Midnight Video

Side B of the second volume of the Midnight Video Head Cleaner mixtape is comprised of songs, samples and scores from the Doomsday Clock specials. Enjoy.

BOOM!!! This is it folks. The clock has struck midnight and the last instalment of the Doomsday Clock resonates in harmony with our first ever show. We've gone full circle and are rounding off things... for now, with another William Peter Blatty film: The Exorcist III aka. Legion.

Bruce Dickinson told us there was two minutes to midnight, but he might have been sketching out Lord Iffy Boatrace at the time. Fortunately for us, Richard Stanley upped the ante after his marvellous HARDWARE with this extremely unique and visually sumptuous flick. This ain't no hand-held hoover, this is a DUST DEVIL.

We're now in double figures and Doomsday Clock 10 is comprised of arm envy, oedipal rage and Al from Quantum Leap's brother. Oh yeh, and it's directed by someone called Alejandro Jodorowsky. It's bloody and could be considered holy, it's Santa Sangre!

In the Mouth of Madness was the winner of the listener's choice in our poll, but a close second was this classic slice of Hong Kongesque hokum from Carp and Kurt. With just three minutes left until midnight, we chop sockey towards Doomsday in the company of Jack Burton and Egg Sheng as they cause Big Trouble in Little China.

Before he became obsessed with a bespectacled child with a scar on his head, Rafe, sorry, Ralph Fiennes starred in a Kathryn Bigelow (with a little help from her now ex, James Cameron) film, which was a dystopian vision influenced by the 'then-times' riots and Rodney King killing in LA. So, as the clock ticks ever onwards to Doomsday, so do we witness the countdown to a new year to remember in Strange Days.

Although time is irrelevant to the undead, we find ourselves celebrating the minute hand striking the 6th minute to Midnight on our Doomsday countdown by taking a look at intrepid and idiosyncratic Bavarian film maker Werner Herzog's remake of F. W. Murnau's iconic Nosferatu.

Verdant, viridian and violently pink: Tears of the Black Tiger is a Thai genre mash up that defies expectations. A musical, western, melodrama with more than touch of the ol' ultraviolence a la Peckinpah; it marks the 7th minute to midnight on our Doomsday Clock countdown.

As luck would have it Dario Argento is the special guest at this year's Frightfest and like the planets aligning, Midnight Video brings into orbit the moon of Tenebrae casting it's shadow across the face of 80s Rome like the minute hand of the Doomsday Clock.

This week it's literally a race against the (Doomsday?) clock as we go undercover in one of the toughest Australian biker gangs ever to have graced the silver screen in Sandy Harbutt's frank and refreshing tale of camaraderie and two wheels: Stone.

Another minute bites the dust as we bring you another instalment of the Doomsday Clock. Pretty much universally panned the world over, Neil Labute's 2006 remake of cult British classic The Wickerman gets the Midnight Video treatment, but can we overcome the general consensus and find anything remotely positive about this Cage-rage vehicle?

It's now 11 minutes to Midnight and this episode sees us boil and blister as our tiny egos are put through the wrangler by psychoplasmic maestro Dr Hal Raglan (Oliver Reed) in David Cronenberg's familial chiller: The Brood.

The Doomsday Clock is finally here and it's ticking.Over the next 12 weeks we will be dissecting a dozen films that have some links to previous shows, in particular our listener's vote.Beginning the countdown to the film apocalypse is Brian De Palma's extraordinary musical twist on classical horror literature: Phantom of the Paradise.

Here it is folks as promised, the flipside of the Midnight Video mixtape.More sonic oddities extracted from some of the cinematic gems that we've covered on the show over the last year.I have to admit that even I was surprised by some of the audio discoveries that I made in order to compile side B, a case in point being the Dick Tracy OST which features a swinging 90s hip hop track from non other than Bodycount vocalist Tracy Lauren Marrow aka. Ice-T.And also of note is Dominic Frontiere's score for Lesley Steven's Bergmanesque, Shatner-starring, Esperanto-garbled curiosity Incubus. Of course Frontiere went on to score what could be considered the compositional jewel in his crown; The Stunt Man but it's interesting to see the lineage from his The Outer Limits work to the excellent and unsung Richard Rush movies.So once again, sit back relax and be thankful you have another opportunity to be free of our gibbering gobbledygook.

The second instalment in our Headcleaner series sees us making up for Jim's untimely holiday which means that show 30 won't be available for a few weeks, but fear not, auditory cinematic diversions are still available although we've done something a little different here. Some of you may be aware that I like to compile mixtapes and this time I've turned my hand to a Midnight Video mixtape that encompasses music and samples from some of the films that we've covered on the show. So sit back relax and just be thankful you don't have to listen us droning on and on for a few weeks.

Due to our attendance at Frightfest we were unable to supply a new episode 'proper' of Midnight Video but we did end up recording a commentary track a few weeks ago for David Lynch's Palme d'Or winning Wild At Heart. So this week we offer you the opportunity to watch Lynch's movie accompanied by our voices and thoughts on one of his most divisive films.

In which we run through our cinematic highlights of the year and bring some news about the future of the show.

Well folks, show 39 sees us tackle a trio of films from the (in)famous Red Triangle series on the UK's Channel 4 back in the mid 80s.Cro-Magnon consternation in 70s Paris with Themroc, bored housewives and sexual frustration in Sweden with Montenegro before we round things off with familial hiccups in Dennis Hopper's Out Of The Blue.Also show 39 marks the end of volume one of Midnight Video as Phil leaves the UK for France and the impending introduction of his second sprog into this crazy, crazy world.

This show's filling between the sci-fi bread is the winner of the listener's vote poll; Martin Scorsese's After Hours. One man's descent into a night of mares and a great way to finish the vote. The upper slice of bread is Konstantin Lopushansky's post-apocalyptic A Visitor to the Museum - a Soviet metaphysical musing upon some of the big questions in life, but does it have any answers? Completing this delicious sandwich of cinema we brave the Alan Smithee cut of Dune with a 10 minute prologue and 30 mins of extra footage, does Smithee's cut attempt to fill in the gaps that Lynch deigned to leave out?

Show 37 is ready for action! Get set for breadcrumbs in the sheets with Deathbed- The Bed That Eats. Our Takeshi Kitano listeners' choice poll winner mixes haunted cops and art therapy in Hana-Bi (AKA Fireworks). Finally Steven Berkoff, Kristen Scott Thomas and Prince find themselves Under the Cherry Moon.

Show 36 opens with The Rebel starring Tony Hancock escaping his hum drum existence in London and hotfooting it to Paris to realise his dream of being an artist. But is the topsy turvy, shallow world of art ready for Hancock's infantile school? Or is it Hancock who should be ready? Fausto 5.0 is another twist in the tale of a man's pact with the devil. Set against the background of an unfamiliar Barcelona our protagonist's world becomes a hallucinatory nightmare as obsessions become real. We round things off with the winner of our Polanski listener's vote: Bitter Moon, which has Peter Coyote regale his sexual escapades as a wannabe writer to Hugh Grant, but believe us, there's soooooo much more to this eye-winking romp.

Sandwiched between two distinctly British films, the winner of the last listener's vote was John Carpenter's In The Mouth of Madness, a meta-fictional romp that sees insurance scam snoop Sam Neill come face to face with Lovecraftian nightmares from the mind of Jurgen Prochnow.Forming the British bread for this week's show is 1934's Death At Broadcasting House, an adaptation of Val Gielgud's (brother of John) novel which also stars the author. A murder takes place live on air and the titular broadcasting house becomes a den of suspicion as everyone under it's roof becomes a suspect.Then we round things off with the Peter O'Toole starring in the criminally under-seen satire The Ruling Class, which sees paranoid schizophrenic O'Toole assume the mantle of Lord Gurney much to the chagrin of his scheming relatives. Mayhem and hilarity ensues.

Show 34 sees us return to the old format after our birthday shenanigans, which we sincerely hope you lovely listeners enjoyed.Jerzy Skolimowski's The Shout features Alan Bates, John Hurt and Susannah Yorke in a singularly surreal take on the home invasion genre, taking in aboriginal folklore, cricket and experimental music.The listener's Herzog vote saw Woyzeck triumph. Just what did we make of Kinski's pea diet and shaving skills?Rounding things off is 1995's Powder featuring the talents of Seth Brundel and Young Indiana Jones directed by Victor Salva, yeh, that guy.

As promised our 1/3 part of the 33rd Birthday Special is here.David Cronenberg's adaptation of Stephen King's The Dead Zone was the listener's choice of Cronenberg films for us to review. Christopher Walken finds himself awakening from a five year snooze with the ability to see future events, but what kind of effect will this power have on him and those around him?

Well folks, it's been one year now since we started Midnight Video and by Jove we're still here. It's been great to see the download numbers rise steadily and we just wanted to say a big thank you indeed for letting us into your ears and the darker recesses of you subconscious. Hopefully we've planted some cinematic seeds in there that will germinate and force you to search unceasingly for more movie oddities that need to be seen, heard and digested. Anyway as it's our Birthday and being the type of people we are, we though we'd do something a little different, dare I say special, for our Birthday show. So shunning the medium which got us here in the first place, tonight we'll be delving into literature, comic books and music. First up, Roger Moore's diary written during the making of his debut Bond, Live And Let Die. We take a look at Roger Moore as James Bond. Sticking with the written word we add some pictures and dissect Norwegian cartoonist Jason's comic book Why Are You Doing This? And then we finish…

Show 32 sees us saddle up and polish our revolvers as we enter the Wild West - Czech style in oddball Western Lemonade Joe.Once again the listeners voted and the outcome was Brian De Palma's Body Double. What did we make of the voyeuristic misadventures of a young out of work actor and impromptu music videos?Finally we round off with a little seen straight to (Dutch!) TV gem featuring one of Holland's finest exports (Hauer not Heineken) and leading Python Graham Chapman in the factory-bound psychedelic adventures of Smallcreep's Day.

Chronopolis from the vintage film year 1982, is a Polish animation that employs claymation, stop-motion and early CGI, but it's a million miles away, thankfully, from the likes of Avatar.Paul Schrader's directorial debut, Blue Collar features the unlikely trio of Yaphet Kotto, Harvey Keitel and the reasonably straight Richard Pryor as co-workers and buddies in the automobile industry, but their live are about to turn upside down after a heist backfires.And our new feature where we offer the listeners a chance to vote for one film from a director's filmography kicks off with Dario Argento's insect insanity, Phenomena.

Show 30! Gadzooks - who woulda thunk it? Well even if you didn't, we've done it now and it's in keeping with the spirit of Midnight Video that we offer up to you precious listeners, three very enticing slices of overlooked gems from the ocean of cult cinema.Before he developed a penchant for Pabst Blue Ribbon and winding up Sicilians, Dennis Hopper played a wide-eyed sailor in search of love on shore leave who falls under the spell of young lady who may or may not be a mermaid, in the dream-like Night Tide.Post Burton, Elizabeth Taylor starred in an Italian produced adaptation of Muriel Spark's Booker nominated The Driver's Seat. Taylor's existential angst, wardrobe and choice of companions are something to behold in this little seen film that is essential viewing if you listen to this show.And wrapping up proceedings, the final film in our British Rock Stars in the Movies sees The Police's Sting come toe-to-toe with cinematic stalwarts Denholm Elliott and Joan Plowright in Dennis Potter's Brimstone And…

It's another month in 2012 and here is another instalment of Midnight Video boldly going where (probably) not many podcasts have been before. Show 29 brings the boobs, Bowie and (eye) balls to your delicate auditory systems. Andy Sidaris was a purveyor of of the kind of films that Albert Brooks claimed to have produced in Drive and we thought it was high time to appraise one of his 'guns, girls and g-strings' adventures. Expect big hair, skimpy swimsuits and a surprising turn from Daniel-san's sensei as an international bad guy and shiatsu master in Do Or Die. We then come to the penultimate film in our 'British rock stars in the movies' season and who better to finish it off than the man who fell to earth and landed in a New York bar trying to get a green card. Yep, that's right, tonight we see David Bowie and Rosanna Arquette embroiled in The Linguini Incident. And we round things off with the tale of a tortured artist whose penchant for eyeballs and perspex make for an interesting shop display.…

The second Midnight Video of 2012 has docked in the harbour of Podcast Bay and what cinematic treasures have we recovered from the ocean bed of film flotsam and jetsam.The Artist is the film that has been on everyone's lip for months now. A loving homage to the silent cinema years of yore, but in 2007 Australian auteur Rolf De Heer had a similar idea to Michel Hazanavicius and gave the world Dr Plonk - a loving homage to the silent era that tips it's hats to the likes of Keaton, Lloyd and the Keystone Kops.Next up is Poland's best selling film of all time (as of writing this still stands). Sexmission could be the utopian dreams of randy teenage boys the world over, but for Max and Albert the bizarre realities of a female-only world prove anything but dreamlike in this thinly veiled satire about life in a communist regime.To round things off, we continue our 'British rock stars in the movies' season with the apparently little seen Julien Temple directed vanity project of a certain Michael Jagger. Running Out…

Here it is! The first Midnight Video podcast of the year in which George Lucas will release The Phantom Menace again, but this time in life fulfilling 3D. As an antidote to that cinematic equivalent of the ending of A Serbian Film we are delighted to offer you these movie morsels to whet your appetite before your potential skull fucking: Alice In Acidland - a movie title that promises you something beyond the already whacked out Lewis Carroll tale, or does it? Lisztomania - last year saw the passing of one of British cinema's largest and most vibrant characters in the shape of Ken Russell. We take a look back at the English Fellini's flamboyant and not too subtle biopic of the first pop idol. Lisztomania also marks the beginning of a new section of the show. We've decided to incorporate a 'mini season' of films in to the show and our first is: British rock stars in film. The possibilities are not quite endless, but we'll do our best to dig out some of the lesser known (and maybe more forgettable) films of…

Giant turkeys, rivers of canned bitter and knitted monstrosities are just lurking around the corner for most people, but wait, 'Hark! The herald angels sing' Midnight Video are here to offer you an unseasonal respite in the form of a podcast that neatly attempts to side step the obvious, so if you're looking for reviews of festive faves such as Die Hard, Gremlins and Trading Places, well look elsewhere after soiling your ears with our mulled wine fuelled waffle. Show 26 is a bit different in that three wise listeners very kindly offered us three cinematic treats to review. The movie magi gifts consisted of The Great Silence, My Favourite Year and Brain Damage - an eclectic and unpredictable trio that is befitting of the show I think you'll agree.

Midnight Video 25 reveals our amorous intents as Oliver Reed tries to lose his virginity, but not his mind in Dr Heckyl And Mr Hype. Donald Sutherland powders his nose (cheeks, chin, neck, etc.) and adjusts his wig and codpiece in Fellini's Casanova before Richard Burton's lust for love and taste for uroxicide display themselves in the colourful Bluebeard.

China's first animated feature film, Humphrey Bogart as a drunk klansman and Robert Hardy with barely concealed incestuous urges. It can only mean one thing... another episode of Midnight Video has entered the iSphere. Princess Iron Fan is China's first major commercial contribution to the world of animated feature films and derives from the moralistic tales found within the great Chinese tome; Journey To The West. Humphrey Bogart plays a disillusioned blue collar worker in Black Legion who becomes a slave to the bottle and a rather dubious 'club' who model themselves on the Ku Klux Klan. And Hammer studios' Demons Of The Mind sees Robert Hardy turned up to 11 as the pater familias of an aristocratic family with dark secrets.

Show 23 sees us brave Arctic conditions and forced baptisms in the Euro-Russian helmed The Red Tent before we swap our furs for Trilbys and red wigs in the post-apocalyptic Radioactive Dreams and then we round things off with an unusual take on time travel in The Navigator: A Mediaeval Odyssey.

Our fortnightly schedule comes a cropper as we honour the ancient festival of All Hallow's Eve by watching four 'classic' horror films in a bid to regale our ghoulish listeners with our inconsequential jabber and babble.Our trick or treating antics begin with a knock on the door of the House Of Frankenstein before legging it to the station and boarding the Horror Express. Our stop is Manchester, where we alight and and find ourselves amongst The Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue before wandering through the resting place of souls and ending up at The House By The Cemetery. Some familiar voices accompany us on our travels tempting us with treats and deceiving us with tricks.

Midnight Video 22 wonders at the rice-based uber monster that is North Korea's answer to Godzilla, the endearing and mighty Pulgasari; before joining Peter Wyngarde on his journey into disbelief in Night Of The Eagle and then we round the show off with some high grade jazzsploitation with Sun Ra's inimitable Space Is The Place.

Show 21 sees Midnight Video come of age and to help us celebrate our legal quaffing of lite beers in the ol' US of A we have ushered in some distinguished guests. Ladies and gentlemen please raise a bottle and/or glass to the talents of Mr Marlon Brando, Mr George C. Scott and (blink or you'll miss him) Sir John Gielgud in John G Avildsen's fossil fuelled (or is it?) The Formula. And behind those titans of the silver screen donning their bespoke furs, custom daub designs and downing flaming sambucas: Mr Ron Perlman, Mr Everett McGill and (stark naked) Ms Rae Dawn Chong - put your lighters in the air for Quest For Fire. Finally pulling up the rear and drinking out of a skull we have Mr Victor Sjostrom: watch that scythe and whatever you do, don't be the last to die before midnight on New Year's Eve or else you'll be going home in The Phantom Carriage.

Show 20 sees Midnight Video donning a samurai sword for Izo, a silver mask for Who? and a 10 metre pole for On The Silver Globe. Also in this weeks show we have a (relatively) important announcement about future shows and there is a bumper bundle of listener's contributions to The A-Z of Film through Midnight Video.

After five days of a diet of McDonalds and central London priced yeast and hops based beverages Midnight Video somehow managed to drag themselves into the 'studio' and record a Frightfest special. The tapes of these recording sessions were recently recovered and have been edited into what you are about to listen to. It is still being debated by experts whether or not these tapes are a hoax. Part two is yet to be released.

After five days of a diet of McDonalds and central London priced yeast and hops based beverages Midnight Video somehow managed to drag themselves into the 'studio' and record a Frightfest special. The tapes of these recording sessions were recently recovered and have been edited into what you are about to listen to. It is still being debated by experts whether or not these tapes are a hoax. Part two is yet to be released.

And so we reach the average of the combat soldier in Vietnam, but for Midnight Video 19 we avoid the combat zone by putting our lives in danger without the aid of the military as we scale dizzying heights in Safety Last. We then make a technological leap from the silent era of cinema to the ushering in of HD and digital video trickery with The Orchestra before enduring a voyage of self discovery as search for our inner Jonathan Livingstone Seagull.

Here is Side B of show 18.

Show 18 sees Midnight Video swap their videos for vinyl as film soundtracks become the focus for this long player podcast. As you can see from the title this is Side A (or part two for those of you who are unfamiliar with the popular vinyl format of yesteryear) and Side B will be available as a separate download.

Midnight Video 17 sees us returning to the cusp of the 1990s to take a peek at Warren Beatty's dick, Dick Tracy that is. We then hop back a couple of decades to the cusp of the 1970s to a London without much swing and the sordid tale of sibling seduction in Goodbye Gemini before we finally discover the truth about cold temperatures and time travel in Time of the Apes.

Swinging in on the latest vine Midnight Video 16 sees us ponder over a jungle isolationist and his reaction to his quiet life being interrupted by the pesky Third Reich in Tarzan Triumphs. We then find ourselves in contemporary Greece; sweating and listless in a dimly lit brothel tapping out the hits of Abba in Hardcore before finally flinging ourselves into a vision of the future where newborns are illegal, smog is the dominant forecast and disembodied voices order people around in Z.P.G.

Jim's social life is hectic and I'm off to France for a week tomorrow so we thought it would be the right and just thing to release show 15 a little earlier than usual. This week Midnight Video go in search of poetry and parents in The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane, before tag teaming up for a bout of erotic wrestling with The Case of the Bloody Iris and round things off as witnesses in an animal court in The Tale of the Fox.

Show 14 hits the digiwaves a tad earlier this week as Jim is on hols. This week sees Midnight Video delving into the animated and live action wonders of the Eastern Bloc with the Terry Gilliam-inspiring Baron Prasil, then we catch the next cannonball west into the forests of France to follow the exploits of two urban fish out of water with IP5 before dipping into the Mediterranean in search of the most infamous Hollywood couple ever to grace the silver screen in Boom!

Thirteen. Unlucky for some, but I think you lucky listeners are in for a right old treat as Midnight Video cleans out its cupboards/closets for Skeletons, adjusts the dials for La Antena before we finally mist up for Prayer of the Rollerboys. Also this week there's a chance for one lucky listener to get their mitts on the first official piece of Midnight Video merchandise in the shape of a t-shirt.