Shockumentary

Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco E. Prosperi, best-known for the groundbreaking shockumentary Mondo Cane, directed this bizarre and shocking look at slavery in America. Set in the deep South prior to the Civil War, Zio Tom finds Jacopetti and Prosperi travelling back in time aboard a helicopter to investigate the nuts and bolts of slavery as it happened in the United States prior to abolition. Along the way, the filmmakers go aboard a slave ship as frightened Africans are brought to America under inhuman conditions; they witness the dangerous and degrading process by which slaves were made ready for market; and they visit a "breeding farm" for slaves after laws prohibit the importation of slaves from abroad. Also included is a sermon from a preacher who argues for the moral and spiritual necessity of slavery (while another man speaks out against it strictly on grounds of economics and practicality); the contrasting thoughts of men and women on the matter of miscegenation; and an interview with an educated slave who feels his circumstances are better for him than conventional employment. Also shown is the brutal torture and punishment of slaves for any number of real or imagined grievances. Re-creating both the opulence and the ugliness of the Old South on a grand scale, Zio Tom concludes with present-day African-Americans reading The Confession of Nat Turner and contemplating violent overthrow of the white-dominated culture. Understandably controversial, Zio Tom received a very brief theatrical release in the United States under the title Farewell Uncle Tom, where it received an X rating from the MPAA despite being trimmed by approximately 20 minutes from its original Italian running time. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The people behind the first two entries in the Death: The Final Journey series return with another collection of clips featuring horrifying footage of death. Released by Wayne Enterprises and DMN Productions, the program is intended for an adult audience only. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

This speculative documentary explores the possibility that the biblical prophecy concerning the end of the world may be pointing to God's hammer being a comet that will slam into Earth ending humanity. Times of Terror: Armageddon is distributed by United American Video and is part one in the five part series. ~ Ed Atkinson, All Movie Guide

One of the most notorious deviants in the history of crime is profiled in H.H. Holmes director John Borowski's docudrama-style account of the reprehensible transgressions of cannibalistic child murderer and molester Albert Fish. His dark rampage fueled by distorted interpretations of Biblical tales, Fish ritualistically tortured and murdered scores of children in Depression-era New York before being arrested by authorities and executed for his crimes in 1936. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The mondo-style home video release Branch Warren: Unchained Raw Reality Bodybuilding bears witness to the outrageously strenuous, three-hour workout of muscleman Branch Warren, which encompasses 40 minutes of chest exercises, 33 minutes on arms, 36 minutes on legs and much more. Warren conducts each of the exercises with an obscene amount of weight that would cripple or kill anyone of lesser prowess. Mitsuru Okabe directs, in grainy black-and-white; the program contains sexually explicit language, making it inappropriate for youngsters. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

The Death: The Final Journey series returns with this fifth collection of grizzly footage of lives ending in various fashions. Released by Wayne Enterprises and DMN Productions, the program is intended for an adult audience only. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

Take a trip down one of the meanest streets in America as filmmakers turn their lens on Crenshaw Boulevard to capture an unsettling scene of youth violence in this gritty documentary exploring the true motivation of the kids who spend every day strapped and never hesitate to jack a smooth ride. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Just a Little Bit Crazy documents one of the stranger annual sporting events in America. The National Rattlesnake Sacking Championship involves teams of two people attempting to put ten rattlesnakes inside a heavy bag as quickly as possible. The filmmakers interview many of the contestants, who discuss the very real dangers of competing in this event. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Melvin Anthony: Quest for Victory Bodybuilding constitutes one volume in a series of epic-length, mondo-style documentary releases, directed by Mitsuru Okabe, that observe the activities of super-advanced bodybuilders. In this instance, the subject is Melvin Anthony, Jr.; the 6+ hour (255 minute) program witnesses Anthony doing bench-presses and squats with an unholy amount of weight, posing and preening for modeling shows, eating, and engaging in numerous other day-to-day activities. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Rock Stars offers bleak footage of crack addiction, focusing on the drug underworld in a number of New Jersey towns including Newark and Irvington. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Prepare to have your nerves jangled and your stomach turned as cinema's most notorious shocumentaries arrive on home video courtesy of Blue Underground. After witnessing Africa Addio, the film that ignited a firestorm of controversy across the globe, take a horrifying look at the American slave trade in Goodbye Uncle Tom, and find out just what motivated the men behind these horrific mondo films in The Godfathers of Mondo. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

In the post-September 11th era, terrorism is a horrifying reality that the world unfortunately must live with on a day-to-day basis. Help in the grip of fear by news stories of suicide bombings and hijackings, Americans and those dedicated to peace must know their enemy if they are to survive and carry on hope to future generations. Now viewers can witness the violent teachings of terrorist training camps and harrowing footage of war zones firsthand in footage previously deemed unfit for public viewing. The fear, the intensity, and the chilling footage captured here is all real and is likely to leave you both shaken and angered. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide