Angel Mine (1978)

Given the worldwide cult following of films like Bad Taste (1987), Meet the Feebles (1989) and Dead Alive (1992) AKA Braindead depending on the territory, its almost a given that whenever New Zealand is mentioned within the context of cult and genre film that Peter Jackson is the first name that springs to most peoples minds, however the true title of king of New Zealand cult film belongs to David Blyth. Best known to international horror fans as the man responsible for Death Warmed Up (1984), the first Kiwi horror film which earned the praise of Alejandro Jodorowsky, who gleefully dubbed the film “An apocalypse of slaughter”, Blyth was transgressing morality and outraging proper New Zealand society and film critics alike a good decade before Jackson arrived on the scene and has created a body of work filled with consistently interesting, often controversial and challenging material in both genre film and in the documentary field as well as some pretty curious television side roads along the way, including of all things, four episodes of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers during its first season in 1993! For his first feature, Blyth came out of the gate swinging in 1978 with the fierce and experimental Angel Mine, a film that was so ahead of its time it wound up working against it when it was first unleashed with many outright demanding stricter censorship because of it.

About as far removed from being conventionally plotted as possible, Angel Mine centers around a young married couple who's lovelife has long passed the dead end point. In a desperate attempt to bring some excitement back to their marriage, the two begin to act out fantasy scenarios inspired by advertisements, all the while their punk alter-ego's are on their way to snuff out their domesticated counterparts.

A thoroughly bizarre and berserk film, Angel Mine clearly has a lot on its mind. The biggest take away from the film would be that Blyth is offering a scathing critique of the idea of marriage but it goes deeper than that. While marriage does seem to be Blyth's biggest target, the film as a whole is an attack on the idea of giving in to society's expectations, when settling for domesticity can lead to banality which in turn leads to desperation. The film is structured in a way that it becomes increasingly difficult to tell what is explicit fantasy, so much so that at a certain point it feels as if the couples entire existence has become one continuous flight of fancy leading to several hysterically surreal moments. It's especially incredible to think the film was made in 1978 the way it accurately predicts the idea of things like reality television/social media and amateur pornography with the couple making and viewing their own sex tape as well as Viagra with the title Angel Mine stemming from a fictional product in the film advertised as a libido enhancing supplement. It's also worth pointing out that the film was five years ahead of David Cronenberg's Videodrome (1983) in its musing on how the public relates to media and how much the media truly influences the lives of everyone that consumes it. The film even takes a few detours from the main narrative in the form of some pretty hilarious and cleverly scripted fake commercials.

Angel Mine was the first film to get funding from the New Zealand Film Commission so Blyth was quite taken aback by all the vitriol hurled the films way by critics who deemed the film obscene and unfit for public consumption and again, some even demanding tighter censorship. While being interviewed for New Zealand's Screen Talk, Blyth admitted “I had no idea that it was going to create so much controversy and the vehemence of some of the critics was quite shocking to me... In a way it set me back and the truth is that after the initial controversy of Angel Mine I put the film in the cupboard so to speak and it was really another 10 to 15 years before I could even look at it again.” The film is also notable for having the brilliant note of “Contains Punk Cult Material” written on its 18A ratings certificate. Fast forward over 40 years and the film is now considered a crucial part of New Zealand film history, an irony that is not lost of Blyth who in the same aforementioned interview described the film as “young but significant”. Indeed, Angel Mine is an important piece of rebellious punk rock filmmaking. A rare instance of a film being literally incomparable to anything else and a film that marked the arrival of one of the most unique voices in worldwide fringe cinema.