Video from Hell (1987)

Directed by

Frank Zappa

Genre

musical film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h

Rating

7.2 of 10 from 4 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This is a compilation of Frank Zappa's video projects from the 1970s and 1980s. It includes music videos, live performances, and footage from his films, some of which were never fully released.

chaoticsatiricalenergeticquirkyfragmentedmusically-drivenplayful

What happens

Video from Hell is a video (VHS only, no Betamax was made available) released in 1987 by Frank Zappa. It is a compilation of pieces from a series of video projects by Zappa, some of which did receive full release - including Baby Snakes, Uncle Meat and The True Story of Frank Zappa's 200 Motels - and some which remain unreleased or unfinished, including a companion video for the You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore series of albums. Many pieces from this video had appeared on a one-hour Night Flight special entitled "You Are What You Watch". The music video for the song "G-Spot Tornado" features color 8mm footage that Zappa shot at a county fair in the early 1960s. The music video for "You Are What You Is", which was banned by MTV, is also included, as is footage of a 1982 live guitar solo duet between Zappa and Steve Vai taken from the song "Stevie's Spanking", the audio of which was later released on You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol. 4. Video from Hell has not been released on DVD. Titled similarly to 1986's Jazz from Hell instrumental album, the title is explained as a political reference by Zappa: "Things in America can be from hell. Right now we have a president from hell [Reagan], and a National Security Council from hell, so we should add Jazz from Hell also." (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

• Uncle Meat (1987)
• The Amazing Mr. Bickford (1987)
• The Dub Room Special (2005)
• The True Story of Frank Zappa's 200 Motels (1988)
• The Torture Never Stops (1976)
• Does Humor Belong in Music? (1985)
• CV (1987)
• Sign o' the Times (1987)