Severin Films Unleashes A Private Collection Print of Video Nasty HOUSE ON STRAW HILL aka TRAUMA aka EXPOSE, and Throws A Little Magnetic Magic in the Mix with a FREE VHS Copy!
The theatrical one-sheet for this infamous slab of sordid cinema! Udo's eyes compel you!!
LM: Can you give us a little of your film background? How did you get started making movies? JKC: I told my father that I wanted to be a film director, and he said that he'd rather I was a public hangman than a film director. So, thus inspired, I fought my way to becoming one. On the other hand, if I'd stayed writing music (particularly for film) I'd be a multimillionaire by now. But that's what makes life so exciting! I started at Anglia television in 1961. It was very unionized and I was only a researcher (though Desmond Wilcox subsequently told me that the researcher is the most important person on the unit. He was right). When I went to BBC2 and "Man Alive" in 1967, Desmond was surprised that I wanted to direct, but he let me direct within a few months of joining them, and I subsequently became a producer/director at BBC Television.
The art for the new release. Blood in the eyes!? IT STINGS!! IT STINGSS!!!
How did the HOUSE ON STRAW HILL production come about? For those unfamiliar, what can people expect from the film? How do you feel about it becoming one of the “Video Nasties” and the reputation it has earned among genre fans in current times? I had always wanted to write and direct my first feature film and I took a second mortgage out on my house in Westemineter to finance it. GOT IT MADE was a lovely film (which the BFI wants to now put out on DVD), but it didn't make any money, So I then set up Norfolk International Pictures with (producer) Brian Smedley-Aston just to make commercial films. The company was modeled on Samuel Z. Arkoff's company AIP. The company was subsequently highly successful until I closed it down in 1990 owing to family illness. It was always profitable. THE HOUSE ON STRAW HILL was part of Norfolk's scheme simply to make commercial films. And commercial it was!
The VHS version that comes with the package. MMMMMMM, GIMME DAT.
How do you feel about your film being released on VHS years and years after the initial boom? My feeling is that it is remarkable that a film made on a shoe string
A then-risque still from HOUSE ON STRAW HILL. COME ON AND GET THE BLEACH.
There’s a real resurgence of interest in VHS right now. Do you have any particular affection for the format, or any thoughts on it? I love VHS... and anything analogue. I find digital (particularly in sound recording) rather worrying and lacking in character.Hey, James, we agree, man! But not to worry, really… if releases like these keep happening, almighty bricks of analog adventure will populate shelves for a long time to come. And you know I can dig THAT. Groove on over to the Official Severin site and snatch up your copy of the HOUSE ON STRAW HILL combo pack that’ll give you the flick on three formats and along with a bunch of groovy extras including audio commentary with Writer/Director James Kenelm Clarke and Producer Brian Smedley-Aston, an interview with actress Linda Hayden (!!) and the Video Nasties documentary BAN THE SADIST VIDEOS! Dig those extra goodies, man!
Groove and Groove and Udo Kier RULES.
Josh Schafer