Hello from an unseasonably hot Edinburgh! We may be hurtling towards autumn, but a late summer heatwave hit Scotland last week, meaning I even went into town without a jacket at the weekend, which is about as exciting as my September is likely to get.
If you’re reading this and are struggling to remember who I am as it’s been so long since I sent a newsletter, then I hope it all comes back to you by the time you get to the end. I’m going to keep this as short and sweet as possible, so if you’re interested in Local Hero, Tremors, Highlander or other random film and TV mentions then I hope there’s something for you below…
Local Hero at 40
I released my book on 1983’s Local Hero last September, a few months before the start of the 40th anniversary, meaning that the last eight months or so have seen various mentions in the press for Bill Forsyth’s film and a re-release at UK cinemas, while the book itself can be bought from Polaris Publishing or most decent bookshops.
One aspect of the celebrations that I was invited to take part in during May 2023 was a weekend of screenings and events in Pennan, the village that doubled for Ferness in the film, and Banff, a larger town nearby that was home to the pub that the film’s bar interiors were shot in.
The stars of the show were some of the actors from the film - Sandra Voe, Jimmy Yuill, Jonathan Watson and Tam Dean Burn - who made their way up there, and Peter Riegert and Jennifer Black, who joined via Zoom. It was an amazing atmosphere and the organiser, Cinescapes, made everything run smoothly, while the Pennan residents made us feel welcome. You can watch some footage of the event below filmed by Jon Gill.
Revisiting Tremors 2: Aftershocks for Arrow
It’s been eight years since I unleashed Seeking Perfection: The Unofficial Guide to Tremors onto an unsuspecting world, and in that time we’ve had three new films, a free documentary on YouTube and a stunning box set of the original Tremors from Arrow Video in the UK. I was asked to contribute to that set and wrote about it back in 2020.
At the time I thought that might be the only special edition of a Tremors film fans were likely to get, but it seems that release did so well that Arrow decided to go ahead with a new edition of 1996’s Tremors 2: Aftershocks and invited me back to contribute a new commentary and an essay for the booklet. There are loads of other extras, including another commentary from co-writer/director S.S. Wilson and producer Nancy Roberts.
The set is out in November and can be pre-ordered from the Arrow Video website or many other outlets in the UK and US, and there’s a choice of a 4K or Blu-ray edition. Fingers crossed there’s a Tremors 3: Back to Perfection special edition in a few years time!
Highlander and Heath Holland
I’m a bit late with the news that Highlander was released in a new 4K Special Edition in December 2022, which came complete with a new commentary I was invited to contribute along with a booklet essay, plus hours of new interviews. The Collector’s Edition came in a nice box with various postcards and badges, but the regular edition has all the extras on there and will do most fans fine. Sadly I didn’t own a 4K player at the time so couldn’t actually listen to my own commentary, but I’ve since bought one (though I’ve yet to watch Highlander on it).
There are currently some rumblings in the trade press that a Highlander reboot is still in the works from director Chad Stahelski, and if that happens in 2024 then perhaps A Kind of Magic: Making the Original Highlander will need to be updated with a new chapter.
At the moment the hardback is only £8 on Amazon here in the UK, or there are signed copies and an exclusive booklet of photos still available on the Polaris website.
I’ll also mention that I was recently invited onto the channel of my favourite pop culture YouTuber, Heath Holland, to discuss Highlander, my other books and a whole raft of TV series and films that we both enjoyed geeking out about. My name may be in the title of this video, but it’s not all about me, honest! Please subscribe to Cereal at Midnight if you can, Heath is producing some fantastic videos.
Future projects
I’ve mentioned in the past that I’m working on a book of interviews with people who knew and worked with Jim Henson, and it’s still in the pipeline. This has turned out to be a far more turbulent year for me than expected, meaning time sitting down at a laptop editing interviews has been tricky to find. I’m not going to promise a release date now, but if I have my way it’ll be towards the end of 2023 or early 2024.
I also have a different book of interviews I’m half working on, plus a book on the 1990s BBC TV series Hamish Macbeth that I started a few years ago, just before I was commissioned to write the Highlander book. Virtually all of the interviews have been carried out, I just need the time to revisit them…
Other bits and bobs
As mentioned above, I recently invested in a 4K TV and player, so I’ve been buying a few discs to go along with it, including Mission Impossible: Fallout, Cross of Iron, Enter the Dragon and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, while I’m still a sucker for limited edition Blu-ray releases from the likes of Indicator, Radiance, Arrow and Australia’s Imprint.
The latter recently released three box sets that I had to own covering the work of Walter Hill, Sidney J. Furie and Gene Hackman, and I’m ashamed to say this is the first time I’ve watched Hill’s Hard Time, Extreme Prejudice and Johnny Handsome (I did catch The Driver at the cinema a few years ago). A few other films I watched recently include Blow-Up, The Right Stuff, Rififi, Predator, Collateral and Unman, Wittering and Zigo, the latter a near-forgotten British film starring David Hemmings that has never had a UK home video release but which recently came out from Arrow in the US.
As is perhaps obvious by now, I tend not to watch many new films as there are so many older ones still to catch up on. If I’m lucky I’ll see Barbie by 2034. One exception was Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning - Part One, which I saw twice at the cinema as I’m slightly addicted to the Mission films. It’s not quite as good as Fallout, but then not many recent action films are, but Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie have decided to throw everything they have at these films to make them as entertaining as possible and I’m happy to go along for the ride.
If you enjoy them as much as me then I’d recommend paying for a subscription to Empire Magazine’s Spoiler Special podcast which has been running a multi-part interview with McQuarrie running to around 6 hours so far. It’s fascinating stuff.
Oh, and I’ve finally finished season four of Justified on Prime Video (Walton Goggins is incredible) and started season two of (the original) Twilight Zone on Blu-ray.
Book-wise, I’m currently reading The Fanzine Book: The Golden Age of the Doctor Who Underground Press by Alistair McGown, while Pull to Open: 1962-1963: The Inside Story of How the BBC Created and Launched Doctor Who by Paul Hayes is waiting patiently to be started.
I also recently started David McCloskey’s spy novel Damascus Station and finished Celia Dale’s A Helping Hand, a low stakes crime novel set in suburban England in the 1960s that I couldn’t put down. I’m looking forward to the reissue of her novel Sheep’s Clothing in a few weeks time. How’s this for a blurb?
It was a livelihood which comprised skill, nerve, an understanding and manipulation of human nature, and risk. The risk made Grace Bradby's cold blood run warmer and faster.
Grace meets Janice in Holloway Prison. Once both women are released, Janice quickly becomes accomplice to a scheme of Grace's devising: posing as representatives of the Social Services Agency, the duo begin visiting elderly people, falsely promising them increased pensions.
The scheme proves watertight, and the women frequent betting shops, libraries, bingo halls, supermarkets, the post office (on pension days) and park benches (in fine weather), marking out their next target.
What ensues is a sinister tale of greed and misplaced trust, further complicated by a romantic entanglement gone awry.
One last thing…
Before I go I wanted to add a Public Service Announcement, namely that Screen Machine, Scotland’s mobile cinema that tours rural areas bringing films and happiness wherever it goes, is in financial trouble.
Operating since 1998, the cinema visits dozens of locations in the Highlands and Islands - it’s travelled more than 250,000 miles in its lifetime - and meets the needs of tens of thousands of cinemagoers each year who have no other way of experiencing films on the big screen.
Travelling on ferries, along single track roads and through some of the most stunning locations in the world, it visits villages and towns that have perhaps attempted to run cinemas of their own but that can’t quite sustain them, or where people want to enjoy a night at the pictures without travelling hundreds of miles to the nearest brick and mortar cinema.
Senior Operator (and good friend of mine) Iain MacColl even won a BAFTA For The Love of Film award in 2019. It was his idea to invite Bill Forsyth to Mallaig in 2013 for a special 30th anniversary screening of Local Hero aboard Screen Machine - it was also the cinema’s 15th anniversary - which is where I got to interview the filmmaker along with Local Hero’s associate producer, Iain Smith. It was that interview that inspired me to write my book on the film.
With the current cinema now 18-years-old, urgent funding is needed to ensure that a new cinema can be built in France at a cost of £1.4 million. They’re asking for the Scottish Government to help meet 50% of the cost, with the rest raised by fundraising.
So if you read this newsletter and happen to live in an area served by Screen Machine, please take some time write to Scotland’s First Minister or your local MSP, asking for Scottish Government funding to commission a new, more sustainable, greener machine because once Screen Machine’s gone, it won’t be coming back. There’s more on the Screen Machine website.
Until next time, don’t lose your head!
Jon