Writing about movies, monsters, cinematic events and other wild trips
There’s no denying my immense love for David Cronenberg’s filmography—I even wrote a book about THE FLY (1986)—so I wanted to do his work and myself proud in writing a piece for this gorgeous Second Sight release of SCANNERS (1981).
I’m pretty proud of the essay angle I came up with. You’ll my find it, ‘Can’t Get You Out of My Head: Scanners, Psychosis and Trepanation’ in the infinitely sniffable booklet that comes with this limited edition.
Hold onto your heads, folks…
When contemplating inclusions for my 2023 Top Ten list, LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL (directed by Colin and Cameron Cairnes) was a shoo-in. So, it took little hesitation on my behalf to say ‘yes!’ to writing an essay for the booklet of this Limited Edition release from the most excellent people at Second Sight.
I provide an ‘orstralyan’ perspective on TV sensationalism in the 1970s, ‘WELCOME TO OUR LIVING ROOM: TV Sensationalism and the Scandals That Spawned a Horror Movie’, and I think/hope it came up a treat.
Special features for this release include a new audio commentary from the powerhouse duo of Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson, which is worth the purchase price alone.
You could do worse than adding this treat to your physical media collection.
Hammer’s FRANKENSTEIN series represents a high watermark in cinema history, so it gives me no end of pleasure to have contributed to Second Sight‘s sublime limited edition release of the 7th and final film in the Hammer FRANKENSTEIN franchise, FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL (1974).
My contribution is an essay on class and privilege in the booklet of this release, which sits alongside other essays by Kevin Lyons and Kelly Robinson. I was also tickled pink to have passed the Hammer Studios test with barely an edit to my piece, which feels like winning an Oscar in my world.
Peter Cushing is utterly brilliant here as the mad scientist descending even further into madness (while mourning is wife in real life – note his extra-deathly pallor).
Here’s the trailer:
To call Second Sight releases ‘breathtaking’ is something of an understatement. Just when I think they’ve outdone themselves, they come up with another. This time, it’s a special 4K UHD & Blu-ray edition of DRIVE (dir. Nicolas Winding Refn, 2011).
I’ve contributed to the booklet of this special edition where I do my best to posit DRIVE as a fairytale. Do you agree with me? I’m willing to consider your arguments once you’ve read the essay.
Take a look at the complete offering here and order your limited edition copy. I promise you won’t be sorry.
I’m tripping over myself with new blu-ray releases at the moment, so my tardiness in promoting Second Sight’s sigh-worthy release of LAKE MUNGO is due to nothing but giving it some room to breathe.
The featured artwork should be enough to encourage you to see this mesmeric Australian story of ghosts and grief but, if not, I encourage you to do a quick scoot around the internet and you’ll hear from others who have been wrapped in its magic.
Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and I had a lot to say in our audio commentary on this release of LAKE MUNGO. But we’re not the only ones.
This limited edition boxset brings together diverse voices to talk about a feature that will only be more and more appreciated with the passing of time until it is eventually regarded as a classic.
I was lucky to be part of Monster Pictures’ release of Julia Ducournau‘s RAW a few years back, in which there were masses of extras featuring venerable film critics such as Kier-La Janisse and Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. The extras from this one have now found their way to not one but two new Blu-ray releases of RAW – one from Scream Factory (Region A) and another from Second Sight (Region B).
Let me draw your attention to the one from Second Sight, though, because it’s a little bit special.
As well as all the juicy original extras, it’s got a heap of news ones (and beautiful cover art!) including a freshly cooked video essay from Alexandra, a perfect-bound booklet with new essays by Hannah Woodhead and me (Emma Westwood), and a new interview with Julia Ducournau by Lou Thomas.
That’s just a taste (pardon the pun) of what makes this special limited edition extra special. You won’t be disappointed if you decide to add this one to your Blu-ray library.
Emma Westwood 