Nucleus Films

Last updated

Nucleus Films is a UK-based independent DVD and Blu-Ray distribution label and private limited company, founded in 2003 by researcher and writer Marc Morris and film director Jake West. [1] The label distributes rare cult films in the horror and erotica genres. They have also produced a range of documentaries and featurettes about the making of films, noted film directors and the fight against censorship.

Jake West is a British film director, known mostly for his horror films and for a series of documentaries looking at film censorship and interviewing well-known directors, actors and industry figures.

Erotica Media, literature or art dealing substantively with erotically stimulating or sexually arousing subject matter

Erotica is any artistic work that deals substantively with subject matter that is erotically stimulating or sexually arousing but is not pornographic. Erotic art may use any artistic form to depict erotic content, including painting, sculpture, drama, film or music. Erotic literature and erotic photography have become genres in their own right.

Censorship The practice of suppressing information

Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information, on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by a government, private institutions, and corporations.

Contents

The label's first titles were Between Your Legs, which premiered at London's FrightFest Film Festival in August 2003, and The Ugliest Woman In The World. Both were released on DVD in the UK in September 2005. In October 2007, Nucleus Films released Grindhouse Trailer Classics, the first of an ongoing series of compilations comprising exploitation film trailers from the 1960s and 1980s. A fifth compilation is planned for release in 2017.

Between Your Legs is a 1999 Spanish drama film directed by Manuel Gómez Pereira. It was entered into the 49th Berlin International Film Festival. It stars Javier Bardem as the main character, and Victoria Abril, Carmen Balagué, María Adánez and Sergi López as supporting characters.

FrightFest, also known as Horror Channel FrightFest, is an annual film festival held in central London over the August Bank Holiday weekend. The first event was held in the year 2000.

Research by Nucleus Films has contributed to a greater understanding of the Video Nasties phenomenon, [2] [3] with archive and analysis demonstrated in two box sets. In 2010, the company released the acclaimed documentary Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship & Videotape, [4] a documentary about the Video Nasties controversy of the early 1980s. It was premiered at London FrightFest in August 2010 and followed by a panel discussion which included Morris, West, professor Martin Barker and film director Tobe Hooper. [5] The documentary was followed, in 2014 by Video Nasties: Draconian Days, which covered the period from 1984 to 1989 after the introduction of the Video Recordings Act 1984. [6]

Video nasty is a colloquial term in the United Kingdom to refer to a number of films distributed on video cassette that were criticised for their violent content by the press, social commentators and various religious organisations. The term was popularised by the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association (NVALA) in the UK in the early 1980s.

<i>Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship & Videotape</i> 2010 film by Jake West

Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship & Videotape is a 2010 documentary about the Video Nasties controversy of the early 1980s. It was premiered at London FrightFest in August 2010 and followed by a panel discussion which included producer Marc Morris and director Jake West of Nucleus Films, professor Martin Barker and film director Tobe Hooper. In 2014 the documentary was followed by Video Nasties: Draconian Days, which covered the period from 1984 to 1989 after the introduction of the Video Recordings Act 1984. The two documentaries have contributed to a greater understanding of the Video Nasties phenomenon, and the box sets include archive material, trailers, and analysis from a range of from academics, actors and journalists, including CP Lee, Stephen Thrower, Brad Stevens, Julian Petley, Xavier Mendik, Patricia MacCormack. Allan Bryce, Emily Booth.

Tobe Hooper American film director, screenwriter and producer

Willard Tobe Hooper was an American director, screenwriter, and producer best known for his work in the horror genre. Among his most recognized films are The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), which The Guardian described as "one of the most influential films ever made", and Poltergeist (1982), which received three Academy Award nominations.

Accompanying these two documentaries were trailer compilations Video Nasties: The Definitive Guide (2010) and Video Nasties: The Definitive Guide 2. The Definitive Guide is a compilation of trailers for titles that originally appeared on the Director of Public Prosecution's (DPP) lists of works considered suitable for prosecution under the Obscene Publications Act 1959, along with others that were dropped from the list following acquittals. [7] The Definitive Guide 2 featured the eighty titles which considered suitable for forfeiture and destruction (in front of magistrates) under section 3 of the Obscene Publications Act, 1959. As well as releasing cult films and producing documentaries, Nucleus Films also makes DVD and Blu-Ray extras for various UK labels, including Anchor Bay and Arrow Films, and which includes filmed interviews with UK film critics, broadcasters and writers, including Kim Newman and Alan Jones.

Obscene Publications Act 1959 United Kingdom legislation

The Obscene Publications Act 1959 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom Parliament that significantly reformed the law related to obscenity in England and Wales. Prior to the passage of the Act, the law on publishing obscene materials was governed by the common law case of R v Hicklin, which had no exceptions for artistic merit or the public good. During the 1950s, the Society of Authors formed a committee to recommend reform of the existing law, submitting a draft bill to the Home Office in February 1955. After several failed attempts to push a bill through Parliament, a committee finally succeeded in creating a viable bill, which was introduced to Parliament by Roy Jenkins and given the Royal Assent on 29 July 1959, coming into force on 29 August 1959 as the Obscene Publications Act 1959. With the committee consisting of both censors and reformers, the actual reform of the law was limited, with several extensions to police powers included in the final version.

Anchor Bay Entertainment American home entertainment and production company

Anchor Bay Entertainment, was an American home entertainment and production company. It was a subsidiary of Starz Inc.. Anchor Bay Entertainment marketed and sold feature films, series, television specials and short films to consumers worldwide. In 2004, Anchor Bay agreed to have its movies distributed by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment and renewed their deal in 2011. A year after Starz launched a home entertainment division in 2016, they later folded Anchor Bay Entertainment into Lionsgate Home Entertainment.

Arrow Films is a British independent distributor of world cinema, cult, art, horror and classic films on Blu-ray and DVD.

Releases

<i>The Perils of Gwendoline in the Land of the Yik-Yak</i> 1984 film by Just Jaeckin

The Perils of Gwendoline in the Land of the Yik-Yak is a 1984 French action comedy/sexploitation film directed by Just Jaeckin, written by Jaeckin and John Willie and starring Tawny Kitaen and Brent Huff. The film is loosely based on the bondage-themed comics of Willie and on the character of Sweet Gwendoline. François Schuiten worked as a graphic designer for the movie.

<i>Death Ship</i> (1980 film) 1980 film by Alvin Rakoff

Death Ship is a 1980 horror film directed by Alvin Rakoff and starring Richard Crenna, George Kennedy, Nick Mancuso, Sally Ann Howes, Kate Reid, Victoria Burgoyne, and Saul Rubinek in an early role. The screenplay by John Robins was based on a story by Jack Hill and David P. Lewis.

<i>Bloodbath at the House of Death</i> 1983 comedy horror film directed by Ray Cameron

Bloodbath at the House of Death is a 1983 comedy horror film starring the British comedian Kenny Everett and featuring Vincent Price. It is an over-the-top spoof loosely inspired by The Amityville Horror and other horror films from the same period.

Related Research Articles

<i>Faces of Death</i> 1979 film

Faces of Death is a 1978 American mondo horror film directed by Conan LeCilaire and written by Alan Black.

<i>Grindhouse</i> (film) 2007 double feature film consisting of Planet Terror and Death Proof

Grindhouse is a 2007 American horror film double feature co-written, produced, and directed by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. The double feature consists of two feature-length segments, Rodriguez's Planet Terror and Tarantino's Death Proof, and is bookended by fictional trailers for upcoming attractions, advertisements, and in-theater announcements. The film's title derives from the U.S. film industry term "grindhouse", which refers to movie theaters specializing in B movies, often exploitation films, shown in a multiple-feature format. The film stars Rose McGowan, Freddy Rodriguez, Marley Shelton, Michael Biehn, Jeff Fahey, Josh Brolin, Naveen Andrews, Fergie, Bruce Willis, Kurt Russell, Rosario Dawson, Tracie Thoms, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and stuntwoman Zoë Bell, who plays herself.

<i>Cannibal Ferox</i> 1981 film by Umberto Lenzi

Cannibal Ferox, also known as Make Them Die Slowly in the US and as Woman from Deep River in Australia, is a 1981 Italian cannibal exploitation horror film written and directed by Umberto Lenzi. Upon its release, the film's US distributor claimed it was "the most violent film ever made". Cannibal Ferox was also claimed to be "banned in 31 countries", although this claim is dubious.

Masters of Cinema is a line of DVD and Blu-ray releases published through Eureka Entertainment. Because of the world-renowned films released within this collection, the uniformly branded and spine-numbered packaging and the standard inclusion of booklets and analysis by recurring renowned film historians, the line is often perceived as the UK equivalent of The Criterion Collection.

Bob Murawski is an American film editor as well as a film distributor of cult horror and independent films under the "Box Office Spectaculars" and "Grindhouse Releasing" labels. He was awarded the 2010 Academy Award for Best Film Editing for his work on The Hurt Locker, which he shared with fellow editor Chris Innis. He often works with film director Sam Raimi, having edited the Spider-Man trilogy, Oz the Great and Powerful, and the 2015 remake of Poltergeist. He is an elected member of the American Cinema Editors.

Grindhouse Releasing American film distributor

Grindhouse Releasing is a Hollywood-based independent cult film distribution company led by film editor Bob Murawski and co-founded by Sage Stallone. Grindhouse digitally remasters, restores, and produces bonus materials and video documentaries for cult film DVDs and Blu-rays which it distributes on the CAV label.

<i>Pieces</i> (film) 1982 cult classic slasher horror film directed by Juan Piquer Simón

Pieces is a 1982 Spanish-American slasher film directed by Juan Piquer Simon, and starring Christopher George, Lynda Day George, Frank Braña, Edmund Purdom, Paul L. Smith, Ian Sera, and Jack Taylor. The film follows a mysterious murderer killing female students at a college campus in Boston, who uses their body parts to make a human jigsaw puzzle.

<i>Absurd</i> (film) 1981 film by Joe DAmato

Absurd is a 1981 Panamanian-Italian horror film directed, lensed and co-produced by Joe D'Amato and starring George Eastman, who also wrote the story and screenplay.

<i>The Last Hunter</i> 1980 film by Antonio Margheriti

The Last Hunter is a 1980 Italian "macaroni combat" war film directed by Antonio Margheriti and starring David Warbeck and Tony King. Initially made to capitalize on the success of The Deer Hunter, The Last Hunter marked the first Euro War set during the Vietnam War, as opposed to World War II like all previous entries in the subgenre.

<i>Coffin Rock</i> 2009 film

Coffin Rock is an Australian melodramatic thriller film directed by Rupert Glasson and produced by David Lightfoot. The movie stars Lisa Chappell, Robert Taylor and Sam Parsonson.

BFI Flipside is a series of Dual Format Editions which was launched in May 2009 and is published by the British Film Institute's Video label. The series so far features a total of 65 feature and short films, as well as 10 archive interviews with the likes of Spike Milligan, Peter Cook and Richard Lester. The BFI Flipside charts "the untold history of British film", and includes performances by such celebrated actors as John Hurt, Jane Asher, Ian McNeice, Richard O'Brien, Tom Bell, Peter Cook, Barry Evans, Denholm Elliott and Judy Geeson in films directed by the likes of Clive Donner, Richard Lester, Barney Platts-Mills, John Irvin, Stuart Cooper, Guy Hamilton, Peter Watkins and James Hill. Each BFI Flipside edition includes a feature film presentation that is complemented by additional film content. Each release is packaged in distinctive artwork which carries the volume number on the spine, and with a comprehensive booklet containing informative essays, full cast and credit information, original film reviews and reproductions of original promotional material. The Flipside is dedicated to releasing British film titles which have never been available on any home video format before, and all films are newly mastered to High Definition from the best available film materials from the BFI National Archive or from the collections of filmmakers. Each title was originally released on both DVD and Blu-ray, but since The Pleasure Girls in a dual format release.

Alan Jones is a film critic, broadcaster and reporter on the Horror Fantasy genre and has travelled the world to report on movies in production. His first assignment was the original Star Wars in 1977, after which he became London correspondent for Cinefantastique magazine (1977–2002) and reviewed for British magazine Starburst from 1980 until 2008. A film critic for Film Review and Radio Times, he has made contributions to the Radio Times Guide to Films, the Radio Times Guide to Science Fiction and Halliwell's Film Guide. He has also served as film critic for BBC News 24, Front Row on BBC Radio 4, and on Sky News programme Sunrise. He has worked for many of the long-established cinema magazines – Empire, Premiere and Total Film, an article in which – The Splat Pack – is credited for the first use of a term that is now part of film industry jargon.

<i>Massacre Mafia Style</i> 1974 film by Duke Mitchell

Massacre Mafia Style is a 1974 independent film written, directed,produced by, and starring Italian-American crooner-actor Duke Mitchell. The tagline for the film was "You’re IN, or you’re IN THE WAY."

Marc Morris is a documentary producer, archivist, and researcher. He is a director of Nucleus Films, a film distribution company which he runs with film maker Jake West. A recognised authority on exploitation cinema, Morris has been credited with 'an encyclopedic knowledge of grindhouse and sleaze' whose collection of films, posters and trailers 'should be enshrined as some sort of national archive.'. He has written and produced two documentaries on the 'video nasties' phenomenon and, for Nucleus Films, curates the DVD series Grindhouse Trailer Classics. His feature-length documentary Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship & Videotape was released in 2010, with a sequel, Video Nasties: Draconian Days in 2014. Both were premiered at FrightFest and are often used as reference works for university film studies on British movie censorship.

<i>Whitney</i> (2018 film) 2018 film

Whitney is a 2018 documentary film about the American singer and actress Whitney Houston. The film was directed by Kevin Macdonald and produced by Simon Chinn, Jonathan Chinn and Lisa Erspamer. Whitney was screened out of competition at the world premiere as part of the 2018 Cannes Film Festival on 16 May 2018 with a cinema release on 6 July 2018. The film was also released on home media where it debuted at number one on the UK Official Music Video Chart. In December 2018, Whitney was nominated at the 61st Grammy Awards for Best Music Film.

<i>Bros: After the Screaming Stops</i> film

Bros: After the Screaming Stops is a 2018 documentary film about the English pop band Bros consisting of twins Matt and Luke Goss. It documents the rise and fall, relationship, rehearsals and preparation for the sell-out reunion shows at London's O2 Arena, scheduled to start 19 August 2017. The show marks 28 years to the day since their last performance. The film is a British venture produced by Fulwell 73, with Lorton Entertainment and XYZ Films serving as distributors. It is also in association with BBC Music.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.