Criterion Smut

    A few years ago Criterion went ape shit and decided to release completely uncut versions of rare euro shock and sleaze or what I refer to as "highbrow trash" making them available for anyone to enjoy (or viciously puke to). Titles that once were only available on (Sorry Chas!) shitty dupes taped offa laser disc but back in the heyday of underground tape trading this is the suffering we had to endure! Thankfully Criterion has rescued obscure relics and painstakingly made them gorgeous in pristine format.
 You no longer had to get a Japanese subtitle migraine, your eyes didn't bleed a little having to make out a shoddy scrambled looking dub.So what Films do Criterion (and Hulu plus) offer to watch from the Deep Red catalog?
     First there's Georges Franju's ultra creepy classic Eyes without a face (1960). It has Alida Valli who went on to play one of the head witches at the dance academy in Suspiria. She plays the one sent out to look for victims for the mad surgeon. It's been ripped off and paid tribute to by so many different directors (Jess Franco stole its plotline at least a dozen times alone).
 
    Ghost of Yotsuya by Nobuo Nakagawa (1959) it's based on Japanese folklore of a ghostly wife's revenge against her samurai husband. Nakagawa also directed two films worth seeking out that aren't in the catalog: Jigoku and Snake Woman's Curse (both are available to watch through Hulu and Fandor).  
    Criterion also has Andy Warhol's Frankenstein and Dracula (apparently they have a boner for Udo Keir) I do not share their enthusiasm and the only reason I can tolerate him in Mark of the Devil is because he's dubbed. 
    Salo 120 Days of Sodom and The Sweet Movie are both in their roster and are very repulsive! My friend Skunkape even had trouble buying Salo when it was on sale at a Best Buy and he has no problem watching Cannibal Holocaust! The Sweet Movie has so much freakiness going on, John Vernon's stunt cock, a chocolate vagina, I'm still on the fence about a certain pedophile scene involving a woman as the tormentor who sails around in a giant boat filled with sweets that has the paper mache face of Karl Marx. I'm not sure what the story was there (I don't think she was interviewed for the special edition).

The Sweet Movie

    Night of The Hunter is by no means a gore film at all, but definitely a must see classic! Why it's in the catalog is confusing to me, possibly Balun wanted to teach dopey stoners, who only wanted to see intestines and smashed heads about greatness as well, or maybe he had a truck load of laser discs and needed to dub something cool onto a video to make a few bucks. If you haven't seen it, check it out! Robert Michum in top form plays a demented preacher with love and hate tattoos on his hands. He mentally subdues poor (skinny) Shelly Winters and verbally assaults her children in search of treasure hidden by his jail buddy put in their house.
   White Dog is a film that was extremely hard to find for a long time. It's a brilliant and totally misunderstood film by Sam Fuller. The one thing that baffles me about it is that why did the ratings board give it a PG? The only thing I can think of is that it was the early 80's and the ratings commission nazis weren't in full control yet. Or it maybe the fact that it sat on the studio shelf for years and years, I guess people just weren't ready for the concept of a racist dog!? One film that is strangely not in the catalog that I feel should be is The Tin Drum it's not really a naziploitation but has all the strange elements that make it a welcome addition. It has a extremely revolting part where a real rotten horses head full of eels gets pulled clean and served up for dinner. There's nazi midgets, a Felini/ Jodowrowskyesque circus, bordering on pedo uncomfortable sex involving lots of spit and Lik-M-Aid (or Fun Dip). Despite all that unpleasantness it's a classic!  Hulu Link