Bad Bad Gang Ain't Bad At All

Released via Synapse's Impulse label, John Donne's BAD BAD GANG is a worthy companion to Impulse's previously released FARMER'S DAUGHTERS.

Definitely X-Rated and featuring plenty of rape and anti-social behavior, it, nevertheless, keeps the violence very soft and rapes not too far left of consensual.

Shot in Orange County, California on the backroads of Modjeska Peak mountain and the Silverado Canyon area, it's an interesting attempt by early XXX-rated filmmakers to blend a Roger Corman-style biker pic with porn, which was on the rise at the time.

Simple premise sees two couples holidaying in a trailer ambushed by a gang of dim-witted bikers. Two women are carried off to a nearby cave where they are tied up, sexed up, and roughed up by said bikers while the biker molls look on in disgust. That disgust becomes a desire to get even with their leather jacketed partners for the molls, so they return to the trailer to fuck the men folk who lost their ladies to the gang.

All ends reasonably happily.

The reason to watch this scratched-up slice of exploitation is for the sleazy sex and 70's attitude. The hardcore, fortunately, doesn't obsess itself with blowjobs –– instead, the ladies and gents engage in a lot of cunnilingus and some standard intercourse –– and the coverage of the sex is pretty creative. Lesbian fans won't be disappointed, either, because not a female in the cast (including Rene Bond) doesn't dive between the thighs of her sister at some point in the proceedings.

BAD BAD GANG is let down somewhat by the poorly staged violence, and it's very apparent that director Donne did not know much about staging anything but fucking and sucking when he made this baby. An opening sequence of the bikers following the trailer down a country road is high end for a pic of this ilk, but it doesn't stay that way for long.

Kudos to Impulse for dredging up this relic and re-instating scenes cut from general release prints. This is as complete as it gets.

I always love seeing a new roughie, but it's always disappointing, too, to discover that most were rarely directed by anyone with serious filmmaking chops. Nevertheless, for fans of sleaze that isn't quite as hardcore as the marketing suggests, this is a nice gift.

Fifty Shades of a Deeper Gray: Fairy in A Cage

Beyond some extravagant and audacious bondage and torture sequences, Koyu Ohara's Fairy in a Cage (Nikkatsu Studios, '77) boasts stellar production values with period detail unique for its budget. Never have these elements been more obvious and lush than on Impulse/Synapse's Blu-ray of this infamous Roman Porno (Romantic Pornography) production. Never released on DVD or Blu-ray anywhere in the world, it finally gets the royal treatment.

Released simultaneously with the just-reviewed and highly praised Female Teacher: In Front of the Students, this superb piece of elegant perversion from '77, the year Star Wars arrived on our planet, is a must-have for collectors and the cinematically adventurous. The 'Fifty Shades of Gray' crowd may not be ready yet for  Mr. Ohara and writer Oniroku Dan's brand of S/M, but, if anybody is looking for a worthy entry point for this unique Japanese genre,  this may be a good place to start.

Mr. Dan is a Japanese novelist whose works have been enthusiastically adapted by erotic filmmakers. A couple of Dan standouts are Rope Cosmetology, Teruo Ishii's The Red Silk Gambler, and various films based on his 'Flower and Snake' books.   He's not big on plot or characterization, but he does imbue the genre with particularly personal touches.  You'll find a lot of rope bondage in the author's work, and Fairy  in a Cage is consistent with that fact.  The film is a catalog of squirmy "tortures" that run the gamut from suspension to spanking to various water-based outrages. Rape is pretty frequent, too.

Ohara, the director of the infamous Zoop Up: Rape Site,  True Story of a Woman Condemned To Hell, Wet and Rope, and the exploitation classic White Rose Campus: Then, Everybody Gets Raped, brings a more tempered artistic style to this tale of military and upper class corruption set doing WWII in the Land of the Rising Sun. The bare-bones story involves a wealthy pervert who uses a dubious military pretext to arrest and incarcerate (in his home torture chamber) a woman (Naomi Tani) that he wants for his own private amusement. Assisted by delightfully deviant wife, he involves Tani in his games, and brings along a devotee of hers (she's an actress!) for additional humiliation.

The film is lavish, somewhat confronting, but fairly predictable plot-wise until the two-thirds mark. It then shoots off on an interesting tangent and re-locates itself to a dense forest where horrors of a more personal kind are experienced by Tani, an actress who never met a torture she couldn't embrace.

The work of cinematographer Nobumasa Mizunoo on Fairy is exemplary. Surprisingly, he had only shot two Masaru Konuma classics before this (Erotic Diary of an Office Lady and Cloistered Nun: Runa's Confession), but produces the work of a veteran artist here, delivering exquisitely lit interiors complimented by striking compositions. The tortures shot through the metal bars of a cell are breathtaking, as is his photographic treatment of the film's final denouement. 

Similar in style to Toshiharo Ikeda's very fine Sex Hunter, Koyu Ohara's Fairy in a Cage is intensely erotic stuff that will arouse the open-minded and shock those bringing traditional expectations of entertainment to it. Like all Nikkatsu 'pornos', it is not, in fact, pornography as we Westerners define it, and steers well clear of hardcore sexual depictions.

That it is now available on Blu-ray is, I must admit, kind of amazing.

I urge you to support this release with a legit purchase in order to encourage Impulse's head honcho Don May to think seriously about releasing such unreleased (in the US) Nikkatsu treats as Rape, White Rose Campus..., Zoom Up: Rape Site, Sex Hunter, and Raping! on Blu-ray.  

Female Teacher: In Front of the Students

What's to be said about Yasuro Uegaki's Female Teacher: In Front of the Students (just out from Impulse/Synapse) is all good. Very, very good, in fact.

Nikkatsu, the old Japanese film studio that, after sixty years, suddenly turned dark and erotic to make ends meet, has, admittedly, made its share of lame efforts such as Nympho Diver and I Like It From Behind, both recently released by Impulse/Synapse. I suppose some folks bought them, but, for mine, they have little appeal because they're doing nothing that hundreds of British and American softcore porn flicks haven't already done.

You can't say the same about Nikkatsu flicks like Assault - Jack The Ripper, Rape!, White Rose Campus - Then, Everybody Gets Raped, Sex Hunter - Wet Target, Sex Hunter (the Ikeda film), Secret Chronicle - She Beast Market, and Zoop Up - Rape Site. All of these feature exploitation elements that are very culture-specific, and do not shun the sticky mix of sexual violence and eroticism that many Western films are afraid of.  Although S/M is being mainstreamed (and reduced to blandly flavored vanilla) by works of dubious literary merit such as 'Fifty Shades of Grey' (a massive bestseller), its harsher, more incendiary essence has been shaved away.

Nothing is shaved away in Impulse/Synapse's Female Teacher: In Front of the Students, a truly subversive Nikkatsu flick that some would describe as "troubling" for its perspective on rape. To take its politics too seriously would be to misunderstand its intentions. It is, afterall, a skin flick for a skin flick audience, so it takes a fantasy often imagined by women to its natural end point. If you think it condones the view that a raped woman can be sexually charged by the resulting trauma, you're projecting too hard. This is fantasy Japan-style, not reality.

The pretty Rushia Santo is 'Reiko', a new teacher at an elite high school. Forced to discipline a group of spoilt brats led by the particularly nasty Takuya (Toru Nakane), she finds herself intimidated by the boy. After an unnerving exchange with the group, Reiko is raped in one of the school's showers. Humiliated, she doesn't report the rape, but she keeps a piece of a jigsaw puzzle dropped at the scene by the masked rapist. Over the next few days, she attempts to identify her attacker, and flashes back to key images of the rape, but  her search is sidelined by a series of highly erotic seductions that relight the fire of the incident.

Like Toshiharu Ikeda's little-seen Sex Hunter (not be confused with Sex Hunter - Wet Target) and the notorious Captured For Sex 2, Female Teacher: In Front of the Students exudes an atmosphere of sexual nihilism and abandon that is downright intoxicating. Director Uegaki demonstrates a superb eye and flair for dark eroticism, and creates a seventy minute masterpiece that sucks us into a sexual maelstrom while never ignoring the story's emotional journey. Santo is excellent as a woman on an odyssey of deep exploration, and delivers a strong emotional, physical, and intensely sexual performance as a teacher torn between tradition and the delicious call of the dark.

The film has an amazing look. It's gritty and beautiful all at once, and the compositions, subtle camera moves, and extreme close-ups are striking. The sex runs the gamut from hetero to lesbian, and there is a potent threeway worked into the mix. The narrative never flags, and the sense of anxiety experienced by Reiko is always felt by the audience.

A great selection from Impulse/Synapse, and, hopefully, a sign of the direction future releases will take. Films like this offer a rare and exotic glimpse into the human mind, and underline why nobody does it better than the Japanese.

Hunting Sex Nikkatsu-Style

This rape- and revenge-themed nugget (Sex Hunter: Wet Target) cured me of the Lincoln blues. King Spielberg's nonsense left a bad taste in my eyes and ears with its pointless sentimentality and romanticizing of Abe, so I was keen to write new data over the old inner hard drive. I started with Red Dawn, which wasn't a complete disaster, although, like the first one, it struggled to find novel things to do after the bad guys (North Koreans this time) dropped in for a firefight. For some reason, John Milius's original is remembered as some sort of classic. It wasn't. It was average. It opened operatically with Russians fluttering down from the sky into a schoolyard, but then it languished with a long second act in which both sides engaged in pyrotechnic displays. And that was about it.

Killing Them Softly, caught on the same day as Lincoln, is a more honest look at America because it doesn't feel the need to add romance to harsh times. "America isn't a community, it's a business," mumbles Brad Pitt's character in the film's concluding moments. I couldn't help agreeing with him in light of the country's last twenty years of corporatization.  The film focuses on low level crims facing financial hardships not usually presented on screen, except in Buddy Giovinazzo flicks like Life Is Hot In Cracktown. Pitt plays a fella working for a "mob" of sorts who's been employed to organize some hits on two bozos who robbed other bozos. The drama's kept very much in the family here.

The film is talky and slick and director Andrew Dominick, who gave us the overrated Chopper and the fine Assassination of Jessie James By The Coward Robert Ford,  enjoys staging stylized shootouts and positively revels (hand down pants masturbating furiously, I suspect!) in the gloriously sickening street beating of old Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) by two thugs. The sound design and lighting in this sequence took my breath away. Easily the second best on-screen beating of the year after Guy Pearce's beating of Shia LaBeouf  in John Hillcoat's Lawless, this scene and Killing's more literary attributes make it a flick worth catching.

Which takes me to Yukihiro Sawada's Sex Hunter: Wet Target, a '72 shocker from Nikkatsu, the latest in Impulse Pictures' line of films mostly worth your time. Personally, I have no interest in the comedy-themed stuff Impulse is releasing in tandem with the harsher titles like this one, but I imagine there's a market of pussies for those, too. Each to his or her own.

Director Sawada made some of the most engaging and unique titles that Nikkatsu funded and distributed. His Retreat Through The Wet Wasteland ('73), conceived as a pink flick, became a crime thriller with an  obligatory and justifiable rape, and a helping of gratuitous eroticism. It had a story that is not a simple frame to hang sex scenes on, and a dark vein permeated its narrative. Without the sex, it still stood tall.

Sawada's Flesh Target: Rape ('79) was disturbing for its premise alone. An office employee crosses the line with his boss at a bar and gets demoted. In retaliation, he pulls up his socks and proceeds to rape as many of his female colleagues as possible.

In my imdb review, I wrote:

***An office "loser" becomes a "winner" by sexually assaulting and raping the women he works with at work and on the street.

Yukihiro Sawada, director of the brutal ASSAULT!, a truly gritty pink film, makes no concessions to political correctness in this mostly riveting sex pic.

Not quite as stylish as Hasebe's RAPE!, a film with a similar theme, it is, nevertheless, required viewing for fans of cinematic sex and violence hybrids.

Sawada's background in hard-edged crime/yakuza films gives him the good sense to successfully probe the warped psychology of the office environment the movie takes place in.

FLESH TARGET: RAPE is an alternative title, as is the simple FLESH TARGET.

There is something gloriously anarchic and wrong about this film and that's why I respect it (and its brethren) so much ***

I first saw Sex Hunter: Wet Target, made before the above films, on a crappy Japanese bootleg tape. It was unsubbed and the unfortunate victim of particle shedding. As a result, I was impressed but not blown skyward by the experience. Having now seen Impulse Pictures' superb DVD, which boasts a sensational color grade of a pristine source, I'm doubly impressed, but still not blown away.

The oddly named actor George Harrison (a Japanese who wasn't part of successful British rock band) gets some bad news just before he's released from prison: His sister has been found dead. Found hanging, in fact.

Harrison spends the next seventy minutes tracing his sister's last days, and discovers that it was a trio of American soldiers who beat, raped, and urinated on her before leaving her to die. We get a series of flashbacks documenting her degradation, and, to create some balance, we watch Harrison killing the bastards who aren't dead already. The rape and murder took place before the soldiers shipped out, so the fate of one member was sealed in combat.

Assisted immeasurably by cinematographer Teruo Hatanaka's stunning photography, Sawada delivers a taut little thriller that, once again, rises above expectations and shows a director not content to meet just basic genre requirements. The American GI angle adds a disturbing dimension to proceedings, infecting the tone with something more disturbing than sheer human savagery. The violence is reasonably harsh and graphic, although, thankfully, we're not forced to suffer through endless blowjobs and fogged fucking scenes. The erotica is plentiful, but it's skilfully integrated into the story's beats.

Most problematic aspect of the production is George Harrison's ex-con character.  He's out to avenge his sister, but we know little else about him. He's a bit of a nothing really running from one scenario to another.  An older man wanders in to help him on a couple of occasions, but George's relationship with him remains fuzzy.

The Impulse DVD includes a reproduction of the original  theatrical poster and some excellent liner notes by Jasper Sharp. I recommend it.  

Impulse's second December release, I Love It From Behind, is a softcore comedy featuring a stable of very attractive women. I can't find other reasons to recommend it. Not my style. just silly.

Zoom In: Sex Apartments

 Of all the 'Roman Pornos' that Impulse Pictures/Synapse has released so far, Zoom In: Sex Apartments is the jewel in the crown. Bearing atypical hallmarks of originality, it serves as a reason to celebrate dark art, not find fault with its morality.

Director Naosuke Kurosawa, working with cinematographer Masaru Mori, takes Nikkatsu's trademark rape/murder subject matter and presents it as a frenzy of almost giallo-like surrealism.

Yoko Azusa, who starred as a burgeoning rapist in Yasaharu Hasebe's Assault - Jack The Ripper  four years earlier, plays the mysterious role of a suspected rapist. Betrayed five years prior by the film's female lead, Erina Miyai, a woman married to a professional cyclist (!), Azusa reconnects with her carnally and becomes involved in a spate of unusual crimes. Adding spice to the film's sexual violence is a fire theme: The rapist torches the vaginas of the women he's raped, and goes several steps beyond said item in one memorable scene.

To be frank, the story isn't big on logic and the lead female's inability to put two and two together is frustrating. Despite both these deficits, however, Kurosawa's treatment of the material excuses his sins (for me, anyway).

These Nikkatsu pictures existed to excite audiences with their erotic audacity; they were never meant to be realistic, and they were never meant to be much more than reliable programmers for the studio that switched its focus from mainstream product to erotica with a sucker punch. Occasionally, as in the case of flicks such as Assault - Jack The Ripper,   Secret Chronicle - She Beast Market, Beautiful Girl Hunter, and the film currently under discussion, Nikkatsu produced some remarkable works that transcended their genre requirements.

I'm keen to know when exactly Joseph Ellison's grimy Don't Go in the House ('80) was released in Japan because this Zoom In entry smells of that film's delightfully foul embers both tonally and visually. The rape/burning scenes in both films are downbeat and nihilistic, leaving us with no hope for the human race.  The callous indifference both killers have for their victims is uncannily similar in both pictures also. This nihilism is both disturbing and exhilarating, making it essential art.  

Giallos were clearly an influence on Kurosawa, and the cutting style employed in Argento's early work (Deep Red, Tenebrae, Suspiria) is slavishly imitated here.

At the other end of the spectrum are the films this one clearly influenced; the most obvious is Billy Tang's Cat III shocker Red To Kill, surely one of the most maligned and Roman Porno-esque of the former colony's horror flicks. Kurosawa's focus here on the concrete edifices where the mayhem takes place is carbon copied by Tang in Red. Most obviously, Red's chilling, driving score sounds like a direct bit of thievery from Zoom In. The visual characterization of the rapist here is also echoed in Red, and leaves me convinced that that film's writers saw a tape of this film and were more than impressed with its potent credentials.

Zoom In -Sex Apartments (original Japanese title: 'Zoom In: Rape Apartments') achieves a heightened place in the pink pantheon because it's consistently inventive, audacious in its conceits, and unabashedly vile. It's not a terribly graphic film and the nudity is restrained, but it's a ballsy exercise by a director with an arthouse approach to his material that made me reflect on Koji Wakamatsu's best works such as Dark Story of a Japanese Rapist, The Man Who Assaulted 13 People aka Serial Rapist, and Go Go Second Time Virgin. There's not a celluloid moment here where Kurosawa isn't exploring a strange or powerful idea. They don't all work, but they make for engaging cinema.

 For years, the film has been available as a decent boot, but now is the time to throw that away and support Impulse's stellar presentation with flawless subs, terrific liner notes by Jasper Sharp, and an insert of the original poster art.

I have no idea where Impulse is going next with these releases apart from the imminent release of The True Story of a Woman in Jail: Continues, a must-have sequel. Personally, I'd like to see them forging ahead with darker material like this and other unreleased (with English subs) Nikkatsu product such as the above-mentioned Secret Chronicle - She Beast Market, Zoom Up - Rape Site, Zoom Up - Rape Report, White Rose Campus - Then, Everybody Gets Raped, Raping, Rape, and Sex Hunter.

Yes, yes, yes, as monotonous as these titles sound to the uninitiated, they are all blisteringly unique efforts.

For now, rejoice in the fact that Zoom In -Sex Apartments is available to own and has never looked better.

DVD's and Blu-Rays You Must Not miss

 

If you enjoyed the brilliant Animalada (Synapse), you'll appreciate this unofficial companion film on the same subject. Director Ulrich Seidl has a unique voice and a sharp eye for composition. 

 

Graeme Whifler's Neighborhood Watch was retitled Deadly End, a shitty, generic title. But don't be fooled. This ultra-dark and disturbing horror flick has a Stuart Gordon sensibility and grim intentions. It's set in a world not unlike Gordon's King of the Ants crossed with the paranoia landscape of Arlington Road. 

 

Recommended to me by my dear friend John Arden, a true aficionado of cinema, it's a strange and fascinating '72 flick that bears similarities to Bob Clark's Deathdream, but it's a unique beast that blends a simple love story with a tale of grotesque dread. The horror is too undercooked for some (read most reviews), but I liked it very much, and thought it massively original.

 

Nothing I can add to the chorus of approval on this little number, the late Ken Russell's epic on religious hysteria. The BFI DVD is as good as this film will ever look on anything but Blu-Ray.  

 

A new transfer from the Brits, excellent liner notes, and a fine piece of foreign poster art. The film almost feels quaint now in a Fred West kind of way.  

 

This ball-tearing crime drama (a British four-parter) features a killer cast and enough violence, intrigue, sleaze, and appalling behavior to power a movie studio for a month. Underseen and underappreciated, it is a revelation, and more than equal to material churning from paycablers such as HBO.

 

I know grotesque, so when I say this is truly grotesque, trust me. Bondage Game doesn't begin to describe the glorious, brain-damaged filth on display here. Only for true enthusiasts. 

 

True crime is going ratings-crazy on Australian TV, and there seems to be a new recreation of some criminal's appalling life every time you open the TV guide. This assembly of appalling behavior is hard-hitting and as fascinating as Chopper.   

 

 

Andrzej Zulawski's L'Amour Braque is riveting stuff, and this DVD from Mondo Vision is essential.

 

Stunning Hungarian classic about a serial seducer is given immaculate restoration treatment by the UK's Second Run.

 

Almost a lost movie until now, Lost Boundaries, from the Warner Archives, tells the fascinating and true story of a black doctor who decides to be a white man (for good reason). A true curiosity from the 40's.

 

Another stellar recommendation from the indefatigable Mr. Arden, this true New Zealand crime drama focuses on a notorious shooter who became the worst mass murderer in the country's history. Directed in a documentary-like style, it assembles character details (of victims and shooter) that are jaw-dropping.    

 

Love the book, loved the film when I first saw it almost two decades ago. This new Blu-Ray from Summit is of the highest quality, and there are some fantastic extras including a directory commentary and vintage behind-the-scenes footage. 

 

This searing drama about a community's reaction to the slapping of a child at a party went off like six months of fireworks when it was first screened in Australia, triggering heated debate and much controversy. It really is an extraordinary piece of writing and filmmaking, and is blessed with incredible performances.   

 

This Blu-Ray of one of the best films ever made is demonstration quality, and it stands the test of time like no other. 

 

Six staggering installments in which cameras not only follow, but actually ride the backs of birds in flight as they cross the world in search of food. Stunning photography, a rousing score, and a celebration of a creature whose ingenuity knows no bounds. One of the best nature documentaries I've ever seen.

 

This is funny. It's a restoration (from Legend Films) of Plan 9 (for colorization purposes). The best part: The "extra" is the original, black and white version (also restored), so all is forgiven. Great to see Ed getting his due. 

This just arrived today. From the rundown of what it includes on the back cover, it's obligatory viewing. From Synapse.

Sexual Adventure From Nikkatsu

Impulse Pictures (Synapse) released the "Nikkatsu Roman Porno Trailer Collection" last year to the gratitude of diehard Nikkatsu fans and devotees of on-screen erotica . Its release was not dissimilar to the sexy neighbor half disrobing for you as you ogled her from the assumed cover of a darkened room. She knows you want her, but she's not going to make it easy. She wants to test your long term interest, and who can blame her? A one night stand won't pay the bills or fuel her fires when nights are cold.

Finally, the sexy neighbor has made good on her promise and exposed her sleek little body not once but twice with the releases of True Story of a Woman in Jail - Sex Hell (Koyu Ohara), and Debauchery (Hidehiro Ito). Like many a shy lass, this one is full of delicious surprises.

Ohara's flick, the first in a a sleazy trio, is modeled on Shunya Ito's Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 ('72), but it's less surreal, more erotic, and far sleazier than any 'Scorpion' entry with the exception of Masaru Konuma's Caged ('83). Having directed a minor erotic classic (Fairy in a Cage; '77) and one of my favorite pink flicks of all time, White Rose Campus - Then, Everyone Gets Raped ('82), Oharu delivers the expected goods to Sex Hell, but he also succeeds in bringing a surprising amount of solid characterization to the movie, as well as some sharp performances. In all honesty, female prison flicks can be repetitive and overly familiar, usually meeting conventions and little else, but Ohara's effort here demonstrates commitment to producing a work that rises above the usual.

From a kink perspective, this is one juicy and creative exercise. Ticking the usual boxes (lesbianism, rape, and shower fondling), it also adds a cheery helping of golden games and sensual brutality. A bloody tampon makes an appearance here, too, and would again seven years later in the wild White Rose Campus; in that, a pervert  enters a public bathroom and engages in some mind-boggling tampon-sniffing. Ohara's strength is his guiltless commitment to the material.

A terrific DVD bonus here is a color reproduction of the film's original poster; it's an absolute corker. On top of that, Japanese film expert Jasper Sharp provides concise and info-rich liner notes on the film and its cinematic context.


Highly recommended... and the first sequel is on its way...

 Impulse's simultaneous release is the inferior Debauchery ('83) from director/writer Hidehiro Ito. Ryoko Watanabe stars as an unhappy housewife who finds herself on a semi-reluctant erotic odyssey to a land way beyond her personal boundaries.

Directed and shot with an average amount of style, it's powered by a strong central performance and a constant escalation of its shock factor. 

The theme of a woman exploring her limits is not new at all in Japanese cinema. Recent releases such as the Flower and Snake remakes have plumbed these well-worn depths with unbridled panache, but Debauchery, though a more modest affair, lifts itself out of typical 'Oniroku Dan' territory (many of these efforts are based on Dan's novels) by sheer invention and a refusal to remain within "acceptable" limits (relatively speaking); the "explosive" climax neatly returns our heroine to her initial starting point, completing a neat circle. During this period in Nikkatsu's history, their output was as controversial and limit-pushing as possible. Debauchery reflects that status.

With these two releases, Impulse has established a solid standard for their Nikkatsu releases. The transfer/print quality is as good as it's going to get (bar a Blu-Ray bump), and the choice of material is strong.

One of the upcoming titles that excites me immensely is 'Zoom In: Rape Apartments', a truly mind-boggling piece of fiery erotica that will be retitled Zoom In: Sex Apartments for its US debut. This film is a must for the whole damn family (well, at least those over eighteen).

 

Also falling into the must-buy category are Eros School: Feels So Good, and Zoom Up: The Beaver Book Girl (not seen by me, this one, but I'm as excited as the bloke on the cover).