“He’s radioactive, but can we keep him?”: BRIAN TRENCHARD-SMITH by Kent Hill

With a filmography as long as the tentacles of the giant octopus in It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955), and a life just as rich, cycling in tandem, Brian Trenchard-Smith has allowed his love for the movies to carry him off on a grand adventure. Along the way he managed to help shape the peak of genre film-making here Down Under. But, taking his magic kit with him across the pond, BTS would continue with a long and diverse career tackling, as Brian himself says, every genre known to man. And even setting a benchmark for a few new ones.

Ozploitation, the rise and fall, has been captured most deliciously by filmmaker Mark Hartley with Not Quite Hollywood. While this is an important document showcasing the exploitation boomtown we once were, it only scratches the surface of those dedicated few with the courage to commit the preposterous to celluloid. But, with Adventures in the B Movie Trade, BTS gives fans, aspiring directors and even casual movie-goers a glimpse into a life spent in the pursuit of following your dreams.

Brian has worked alongside industry luminaries, told the Colonel he liked his chicken, been replaced in the director’s chair and even convinced a room full of suits with his natural visual flare, his wry sense of humor and his eloquent, gentlemanly grace to have an ALIEN homage, like no other, be the catalyst for one of a great IN SPACE movies one could wish to share a beer and pizza with.

The book is a fully customizable experience. The early chapters are dedicated to family history, Brian’s formative years, and best of all, the beginning of his romance with the cinema. From there he takes us through the films, genre by genre, sharing wonderful anecdotes and behind the scenes details which cineastes, cinephiles, or just an average, movie-lovin’ nerd like me, can rejoice in. You can hear him, if you’re familiar with Brian’s cadence, recount these trials and triumphs in a vivid splendor that is at once both enticing and enrapturing.

It’s probably clear that I am a fan, and I do LOVE this book, still, I highly recommend it as spectacular celebration of all things B Movie, obsessing cinema, film-making as self-expression, and if you never give up, have a little luck, surround yourself with those who share the dream, you may just find yourself happily manifesting visions whilst enchanting audiences as Brian has continued to do with his out and out genre gems.

So, listen along as the elder statesman of the B movie pantheon regales us with a taste of what’s contained on the pages of a book that could crush walnuts and kill flies. But, like Brian, I really hope you’ll have a read of it first, enjoy the majesty of the journey, and tales from the maelstrom in which cinema, the likes of which we may never see again, is born. At least until Brian is back in the director’s chair once more.

Galactic Beauties & Melting Men: An Interview with William Sachs by Kent Hill

Movies are a lot like songs. You hear a song and you rekindle a feeling, a moment, a memory. And films work in exactly the same way. As I often reflect on my life, I have come to realize how many great moments have been marked by the good, the bad and the ugly movies that a town called Hollywood has unleashed upon the world.

I flashback to the third grade. This was still in the era of the massive video stores. I distinctly remember overhearing a conversation among a group of my peers about wandering through the ‘horror’ section one fine day. At this point in history, some of these stores were really decked out and ‘themed.’ The kids section had cartoon characters on the walls, the adult section was contained in a tiny house that had red curtains covering the door and two small windows (this was affectionately known in our local store as the ‘smut hut’). Then their was the horror section, set in a cave filled with black light, with fluorescent ‘scary’ eyes painted on black brick walls.

These kids that I overheard were talking about a particular horror film that had both fascinated and horrified them, though, none of them had seen it. All of their talk and speculation they were basing purely on the cover. And we all know that old chestnut. So, I became king for a day in my class when I summoned the moxie to go rent this video that had aroused so much interest. It was called The Incredible Melting Man.

The director of the movie was William Sachs. As was my custom of the day, I then proceeded to seek out any and all of the other films he had directed. I was fascinated with the movies that I uncovered.

I recently had the very large pleasure of chatting with Bill about his career, not solely as a filmmaker, but as a legendary Hollywood ‘fixer.’ I’m a fan of the Leprechaun movies, and Bill had a hand in the first installment which, to his surprise, has gone on to become a much-loved, ongoing series.

He is a great gentleman of the old school and it was a real treat indeed, for this fan, to hang out and talk movies with him. As ever, it is awesome to present, yet another interview with one of the great cult filmmakers and a stalwart independent spirit.

Dear listeners . . . I give you . . . William Sachs.