Cisco Pike, 1972, Bill L. Norton

The simplistic storyline involves Kris Kristofferson (in his debut) as Cisco Pike, a formerly successful musician who has just given up dealing drugs to the relief of his disapproving girlfriend (Karen Black). Gene Hackman plays a crooked cop blackmailing him to sell $10,000 of pot in 53 hours. It also features Harry Dean Stanton as a drug addict, Antonio Fargas, Warhol star Viva, Joy Bang, Wavy Gravy, and country musician Doug Sahm. The storyline is too derivative of gangster films where the reformed has to do one last job but the characters, cast and Kristofferson soundtrack carry it through and it has become a cult movie.
3/5

I Stand Alone, 1998, Gaspar Noe

a.k.a Seul Contre Tous
Intensely bleak, this film is like Charles Bukowski or Louis-Ferdinand Céline going postal. Philippe Nahon perfectly plays an unnamed homophobic racist at the end of his tether. Rarely has there been a character this misanthropic in a leading role. He is however, easy to both relate to and feel sorry for and appealing in his utter down-and-out way. Opening sequences recap “Carne", the short film of which this is a sequel and we learn that he has reason enough for his nihilistic world view. His father died and his mother abandoned him, he worked as a horse meat butcher, fathered a mute daughter by a woman who left him and spent time in jail after thinking his daughter had been raped. Now he is unemployed and lives with an obese woman he hates (Frankyie Pain) who is pregnant with his child. He soon gets a gun and leaves her. The majority of the films dialogue consists of the butcher’s internal dialogue as voice-over. The scenery is almost post apocalyptic, poverty stricken but stylishly shot. The film frequently cuts to title cards that display a variety of messages. Reminiscent of certain grindhouse trailers, towards the films climax a title reads ‘Warning: You have 30 seconds to leave the screening of this film’ and the ending left me genuinely surprised. While it (narrowly) avoids pretension it also doesn’t really have that much to say. The Butcher makes a cameo appearance at the beginning of Noe's follow-up Irréversible, a film with similar appeal. Ultimately the film is more exciting than it is depressing.
4/5

Death Watch a.k.a La mort en direct, 1980, Bertrand Tavernier

Harvey Keitel is assigned by ruthless TV producer Harry Dean Stanton to film the last weeks of a dying woman, played by Romy Schneider as she travels and spends the money she is paid for starring in the show. Somewhat obviously they develop feelings for each other. Unfortunately the storyline requires the B movie element of Harvey Keitel having a camera (and microphone) implanted into his eyes. The film focuses on voyeurism, but while the public may be attracted to violent death, slow death by disease is something we all try to forget about. The dialogue is witty and the locations excellent but the best element of the film is the cast, also featuring Max Von Sydow. It is slightly overlong with the setting up in the first half taking too long. It came out 4 years after Network and 2 decades before My Little Eye and the proliferation of reality TV. The premise must have been a lot more radical at the time. The film has been unjustly forgotten.
4/5

Punk

Smithereens (1982, Susan Seidelman)
This is the low budget indie debut film from the director of Desperately Seeking Susan. Both films have a similar vibe but I definitely prefer this one. It could also be compared to Sid and Nancy, Dazed and Confused and Clerks in terms of atmosphere. It follows the self obsessed scrounger Wren as she uses nice guy Paul before ditching him for rock musician Erik (punk rock legend Richard Hell). With a nice punk soundtrack and good performances all round it’s a fun film without being romantic or sentimental that perfectly captures the NYC punk scene.
5/5

Hard Core Logo (1996, Bruce McDonald)
Imagine the typical band documentary that is only interesting for uber fans. Except it’s obviously not a real documentary and the fake band are an awful punk revival group of unlikable jerks. Apparently based on a book, though it seems more like it was made up on the spot. None of the comedy of Spinal Tap, none of the likeability of The Fabulous Stains and no redeeming values whatsoever except Joey Ramone making a cameo. The band Billy Talent took their name from a character in this film, which says a lot about how blatantly shit it is.
1/5


Ladies and Gentleman, The Fabulous Stains (1981, Lou Adler)
Corinne Burns (Diane Lane) is a fifteen-year-old orphan who forms a band with her sister Tracy (Marin Kanter) and cousin Jessica (a young Laura Dern) called the Stains. She manages to get the inexperienced band on a tour with a washed-out glam-rock group and a British punk band. She then radically changes her appearance, attracts a cult following and national media attention. The main thing that lets this film down is the music. A band featuring members of The Sex Pistols and The Clash with (a really hot looking) Ray Winstone on vocals somehow manages to completely suck. The lead character is somewhat petulant but still likeable. The film is definitely not very punk, despite the cast, but has a lot of charm. It’s a fun film of teenage wish fulfillment, and Corinne Burns hair is amazing.
4/5

Industrial

Johnny YesNo (1983, Peter Care) [Full Length Version]
The only reason this short film was ever heard of is due to the Cabaret Voltaire soundtrack, which is rather nice. The film however isn’t. It suffers from embarrassing dialogue and an incomprehensible ‘storyline’, but has the occasional nice visual flourish, particularly during a drug comedown scene. A curio for industrial obsessive’s only, some things are better left a mystery.
2/5



Decoder (1984, Muscha)
Undoubtedly the most industrial movie ever, featuring William Burroughs, FM Einheit of Einsturzende Neubauten, Genesis P-Orridge (over the top pretentious embarrassing amateur dramatics) of Throbbing Gristle, as well as Christiane Felscherinow, the real life basis of the overrated Christiane F drugs film, and seemingly no proper actors. The hard to decipher storyline is influenced by Burroughs writing and ideas Throbbing Gristle had about their music, and involves people carrying tape recorders and using ‘illegal sound waves’ to make people in fast food chains sick, leading to riots. The soundtrack featuring Soft Cell, The The and Einstuzende Neubauten is the best part of the film. The cinematography uses colour filters in a Natural Born Killers way and occasional clips of SPK/power electronics style mutilation footage. The editing is slow paced and it would have worked better as a short film rather than clocking in at an hour and a half.
2/5

Possession (1981, Andrzej Żuławski)

The purposeful overacting was just too much for me. Everything about the film was intently over the top. The location of a wall divided Berlin was nice, the effects by Carlo Rambaldi were perfect and there were certainly some immensely perverse moments which were undoubtedly the highlight of the film, along with the infamous subway tunnel scene. Far too much time is spent repeatedly showing marital strops and demented women normally annoy me, as was the case here. The ending was unexplainable and I doubt even the writer knew what was going on. The editing was purposefully disjointed in a way that perfectly accentuated the bizarre atmosphere of the film. While reminiscent of Russell’s The Devils and Cronenberg’s The Brood this is definitely a unique film, but not a particularly good one.
3/5

Lipstick (1976, Lamont Johnson)

The film revolves around the brutal rape (shown in vivid detail) of a model and the subsequent court case that makes much of her professional life as provocation. Real life model Margaux Hemingway takes the lead part, and you would be right in assuming her acting skills don’t match her looks. Comes off as a made for TV movie, though it does have its exploitative charm though there is no camp comedy value and little gore that often accompany such films. A ludicrously coincidental encounter between the rapist and the victims little sister is salaciously loathsome. The ending is ridiculous in a twee way that would have been enraging in any movie that relied less on emotional sadism.
3.5/5