My sixth Bar Trash season at Genesis Cinema was VHS USA, a blockbuster celebration of 1980s video culture. The season included some shot-on-video ‘trashterpieces’, a series of legendary rentals from Charles Band’s Empire Pictures, and screenings from vintage VHS including some ‘pre-certificate’ Video Nasties that have been in my tape collection since I was a teenager in the 1980s.
For the second year running, queer wrestling collective Fist Club took over Bar Paragon in advance of International Women’s Day to show grappling documentary GLOW and raise money for Bloody Good Period. We also staged our first ever VHS Collecting Day in collaboration with my good friend, the incredible tapehead Gemma Gore. All in all, this was our biggest-selling Bar Trash season so far and I couldn’t be more appreciative of all the support we’ve received. Thank you to our wonderful audiences and to the amazing team at Genesis Cinema!!!
You can read more detailed writeups about each of these events – including audience comments from our ‘trash or treasure’ polling cards – over on my LETTERBOXD page (@tokenhomo).
#066: THE EVIL DEAD from VHS 📼 d. Sam Raimi (1981 / USA / 85mins)
Genesis Cinema 17 JANUARY 2024 [full event info]
VHS USA launched with THE EVIL DEAD, shown from a rare, pre-certificate VHS tape, right out of my personal collection. This was the legendary 1983 Palace Video release of THE EVIL DEAD that was banned and withdrawn after The Video Recordings Act 1984 which followed the ‘Video Nasties’ hysteria. The original UK home video release features 49 seconds of cuts, and is the same version as the BBFC’s X-rated 1982 cinema release of the film that helped get THE EVIL DEAD in front of audiences following time in distribution hell.
#067: BOARDINGHOUSE d. John Wintergate (1982 / USA / 88mins)
Genesis Cinema 24 JANUARY 2024 [full event info]
BOARDINGHOUSE is a 1982 supernatural slasher film directed, written by, and starring musician John Wintergate (who plays two different roles and created the film’s special effects!). It was the first ever shot-on-video horror film to be blown up to 35mm and released theatrically in the USA. We don’t think BOARDINGHOUSE has ever officially been certified for a UK release.
Appropriately enough for a film with the alternative title ‘Housegeist’, we had to cancel our screening of BOARDINGHOUSE at the very last minute due to a power cut in the cinema and surrounding area. I held vigil outside the venue, turning people away and chatting about the history of shot-on-video horror.
#067: GHOULIES from VHS 📼 d. Luca Bercovici (1985 / USA / 81mins)
Genesis Cinema 31 JANUARY 2024 [full event info]
GHOULIES comes from legendary B-movie studio, Empire Pictures (1984–88). Founded by maverick movie mogul Charles Band (aka “The Prince of Schlock”), the studio was a family affair with Band’s wife Debra Dion, dad Albert, and brother Richard all playing pivotal production roles. GHOULIES was one of 5 films Band produced to launch his new studio and its massive commercial success would define the Empire DNA.
#068: ELIMINATORS from VHS 📼 d. Peter Manoogian (1986 / USA / 96mins)
Genesis Cinema 07 FEBRUARY 2024 [full event info]
ELIMINATORS is a big-hearted, low-budget action flick, and the second of our titles from Charles Band’s legendary B-movie studio, Empire Pictures. Written by Paul De Meo and Danny Bilson (Bar Trash alumnus ZONE TROOPERS), ELIMINATORS combines elements from almost every 80s actioner you can think of with generous doses of time-travelling sci-fi.
#069: Valentine’s Special: TERRORVISION d. Ted Nicolaou (1986 / USA / 81mins)
Genesis Cinema 14 FEBRUARY 2014 [full event info]
TERRORVISION is a jaw-droppingly queer MTV-era cocktail blend of 1950s pulp sci-fi, satellite TV channel surfing, and swinging sub-culture (yes, really!). The film about a family that installs a new satellite TV system to give the kids something to do whilst the parents have guests over for a swingers party made a perfect Valentine’s Day event.
#070: Mystery Film? INVASION OF THE BLOOD FARMERS d. Ed Adlum (1972 / USA / 84mins)
Genesis Cinema 21 FEBRUARY 2024 [full event info]
Our third Bar Trash mystery film was revealed to be…. INVASION OF THE BLOOD FARMERS (1972)!!! A DIY rural horror show that – somewhat inexplicably! – found itself on the DPP’s Section 3 Video Nasties list back in the day before disappearing from distribution in the UK. This rarely screened gem has been described as an “accidental masterpiece” (Horror News), and “unbelievable high-grade trash” (Shock Cinema). It has never been given an authorised UK release and remains uncertified by the BBFC.
#071: BLOOD LAKE d. Tim Boggs (1987 / USA / 82mins)
Genesis Cinema 28 FEBRUARY 2024 [full event info]
Shot on video by real-life friends and family members, BLOOD LAKE is a wonderfully evocative collision of ’80s slasher and home movie mayhem. Filmed by DIY director Tim Boggs and producer, writer, and co-star Doug Barry in Southwestern Oklahoma, BLOOD LAKE’s regional horror highlights include adolescent horn-dog Lil’ Tony, the perpetual threat of an ass kickin’, real beer on set, heavy metal tracks, and an act of god.
#072: GLOW x Fist Club for IWD d. Brett Whitcomb (2012 / USA / 76mins)
Genesis Cinema 06 MARCH 2024 [full event info]
GLOW: THE STORY OF THE GORGEOUS LADIES OF WRESTLING is the true story of what happened behind the scenes of one of the most outrageous television shows in history. It was also our first ever Bar Trash documentary screening…
For a second year, this edition of Bar Trash was taken over by London’s queer wrestling collective, Fist Club, for International Women’s Day 2024. Host Katy Bulmer (drag king Loose Willis), Fist Club co-creator Daisy Lang (Rocky Rhodes), and pro-wrestler Rhia O’Reilly celebrated the violent, gender non-conforming wrestlers of GLOW and raised £210 for Bloody Good Period’s campaign for period equity.
#073: DOLLS d. Stuart Gordon (1986 / USA / 77mins)
Genesis Cinema 13 MARCH 2024 [full event info]
After the success of RE-ANIMATOR (1985), Empire Pictures supremo Charles Band locked director Stuart Gordon into a multi picture deal. Like its diminutive title characters, DOLLS was squeezed into the pre-production schedule for FROM BEYOND (1986), Gordon’s ambitious, gory, Lovecraftian sleaze-fest.
Filmed on FROM BEYOND’s pre-built mansion sets, but released afterwards due to considerable amounts of SFX work, DOLLS emerged from the darkness as a miniature masterpiece. It played brilliantly in the bar, with everyone whooping and cheering like they were on an old dark ride at a theme park.
UPDATE: We had originally planned to show DOLLS from VHS but during technical testing it became apparent that the vintage tape was too dark for a public screening. Switching from analog to digital blu-ray meant that every twitch of a dead doll’s eye could be seen up on screen...
#074: Shot-On-Video Double-Bill: THE MCPHERSON TAPE d. Dean Alioto (1989 / USA / 63mins) + HALLUCINATIONS ds. John Polonia, Mark Polonia, & Todd Michael Smith (1987 / USA / 59mins)
Genesis Cinema 20 MARCH 2024 [full event info]
This was a double-bill of two 1980s shot-on-video ’trashterpieces’. An historically significant and thrilling sci-fi release, THE MCPHERSON TAPE is both a found footage pioneer and lucky to have escaped the fire that ravaged its distribution company’s warehouse, denying the film a legitimate release back in the day. HALLUCINATIONS is from legendary SOV enfants terribles, twins Mark and John Polonia and their gay pal, Todd Michael Smith. HALLUCINATIONS is an insane reenactment of every horror film you’ve ever seen, spiked with sexual perversion and very wet gore.
#075: VHS Collecting Day: THE SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE from VHS 📼 d. Amy Holden Jones (1982 / USA / 77mins) + SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE 2 from VHS 📼 d. Deborah Brock (1987 / USA / 77mins)
Genesis Cinema 23 MARCH 2024 [full event info]
Responding to audiences’ love of this legacy format, we organised our first VHS Collecting Day featuring a VHS Collecting Workshop and a Vintage VHS Double-Bill, co-hosted by the incredible tapehead, Gemma Gore!
The workshop looked at everything VHS, from buying, selling, and getting help with valuations, to tape preservation, storage and maintenance (including a live demonstration of mould removal!). After that, Gemma screened two films from her personal tape collection, both written and directed by women: Amy Holden Jones’ THE SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE (1982, aka ‘Slumber Party Murders’ in the UK), and Deborah Brock’s SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE 2 (1987).
#076: ARENA from VHS 📼 d. Peter Manoogian (1986 / USA / 97mins)
Genesis Cinema 27 MARCH 2024 [full event info]
Known affectionately as ‘ROCKY in space’, this sci-fi brawler rose like a phoenix from the financial flames that engulfed Charles Band’s B-movie studio, Empire Pictures, when it closed. Shown from vintage VHS (that looked beautiful on the big screen!), this was our final dip into the the world of Empire Pictures (for now…).
#077: THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE from VHS 📼 d. Tobe Hooper (1974 / USA / 83mins)
Genesis Cinema 03 APRIL 2024 [full event info]
We ended VHS USA with the 78th edition of Bar Trash and the ultimate horror film experience: Tobe Hooper’s THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE (1974) shown from a vintage, pre-certificate, ex-rental VHS tape from my own personal collection.
This was the legendary Iver Film Services (IFS) home video release that widely distributed the ‘uncensored’ version of the film in the UK before it was banned as a result of the Video Nasties furore. There has never been another tape like it: “This video cassette is based on a true incident and is definitely not for the squeamish or the nervous.” It still has the capacity cause nightmares…