What do you call a French bloke from 1066 with a hundred rabbits up his bottom?

That's right, Norman Warren (ba-doom-bish).

Anyway, regular readers may recall that we mentioned Mr Warren (esteemed creator of works such as Prey, Inseminoid and Terror) was in that London on Friday, talking about his early career.

I couldn't make it (not having the train fare, petrol or any connection with London at all) but the evening's organiser Jo did tell me:

"We had a great time last night - the audience really enjoyed the event and it was great to hear Norman talk about his early film-making experiences. There could have been more people in for Prey but Sally Faulkner was good value.

"Unfortunately, Terry Marcel couldn't make it as he had a business meeting but the audience cheered when they heard that there's a possiblity he might be able to raise money for a sequel to Hawk the Slayer! The evening also saw the advance release of the soundtracks of Prey and Terror, both by Ivor Slaney. It has a fantastic colour booklet inside with lots of stills. Anyone interested can email moscovitchmusic@hotmail.com."

Hammer doc coming soon

Jeff Herberger has been in touch to tell about the new documentary about Hammer called “The Fanex Files- Hammer Films”.
The doc tells the story of the history of Hammer Films from the point of view of the writers, directors and stars who made the films themselves.
Jeff said: "Hammer Legends Val Guest, Jimmy Sangster, Freddie Francis, Caroline Munro, Richard Gordon, Ingrid Pitt, Yutte Stensgaard, Veronica Carlson, Michael Ripper, Barbara Shelley, Virginia Wetherall, James Bernard and Christopher Lee all appear in this new Documentary Film that will be released on DVD by Alpha New Cinema."

There are three trailers available on the You-biquitous (see what I did there?) YouTube, including the one above. Here's the links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIj5N85ERw8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBAnpIMe_ds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKxSPUry2Ck

All I do each night is PREY... hoping that you won't rip my gizzards out and eat 'em

Ah, Norman J Warren's Prey. An everyday tale of angry lesbians, dog-faced aliens, sewage swimming and alarming cannibalism. And if that doesn't make you want to watch the thing, I don't know what would.

Jo Botting from the BFI has been in touch to say that the film is getting a showing on the big screen this Friday (December 12) at BFI Southbank, London - introduced by Norman himself (the trendy maths teacher of Brit horror) and Sally Faulkner (one of the lesbians from the film, who I'm sure will have a few toe-curling tales to tell about the general thinking going on at the time regarding the inclusion of people of that sexual persuasion - let's put it this way, it wasn't striking a blow for the women's movement).

Jo says:

It's on at 8.30, NFT3. At 6.10, Norman will be onstage with director of photography Brian Tufano (Quadrophenia, Bladerunner, Billy Elliott, etc.) - they met as schoolboys and made some short films before their careers really took off so they'll be showing some of their early stuff and talking about it.

We'll also be showing trailers for Norman's first two features, HER PRIVATE HELL and LOVING FEELING. All info can be found at http://www.bfi.org.uk/.