Horror Unleashed! A retrospective of the work of David Blyth
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision’s season of HORROR UNLEASHED! is the first major retrospective of films from the controversial director David
Blyth.
Much maligned by local morals campaigners and film critics, Blyth's work has been awarded and championed by cinematic
magicians Alejandro Jodorowsky and Ken Russell. The films revealed to them a director who joyously broke boundaries with
his challenging visions of sex and death, which were amongst the first that celebrated the exploitative B-movie genre of
gothic cinema in New Zealand.
Many of these films are unknown, unseen, at home – yet they have been awarded at festivals all over the world. This is
particularly the case withDeath Warmed Up (1984), described by Jodorowsky as "an apocalypse of slaughter," which has achieved cult status.
Also included are Blyth's first "underground" film, Angel Mine (1978); the whimsical family-friendly pantomime Grampire (aka Moonrise, 1991), starring The Munster's Al Lewis; two transgressive documentaries that celebrate the world of BDSM, Bound for Pleasure (2002) andTransfigured Nights (2007); the graphically disturbing Wound (2010); and the ethereal, supernatural Chinese romance, Ghost Bride (2013).
This season runs from 26 August to 3 September. All screenings will take place at Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision, 84 Taranaki St, Wellington.
ENDS