BBC4's British B Movies weekend

We love a British cult classic, so we'll be in front of the box all weekend to catch BBC4's British B Movies weekend.

In truth, it's not as good as it could have been, although the 90-minute documentary - British B Movies: Truly, Madly, Cheaply - should be worth the effort, with plenty of interviews and clips packed in.

As for the films, well satanic Brit biker movie Psychomania gets its annual BBC airing, alongside The Last Journey (1936), Lazybones (1935) and perhaps more interestingly, Marilyn (1953), The Black Rider (1954) and Cover Girl Killer (1959). Set the DVD recorder.

Find out more at the BBC website

Beat Girl showing on BBC4 as part of Pop Britannia season

The BBC's latest themed season, Pop Britannia, got off to a decent start last night, with a look at the early Brit pop scene of the 1950s, as well as a couple of cheesy Cliff pop movies - Espresso Bongo and the Young Ones.

This next week looks even better, with a rare showing on the once controversial Beat Girl movie (with killer John Barry soundtrack), a documentary on 60s and 70s pop and a couple of Bowie gems - Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars and the BBC's own Cracked Actor film (where Bowie goes from goth to white soul boy).

Want a taster of Beat Girl? See the intro below. The full film is on at 7:40pm on Friday 11th January on BBC4.

Free Online Viewing!

The American Movie Classic television network is currently offering free online screenings of two great American thrillers from the sixties as part of their annual Halloween Monster Fest. You can watch Francis Ford Coppola's Dementia 13 (1963) and Jack Hill's Spider Baby (1968) on their site just by visiting the links posted below:

Watch: Dementia 13 (1963)

Watch: Spider Baby (1968)

- Kimberly Lindbergs

Psych Out (1968)

“They’ll ask for a dime with hungry eyes, but they’ll give you love for nothing!” ran the sensational blurb on its release. Psych Out was easily the most successful movie depicting San Francisco during the legendary “Summer of Love” although lets not get too excited here.

While the world watched on in varying degrees of intrigue at the antics of the love generation, few filmmakers ventured out to catch the lightning on Haight Ashbury’s streets, leaving Psych Out as the sole dramatisation of the period. Psych Out’s producer, TV pop impresario Dick Clark, was evidently keeping a watchful eye on the hippy phenomena, and despite his Hollywood leanings, he managed to lift a sizeable chunk of ambience from the hippy hangouts of San Francisco.

The cast took a young Jack Nicholson, by then on the cusp of moving from Biker B-flicks to the mainstream, and Susan Strasberg, whose innocent beauty was enough to secure a fair amount of love interest on screen. The plot concerns Strasberg’s deaf alter ego arriving in town in search of her renegade brother. With nowhere to stay, she’s picked up by Nicholson and his band of musos, who act as her guide and mentor around San Francisco. With her elusive brother playing an intricate game of hide and seek, she ends up being dosed with STP, a concoction known to fry even the wackiest of brains. Although this all might sound a trifle sensationalist, there’s little to offend here.

AIP, the film’s producing agent, had been badly burned after their previous effort, The Trip, ran into all manner of problems with the censors due to its veiled promotion of LSD. As a result, Psych Out held back on any obvious drug promotion or slap and tickle. Visually, there’s fair bit of visual vox pop from the Haight, while The Seeds and Strawberry Alarm Clock offer up some psychedelic intrigue for the soundtrack. Within a year, Nicholson would lift off into stardom, leaving behind the likes of Psych Out to be picked over by historians of the period.

(c) Simon Wells 2007

More about the DVD at Amazon.co.uk

Small screen: Bloodsuckers (1970)

I think I've mentioned previously that the BBC have some sort of fascination with Robert Hartford-Davis films right now, slipping in a number of his movies in the early hours of the morning. And bizarrely, they're showing one of his most strange and indeed obscure this weekend - Bloodsuckers.

We have reviewed this movie previously and despite its obvious faults, lack of budget and half-finished nature, it's still a must-see for any fan of 70s British horror. It's listed under its alternative title of Incense For The Damned and I'm wondering whether they're showing the full version (with the psychedelic orgy scenes) or the cut version that appeared on the DVD issue in the UK. I'm guessing the latter.

Anyway, to find out, set the video or DVD recorder for the early hours of Monday morning (14th May) at 1:35am on BBC2. And prepare to be bemused.

Read our review of Bloodsuckers

Shane Meadows on the South Bank Show

Following on from our review of Shane Meadows' forthcoming This Is England film, we've just heard that Shane Meadows and the movie are the subject of a South Bank Show in April.

Melvyn Bragg travels to Shane Meadow’s hometown, Uttoxeter in the North of England, and talks to the man about his childhood as a skinhead, the making of This Is England, his filming processes and the themes in his films.

Contributors include: Thomas Turgoose (Shaun in This Is England); Stephen Graham (Combo in This Is England); Stephen Woolley; Bob Hoskins; Ken Loach; Tessa Ross - Film Four; Mark Herbert, Producer of This Is England; Paul Fraser, co-writer. The show goes out on Sunday 29th April.

ITV website

FilmFour becomes free

Good new for film buffs on a budget - Channel 4's move channel, FilmFour, goes free from this month.

Details of exactly when are a little vague - the official website simply says "July" - though it's not become visible on Freeview as yet. We suspect it might start on Monday 3rd July (or soon after).

Although the films shown on the channel can be of varying interest, the channel does make an effort to show movies that are daring and pretty much ignored by mainstream TV - and for that they should be applauded.

So if you've got Freeview, keep checking for the channel from Monday. It could save you a lot of money in rentals and film purchases.

Stop press:

FilmFour has now confirmed it will be a free channel via Freeview from Sunday 23rd July.

Check out the FilmFour website

BBC Cult Classics headed for DVD

Those wishing the Beeb would dig deeper into its archive of groovy genre programming may wish to expel a tiny whoop of excitment at this juncture, and then mark July 24 on the calendar as a very expensive day indeed.

That's the date when five tempting morsels from the venerable broadcaster's past will make their long-awaited DVD debut...