Underplayed Gems

Video from Hell (1987)

Video from Hell poster
Directed by
Frank Zappa
Genre
musical film
Country
United States
Runtime
1h
Rating
7.2 of 10 from 4 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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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

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.