Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Bad Lit: Digging Underground Film

Bad Lit - The Journal of Underground Film (Badlit.com) is a good film blog. There are a lot of crappy ones around, but Bad Lit just keeps putting real stuff up there and I keep finding things I want to read about. For instance, a couple weeks ago I came across this post about filmmaker Kenneth Anger and I got curious about this artist who knew the Rolling Stones and a Manson killer. So I read the article written by Bad Lit's founder and owner, Mike Everleth. I watched Anger films called 'Lucifer Rising' and 'Invocation of My Demon Brother.'


I thought this was some total rocking scary good stuff that was trying to turn my insides out. My point is that what Everleth writes about gets me interested and gets me searching for more. His site posts film clips, reviews, underground film news and events, biographical information about filmmakers, a listing of films called The Underground Film Guide, and film festival news.

It's a good film site because the guy writes like he loves underground film. He doesn't sound like he's trying to get a part time job at Columbia University. I'm amazed at how little I know about underground or avant-garde film. I'm trying to make some of my own while learning about the great filmmakers at the same time. So I go out browsing around for web sites and blogs about film and I end up ready to shoot myself in the head. It's almost impossible to find a site that simply discusses films and actually posts things you can watch. YouTube is just a giant hard drive. It doesn't count unless you're talking about their Screening Room which works well, though they tend to focus on middle of the road short film stuff that you'd expect to see at your local Academy Awards ceremony. I don't know if most of these bloggers are students or what but I gotta say 99 of 100 film sites just bore the living shit out of me. Then there's a site like Bad Lit and I just start searching around in there and find all sorts of treasures. Here's a very recent post about some guys who have made a short horror movie promo that's modeled on 70s slashers. That's cool. It's some people with a camera and some initiative going out and making something. Very nice. That's why video cameras exist. Here's another post about a filmmaker in New York who walks around with a video camera and makes documentaries that get put out on DVD. Fantastic. Perfect. Everleth writes about the guy's films with obvious enthusiasm for both the films, their technique, and for the city itself.

I browse around on Bad Lit a little bit more and I find this filmmaker:



Very well done that little piece there. So I wish there were more good film sites. There are not. But Bad Lit is one.

2 comments:

Mike Everleth said...

Wow. Thanks for the kind words. I'm flattered.

Also, watching Kenneth Anger on YouTube is one thing. But check out his two-volume DVD retrospective on Fantoma. I only have the second volume, but the quality of image is amazing.

Perkowski's one of a kind, too.

Camouflage Lenses said...

My pleasure, Mike. I've been tempted to get that Anger DVD set for a few weeks now. You've pushed me over the edge. I'm getting it!