Exactly one year ago FUTURE-ROCKER featured this mind-blowing music video from the French promo whiz-kids known collectively as SETH ICKERMAN. Here, we re-present it to you in case you missed it first time around. Then, below, you will see them talking about fundraising for their new project entitled BLOOD MACHINES / TURBO KILLER 2.
( Apologies for not being able to show the no-ads VIMEO version, will post at a later date if terms and conditions change ).
CAN'T GET ENOUGH? WATCH THE CLIP BELOW AND THEN CONTRIBUTE TO THEIR NEXT COLLABORATION VIA KICKSTARTER!
Lord knows Cap has had his fair share of godawful movie try-outs ( the 80s TV movie with the plastic shield, and the 90s one with Frank Langella as the Red Skull ), but now that they can do Cap right...here's what might have happened if the superb Winter Soldier movie had the misfortune of becoming yet another VHS remainder in the bargain bin of film history...enjoy this awesome fan trailer. See if you can spot the other movies they used when cobbling this together. Great effort, guys!
'It's been gratifying having the movie seen by more and more people who are attuned to its very particular frequency'
For those of you who feel that thoughtful, experimental -
and even stylish - Science Fiction movies died with the advent of Star Wars and
the proliferation of mindless summer blockbusters, FUTURE-ROCKER presents you with the
antidote: The hallucinogenic world of Panos Cosmatos' BEYOND THE BLACK RAINBOW.
Set in the bold and futuristic year of 1983, the film features a young woman ( Eva Allan ), who finds herself trapped in an experimental lab watched over by the sinister Dr. Barry Nyle, played by the superbly twitchy Michael Rogers ( possibly channelling ubiquitous 80s genre star David Warner ). The film's exceptionally druggy atmospherics are augmented by the throbbing chromatic lighting and pulsing synth tracks of 80s-revivalists Sinoia Caves. Even the DVD cover art is styled in faux-VHS packaging. Beyond The Black Rainbow caused quite a stir at Cannes, and immediately got picked up for North American release by Magnet Films, purveyors of edgy horror, sci-fi and Asian cinema. FUTURE-ROCKER talked to director, Panos Cosmatos, currently in-between projects.
- Panos, the film's attention to detail, regarding the feel of pre-Star Wars film-making, is astonishing. You are obviously deeply fascinated by this whole period.
My mother Birgitta Ljungberg was a huge inspiration to me.
She was an avant garde sculptor with a very open and experimental imagination.
No matter what crazy music I was into that I'd play for her, she would always
listen intently and comment thoughtfully on it. She always encouraged me
creatively, and even though she passed away many years ago, she is still an influence. My
father taught me about film history. He had an impressive Betamax collection,
mostly recorded from HBO, Showtime and Z Channel, that exposed me to every era
and style of film-making. Through general
exposure to him, and by watching him work, I learned about the film industry. I
gleaned a lot from overhearing his phone conversations with various producers
and executives. Even though at home he
was a very sentimental man, at work he was a hardened realist. - Talking about your dad ( blockbuster film-maker John Cosmatos ), he directed Rambo First Blood II, a seismic cultural hit that bisected the 80's, so how did that huge mainstream success impact on your family, and on you as a youngster?
It was astounding, and somewhat frightening, to watch the
Rambo phenomenon ripple across the cultural landscape. On a personal level it
had the effect of exacerbating my already extremely shy nature. Since I grew up
in Canada, away from Hollywood where such a thing was more commonplace, it made
me feel incredibly self-conscious. It's interesting to look back now and see it
all with the clarity of hindsight.
- BEYOND THE BLACK RAINBOW is definitely the vision of a Betamax / VHS obsessive, as if you filtered the Andromeda Strain, Kubrick, Cronenberg,
Colossus The Forbin Project... you seem to have nailed those aesthetics. Explain why you wanted to tell the story in
that way.
In many ways the film was an experiment. An attempt to take
an abstract idea and make it crystalline. I wanted to try and capture my memory
of how a film felt, seeing it for the first time at a young age, on late night
cable television or a random tape. The story grew out of that notion, and as a
result it ended up reflecting the landscape of the era in more ways than just
aesthetically.
- How do you feel it was received - by both critics and
audiences?
When we first started showing the movie, it felt like people
were perceiving it as a straight sci-fi genre piece, and didn't quite now how to
take it in. It wasn't till we showed it in New York City, that the influence of experimental and underground
film was picked up on. It's been gratifying having the movie seen by more and
more people who are attuned to its very particular frequency.
- The film is such a strong stylistic statement, that as a viewer, I'm left wondering ''what's next?'' - I hear the follow-up is a 'bit bigger', so will it have the same art direction and style, or have you gotten
that out of your system?
There's stylistic and
tonal aspects of Black Rainbow that I'd like to continue to explore, but I'm
not interested in making the same thing twice. Each idea is its own organism
and that has to be nurtured for it to flourish. Movies are an unlimited dreamscape, and it feels like the medium has
barely scratched the surface of what it's capable of.
- Is sci-fi / horror your main interest, or do you
ultimately want to try other genres?
Various forms of science fiction, including sci-fi horror,
were my favorite genre for most of my life, but recently my obsessions have
shifted more towards horror. In a way horror is the purest genre there is, and
it's incredibly flexible, expressive and diverse. I love genre cinema and feel
inclined to dedicate my life to trying to contribute to it. When you love
something, it's almost a moral imperative to do so. Horror and science fiction
have always been ghetto genres, and that's one of the things I love about them.
I feel at home in the cultural ghetto.
- Finally, who would you most like to work with?
I'd most like to continue working with people who are creative.
'In a way horror is the purest genre there is, and it's incredibly flexible, expressive and diverse' - Panos Cosmatos
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BONUS FEATURE! - Panos recommends his favourite cult classics!
- Features, The Fly 2, Ben Hur, Black Rain & Motley Crue -
Anthony is a movie director ( see his work with TENDRIL, in
the recent MONOBLOG, and our BONUS FEATURE, below ), as well as an accomplished
musician, and as you may have gathered, since childhood he has been immersed in
the polished-chrome ambience of 1980's films and soundtracks.
His beautiful debut album PILOTPRIEST - ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK is available to buy now, and is due out on vinyl shortly. You can hear the whole album on FUTURE-ROCKER right here, while we chat with Anthony:
- How long have you been playing? Has the synth
always been your instrument?
I’ve been playing for 20 years. I play drums, bass, guitar,and
keys. I started with synth.
I’ve always been into this sound ever since I was 5. I loved
the way it was so odd, yet popular. I have been writing this style since I
started... I’m lucky it came back into style.
- Explain the titles - you wrote all the music, so they're not
cover versions. Did you watch the films first, then write the music?
I just titled the tracks based on the film from my childhood that the song made me feel the most. ( Cont'd ).
/////////////////
PILOTPRIEST - TOP THREES
ALBUMS
3. Lou Reed – Transformer
2. Jeff Wayne – War Of The Worlds
1. Michael Jackson – Thriller
SOUNDTRACKS
3. Repo Man – Various
2. The Thing – Ennio Morricone
1. Bladerunner – Vangelis /////////////////
- Any scoops on the collaboration with artist / designer Ash Thorp?
We are developing numerous films right now... All different
types of genre stories. We are really trying to bring back the realism of
character, that was in stories put to film before the studios got scared of new
untested ideas.
- Apart from that, what's next from you?
I’m always working on new music, and I’m trying to develop
the next album as an oculus rift experience [ - meaning a head-mounted,
high-field-of-view virtual reality device
].
I'm mostly focusing on directing... This month I’m directing an
episode of a new horror anthology series.
