In 1986, long before anybody was aware of the craziness of Chinese films, John Carpenter directed BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA which was his homage to the Chinese cinema. This is one of my favorite cult movies and one of Gobi's main inspiration. While I'm writing TEQUILA, he calls me saying that he wants to have Jack Burton (the main character) to be friend with Tequila. I explained him that it could be complicated, there's probably an authorization needed but he didn't care, he told me to call John Carpenter and ask him... Yeah right! Here's the trailer.

In 19887, Jim Muro directed his first and only movie, STREET TRASH, an incredible horror movie that is now considered as a cult classic. Roy Frumkes, the writer and producer of this wonder later said in an interview "I wrote it to democratically offend every group on the planet, and as a result the youth market embraced it as a renegade work, and it played midnight shows." Here's the trailer.

In 19887, Jim Muro directed his first and only movie, STREET TRASH, an incredible horror movie that is now considered as a cult classic. Roy Frumkes, the writer and producer of this wonder later said in an interview "I wrote it to democratically offend every group on the planet, and as a result the youth market embraced it as a renegade work, and it played midnight shows." Here's the trailer.

I've always been a fan of Sam Peckinpah. He directed some of my favorite movies like STRAW DOGS, THE GETAWAY or BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA. This picture always fascinated me, I scanned it from a book years ago and I use it sometimes as desktop background. It shows Sam during the shooting of one of his last movies (shame on me, I don't know which one!) I like his face, he seems as mean as his characters.

Recently Muttpop Bob was telling you about THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER, the animation who traumatized him. If you follow this link, you'll find an excerpt of RA, a French short movie that I've seen in 1984. I wasn't traumatized because I was too old already but I still think it's one of the scariest piece of art I've seen in my life. I know at some point it was released on a tape with a few other shorts. If somebody could find me a copy, he'll get a nice gift!

I recently rediscovered one of those films that traumatized me as an 80s kid: the claymation feature film "The Adventures of Mark Twain". In it, Tom Sawyer and friends journey through various recreations of Mark Twain's stories. The characters had a wrinkly charm that made them oddly beautiful. But then came the mysterious stranger. That sequence mesmerized and frightened me to no end. Recently I have discovered that this movie was the creation of Will Vinton. Will Vinton was the Nick Park of the 1980s. If there was a great piece of claymation, chances were that it was done by Vinton Studios. I'll showcase some of my favorite Vinton claymation pieces in the coming weeks.