There can never be one all-inclusive guide to DVDs outside the Internet. And even there, the discs tend to be subdivided by genre or market profile. There is no one-stop shop that will give the consumer in-depth accounts, full-bodied reviews for gosh sakes, of everything from exercise videos to the latest Criterion art house release. Given that, what one wants from a DVD guide, either online or in hard copy, is accuracy, reliability, and style (for a good and lively writing style makes opinions easier to remember). The DVD Delirium series from FAB Press has been reasonably reliable for fans of non-mainstream cinema (the set’s first volume had to undergo some revision and is now out in a revised edition). The third in the series, DVD Delirium Volume 3 (FAB Press, 640 pages, $24.95, ISBN 1 903254 40 X) , edited, as before, by Nathaniel Thompson (though the series was originated by Adrian Luther-Smith, who apparently did not survive long into the first edition), is consistent with the first two volumes, and taken all together the trio of books amounts to almost 2000 pages of reviews of almost 2000 movies.

There is no clear or easy definition of make that qualifies for review in a given volume of DVDD. The intro to the third book says simply that to merit inclusion in the book a film “must possess that certain magical something, a quality different from the standard Hollywood product.” This loose a definition gives the editor a lot of latitude to include material that he likes, yet at the same time the reader can feel that everything in the book qualifies. Like the material reviewed in the magazines Video Watchdog, or the late Psychotronic Video and its attendant volumes of gathered reviews, you sort of know it when you see it.

Like those in the above magazines, especially VW, the reviews here tend to be straightforward, informative, and humorless. They pack a lot of information into a small space, but occasionally assume that the reader knows more than she or he might. For example, take the lead off review, Abigail Leslie is Back in Town, a soft core porn film from 1975. The film stars numerous hardcore porn stars (such as Jamie Gillis) who apparently are grateful to have the chance to actually act, and the film is directed by Joe Sarno. If one reads between the lines it is clear that Sarno was a top pornographer of the era, but there is no clear indication of his status. Thus it is hard to fully contextualize the film in determining whether to view it. On the other hand, where else will the reader find a detailed full-page-plus review of a movie so obscure by a writer who has actually seen it?

Other entries have a feeling of essaysitic expansiveness, and prompt insights in the reader. For example, the review of Singapore Sling (a Greek film, despite its title, from 1990) reminds us that the so-called modern “torture porn” horror movies of the day, are really a part of a long-standing genre called “captivity films,” thus making so-called torture porn nothing new, even down to its torture scenes. This review is characteristic of the book as a whole. It gives a whole history of the movie, its unusual release pattern, a thumbnail background of the director, lists two or three films that may have influenced its look and some of the scenes, and gives a detailed account of the disc itself. The reviewer is so informed as to be able to offer the titles of other discs that adopt this disc’s unusual but necessary subtitling process. Other titles that serve as an example of DVDD’s range are Caravaggio, Nail Gun Massacre, the western Hannie Caulder, the faux documentary Faces of Death, the Joan Crawford vehicle The Damned Don’t Cry, the musical documentary Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus, and Ingmar Bergman’s The Virgin Spring. Most of the listings, however, are for horror films.

Volume 3 covers DVDs released from around 2003 to late 2006 (the first book came out in 2002, the second in 2003). Each review summarizes the film, gives some background, reviews the quality of the sound and transfer, assesses the supplements if there are any, and compares and contrasts different editions of the movie as well as against printings from different region codes. There is also a cumulative index covering all three books. I especially enjoyed the reviews of all the highly informed Rathbone-Bruce Sherlock Holmes films, the lengthy review of Sin City, and the review of Tobe Hooper’s remake of The Toolbox Murders, among many others. If the reviews one finds on websites were as good as the ones in this book (and there is no reason why they can’t be, which doubly damns them), the Internet would have a much higher reputation.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 11th, 2007 at 4:50 pm and is filed under Reel Politique - Film columnist DK Holm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.