BAD MOVIE MONDAY: BODY MELT (1993)

I’ve often mentioned that I don’t really like the horror comedy subgenre. My rationalization for this has always been that, since the horror cancels out the laughs and the jokes cancels out the scares, you end up with something that is both a lesser horror movie and a lesser comedy. However, I think I’ve started to change my mind about it, or at least I’ve started to change my mind about comedy’s place in a horror movie. Because, if I’m to be honest, a well-made horror comedy can be astoundingly great satire. Not to mention that I’ve also been a bit of a hypocrite about this opinion, because I’ve always loved Return of the Living Dead, Fright Night, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. All of which I feel are top notch films. So where does that leave me? Well… it leaves me reviewing today’s movie.

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The Bootleg Files: Kokoda Front Line!

BOOTLEG FILES 671: “Kokoda Front Line!” (1942 Australian newsreel).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: No perceived commercial value for the U.S. market.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: It can be found on Australian DVD, but it is not likely to be released on a U.S. label.

If you are an Academy Award trivia buff, you will recognize “Kokoda Front Line!” as the first Australian film to win an Oscar. If you are World War II history buff, you will be familiar with the importance of “Kokoda Front Line!” in covering an important battle in the Pacific combat. But if you are not up to speed on either your Oscar factoids or your World War II knowledge, then hopefully you might come away from this week’s column with something worth learning.
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The Bootleg Files: The Story of the Kelly Gang

BOOTLEG FILES 620: “The Story of the Kelly Gang” (1906 Australian production that is widely credited as the first feature-length narrative film).

LAST SEEN: A reconstruction using the surviving film fragments is on YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It is nearly unknown outside of Australia.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: There is an Australian DVD of the reconstructed version, but it is not commercially available in the United States.

On December 26, 1906, film history was made in Melbourne, Australia, with the premiere of “The Story of the Kelly Gang,” a cinematic retelling of the rise and fall of that nation’s most colorful 19th century outlaws. At the time, however, no one realized they were witnessing history in the making. And even at this late date, many people are not aware of the film’s importance to the development of the motion picture industry.

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