other programme on the channel, both in order to bring audiences in and to kind of maximise the value of the names they had under contract - he is perfect as a kind of cheeky chappy figure keeping the energy of the live broadcast up and doing outside vox pops with members of the public, who similar to Parkinson cannot maintain the act once things hit the fan.

And perhaps most audaciously (and controversially once the situation broke because along with their presence lulling viewers into a false sense of security, it encouraged parents to let their children watch) was the casting of children's television presenter Sarah Greene as the intrepid presenter on the scene, and her real-life husband (and Top of the Pops and children's TV presenter himself) Mike Smith manning the phone-in lines back in the relative safety of the studio.

All four of these television personalities are well cast (perhaps too well cast!) to bring the baggage of their personas to the show, yet from there each get their moments to shine as actors. Particularly Sarah Greene who has to take on the bulk of running around the rather claustrophobic actual family home and being terrorised by the spooky goings on, at least until in a kind of twist worthy of Nigel Kneale, it turns out that the live broadcast is acting as a kind of giant seance that unleashes the ghost from the environs of the house and brings it into the literally mediated and supposed safe space of the television studio (taking over national treasure Parky in the process!) and from there out into the homes of the watching viewers.

I really like this production. I do not think it entirely succeeds as a completely convincing 'found footage' piece (though it deserves to be considered amongst that group of works, especially for the furore it caused in the press which caused the BBC to suppress it for over a decade until its mid 2000s DVD release. Hopefully this new edition carries over the commentary track from that edition), but beyond that conceit there are a lot of other really interesting aspects that I find makes it hugely enjoyable to rewatch. There are the subliminal 'sightings' of Pipes during the relatively benign first half of the show that are fun to note, and thematically there is the satire of the way that the media packages material (and especially a very specific BBC approach to 'factual programming' of that era, down to the way that the Ghostwatch titles are very similar to the contemporaneous actual true life exploitation show 999: a show presented by a newsreader for added, arguably unearned, gravitas) and that the supposed 'investigation' into a haunting is just a pretext for a hour or so of light entertainment involving playing apple bobbing games with kids; having some phone ins; doing some vox pops; and interviews with a scientist both to add a veneer of legitimacy to proceedings whilst simultaneously being slightly patronising towards her at the same time! It is so fluffy and benign for the first half that it makes the presence of an actual ghost an unwelcome intrusion into the ostensible ghost hunting show!

And there is also the way that (something that I was not aware of until recently) the haunting that takes place was based on the true story (or as true as these things can be) of the Enfield haunting case that later provided the basis for The Conjuring 2!

I would be very curious as to how non-UK viewers would react to this as, whilst I love it, it also feels really culturally specific in order to get that frisson of the natural order of things (or of broadcast media) being exposed and upended. Frankly I wonder if it would even work now for UK viewers younger than about 30, as this is really deeply rooted in the early 90s structure of television and technology, with big names who have naturally faded into the mists of time over the years (though only Mike Smith has passed away out of the main cast, back in 2014) and the excitement of being able to go out live filming on location or get callers into the studio in real time being somewhat more commonplace with technological advances these days.