(part of a regular series)

Hayseed Dixie live at the Shepherd's Bush Empire, playing AC/DC and other heavy metal numbers inna bluegrass stylee. It's a one joke band, but what makes it work is that the one joke is executed perfectly by terrific musicians. As The Belated Birthday Girl noted, compare and contrast with The Red Stripes, who play White Stripes numbers inna reggae stylee, but don't work half as well because, frankly, they're crap.

Curzon Soho Screen 2, around 5.40am on a Sunday morning, three-quarters of the way through a Shaw Brothers all-nighter as part of the Sci-Fi London Festival. Four movies from the legendary Hong Kong studio, but looking more at their fantasy/horror output than the kung fu movies that made them
famous:



Super Inframan.
Probably the sourcebook for all that Power Rangers nonsense,
as a plastic-costumed hero beats up human-sized rubber monsters. Incredibly daft, but it knows it is, which is why my viewing companion liked it best.



Mighty Peking Man.
Standard HK reworking of the King Kong story, with the
added bonus of a blonde jungle babe who's been raised by the fifty-foot ape of the title since childhood. Incredibly daft, but it doesn't know it is, which is why I liked it best.



The Monkey Goes West.
There seems to be a simian theme developing here,
doesn't there? Though this is actually the classic folk tale you remember from the Monkey TV show in the seventies, fairly faithfully reproduced with a couple of Mandarin songs thrown in. Pleasant enough, but this is where the lack of sleep made things tricky.



Oily Maniac.
Appallingly sleazy cack best summed up by the festival boss in
his intro: "A guy covers himself in oil and goes around killing people. Loads of women have their tops ripped off. It's got issues."

Frame grab from genuine movie called Whoring Guides To Korea & Japan. It's very bad indeed.

How many shredded adverts can you spot?

Team America: World Police, in case you didn't know.

...from inside and outside.