Cinema Sewer, Volume 2

Just published by FAB Press, Cinema Sewer Volume 2 presents a compendium of material from back issues of Vancouver-based Robin Bougie’s journal of the same name, along with some new hitherto unpublished pieces.

For those not familiar with Cinema Sewer, it’s basically Bougie’s idiosyncratic, personal magazine about porn, horror and general trash cinema, with a distinctive approach to design and layout based on the use of hand-lettering and original line illustrations, often of a pornographic nature.

It’s confrontational, not for the easily offended and a frank insight into its author’s more or less uncensored id, perhaps not as extreme in its transgressions as unapologetic serial killer enthusiast Peter Sotos’s infamous zine Pure but still inherently far enough out there as to separate that one per cent from the other ninety-nine.

Rather, Sotos probably separated that 0.01 per cent, of which neither Bougie, I or (hopefully) you are part of, from the 0.99, insofar as an issue of Pure landed him in court on child pornography charges; like the film Maladolescenza, Pure is a text it’s useful to be aware of, but one which must be approached with extreme caution – or, better, avoided.

Anyway, if you’re part of that 0.99 per cent, with similar interests to Bougie and an awareness of how difficult it can be to acknowledge them in a wider context, no matter what reasoned arguments you may make, it’s essential reading, being well-researched and containing plenty of material that’s hard to come by elsewhere.

How many other publications, for instance, would have excerpts from Marc “Mr 10½” Stevens autobiography or reprints of his fan-club information, or a review of an extreme S&M video from Germany, Kit Kat Experiment?

Moreover, in relation to the latter, how many would then go on to feature an extended dialogue between the author and one of his readers in which they attempt to work through their positions on such material?

Or, even if your tastes veer more towards trash than porn cinema, or more towards contemporary and vanilla porn than 70s/80s roughie fan Bougie, it’s still a worthwhile purchase as an indication of support and gratitude that publications like Cinema Sewer still exist...