SHOPPING

SHOPPING with Michael Hootman

SHORT SHARP SHOCKS (BFI Blu-ray).

This is a bizarre two-disc collection of eight strange, startling and occasionally baffling shorts dating from the 1940s to the ’80s. Highlights include weird fiction writer Algernon Blackwood telling a couple of stories, though without a script he sometimes gets a bit lost, which just adds to the films’ curiosity value. It’s a bit like a horror version of stand-up. Blackwood is a great performer nevertheless and the two films he narrates are diverting. I didn’t quite understand Death Was a Passenger but I think it seems to say that WW2 might have been a harrowing experience for its lead character, but at least he gets a date with a fake nun. The Lake is the only one that is unnerving with its story of the vengeful ghost of a murderer, though it’s slightly let down by its two leads (though the dog is excellent). The best in the collection is, without doubt, Portrait of a Matador. It may have been Lockdown Madness but it’s probably the most entertaining film I’ve seen this year. Technically, it’s awful but its charismatic yet terrible central performance, its clueless direction and its ludicrous plot come together to produce a hysterically funny yet charming example of low-budºget English film making. Extras include an extended interview with ‘70s exploitation expert/practitioner David McGillivray.

Bobo Bear from £29.95 (Prowler, 112-113 St James’s Street, Brighton)

‘Dave’ Roman Bust Planter, £18.99 (England at Home, 22b Ship Street, Brighton, www.englandathome.com)

Pump Street Drinking Chocolate, £12.50 (Hold, 14 Bond Street, Brighton, www.holdbrighton.com)

Parrot Storage Jar, £20 (Pussy, 3a Kensington Gardens, Brighton, www. pussyhomeboutique.co.uk)

Minico Barbie, £25 (Abode, 32 Kensington Gardens, Brighton, www.abodeliving.co.uk)