I just finished New York Ninja, a film made in the 80s which was sat undiscovered and without sound until now. Film label Vinegar Syndrome restored it and dubbed in a load of “famous” b-movie stars for the dialogue.
Despite the potential for this to be tongue in cheek or patronising to the original film, they did a pretty good job presenting something that is probably not a million miles off the intentions of the original film makers.
I love this specific niche in film making and music. I’m not talking about The Room or Birdemic which are so laughable they end up coming back round to where you enjoy them. I’m talking more about films and music made by people who, despite technical knowledge or conventional talent, still produce something that you can engage with, be it through charm, enthusiasm or sheer willpower.
I’m talking about films like Miami Connection
By far my favourite example of this. Made by a complete amateur, YK Kim, the film nearly bankrupted him and was a forgotten flop which slowly gathered a cult following until it was rereleased in 2009. This is a film that succeeds entirely by the charm and enthusiasm of its cast who are all Kim’s friends and family. No one is going to win any oscars for their performance but you just can’t help warm to them as they give it their all.
Gone With The Pope
Written by, directed by, produced by, starring and with music from Duke Mitchell. This is the story of a gang of crooks who decide to kidnap the pope and ransom him at the cost of $1 from every catholic in the world. Mitchell was a crooner in Las Vegas casinos and counted Frank Sinatra among his friends. Having had a small part in a 50s Bela Legosi film, the acting bug clearly never left him and he made a series of films in the 70s. Duke was clearly a big fish in whatever pond he swam in and had an inflated view of his talents but even so, as bizarre as this film often is, he somehow manages to pull it off and create something hugely entertaining.
Queen of Black Magic
An Indonesian horror film about a woman in a small town who has been accused of being a black magic witch. In order to get her revenge she…eh…becomes a black magic witch. You can tell by just looking at it how amateur this is, but the story and Indonesian film making being so foreign to me, I never knew where it was going to go next. There’s martial arts wire work, floating decapitated heads, real babies being levitated about six feet in the air in mad special effects scenes and a dozen other notable scenes. Hugely enjoyable and impressive on what was clearly a shoestring budget.
American Movie
Slightly different in that it’s a professional documentary that follows amateur film makers but again the warmth and charm radiates off the screen. I would easily put this in my top 5 favourite films of all time.
Obviously things like The Room, Neil Breen and Hard Ticket to Hawaii have their place but it’s the films that succeed on their own merits more than being “so bad they’re good” that I want to champion.
This took longer than I thought it would, I wanted to talk about musicians too but maybe I’ll do that another time.
Has anyone else got a love for this kind of thing? Any other films to recommend?