Stephen Thrower

One of the most important English singers of 20th century traditional song, Shirley Collins and her sister Dolly stood at the epicentre of the folk music revival from the 1950s through to the 1970’s. Directors Rob Curry and Tim Plester have created a poetic response to the life-and-times of this totemic musical figure. Four years in the making, and co produced by Fifth Column Films and Burning Bridges, The Ballad of Shirley Collins is the fascinating first release from Fire Films - available to you exclusively through the Lush Player. A captivating study of heritage, posterity and the true ancestral melodies of the people, this heartwarming film revolves around Shirley’s tragic loss of her voice and struggle back to the limelight. And ultimately, it suggests that in these turbulent and increasingly untethered times, we may just need Shirley Collins and all she represents more than ever.

Genre writer Stephen Thrower discusses the film. We find out from the ever-informative Stephen that the film was shot in Munich; that composer Bruno Nicolai taught Ennio Morricone.

Set in a London gentleman's outfitters in 1976, and taking inspiration from the emotions aroused by a fetishist love of corduroy, leather and tight trousers, two men enter Sir John's Trouser Bar but little do they know the sexual adventures that await them inside.

Pioneer erotic film maker Peter de Rome talks about his life and work.

The highly anticipated follow-up to their critically acclaimed VIDEO NASTIES: MORAL PANIC, CENSORSHIP & VIDEOTAPE documentary, director Jake West and producer Marc Morris continue uncovering the shocking story of home entertainment post the 1984 Video Recordings Act. A time when Britain plunged into a new Dark Age of the most restrictive censorship, where the horror movie became the bloody eviscerated victim of continuing dread created by self-aggrandizing moral guardians. With passionate and entertaining interviews from the people who lived through it and more jaw dropping archive footage, get ready to reflect and rejoice the passing of a landmark era.

The focus is on the eighty-two Section 3 titles, those advised by the DPP not to be obscene, but still known to have been seized. After a short introduction, each film is discussed in turn by an expert, followed by the film's trailer.

The focus is on the eighty-two Section 3 titles, those advised by the DPP not to be obscene, but still known to have been seized. After a short introduction, each film is discussed in turn by an expert, followed by the film's trailer.

Every Video Nasty from the DPP list of dropped 33 titles is critiqued and explored, followed by the original trailers.

Every Video Nasty from the DPP list of 39 is critiqued and explored, followed by the original trailers.

A documentary analyzing the furore which so-called "video nasties" caused in Britain during the 1980s.

After serving jail time for a mysterious crime, Bill and Karl get out of jail and become preoccupied with figuring out who turned them in to the police. On top of that, the "family business" is on the rocks, and the motley crew of criminals who operate out of Down Terrace aren't feeling terribly trusting of one another. It might look like an ordinary house, but at Down Terrace, the walls are closing in..

A brief history of Grindhouse cinema presented by Emily Booth

In the spirit of the EC horror comics of old, the film tells the story of five teens who get lost on their way to a rock concert, are menaced by flesh eating mutations and then fall into the clutches of a family of backwoods killers. The film includes copious amounts of gore alongside a splattering of social commentary and several slices of dark humour. It’s best seen as a tribute to the cinema of Lucio Fulci and George Romero, but viewed from a distinctly Pakistani perspective.

This documentary shows the mindset of the some of the most original and influential artists of the experimental scene (Coil, Current 93, Foetus, Test Dept.). An unprecedented insight into the workings, the methods and the ideas that made these names legendary. Filmed in Hamburg, Amsterdam and London, 1985-1987.

The Angelic Conversation is a lyrical, haunting film about a young man’s search for love, in a dreamlike landscape. Offscreen, Dame Judi Dench recites a sequence of Shakespeare sonnets, that counterpoint the action. Jarman called it, “My most austere work, but also the closest to my heart.”

Imagining October explores art and politics in the final years of the Cold War, drawing connections between pre-Perestroika Russia and Thatcherite Britain. The title refers to the 1917 Bolshevik revolution and Sergei Eisenstein’s propaganda film October: Ten Days That Shook the World 1928. The project began during a trip to the Soviet Union sponsored by the British Film Institute in October 1984. Jarman was invited to present The Tempest in Moscow and Baku with fellow filmmaker Sally Potter and film theorist Peter Wollen and asked in return to make a short film for the London Film Festival in November.

At the edge of a grand estate, near a crumbling old mansion lies a strange stone building with just a single room. In the room there lies a bed. Born of demonic power, the bed seeks the flesh, blood and life essence of unwary travelers… Three pretty girls arrive on vacation, searching for a place to spend the night. Instead, they tumble into nightmares – and the cruel, insatiable hunger of the Bed!

Stephen Thrower examines locations used in Jess Franco movies.

Film historian Stephen Thrower discusses the 1970 cult classic Eugenie.