280-289 Magic, Myth & Mutilation: The Micro-Budget Cinema of Michael J. Murphy

[MichaelB]

MAGIC, MYTH & MUTILATION: THE MICRO-BUDGET CINEMA OF MICHAEL J MURPHY, 1967–2015
Release date: 24 October 2022
Limited Edition Blu-ray Box Set (World Blu-ray premieres)

Pre-order here.

Amongst overlooked filmmakers, British director Michael J Murphy ranks as one of the most sorely neglected. Having cut his teeth on a variety of homemade 8mm shorts, he had completed three feature-length productions by the age of eighteen. Over the next five decades, Murphy would go on to make many more films across a variety of genres, dividing his production time between Greece, Portugal, and the UK, with family, friends, and local stage performers becoming his regular cast and crew in exchange for holidays in the sun.

Despite this prolific output – a total of more than thirty completed films over a half-century, of which twenty-six survive – Murphy’s work remains rarely seen and little championed. Fitfully available on videotape, and barely represented on DVD, this comprehensive and long-gestating ten-disc Blu-ray collection seeks to rectify that situation once and for all. Boasting all-new 2K restorations from archival 16mm and 8mm elements, as well as a number of new digital captures from Murphy’s personal tape masters, this extensive retrospective of the obsessive auteur’s work is bolstered by a wealth of bonus features, including surviving fragments from lost works, and a 120-page book, all of which provides the definitive account of the weird and wonderful worlds of Britain’s great unheralded DIY filmmaker.


INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION 10 x BLU-RAY BOX SET SPECIAL FEATURES

• All-new 2K restorations by Powerhouse Films, using film elements from the Murphy archives, of Tristan and Iseult (1970), Happy Ever After (1974), Secrets (1977), Almost a Movie (1979), The Cell (1980), Stay (1980), Death in the Family (1981), Invitation to Hell (1983), The Last Night (1983), Bloodstream (1985), Moonchild (1989), Torment (1990), Atlantis (1991), Road to Nowhere (1993), Tristan (version one, 1999), ZK3 (2012), Nekros: Isle of the Dead (2014), and The Return of Alan Strange (2015)
• Standard Definition presentations, newly digitised from Murphy’s tape masters, of Qualen (1983), Tristan aka Legend of the Hero (1986), Death Run (1987), Avalon (1988), Second Sight (1992), The Rite of Spring (version one, 1995), The Rite of Spring (version two, 1995), Tristan (version two, 1999), Roxi (2004), and Skare (2008)
• Original mono soundtracks
• Over 34 hours’ worth of film content
• Audio commentary with Murphy, and actors Sally Duncan and Phil Lyndon on Invitation to Hell (2008)
• Audio commentary with author and arts professor Johnny Walker on Invitation to Hell (2022)
• Audio commentary with Murphy, Duncan and Lyndon on The Last Night (2008)
• Audio commentary with Murphy, actors June Bunday, Judith Holding and Lyndon on Atlantis (2010)
• Audio commentary with Murphy and Holding on Skare (2009)
• Murphy’s Lore (2022): three-part documentary assessing Murphy’s five-decade career, featuring interviews with Murphy, Bunday, Holding, Chris Jupp, Stephen Longhurst, Patrick Olliver, filmmakers Jackson Batchelor, Sam Mason Bell and Tom Lee Rutter, film historians Darrell Buxton and Walker, and film programmer Paul Cotgrove
• The Horror-on-Sea Interview with Michael J Murphy (2013): the prolific filmmaker in conversation with Bunday and Lyndon, recorded for the British horror festival
• The Making of ‘Invitation to Hell’ and ‘The Last Night’ (2008): retrospective documentary featuring interviews with Murphy, Lyndon and Duncan
• The Making of ‘Atlantis’ (2010): two-part retrospective documentary featuring interviews with Murphy, Lyndon, Bunday and Holding
• The Making of ‘Skare’ (2009): retrospective documentary featuring interviews with Murphy and Holding
• The Making of ‘Roxi’ (2004): documentary featuring interviews with actors Mary-Anne Barlow, Bruce Lawrence, Ross Maxwell and Valia Yanarou
• The Making of ‘ZK3’ (2012): retrospective documentary featuring interviews with Murphy, Holding and Lyndon
• ‘The Rite of Spring’: Behind the Scenes (1999)
• ‘Nekros’: Behind the Scenes (2012)
• ‘Skare’ Script Readthrough (2008)
• Surviving fragments from six lost Murphy films: Atlantis: City of Sin (1967), Boadicea (1968), Gods and Heroes (1971), two versions of Seventh Day (1976/77), and Insight (1978)
• Outtakes from Moonchild, Torment, Atlantis, Second Sight, and Skare
• Mute rushes from the lost 16mm version of Skare, with optional selected scene commentary with actor Oliver Price
• ‘The Return of Alan Strange’ Test Footage (2014)
• Michael J Murphy on ‘Beast’ (2010): interview with the filmmaker about Chris Jupp’s remake of his lost version of Skare
• Video Tour of Michael J Murphy’s Home (2014)
• Michael J Murphy Tribute Video (2015): documentary short made for the Murlyn Films International website
• Home video footage shot by Murphy
• Trailers for Invitation to Hell, The Last Night, Bloodstream, Legend of a Hero, Death Run, Avalon, Moonchild, Torment, Atlantis, Road to Nowhere, The Rite of Spring, Tristan, Roxi, Skare, ZK3, Nekros: Isle of Death, and The Return of Alan Strange
• Original ‘Stay’ 7" single needle-drop recording
• Image galleries
• Script galleries
• Limited edition exclusive 120-page book with new essays by Murphy experts Wayne Maginn, Paul Higson, Darrell Buxton and Johnny Walker, a comprehensive filmography, and film credits
• World premieres on Blu-ray
• Limited edition box set of 6,000 numbered units for the UK and US

All extras subject to change

#PHILTD280
BBFC cert: 18 TBC
REGION FREE
EAN: 5060697922523

[swo17]

An admirable amount of alliteration!

[Apperson]

If I wanted to research this before dropping £70 (or 63 with the discount), where would I be able to find his films elsewhere? And if that's borderline impossible who else would you compare Michael J Murphy to?

This looks like an outstanding package, maybe at first glance the most comprehensive one pH have released so far!

[Glowingwabbit]

If I wanted to research this before dropping £70 (or 63 with the discount), where would I be able to find his films elsewhere? And if that's borderline impossible who else would you compare Michael J Murphy to?

This looks like an outstanding package, maybe at first glance the most comprehensive one pH have released so far!

I'm not familiar with him at all but a short read up on some of these titles I would say this is for fans of the type of ultra low budget horror that Bleeding Skull champions. In fact they have reviews up on their website of a few of these films. Those type of films are always hit or miss for me but I've gained greater appreciation for them the more I've seen. So not for everybody.

[J Wilson]

Here's the trailer to the final film, The Return of Alan Strange.

Trailer for ZK3.

That account has some other trailers as well. Looks like co-producer or something?

[MichaelB]

I'm not familiar with him at all but a short read up on some of these titles I would say this is for fans of the type of ultra low budget horror that Bleeding Skull champions. In fact they have reviews up on their website of a few of these films.

• Invitation to Hell (1982)
• Bloodstream (1983) - scroll to no. 38
• Death Run (1987)

[hearthesilence]

An admirable amount of alliteration!

[Nw_jahrles]

So for the titles sourced from tape masters. Are they shot-on-video or are these the best available elements?

[MichaelB]

So for the titles sourced from tape masters. Are they shot-on-video or are these the best available elements?

Yes to both. Murphy would shoot on film when finances permitted and on video when they didn't.

[jlnight]

Wow! The Stanley Long box set shocked everyone. This one seems to have stumped everyone!

Can Indicator elaborate on how this release came about please? What next? A Cliff Twemlow collection?

Well done!

[Mr. Deltoid]

Tuxedo Warrior: A Cliff Twemlow Anthology would be awesome!

[Calvin]

What next? A Cliff Twemlow collection?

I'd actually buy a release of those films Ken Russell made in his back garden in his later years - The Lion's Mouth, Boudica Bites Back, Revenge of the Elephant Man, Elgar Redux, Girl with the Golden Breasts etc.

[colinr0380]

Tuxedo Warrior: A Cliff Twemlow Anthology would be awesome!

"The Mad Mancs and Molls Collection"!

[Thornycroft]

I'd heard of Murphy's early '80s work but the rest of his output is so thoroughly neglected even in cult film circles that I was totally unaware it existed. It's a tribute to the reputation Indicator has built for exhaustive and educational boxsets that this feels like a must-buy even if most of the films end up being unwatchable.

Tuxedo Warrior: A Cliff Twemlow Anthology would be awesome!

I would dearly love to see this happen but I suspect the way Twemlow financed his films makes it impossible. Though if it ever came to pass it would have to include a bonus CD compilation of the ad jingles he wrote!

[MichaelB]

I'd heard of Murphy's early '80s work but the rest of his output is so thoroughly neglected even in cult film circles that I was totally unaware it existed. It's a tribute to the reputation Indicator has built for exhaustive and educational boxsets that this feels like a must-buy even if most of the films end up being unwatchable.

Oh, they're not at all. You certainly have to make allowances - the phrase "micro-budget" means precisely that, and the fact that this didn't dissuade Murphy from attempting large-scale fantasies like Atlantis means that there's an even greater disconnect between ambition and production values - but they're a lot of fun, brimming with left-field ideas, and the more of them you watch the more consistently entertaining they are, especially once you start recognising regular actors, locations, themes, etc.

Put it like this: there's no way Powerhouse would have poured quite so many of its resources into a project like this if they genuinely thought that the films were unwatchable rubbish. As you yourself say, Murphy simply isn't famous enough for it to be a safe bet that people will buy this set regardless.

(Someone elsewhere claimed that this was a cynical profit-driven cash-in based on "cheap licensing", an argument that shrivels when set against the fact that restoration of 26 mostly film-sourced productions doesn't come remotely cheap, and neither does subtitling them mainly by ear, and developing new extras and a 120-page book - which, of necessity, includes much original scholarship.)

[swo17]

Well, let me ask a question I've asked before: Where do these films fall on a scale from Al Adamson to Andy Milligan?

[MichaelB]

Never having seen anything by either, I couldn't tell you.

(Actually, I tell a lie: I've seen Milligan's 1965 short Vapors, but I gather that's not especially representative of his work.)

[Glowingwabbit]

Well, let me ask a question I've asked before: Where do these films fall on a scale from Al Adamson to Andy Milligan?

Based on screenshots and reading up on the director since the announcement I don't think that's the right scale to use. That's why I mentioned Bleeding Skull, as he seems to be more on the SOV trash horror aesthetic side of things which comes after Adamson and Milligan. To use AGFA blu-rays as an example, there is an obvious aesthetic difference in the titles when AGFA is partnering with Bleedings Skull (Wicked World, Pathogen, Limbo, etc,) vs when then they are partnering with Something Weird (Doris Wishman, The Monster of Camp Sunshine, She-Freak, etc).

[edit: I know that's not a perfect comparison and there is some crossover, but for me even thought they all DIY genre filmmakers on extremely low budgets, they look very different]

[Finch]

I watched a few trailers and read some reviews. The set is not for me but I think it's important that these releases exist, and whoever claimed that this was a cynical cash-in attempt is a moron. £70 for 26 films works out at £2.69 per film, and that is before you figure in the bonus materials and the 120 page book, or the discount on PH's website. Releasing, say, John Carpenter's Village of the Damned might have been safer commercially but not as bold a choice as this. I don't get the complaints. Indicator aren't forcing anyone to buy this and one can spend the money saved on releases from other labels in October.

[MichaelB]

but for me even thought they all DIY genre filmmakers on extremely low budgets, they look very different]

It's also important to note that Murphy is not merely British but South Coast British, as are the overwhelming majority of his actors, so he's always going to be at one remove from his US counterparts for that reason alone.

I may be more sensitive to regional nuances because I've spent the last two decades living less than forty miles away from his native Portsmouth* (and indeed one of my closest friends is from Portsmouth, and she can't wait to get her hands on this set), but the fact that Murphy makes no attempt at disguising his films' geographical and cultural roots - compare and contrast with the weirdly Transatlantic Hellraiser - makes them especially endearing to the likes of me.

(*I can't begin to tell you how much this local affinity helps when transcribing the hard-of-hearing subtitles - most of which, of necessity, have to be done by ear.)

[zedz]

An admirable amount of alliteration!

Which poses the question why they used "cinema" instead of "movies", which would have given us the delicious abbreviation MMMMMMM.

[swo17]

I like the ring of "Micro-Budget Moviedom"

[MichaelB]

This breathlessly enthusiastic overview of his work is well worth a watch.

[swo17]

Delayed to 21/22 Nov

[exidor]

And again to 12 Dec, but with a sneak peek preview of an HD restoration of The Rite of Spring, which was previously on the SD-only list. Curiouser and curiouser.