The nature of transgressive cinema has
shifted over the years, ranging from the early days of adult cinema
to the underground post-punk film scene in the 1980's. Over the past
decade, the term has been switched over more to the horror genre,
often dealing with an assortment of titles that have been filed under
the “torture porn” moniker. (A term itself that has some issues,
since the images that come to my mind involve either leather, chains
and greased up car batteries or sitting through the IQ-hating “Debbie
Does Dallas.”)
With films like “Hostel” and more
recently, “A Serbian Film,” being hotly contested, the whole
matter has pushed fans and writers alike to ask, “How far can too
far go?” My question, though, is what will be the new definition of
“transgressive cinema?” In this day and age of, to quote a pretty
good Jane's Addiction album title, nothing's shocking, what new
frontiers of transgression are there to pursue?
The only path to really pursue at this
juncture is, in my opinion, is to be pure DIY. Trying to ape someone
else or worse, one up them, is a losing game. Aping puts you at the
risk of looking like a pale imitator and one-upping is impossible in
this age of war and POW video footage all over the net. So the only
truly shocking option is to just do your own thing. After all, while
original ideas might be hard to come by, original approach is always
possible. Creative transgression is ready for a new landscape, one
that will not be defined by certain acts, but instead a harder to
pinpoint approach and atmosphere. Of course, it is all a wait and see
sort of affair.
Speaking of wait and see, there is an
upcoming Kickstarter coming up for “German Angst,” an anthology
film featuring work by famed cult director Jorg Buttgereit
(“Nekromanatic,” “Schramm,” “Captain Berlin”), Andreas
Mitchell (“Tears of Kali”) and Michal Kosakowski (“Zero
Killed.”) The trio of shorts will involve stories ranging from mind
altering drugs, sex clubs and neo Nazis. The biggest news out of all
this is that “German Angst” will be the first new material from
Buttgereit after several years out of the filmmaking game. The
project sounds highly promising, with their Kickstarter page going
live in the next few days, so keep on the lookout.
October is a great month for newness,
since the latest print issue of Paracinema is out and it has been
well worth the wait. There are some terrific articles featured,
including pieces on everything from the aforementioned “A Serbian
Film” to “Penitentiary III” to the later years of action heroes
and even racial politics in post-Reagan teacher features. There's
enough wit, humor and film smarts to make even the most jaded
fringe-cineaste smile. On top of all that, it also has my own article
on Stephen Sayadian's “Nightdreams” and “Dr. Caligari,” so if
you're a juice dog then you know you gotta giddy-up on that action.
If creatures like vampires are more
your thing, then you can get into the Halloween mood and listen to me
speaking (aka ranting and rambling) with the great Frank Cotolo on
his podcast The Cotolo Chronicles. This past Thursday we talked about
the king vampire himself, Dracula and his many incarnations. Listen
and thrill and put on your favorite plastic black cape and enjoy!
There will be more things to keep you
entertained in the near future, say stay tuned cats and kittens!
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