Sunday, January 07, 2007

"Madder than Max, Dirtier than Harry"

The Internet has failed me... I wanted to write a post about THE ELIMINATOR, the greatest Irish film ever made, but there does not seem to be anything up there about it. Crucially, there are no images of it anywhere, so I cannot regale you with pictures of members of an unspecified paramilitary organisation battling against an accidentally reanimated army of zombies. So you will just have to take my word on its greatness.

Eliminator director Enda Hughes went on to make the chortlesome short Flying Saucer Rock 'n' Roll, in which Ardal O'Hanlon battles an alien invasion of 1950s Northern Ireland. After that he apparently remade Battleship Potemkin as Comm-Raid Potemkin, in the style of a three minute long video game. This never seems to have made it to the IFI so I have never seen it.

Where is this genius of Irish cinema now? Why have the face criminals who run this country prevented his films from receiving a video or DVD release? It is an unjust world when enjoyable fluff like FATAL DEVIATION is readily available for sale on the interweb while Enda Hughes' masterworks remain unseeable.

Film Ireland article on The Eliminator: Alternative Ulster

Swedish article on The Eliminator: Vad är detta? The Eliminator!
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5 comments:

  1. Kealo10/1/07 18:13

    That last picture is very Turbonegro-esque with the sailor's hat and handlebar 'tache.

    Oh Sailor Man
    From polar land,
    Oh Sailor Man
    Come take my hand,
    Oh Sailor Man,
    I'd gladly die
    To see the ports of Rostock and Shanghai.

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  2. ian10/1/07 22:35

    Mmm, sailors.

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  3. Kealo10/1/07 22:37

    'Sailor Man' should be on the film's soundtrack if it isn't already!

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  4. Anonymous22/12/08 00:11

    Every now and again I try another random 'The Eliminator' search, still no mention of it anywhere. Pity, only got to see it the once.

    And then what happened to the Enda Hughes movie 'Johnny Domino'? (http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/426791/Johnny-Domino/overview) - it's even got actors in it with names we've heard of! Used to be an IMDb page for that, but no more... I'm guessing that didn't even get made.

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  5. ian23/12/08 21:21

    I've only just noticed that that Battleship Potemkin guy looks very like the Eliminator. Coincidence? I think not.

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