All Aboard The Grindhouse Bandwagon

As previously mentioned in these pages, the world has gone grindhouse crazy…and it seems that the lowly exploitation flick isn’t the only area of low-culture ripe for reappraisal. As the Guardian’s resident nostalgiaist John Patterson points out in today’s Film and Music section the ICA are finally screening the documentary Midnight Movies, which seems to have been languishing in distribution limbo for quite a while now. For those who have missed this fascinating - if somewhat slight - documentary, it traces the history of the midnight boom in cult movies throughout the 1970s, exploring how underground movies went overground and what effects this had for the average film punter. Well worth checking out, if only for the occasional glimpse of Jodorowsky, Waters et al in the (ahem) prime of their youth.

Patterson will also be getting all rose-tinted about Grind House itself in tomorrow’s Guide supplement. Whatever next? Maureen Lipman on video nasties? Richard Littlejohn re-appraising Soho porn cinemas? A Michael Winner retrospective at the NFT? God forbid...

Jodorowsky Street Date Announced

The Digital Bits have revealed the release date for ABKCO and Anchor Bay's box set of Alejandro Jodorowsky films and it's May 1st. The RRP is two cents shy of fifty dollars.

For your money, you'll get El Topo, The Holy Mountain, Fando and Lis and La Cravate, as well as a small pile of extras.

King Kong Sized Human Skeletons, Marilyn Manson As A 300 Year Old Pope And The Charity Of Nick Nolte

If you think about it, the above title can only mean one thing: Alejandro Jodorowsky's back. Worst Previews today have a few bits and bobs on his in-development movie, King Shot.

From what I've heard, the plot appears to revolve around the casino to end all casinos, secreted away in the middle of a vast desert that is dotted with surreal mirages. A very odd group of gamblers convene here and somehow, for some reason, find the skeleton of a giant man - "King Kong sized" - buried in the sand. According to the new piece, Marilyn Manson is onboard as a 300 year old Pope.