I own several Mondo Macabro releases, but so far I’ve only had the time to watch Lifespan, which is a personal favorite of mine. Many of their titles look quite tasty, I hope they never stop releasing films.
As someone who is going through a slow, painful breakup with Criterion after a long love affair, I must check them out.
And now, I see you have Lady Terminator, For Your Height Only, and De Sade’s Prosperities of Vice – all titles I’d rather own than And Everything Is Going Fine. I’m going through some semi-hard financial times during the last two semesters of college, but post-graduation, I’ll keep you guys in mind.
When are they going to start selling Blurays?
Also, can one recommend films for them to restore and release?
Re: BD, sadly not anytime soon. It’s still an expensive technology, and MM are not shifting huge numbers of these marginal titles. But their DVD transfers are uniformly excellent.
Re: Rec’s, knowing what you’d like to put out is the easy part. Finding usable materials and right’s holders that aren’t stubbornly greedy is the hard part.
What films do you have in mind Johnsonisjohson?
Love For Your Height Only. I think that’s the only release I’ve seen from them.
Was love at first sight with Mondo Macabro eight years ago went I bought Lady Terminator. Since then I’ve enjoyed many of their titles (Satan’s Blood, Mystics in Bali, For Y’ur Height Only, Seven Women for Satan, Virgins from Hell, and so on), but I buy few DVDs these days. Always look forward to their new releases, with appreciation for their continued preservation of global genre filmmaking.
Love Mondo Macabro so much! Got all of my country (Indonesia) 80’s exploitation Mondo Macabro’s DVD. Also love the Zinda Laash DVD and the forgotten Don’t Open Till Christmas. Looking forward for another craze Indonesian releases!
I really need to watch Alucarda soon – it’s sitting on my hard drive, getting awfully cold.
btdubs – how do you pronounce Alucarda? Is it a hard or a soft c? or is it a ch sound?
Hard “c”.
Wow. just watched that MM youtube promo reel. Words fail me. I like B movies as much as most people here but those films were the kind that made me turn the tv off back when I had cable. No way I would pay good money for such fare.
The crazy thing Francisco is that no one is making you spend your money on anything. Now how abou that? I can’t quite hear you, what is your complaint?
Never seen anything like what MM puts out on TV, ever. You must have some pretty great TV stations that you don’t appreciate. But thanks for giving it a shot anyway.
The crazy thing Francisco is that no one is making you spend your money on anything.
What I meant is that I would never buy movies such as the ones released by MM. Maybe you did not understand me.And even if they were giving them away for free II would not watch them But that is just my opinion which last time I checked I was allowed to have.If you guys pay money for such films it is OK.
By the way,I wonder how many people who are fans of MM buy their DVDs or download them…..
No I understood you. What I meant is that instead complaining about what you consider to be so bad about their releases, you could have easily said nothing and moved on. The purpose of companies such as this is to supply a niche. You are apparently not relative to that niche so I don’t get what’s the problem.
Thanks for responding Jared! I won’t trouble you with a list of recommendations since it will be extensive. Maybe I’ll PM it to you soon.
I love Mondo Macabro :) Thanks for putting out Alucarda.
So I only should comment about things I like and not express my opinion about things I do not like. Thanks for
setting me right.
What I meant is that instead complaining about what you consider to be so bad about their releases, you could have easily said nothing and moved on.
I don’t like to get involved in fights, but it seems to me that one of the biggest parts of this forum is that people can comment on things they don’t like. If that weren’t the case there wouldn’t be near the amount of interesting discussion on cinema here.
Johnson: No prob.
Francisco: I don’t think you really have a good idea of the sort of things MM release. They don’t release only one kind of film by any means. Looking at the films you like on your profile, I think there are several movies you might very well enjoy. Films that are NOT just z-grade exploitation. CRAZY LOVE, BORN OF FIRE, SILIP, WATCHER IN THE ATTIC, GRADIVA, PROSPERITIES OF VICE, LIFESPAN and DON’T DELIVER US FROM EVIL are as much art films as they are any other genre. All are daring and unique examples of cinema. I’m not saying that for sure you would like all these movies, but your odd ideas as to what they are are just plain mistaken and weirdly prejudicial.
Tommy: Thank you for defending our honor!
As I said in my first post I based my opinion on that YouTube promo that MM made. If those films they included are not representative of their output then it is their problem.
Those films are represenative of their output (except for some that have not been included since that promo hasn’t been updated in a few years), I just don’t think you understand what you’ve seen. I’m questioning your attention to detail and the odd notion that you know what these movies are about without actually having seen any. Watch BORN OF FIRE or WATCHER IN THE ATTIC and then your opinion will mean something substantial. But then maybe MM is just not for a conventional cinephile such as yourself. For anyone looking for something different than than what Criterion or Film Comment tells you is important cinema, then MM is the real deal.
To be fair, the promo does focus on the wilder, crazier side of Mondo Macabro.
Everyone is entitled to an opinion. Let’s not conflate watching a six minute YouTube video and dismissing a roster of 50-odd films pulled from all-corners of the world with an opinion.
But then maybe MM is just not for a conventional cinephile such as yourself. For anyone looking for something different than than what Criterion or Film Comment tells you is important cinema, then MM is the real deal. WORD.
To try and steer things back to a less combative discussion, allow me to remind you all of my latest post at the MM blog:
http://mondomacabrodvd.blogspot.com/2012/05/mondo-macabro-back-catalog-spotlight.html
For those of you who DO like Z-grade exploitation films, enjoy Cinema Sewer’s Robin Bougie basking in the glory that is VIRGINS FROM HELL. Also, learn where you can buy it on the cheap. I know I posted this already but I want to try and advertise it more. Get the word out, so Robin’s effort won’t have been in vain and maybe we can but some discs in greedy hands.
Thank you for your indulgence.
There’s a huge difference between talking about things that you don’t like and bitching about nothing. It’s also one thing to give your opinion, but to inject it where it’s irrelevant is another.
I’ve seen The Living Corpse, Aswang, Satan’s Blood, Alucarda, Seven Women for Satan, and The Mansion of Madness. I have the Bollywood Horror Collection sets and several others, but haven’t got to them yet, mainly because the movies in the Bollywood Horror sets are of typical Bollywood length.
Mondo Macabro puts together a nice package of supplements for their DVDs, similar to what Synapse does, but I haven’t seen anything as boring from them as the worst that I’ve seen from Synapse (Seven Women for Satan didn’t surprise, but it was okay). The movies that I’ve seen were horror movies from Pakistan, the U.S., Spain, Mexico (2) and France, including the second (and apparently last) Pakistani horror film, a remake of Hammer’s Dracula. Aswang is an indie shot in Wisconsin on practically no budget based on Filipino folklore.
Based on my experience, if you take a chance on one of Mondo Macabo’s movies, you’re not likely to get something run of the mill. I think that’s a good thing.
Adding Born of Fire and Watcher in the Attic to my watch list now. Ugh… so many movies… so little time. Hopefully I’ll decide to watch Alucarda tonight, cause I’d love to take part in this discussion!
Fantastic label with a fantastic selection of titles and very good transfers. If there were more Companies like Mondo Macabro the world would be a better place. :-)
Thanks for all that you’ve done through the years to broaden our cinematic horizons!!!!
Jared
Hello fellow Mubites.
I’m starting this thread in the hopes of increasing the visibility among cineastes of the small boutique DVD label Mondo Macabro.
Do you know them?
Yeah, you got yer Criterions and yer Kinos, even yer Blue Undergrounds and yer Synapses, but none of them have ever released anything as wild and daring as ALUCARDA, MYSTICS IN BALI, SILIP:DAUGHTERS OF EVE, BORN OF FIRE or SADIST WITH RED TEETH. Who else would give three volumes of Bollywood horror film double features? Nobody but Mondo Macabro.
The website is: mondomacabrodvd.com
The blog (which I currently maintain): mondomacabrodvd.blogspot.com
The latest post is a spotlight on the Indonesian girl-gang classic VIRGINS FROM HELL written by Cinema Sewer’s Robin Bougie. You can also get info on where to pick up this Asian exploitation marvel for only half its suggested retail price.
Also, I am the admin for MM’s official FB page: facebook.com/mondomacabrodvd
If you don’t “like” us, bad things could happen to you. Just a friendly warning.
Anyway, discuss!