Following on from their first 12-hour trailer marathon, Umbrella have returned to the vault and found 12 hours more. Anyone assuming the cupboard was getting a bit bare can think again because, by our reckoning, this new 4-disc set trumps the first for scope and sheer chutzpah.
There are 307 mini masterpieces here, arranged into sub-sections according to genre. Some of these categories made us laugh out loud; ‘DON’T!’, for example, heralds a compilation of every sleazy slasher that started with ‘Don’t!’ (turns out there were quite a few). It all kicks off with a section called ‘Giallo A-Go-Go’ featuring 61 Italian slashers of a twisty deportment. Watching these is great fun, because no matter how artful the individual movies themselves may have been (and this batch includes Mario Bava’s peerless Blood and Black Lace and Argento’s entire ‘70s output), the trailers are all beamed in from the planet schlock. This consistency of tone is underscored by a recurring use of very 1970s ITC-style reverse negative graphics designed to disguise the bloodiest scenes. And my, what a lot of them starred Suzy Kendall.
We also get a return to the world of zombie trailers because, let’s face it, you can never have too many. There’s a bloody sack-load of them here although real connoisseurs will pine for the uncut ‘Make Them Die Slowly!’ version of the Cannibal Ferox trailer where that bloke got the top of his head sliced off like a hard-boiled egg. Then there’s a motley clutch of shameless Exorcist rip-offs which, if we’re honest, boggled our mind because, well, there’s just so many of them and they all look the same. Plus many hours more of the slashers, dodgy creature features and Corman-eque space flicks that didn’t make the first volume.
We’ve saved the best until last: ‘British Blood and Bosoms’ is a majestic canter through that incredibly fertile era of British exploitation cinema when the like of Susan George, Robin Askwith and a surprisingly alluring Michele Dotrice starred on rotation in a wave of creepy low-budget horror thrillers like And Soon the Darkness, Fright, Blood on Satan’s Claw, Corruption and Tower of Evil. Even better, ‘The Hard Naked Truth’ lassos a joyously bizarre collection of skin flick trailers with an emphasis on the more ‘out there’ offerings like 2069: A Sex Odyssey, Wham Bam Thank You Spaceman and Let Me Die a Woman.
Drive-In Delirium: The Offspring, Vol. 2 is an epic ride through some of the most enthrallingly obscure movies ever made. Keep a notepad handy because you’ll be hunting many of them down afterwards. If you’re lucky, you may even find your new favourite film ever.
DRIVE-IN DELIRIUM: THE OFFSPRING, VOL. 2 / CERT: 18 / DIRECTORS: VARIOUS / SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: VARIOUS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW