Crappy Films

Some films are just dogs - but we love them so. Call them "guilty pleasures" or whatever you please, but everyone has a list of accepted awful films that they just enjoy the hell out of. I got one of the films on my list in the mail today and I'm enjoying it.

I have always loved the Hammer horror films, the vampire ones especially. As a kid, I just fell in love with the edited version of Vampire Circus. When cable television first arrived in my hometown, they showed some interesting stuff. Telefrance USA, for instance, which showed real French programming - nudity and all. That one didn't last long. They also had a few channels that, trying to find some form of programming, showed tons of creaky movies. One of these channels, and I admit its name escapes me (of course I remember the name of the nudie channel), showed lots of old horror films. For some reason this one stuck in my mind and I remember watching it every time I caught it on the tube.

For years, though, I saw neither hide nor hair of that film. In fact, lots of the Hammer films just seemed to vanish from the airwaves. So did many of the 1950's-1970's horror and scifi flicks. The days of cheese-a-thons on the local tv stations were distant memory. No more begging to stay awake to watch Shock Theater - it wasn't there to watch. Its hard for me to imagine kids growing up today without a diet of hastily-made cheapie films to enjoy with friends and popcorn.

But, one day I got a hair across my behind to try and find a copy of Vampire Circus on DVD. That was a laugh. The VHS version has gone the way of the Dodo. There was a DVD version that was basically out of print, and only ever produced for the European format. Meaning, it wouldn't play on my machine, even if I could grab a copy of some friendly European. Now, this situation was what I learned from checking Amazon. Ok, says I...the hunt now begins. If I've learned one thing in life is that anything is possible if you look/try hard enough.

First, a general Internet search for Vampire Circus. Plenty of reviews and write-ups. Any links to purchasable copies listed prices in Euros. Not a good sign. There were some Hammer collections that contained the film, but, again they weren't in the right format. The collections available to the US market all lacked my desired flick. Now, I figured that I couldn't be the only American to every have looked for this film or for another crapfest only available overseas. This meant, to me, that some enterprising soul must exist out there whose sole purpose was to satisfy our odd cravings. More research was required...

...before finding that enterprising individual. Or individuals, it is a company. Canadian, they specialize in making certain films available. They pointedly state that they films they offer are not those available for general distribution in the US. They also pointedly state that the quality of their product is what one would expect for older films. Ok. Here's what they do. They but European DVD's of titles not made available over here and copy them for resale to the US market. Hey, they may have license to do that...I'm sure the paperwork is in order. All I know is that they got me a playable DVD copy of Vampire Circus for $26.99. The quality is good, too. About what I would expect if I purchased this off the rack at a video store. My crappy film is now mine...

Some days just call for crap films. Today is one of those days. Snowy, with the hint of "gotta go back to work Monday" in the air. Luxuriating in an old favorite with plenty of Coke Zero (at least one will get a bit of Stoli Vanilla tossed in) is a perfect way to pass the hours. Now, if I can just hunt down my copy of Johnny Mnemonic, I'll really be in hog heaven...