FROM THE ARCHIVES
The former videostore clerks on a couple of bizarro films you absolutely, positively need to watch
DEMONOID (1981)
Roger Avary on why it’s a must-see “That was one I hadn’t seen and frankly it opened a third eye on my forehead. Specifically to Mexploitation. And to these great, powerful, almost Renaissance-like artists who are working down there with limited resources, and just doubling down on everything and making the most out of nothing.
In 1985, Quentin Tarantino, a fizzy-brained film-geek in his early twenties who loved to stalk the aisles of video stores hunting for something he hadn’t seen, met a clerk of one of those stores named Roger Avary. They hit it off. And so began a magical period in both their lives. Later, Avary would write and direct the likes of Killing Zoe and The Rules Of Attraction; Tarantino, nine revered classics; together, they dreamed up the screenplay for Pulp Fiction. They found kinship, though, at Video Archives, where they both ended up working, and where spirited tussles over movie minutiae could break out at the smallest provocation.
It is incredible to watch.”
The two fell out of contact for a while, but have reignited their friendship, to the extent that they’re starting a podcast named after said store.
For each episode, Tarantino and Avary watch vintage videotapes together, then pore over the ins, outs and reverse dolly zooms, just like the old days. And in an epic video chat with Empire, their shared enthusiasm for all things celluloid burns so bright, it almost melts our computer. In his home in Israel, Tarantino sits in front of a Dirty Harry poster. Avary, meanwhile, in LA, has crammed shelves behind him, boasting a Totoro toy, Salvador Dalí trinkets and a tiny violin in a tiny violin case, an item Avary claims once belonged to a leprechaun. “It’ll take years, but he’s gonna get to you one of these days,”
THE ONE ARMED EXECUTIONER (1981)
Tarantino laughs of the object he hasn’t seen for decades. “And that’s the way you die!”
Quentin Tarantino on why it’s a must-see “I’ve known about this movie for years, because I remember the box. They also had some cut-up trailer in front of a bunch of Paragon Home Video movies, so I remember seeing the trailer forever.
In-jokes abound, and so does wanton geekery. Hold on tight…