Scream Theory #4

It's back! The most surreal and challenging film show on British television remains OPI Media's hit series outTHERE, which is currently being broadcast on Britain's Channel 5 every Monday and Wednesday evenings after 11pm. The series continues to provoke praise and condemnation in equal measure for its challenging and unconventional images from cult cinema classics. The series aims to entertain and educate audiences about the merits of cult cinema traditions from across the globe. In so doing, it raises a number of important questions about the cult film's styles, traditions and gender depictions.

Every episode takes key scenes from European and Eastern trash cinema and cranks up their most surreal elements to the point of visual overload. Highlights from the second series currently being screened include scenes of nuns being attacked by baseball bat wielding demonic attackers (The Convent) as well as shots of bunnies nibbling lovingly on the pubic hair of a young, compliant Chinese female (Oriental Harem).

As if these images weren't excessive enough, they pale into insignificance against the sight of a gender-based ninja battle which ends when a male warrior's testicles expand to monstrous proportions and then explore in front of their horrified owner (Lady Ninja). Alongside these surreal and shocking scenes, the show features weekly instalments of the Japanese cult film Baby Cart series that was popularised in its former 'video nasty' compendium as Shogun Assassin. The film features a renegade samurai who roams feudal Japan with his young son, dispatching opponents with an array of deadly weapons concealed in the child's wooden pram.

Keeping this heady brew together is outTHERE presenter Eden, whose persona sits somewhere between Elvira, the screen-queens of 80's B-movies and Lara Croft's older (and more cynical) sister. Although marketed on her abundant sexuality, Eden is frequently seen critiquing the hapless, sex-obsessed males that populate many of the outTHERE sequences, and her presence in part explains why the show has garnered such a strong female following. Having a host that was able to cross the gender divide was central to Howard Martin and Will Henshaw, the creative force behind outTHERE. The pair remain convinced that cult films provide a far more progressive depiction of strong, no-nonsense, 'kick-ass' women than their mainstream counterparts.

Martin and Henshaw first worked together on the 1980s British horror movie Hand of Death, before separating to pursue successful careers in television and music production. However, it was their shared fascination with and love of cult movies that lead to them forming OPI Media in 1998. The company's quest to produce a series revealing the diverse and eclectic nature of underground film made them attractive to a number of national TV stations and OPI were initially commissioned by Yorkshire Television to produce a late-night horror series for ITV. When the project fell through, Howard and Will broadened the remit of the show and created outTHERE. Channel 5 snapped up the series as being perfect for 'stage 2' of the channel's development - outTHERE was exactly what they were looking for to fit in with Channel 5's young, discerning web and movie literate audience profile. As co-creator Howard Martin commented, "Channel 5 were the only station with the attitude and nous to appreciate what outTHERE is all about."

With the third series of outTHERE about to go into pre-production as well as plans for an accompanying book, the future seems assured for these pioneers of the perverse. In the following interview, outTHERE co-creator Howard Martin talks exclusively to Scream Theory about the influences and rationale behind the show and why cult movies remain a subversive 'corrective' to the Hollywood machine.

Xavier Mendik: outTHERE is currently in its second series, how did the idea for the programme come about?

Howard Martin: Will Henshaw [the co-creator of outTHERE] and I first worked together in the mid 1980s on a British schlocker called Hand Of Death. From there our paths just kept crossing on various movie and music video projects until we suddenly realised that we both knew lots of people that owned the rights in hundreds of films that just weren't getting any exposure. So we devised an entertainment format with a fictional presenter that would stimulate reaction and interest in the world of alternative or 'cult' film. The result is outTHERE.

Audience figures for the show reveal it has a great following. Why are film fans so interested in cult movies?

It's not so much an interest in cult movies alone as an interest in alternative forms of entertainment. With mainstream cinema and TV becoming ever more homogenised there is now a distinct audience for programming and films that are just stimulatingly different. That need is met by both the show itself in its high energy, fast paced style and non-opinionated presentation and the movies featured in the show which are a genuine alternative to mainstream Hollywood fodder.

Do you see the programme as an extension or departure from previous series such as Jonathan Ross's The Incredibly Strange Film Show?

OutTHERE is very different to anything that has gone before. We obviously have great respect for the Jonathan Ross series of the late 80s but feel that we have moved on. We offer no academic or background information about the films featured - in fact we hardly ever treat them like films at all. We are also very careful not to fall into the trap of ridiculing the films. To do that is just lazy and has no respect for the quality of either the product or the show.

Your research for the series seems phenomenal. How long does each episode of outTHERE take to put together?

It's difficult to calculate a figure on a show by show basis. However, series 2 was 10 episodes long and the schedule was 20 weeks from start to finish; of that about 8 weeks was just raw research. That was with a team of up to 6 researchers scanning through up to 10 films a day on fast forward. We viewed about 1,200 films to arrive at the 124 used in the series.

Many of the episodes of the show seem to have a strong Eastern focus to it and I wondered how important a global dimension is to the series?

Well the very nature of the series is that (almost) everything we show is 'out there' somewhere, so we take from whatever is available and meets our entertainment requirements. It just so happens that a lot of the most exciting and innovative films available are coming out of the Far East. There's one thing we wish we had more of and that's English voices. With a few honourable exceptions there are very few British films that meet our needs.

In your opinion, what makes for a good cult movie clip?

Well, 'SAW' is the phrase we give our researchers: Sex, Action, Weird. Any clip chosen should have at least two of the three features and preferably all three! Or it must give an insight into something viewers wouldn't normally see. A man talking openly about being a necrophiliac or British youths belting the life out of each other in a fairground boxing booth would be examples of this.

Have issues of censorship or TV regulation affected the show in any way?

We work very closely with Channel 5's compliance lawyers who are very open about pushing the parameters of what can be shown within the context of a cult film show like outTHERE. We are all very aware that what suits the demands of our highly media literate audience may not be appropriate for all. However the only thing we have been asked to remove from a finished show has been a shot of the Twin Trade Towers after the events of Sept 11th! That instruction came down from the ITC - the government regulator of Channel5. That edict seemed bizarrely Stalinist to our team so we refused to execute the cut and left Channel 5 to do it for themselves!

Alongside its images of violence, the show has a strong sexual content. Are you in any way seeking to legitimise erotic imagery?

We are always very careful not to show sexual violence or sexual imagery that could be perceived to a misogynist slant. However, consensual erotica in an entertaining scenario that is usually funny is seen by the show as fair game. We have no agenda to legitimise anything other than our viewers' rights to make their own entertainment choices.

How would you respond to claims that the show is sexist?

Sexual, yes. Sexist, NO! Our presentation of women is always to show them in control of their own destinies and if anything we present some fantastic images of strong female role-models. They're sexy, sassy and strong. In retrospect we probably are sexist but only in our presentation of men as being ineffectual wimps and weirdos!

In the figure of Eden, you seem to have a presenter who is both seductive and powerful. How did her character evolve?

The idea of having a fictional host stems from the idea of relieving her of any responsibility to be a TV presenter - our driving concept was that she should be a 'Price Is Right hostess on acid'. And take over the mantle of being an Elvira for the 21st century. Of course, being English we also were very aware of the massive success of Max Headroom back in the 80s and how that had never really been tried since. A surreal character of both extreme body and personality also sits comfortably with the cult movie iconography of a lot of the clips used in the series.

I wondered how important you feel female viewers are to the show's audience?

We have been very surprised by the response we have had from female viewers. Over 70% of the respondents to our online competitions have been female - whether that means that more women respond to competitions per se or whether we have found a hidden secret of reaching a previously untapped demographic I am not quite sure. What we do know is that outTHERE offers an opportunity for couples to sit down together and have a laugh and sometimes even be a little shocked by sexually stimulating material. It also seems that particularly the series 1 version of Eden attracted a dedicated lesbian following.

I know that alongside the show, OPI Media has also been developing a related website for the series. How important to you is the phenomenon of cult audience interaction?

The website fulfils a very important role for us in connection to the series in that it completes the circle for the viewer so to speak. Through the website, the viewer is able to not only get extensive information about the films featured in the series but also to get additional clips, win DVD prizes and even buy featured DVDs and videos from the outTHERE outLET.

Those film critics who have not shunned the cult movie as 'trash', have argued that these kind of films allow filmmakers and audiences to say the 'unsayable.' Do you feel that the cult film is a subversive form?

It's an entertainment art form that appeals to a certain type of audience. To be subversive is not the principal aim of the films - entertainment and making money from a niche market is where the true understanding of cult movies starts. Which, of course, does not in any way demean the work of some cult film talent that used their films to say the unsayable. I am particularly thinking of an old favourite of mine, Roger Corman's The Intruder, which had a very strong take on pre-civil rights racism in the Southern States. More recently a lot of the work of Lloyd Kaufman and his Troma team, in particular Tromeo and Juliet explores, in an hilarious and inimitable fashion, the darker side of incest and family dysfunctionality.

The third series of OutTHERE is currently going into pre-production. Have you any other projects to promote cult cinema to a wider audience?

We are always looking to find ways of reaching out to our audiences. As such, we have built close relationships with the Cult Film Archive at University College Northampton and we are working with them to build up a tour of college campuses and possibly also bringing some cult film directors over to showcase their work. We also have close ties to the Fright Fest film festival in London. Of course we are also looking to develop other film and movie based TV programming.

Thanks to Howard Martin, Will Henshaw and Kate Cochrane for all their assistance with the preparation of this article.The outTHERE website can be found at: www.channel5.co.uk/outthereweb