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The Bootleg Files: The Frito Bandito Commercials

BOOTLEG FILES 629: “The Frito Bandito Commercials” (1967-71 television advertising campaign).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: No afterlife for politically incorrect commercials.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: We’ll see that border wall first.

When Donald Trump announced his candidacy for president in 2015, he flabbergasted many people with this impolite description of Mexicans: “They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

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Hammer Films Double Features: Maniac/Die! Die! My Darling! [Blu-Ray]; Never Take Candy from Strangers, Scream of Fear! [Blu-Ray]

As with all Mill Creek releases, they’re prone to bringing fans and collectors whole box sets of films, and then to re-release the sets in various volumes here and there. For fans that can’t spring for the big box set, there are two releases from Mill Creek Entertainment that got the Blu-Ray treatment. These are fine releases if you want the movies or nothing else. If you want the bells and whistles, you’ll just have to wait longer.

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Heaven’s Gate: Classic or Clunker?

For many people, Michael Cimino’s 1980 epic “Heaven’s Gate” represents the worst of cinema. For others, however, the film is an original and audacious work that did not deserve the harsh reviews and box office failure in its initial release. On this episode, film critic Jerry Roberts joins Phil Hall to discuss the merits and mishaps of this still-polarizing work.

The episode can be heard here.

“The Online Movie Show” is produced at the Platinum Wolfe Studios.

An Interview with Kaila Hier [Women in Horror Month 2018]

 Kaila Hier works mostly behind the scenes once the films are ready to be seen.  She is a PR queen who mostly works with genre festivals such as Final Girls Berlin Film Festival and Fantasia International Film Festival.  She also works representing independent films, books, etc.  The woman knows her stuff and the industry inside and out.

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Dear Readers: Play Nice, or You Can’t Play At All

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Dear Readers,

I can not believe I have to issue one of these warnings, but I guess that’s what happens when your site grows. You have to eventually either cut the strings or issue a warning. I love comments. I love debates. I love comments on our reviews. I love debating with users about our articles, and going back and forth, trading barbs, and ideas. I get a thrill from trading ideas and thoughts with other intelligent like minded people. But I also have my limits, too.

We’re not the AV Club, we’re not Birth. Movies. Death., we’re not The Dissolve. We’d love to be though. And what do I mean by that? Meaning we’d love to have a comments board where people discuss the reviews, and articles, debate with one another, and even have fun. The comments boards on the aforementioned websites were and are fun, funny, and often times very insightful to read through. I visit the former two quite often and get a joy out of sharing thoughts with others.

But just because we’re not those sites, it doesn’t mean we’re going to sit here and allow people to come on our boards and name call, and bash us, and ridicule us. We’re not bringing in five million hits a day, but we’re doing well here, and we’re not so desperate for feedback that we’ll accept any comment, right down to trolling just to brag about having comments on our reviews. We’d rather have nothing at all than to be bashed and called “morons,” and be told that the articles suck.

What, you think our articles suck? That’s, like, your opinion, man. Go somewhere else. There are at least five hundred movie websites and blogs on the internet at your disposal. Don’t come here trying to shit on us. Your comments will be banned, you will be banned, and we’re going to move on with our lives. We’re not going to lose sleep over someone we don’t know saying we’re not qualified to review movies or share opinions. I never took that crap working on other sites, I’m not taking it on my spot on the web, and I’m not going to take that crap anymore. And spare me your freedom of speech malarkey. This is a privately owned website, I pay for it out of my own pocket, and I can do what I damn well please here. If I want to ban people, I’ll ban people. If I want to talk about pudding all day long, I’ll do that. Deal with it.

So I ask you, fair reader: If you want to share your opinion on our reviews, if you want to engage in a lively debate, if you want to question our taste in movies, and pop culture, HELL, if you want to correct us on an error we made in a review or article, go right ahead! I welcome comments that challenge our reviews. I welcome wonderful debates, I welcome like minded individuals coming on to say they either agree or disagree with us.

But the moment you start name calling, the moment you start mocking us, telling us to shut up, ordering us to stop writing just because we don’t share an opinion that you do, then you’re not allowed on the site anymore. We’re not putting up with it, and the more we grow, the more we will enforce banning trolls, and troll like individuals.

So please, play nice, or move the fuck on to another website, entirely.

Thanks for reading Cinema Crazed!

Sincerely,
Felix Vasquez Jr.

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The Bootleg Files: The Jungle

BOOTLEG FILES 628: “The Jungle” (1967 documentary made by a Philadelphia street gang).

LAST SEEN:
On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Murky rights issue.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: It’s possible.

Movies about street gangs rarely resonate with any degree of honesty, if only because filmmakers have a tendency to sanitize or glamorize the gangs with the hope that something good can be found in their bad boy behavior. However, there was one strange little film that attempted to get a street level view of gang behavior, and what made it so unusual was having real gang members on both sides of the camera.
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