Film / News
Bristol Bad Film Club celebrates the extraordinary career of Cliff Twemlow
As footnotes in film history go, Cliff Twemlow is a particularly minor one. Between 1982 and 1993, the Mancunian former nightclub bouncer established his own bargain basement filmmaking empire with a bunch of fellow doormen, martial artists, variety performers, club DJs, models, girlfriends, gym friends, family members and industry B-listers. Budgets were non-existent, but that didn’t stop Twemlow and his motley crew of misfits using emerging video technology to work in a variety of genres, from gangster and horror films to spy thrillers and science fiction epics. Although many of his films were uncompleted, he achieved a form of notoriety with 1983’s G.B.H. (Grievous Bodily Harm), which secured a coveted place on the UK’s official Video Nasties list, alongside Dawn of the Dead and Zombie Holocaust.
Twemlow’s extraordinary story is told by Razor Blade Smile director Jake West in the new documentary Mancunian Man: The Legendary Life of Cliff Twemlow, which received its world premiere at Frightfest.
Naturally, the Bristol Bad Film Club just had to snap this up for its rabid audience of cult film enthusiasts. They’re showing it at the Cube Cinema on November 20 as part of a double-bill with the ‘legendary’ (i.e. risible) G.B.H. (“More brutal than The Long Good Friday,” as the original VHS cover art put it).
Go here for tickets. But be quick – this one is likely to sell out very swiftly.
Main image from Mancunian Man: Severin Films
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