Some years before the general public witnessed the stunning and surreal SUSPIRIA, first time director and screen writer Dario Argento reinvigorated the Giallo genre with The Bird with the Crystal Plumage. A taught little slasher mixed in with the witness turned detective thread. After his success in co-writing the screenplay for Once upon a time in the west with Bernardo Bertolucci for Sergio Leone, Argento turned to his producer father Salvator to finance his first film, based on the Fredric Brown novel, The screaming Mimi. Here we find Argento establish many of the visual tropes we've come to love from him. Deep reds (pun intended), black gloves and the faceless killer slashing its way through a number of gorgeous women. Tony Musante plays Sam, a writer in Rome who witnesses the brutal attack of a young woman in an art gallery. Is this the work of a known serial killer? Once his statement is taken he is forced to stay in town and is under suspicion for the crime. The police cannot find sufficient evidence to find the killer and now it is now up to Sam to clear his name and obtain his passport to ensure his freedom and the survival of himself and his girlfriend. Suzy Kendall (Circus of Fear) plays Julia, his lover who inevitably becomes entwined in the mystery. While her role is limited to potential victim, she has one scene that truly pushes a young actresses limits. Reggie Nalder fans look no further. His name is buried deep in this one, but if you enjoyed him in Mark of the devil, he's here in all his creepy goodness. I was so happy to see his burnt visage in this film. A real treat! I loved the mystery unfolding here in this film. Character motive is always in question and it takes you right to the end to find the killer unmasked. Now, let's say that Argento's father wasn't an established film producer. Would he have had a much harder time getting the film made? Maybe. But does it bare any effect on his writing and directing ably? NO! He leaps out of the gate and really gives the film a stylistic flare and runs with it. His finger prints burn into this film, and he also doubled as the killers hands! So there you go! An Ennio Morricone score certainly helps as well! It's gripping and adds much to the suspense. On the Blu Ray: Cinema Cult bring us bird in an aspect ratio 2.00:1; or so we think it is. The back of the box just states 16:9. Its a very strong transfer and we noticed more information on top than the US VCI Blu. We are not entirely sure what the original aspect ratio is regardless; it maintains rich colours and deep black levels. This appears to be the same transfer used by Arrow films in the UK. Seeing how the US (blue underground) and UK (Arrow disc) are OOP and going for crazy prices; Cinema Cult save us once again bringing us it locally at a insanely good price. Overall: 4/5
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Movie: 4/5 I have vivid memories of walking down the video store as a kid, and hiring a movie called scarecrows. The movies tagline was ‘trespassers will be mutilated’. It was released on the premier video label, I remember hiring it but remembered very little details of the movie. The many years this little gem was unavailable, and in extreme frustration no legit copies were available until late 2000’s. In Australia we never had a release since the 80s video tape. Today Cinema Cult are here to rescue this call classic, and expose it to the audience it deserves. To begin the titles “scarecrows” sounds pretty corny, you think a movie about killer scarecrows would be a mindless slasher. That isn't the case, scarecrows is an intense, character driven ride of a movie. That leaves you wondering and guessing throughout the entire film. Written and directed by the insanely underrated William Wesley, this film stands as a high achievement of the late 80s horror era. The film involves a group of Military thieves who take off with $3.5 million in cash from a military base; holding hostage the a pilot and his daughter. There are five military members including one female. One of the robbers jumps out of the plane, betraying his fellow team members, He then lands in a field which is inhabited by the scarecrows sitting on crosses. The traitor soon discovers a house, the is house completely abandoned in the middle of nowhere, inside the find a photo of three men presumably taken in the 1920s. Already the film has an amazing southern gothic vibe. The film never feels boring with the pacing being very tight, even moments when they're trying to track down the traitor who took off with the money, leaves us on the edge of our seats seeing if he will get away. He finds a truck and takes off, while the hostage daughter and female military member find the old house and stay in there, while the others are out looking for him. Eventually the truck breaks down; but here's the twist, the truck never had an engine. This is when the film delves into the surreal and invites the viewers to the nightmare. The traitor feels as if he's going insane, trying to escape the money, he then gets cornered by the scarecrows. From here on the scarecrows begin to pick off each robber one by one on this abandoned property. What makes Scarecrows so unique is its atmosphere, the whole film is a mystery, why are the scarecrow is coming to life. The great thing about the film is that it leaves you wondering what the cases, are they going insane, is there a supernatural element, were the previous farm owners devil worshippers? These ideas get played out. One of the military robbers eventually come up with a theory to why this is happening to them. It is such an eerie moment that it will send shivers down your spine. In terms of characters we discover each of the military robbers personalities, in the end of are they really bad people? By the way do you like gore? Because scarecrows has buckets of it. Cinema Cult thankfully presents us the unrated version of the film; which involves dismemberment, guts coming out of a bag, decapitations and so on. But the gore is well spaced out; so when the moment so horror to come it takes you off guard. Scarecrows is a brilliant little forgotten late 80s gem which was sadly straight to video; it got lost in the piles of rubbish direct to video movies of the time. Please seek it out and you'll discover a eeire, character driven, amazingly paced gorefest. On the Blu Ray: 3.5/5 Cinema Cult present Scarecrows original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 , it is a very strong transfer taken from the 35mm print. There is no damage on the print and it is extremely clean, no specs or dirt to be found anywhere. The film also has very rich black levels which is important because most the film takes place at night, to transfer so good you can see every bit of detail in the dark, This film has amazing cinematography which adds to the freaky nature, Cinematography was by Peter Deming, who also did Hellraiser and Evil Dead 2. Audio wise Cinema Cult present a English (DTS-HD 2.0) track. No pops or crackles to be heard. Being low-budget film the score is very important, and it comes out clear and crisp as an orchestral piece. The Blu-ray comes housed in a traditional Cinema Cult casing, with stunning artwork and nice hard slipcover. We also have a trailer for the film and a few other trailers for other cinema Cult titles. The fact that we have this movie now on blu ray in Australia is a good enough reason to pick it up alone. Our local release is the way to go value wise. Do yourself a favour, pick up and discover a truly forgotten horror gem. Overall: 4/5Author: John Mathews Movie: 4/5 The centrefold girls took me by surprise, it shocked me, wowed me, entertained me. It is a disjointed puzzle of exploitation cinema that needs to be seen to be believed. Lets take a step back, this film is essentially a slasher film from 1974, yes thats right 1974. Pre Black christmas and on par with when Bava shocked the world with ‘Bay Of blood’. Well not entirely a slasher, its feels and acts like one based on premises. The film immediately starts off jumping straight into the gore, showing a young half nude woman getting slashed; then dragged away by the killer on a beach. This had myself reminiscing on The opening scene to Maniac; which would not come for another 7 years. Immediately we are introduced to the killer Clement Dunne. He is one of the main driving forces that keeps us engaged in the story, the thing is that he does not look like your average killer. He appears intelligent and well groomed, he does have a fetish for killing centrefold girls from porno mags. That is pretty a much it, he kills, cuts out their face in the mag, then kills again. Seems repetitive but actually it's not, you could say the same for a slasher film, what keeps it engaging is the character development and the killer himself. He appears to be frustrated by women himself, to him; killing them is the only option to cleanse them. The first victim is Linda and it presents her in her day to day life. She is constantly being harassed by the killer as he claims he want to "help her". She goes on a road trip for a job interview as a nurse, along the way chows occurs that is not caused by the killer, infact we don't even see the killer until the end of this segment. I use the word segment as 'the centrefold girls' really does feel like an anthology. Girl gets slashed we move onto next story. It is very nihilistic in its approach, getting us the viewers very attached to these characters then having them sliced off. But rather unique. No spoilers but there are two more girls who follow after this. One involving a trip on an island mansion for a centrefold shoot that ends up a disaster. Speaking of gore, for a 1974 film it is surprisingly graphic. For an American film (not euro horror) we have quite a bit of splatter. The razor blade kills to essentially a whole massacre segment, it was well ahead of its time and surely would have found more success if it was released in the slasher boom. The pacing is great, never feeling like there is a dull moment, the characters are entertaining and the ending is surprisingly visually deep. Overall the centrefold girls is a cult film that deserves a wider audience and I was pleasantly surprised but this grindhouse gem. Video: 4.5/5 Glass dolls films bring us the film in its original aspect ratio of 1:66. Overall it looks stunning, for an obscure grindhouse film it really pops. The film has a natural layer of grain throughout, giving it a rich visual quality. The colours are vibrant and never looking washed out. Very little to no specs throughout the film, this has had a tremendous upgrade to blu Ray. Black levels are also accurate, especially during darker night scenes. Audio: 4/5 Ok this is a low budget 70's, so it's not going to sound like your blockbuster from last year. It's presented English: LPCM 2.0 (48kHz, 16-bit). It gets the job done, dialogue comes of crisp and the funky soundtrack really does blast without any fuzz. Overall a very clean sounding audio track. Extras: 4.5/5 Ok this is where it gets good. Glass Doll films have not skimped on the extras:
Making The Cut: A Look Back At The Centerfold Girls Featurette
Interview with Tiffany Bolling Interview with Andrew Prine Select Music Cues Radio Spots TV Spots Trailers
Please support this local release, what Glass Doll films is doing is amazing, an incredible overall packaging. I have to pinch myself to make sure this is a local release and not an import. Glass Doll films are truly shaping up to be our Australian answer to Vinegar Syndrome. Overall: 4.5/5The Brides of Dracula/ The Vampire LoversOver all score : 3.5/5 Reviewer : Glenn Misztal Genre - Horror Label - Shock Audio - English (Dolby Digital 2.0) Region Coding - B Hammer Horror films often conjur up memories of Christopher Lee, who will be greatly missed as his role of Count Dracula, so it is with fond nostalgic memories and in memory of Sir Chrisopher Lee that I have be asked to review two of the latest Hammer Blu-Ray releases from Shock. First up is 1960's 'Brides of Dracula' - one of the Hammer movies where Sir Christopher Lee's is greatly missed as Dracula as the movie serves as more as a standalone Van Helsing movie and Dracula is nowhere to be seen. It's Hammer at it's finest though - arguably even the best vampire movie from Hammer. It has everything a vampire movie needs - great scenes, creepy atmosphere, beautiful women, outstanding actors, especially Peter Cushing, The second movie 'Vampire Love rs' was reviewed with a very heavy heart as it contains another actress that passed away last year - Ms, Kate O'Mara. For those who aren't familiar with Ms O'Mara's performances, she is most famous to Doctor Who fans she also played the Rani in the Doctor Who. The movie ticked all the right boxes in terms of being a Hammer movie - fog machine. Vampires with oversized canine teeth. 18th Century tavern with busty barmaids running it. Actually, scratch that - there was a bit more than busty barmaids running around. Considering the taboo subject at the time, the movie is a Vampire Lesbian love story that involved a lot of Manipulation between characters. What a sec you say...Vampire lovers? Manipulation? Is this Dracula? One would think, but Carmilla, the original novel on which the original movie is based on was published in 1819 and actually predates Dracula as a novel 'Carmilla' by 25 years. Considering one of the movies themes includes same sex relationships between women, a taboo subject in the 60s, I am surprised that it passed the censors and actually made it on screen. Above: Vampire Lovers. Below: Brides of Dracula. Picture Quality - 4/5 Exactly what to expect of a Hammer movies. The use of technicolor is outstanding on Blu-ray. The only other movie that I know that uses the technicolor palette this rich is the Universal 'Phantom of the Opera'. Also bear in mind that the previous Hammer releases by Shock had DVD copies included, but none are included here. That's completely fine as the Blu-ray is magnificent and it also drives the price down of the Blu-Ray by a couple of bucks. In an economy where every dollar in savings counts, this is a welcome change. Audio Quality - 3.5/5 Great audio (2.0 LCPM). Nothing out of the ordinary, so lets talk about the packaging for a second : The Discs are housed in a thinner 12 mm blu-ray disc case. This is the standard USA sized case which is a nice move because it saves shelf space. I wish all Australian Blu-ray distributors would eventually change to this for this reason. Extras - 2.5/5 Not much here except Theatrical trailers and an audio commentary on Brides of Dracula and Carmilla read by Ingrid Pitt. Overall - 4.5/5
We're really lucky to have these released on the Australian market.
(Reviewer's note : I contemplated reviewing this movie like the Cryptkeeper speaks by subtituting some words for 'horror words', but I figured that would be very 'scary'....I mean 'silly'.) Movie : 4/5 Ah, Tales from the Crypt. I used to adore the reprint EC comics in High School in the late 80's. I used to trade them with friends and cherish those classic 1960's horror stories. There is some sense of nostaligia and comfort from that time period that one gets from reading those EC comics. If you're not familar with the EC comics, there are many reprints of them. The EC comics spawned a homage movie, Creepshow and it's sequel Creepshow 2. HBO caught wind of the comic and eventually they were able to make a highly successful anthology TV show adaptation of the comics. It caught on like wildfire and the Cryptkeeper craze began. This lead to multiple spinoffs, such as a Saturday Morning Cartoon, a game show for kids (I always wondered how parents felt about that one...gateway dreugs, perhaps?), audio plays and more. Now that the trip down memory lane is over, lets look at the movie, shall we? That leads us to here - Tales from the Crypt : Demon Knight on blu-ray by Cult Cinema. A One and a half hour movie that has a beginning and tail end introduction by the Cryptkeeper who acts as the 'director' of the movie. I do wonder if the movie would have been as successful if it wasn't under the Tales from the Crypt banner, but don't be fooled - with or without Cryptkepper introductions, this movie is a great one and has managed to gain a small cult following. Unlike the TV show, the movie doesn't take the safe route and introduce three individual athology stories. It's one continuous movie. Fair enough as well. I feel if we wanted to watch an anthology movie, I'd throw on the 80s' Twilight Zone movie. Getting back to Demon Knight - you haven't seen it already, the movie follows the plot of an eternal, wandering lone figure known as The Demon Knight that protects human-kind from evil. Eventually the Demon Knight makes his way to a roadhouse hotel, stays the night and its residents get trapped inside as the building is surrounded by, yep, you guessed it, Demons. It sounds incredibly cliched like a plot from an episode of Buffy the Vampire slayer, the Mist or a Zombie movie where the residents get trapped inside a mall. Throw in some bibilical references and the movie comes off strong. Not the mention the effects are very practical. As it's the mid-90's and it's the era of 'In the Mouth of Madness', teen horror movie's aren't quite out yet and the industry was made on model effects, slime and glow in the dark glowsticks as special effects. The acting is also very solid with some rising stars such as CCH Pounder and Jade Pinkett Smith are on the uprising, but the real show stealer here is Billy Zane whose charasma steals the screen as 'The Collector' in the movie. Yes, the characters are cartoon-cliched, they follow the 'Scream' rules of horror movies such as no drugs to unsympathise with their killings, but certainly don't appear as unbelievable. Onto the disc itself : Video : 4/5 I've been really impressed lately with the releases that Cult Cinema have been bringing out. The video quality is a mid 90s clean transfer. There are no specs in the screen or dirt to be seen anywhere. Audio : 4/5 Cult cinema have ultised the English DTS-HD 2.0 sound for this release. You'll really hear those demons shreiking when playing this disc. Extras : No extras on the blu-ray disc itself. A shame really, because the movie is awesome. It would have been nice to have a documentary history of Tales of the Crypt or Ec Comics, but I understand those can be found on the Tales from the Crypt TV show DVD set. Make note the DVD never had any extras so the studios themselves who have access to all this material will most likely not give it out. For their credit though, Cinema Cult have put the packaging of the Blu-ray in one of those nice cardboard slipcases. If you're collecting the Cinema Cult Blu-Rays, they look really nice and uniform on the sehlf next to each other. Summary :
Whilst there is German edition blu-ray of this movie available in a DVD sized mediabook, not available via the usual sources such as amazon.de and is very overpriced, this Australian exclusive Blu-ray release is a very good option. Combined with everything we have here in terms on Video and Audio quality, along with a great movie, purchasing this movie as a 'blind-buy' or familiar sale would by no means be a bad choice. I hope this is the first of the Tales from the Crypt movies that Cinema Cult bring out (hint, hint) as there are two more after these - Bardollo of Blood and Ritual. If you're contemplating buying Tales from the Crypt : Demon Knight on blu-ray say go for it, the movie is absolute ghoul...er...I mean gold. (OK, I couldn't resist that one). Reviewer: James Ackland Director - Michael Reeves Actors - Ian Ogilvy/Rupert Davies/Vincent Price Genre - Horror Label - Cinema Cult Audio - English (Dolby Digital 2.0) Running Time - 86 Aspect Ratio - 1.78:1 Region Coding - B Rating - R18+ Year of Release - 1968 Get it here from SCREENPOP
Movie: 3.5/5 Mario Bava has never landed a real hit in his time, but is popular with horror fans and continues to grow a fanbase. How many Bava films is also similar to "Hatchet for the Honeymoon", they were always marketed as B movies and never got the respect they deserved . However - and this is also the case with Bava - it's excellent. As you can see in this film the C-class actors that act as natural figures of the theatre, to the end because you occasionally shakes your head at one or the other script-turn with the acting, but you enjoy them because the pictures always have great atmosphere. If you are looking for splatter effects, however this is misplaced, because the murderous actions of the protagonist only lead to something (extremely bright red) fake blood stains on the white wedding dresses of the murdered women. Bava's cinema lives of the optics. Camera settings, play of color, illumination and shadow paintings tell sometimes more than the actual film selbt. As with Dario Argento, the one may call a student Bava in many ways, we are here with the search for meaning on plot plane and high expectations of the consistency of play action misplaced. Hardly any Bava makes it as clear as HATCHET FOR THE HONEYMOON. It's about John Harrington, the an unusual fetish makes a murderer: Fragments of memories, which he can not read, drive him to brutal murders with the cleaver to women in wedding dress's. With each murder, the puzzle deciphers more. His own marriage is on the rocks, his fashion house for bridal attire is rather poor, but the wealth of his wife leaves him after all lead a luxurious life. The police are already on the heels of him, the investigating commissioner is already long since come into his life. The film is surprisingly bloodless and in comparison to his other efforts . A year later Bava would bring us his goriest, BAY OF BLOOD, so in a way this film successfully shows that Bava could make a strong thriller without the use of gore. Criminological aspects of the plot are of interest for Bava: The murderer is from the outset whether he will be caught or not, could hardly care less. Not the "what" of action is decisive, but the "how": And here unfolds a fireworks display of subtle visual ideas and experiments of light, image design, equipment and ultimately - in fact! - Also from the great performances of the B-Cast a highly artificial poem fashionable, old-European backdrop present. But just issue may be Bava newcomers HATCHET FOR THE HONEYMOON can be an introduction to the wonderful world of of Mario Bava so on that note it is recommended: Only with some sense of the concept for the film as it unfolds, this film is to sum up, a great little and creepy thriller, not Bavas greatest film, but saying that he never made a bad film. Check it out if you like your Italian horror and a taste of the macabre. Video: 4.5/5 Bava's film is presented glorious HD, make note this is the only Blu-Ray release of it in the world. Shock presents to us a world first exclusive for Australians, making it a very special release. The film is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and for a film from 1970 it looks incredible. The colours are extremely rich and vibrant, adding to atmosphere. The night scenes on the moors are a rich blue, and stun ning green lighting in the film really does stand out. There is extreme clarity and detail in the print, looking closely you will be able to see detail in the sets and characters clothing. The lighting effects are particully clear indoors and add clarity to certain scenes, this is as close as to how it looked theatrically. There is no print damage, it appears they sourced from the best master available, there are minor specs here and there but it is natural specs. The film has a thick natural layer of grain over it, this grain is obviously from the original negative. This blu ray matches all the other cinema Cult Blu ray's as they have had terrific restorations and care done to them one by one. Audio: 4.5/5 Overall we have a great audio mix presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 it is the films original mono soundtrack.. It sounds great with dialogue coming off crisp. The musical score has intense moments and the orchestral sounds really do stand out. Overall" 4/5
Movie: 4/5 Starry Eyes which the fine line between art and Perversion- delicate and perfect moves - convinced as unique malicious movie experience trains consisting of a Cronenberg, Fincher together in conjunction with the shallow allusions of "Mullholand Drive" ..... in dark, mild to severe and sometimes disturbing turn seductive-looking images, is the audience in a sense Optics & noise - as well as the great main character Sarah, which is terrific embodied by the (actually quite) unknown Alex Essoe. She is stuck in a dead end job, accomplishing nothing in life. Her real dream is to become an actress, however she appears to have a lot of issues and self confident issues with herself, even going to point where she finds herself pulling out her hair. She appears to be stuck in a state of depression because her life is going no where, she also suffers from extreme anxiety; which sounds like nearly every female in their early to mid 20's now days. We take as a spectator not only the role as a Sarah who takes delight in the decay and the torture and the figure on the couch at home feels safe - No! We are a victim of it and may by the opulent imagery, the depressing realism, the extreme but occurring only in the finale to pile escalation of violence and the evil atmosphere .... sympathize everything even painful. The film becomes very difficult to watch as we slowly begin to watch Sarah's change into a 'star'. So what is this film trying to say, it looks like the Hollywood system is pure evil and the only way to become famous will require extreme measures. She is willing to give her body to this evil and surrender herself. It becomes apparent to her that her friends are only holding her back in life. I won't spoil it but if you like gore, the last 30 minutes is complete blood and guts. Now not in the fun popcorn Peter Jackson style, but a surreal dark and sick way. The soundtrack which some lovely classic and the context is extremely disturbing again - contributes a lot to the overall unique atmosphere. Similarly, the real part, but a little self-purposive force moments can end up a real turn the stomach around! - Starry Eyes is a magnificent trip through a sick world of manipulation of the occult and the fragility! Imagine if David Lynch directed a splatter gore fest and you get this film. - A great movie - which, although in the end some questions leaves - but I think just so special and just is disturbingly entertaining. Video: 4.5/5 Monster pictures presentation looks very nice, presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Shot digitally, the film has a great level of clarity with detail really popping in the image. The film also has very vibrant colours and they are rich thought. Consistent black level are also present, even in the screen grab above you can see there are no signs of digital grain, a common issue with films shot in this digital format. The movie is extremely colourful with blue neon Hughes popping out to us the viewers. It does look soft in certain parts, presumably intentional. Extras: 4/5
You actually get a tonne of extras on this blu ray; interestingly enough Monster don't advertise these extras on their site, so you wouldn't even know they are there.
Overall: 4/5 Long has it been since the small town Caplongue would have made the sensation and thrown the great rival of Paris from the Olympic Cup, but at the last minute prevented a goal of a former Caplonguer Jung victory. Now there is a rematch, but only in a friendly match. But the provincials take the whole more seriously than the capital city, especially since the former scorer again this is. The alleged battering ram of the team receives from his father a few Vitaminspritzchen, he is also fit, but unfortunately the postman has confused the package and the player is given something which makes him a monster. This seems like a fairly pretty crude at, but it is, in effect, not at all. You must not be a football fan to watch the tape, because the sport actually provides only the environment for the action, as you have to be interested in old country houses any more, just because YOU'RE NEXT plays there. The film is divided in 2 half hours, which is only once a nice idea. In addition, two different directors share the game sections. Sorry, but you have extended the halves to one hour, although a football game actually is only 90 minutes. And there is also the problem of the film. The basic idea is not enough for such a long playing time easy. The story of the daughter of the protagonist, for example, could have been omitted since it does not advance the actual events. So there are always successful gags and splatter scenes, but it also prevails some idle. However, I admit that I still had to laugh a few times, because some situations are really bizarre. Conclusion: Pretty entertaining horror comedy, unfortunately with something much injury time. Now for the World Cup, however, between the two games a good evening. As the title says : Just do not expect too much and you will be well entertained .The idea itself is pretty funny and you have enough leeway to let his imagination run wild a bit . Because not really extreme splatter or wait to arrant thrill the audience can Goal of the Dead thoroughly enjoy as funny popcorn cinema . The actors are not overly outstanding ; is on the subject but also difficult and unnecessary. In addition, the film would get along well with two shorter half hours. Actually, the whole should be a friendly game when the team Olympique de Paris moves into the home village from player Sam to compete against the Caplongue team. Sam had left the club 17 years ago for his professional career and has fallen on them and the old fans favor. And for this 'betrayal' they want to take revenge by winning the game by any means now. Stupid, that the agent in question in this case a dose steroids contaminated's just make one of the Caplongue players to soccer zombie infection his enthusiastic by droplet infection (Say, vomiting) passes. Overall this film is a bit of mindless fun, I did enjoy it for what it was, we recommend readers who are fans of soccer to at least give it a go. Overall: 3/5
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AuthorJames Ackland and John M loves cinema, records, and guava! Archives
November 2017
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