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In Robert Zemeckis' 1994 film "Forrest Gump," Tom Hanks plays Forrest, a good-hearted but low-intelligence rube who, thanks to impeccably constructed American institutions, stumbles repeatedly into athletic, financial, and military success. Forrest is friendly, strong, and hapless, happy to tell his life story to anyone who sits on the bus bench next to him. Hanks won an Academy Award for playing Forrest, and the film itself won four additional Oscars, including Best Picture. Years later, many had started to reappraise "Forrest Gump" for its treacly tone, its sentimentality, and its unabashed conservative bent. This author was in high school when "Forrest Gump" was released and recalls a teacher sagely pointing out that the title character's "innocence" was only perceived by audiences due to his wealth. Had Forrest's decisions led to financial ruin, his "innocence" would not be positively touted. 

But in 1994, "Forrest Gump" was the bee's knees, representing mainstream Hollywood filmmaking...

Stars: John McCafferty, Robyn Blythe, Darwyn Carson, Beano, Debra Lamb, Mark Lasky, Bill Whitehead, Kent Butler | Written and Directed by Mark Pirro

I have an a long history with Deathrow Gameshow, just not a history that actually involves seeing the film however! You see, when I was in college I used to spend all my free time at a local flea market scouring the stalls for ex-rental VHS tapes. And I stocked up big time. However there was one film I never bought but one that seemed to follow me everywhere I went… Deathrow Gameshow. Every stall seemed to have a copy of the old VHS tape but each and Every tape had issues: mold, damage, torn cover, etc. So I never bought it; and – unless I missed it – the film never made the transition to DVD here in England…

But now comes the Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray which features...

Veteran filmmaker Mark Pirro writer/director of such cult classics as “Deathrow Gameshow,” “Color-Blinded” and most recently “The God Complex” is set to begin principal photography on a terrifying new production entitled “Rage of Innocence.”

Departing from the comedic tone, a standard of Pirromount’s previous features, this is their first venture into a psychological thriller. The movie centers around a male high school Jim Marsden (John McCafferty) teacher

who begins a relationship with a … Continue reading →...

With the demise of the drive-in theater rose the behemoth home video industry – and a torch was passed from one era of low-budget directors and producers to a new batch of underfunded fringe filmmakers. These fresh faces had new technology, and a new distribution game… but a similar reckless abandon and rebellious tenacity as their b-movie forefathers.

Fright fans were introduced to a new breed of horror movies - made for tens of thousands of dollars… or thousands of dollars… or a few hundred bucks and a borrowed video camera. Unpaid amateurs / quasi-professionals made up the bulk of most casts and crews - and often, the directors and producers were quite inexperienced themselves.

Join me for a visit to the heyday of the direct-to-video, micro-budget horror movie. We’ll explore this strange new cinema of the 80s and see how it evolved through the ‘90s. (Be sure to adjust tracking for best picture quality.

This week’s Absolute Must Read: Ian Olds has a long and touching remembrance of helping the late Garrett Scott make the documentary Cul de Sac, one of the greatest, little-seen documentaries ever made. Read and learn how genius comes together. It’s not an easy or pretty process.The second Absolute Must Read: Filmmaker Jennifer Reeves is thankful to be alive and ambulatory after being struck by a car. Send good wishes her way.Simple, but really cool: Phil Solomon posts up a film loop of about 4 frames that Stan Brakhage once gave him. Click Phil’s tiny image to get the embiggened version, which is quite astounding looking.The S.F. Weekly has a brief preview of this week’s Ata Film & Video Festival retrospective at the Roxie. The Weekly calls it “a killer selection of experimental works,” with which I have to agree!While the 2011 San Francisco...