Verdict
Summary
Ultimately, this collection is pretty astonishing in that collects every single thing that Twemlow was involved with, from the slick Tuxedo Warrior to the documentary feature that covers the entire gamut of Twemlow’s impressive oeuvre, including a CD of his music (which is pretty awesome) and even the two instructional videos he was in … which are interesting from a historical perspective. If you’re like me, you likely have never heard of Twemlow or any of his movies, but this is an amazing collection that actually over delivers in terms of his work. Most of the films are rough and sub-par, and indeed were never properly released on any format until now, so this is a treasure trove of obscure action and horror moviemaking, and honestly I feel enriched by this stuff. Twemlow was a one-of-a-kind and now unfortunately extinct type of guy, but this collection from Severin preserves it for the ages to come.
Disc 1:
Mancunian Man: The Legendary Life of Cliff Twemlow (2023) Plot:
A documentary about actor, author, composer, and filmmaker Cliff Twemlow.
Review:
Full disclosure: I’d never heard of Cliff Twemlow before Severin released this film or the 10-disc collection of all his collected works and some of his music. Which IS INSANE and INCREDIBLE because by now I should know – or at least have heard of – at least a few of his films, especially Tuxedo Warrior or G.B.H. So, thank you to Severin and filmmaker Jake West for undertaking the endeavor of chronicling this guy’s life and work in the pretty darn entertaining documentary Mancunian Man. Twemlow was a Manchester native (hence, “Mancunian”) who really hit his stride towards the end of his life when he was nearly 50 when, after a pretty prolific songwriting career, became a nightclub bouncer, then a novelist, then an actor, and a filmmaker, and, ultimately, a legend. Twemlow was a bodybuilder with big dreams to break into the movie business and that happened when a movie called Tuxedo Warrior was made from his memoir, but the film deviated from the source quite a bit, prompting him to produce and star in another adaptation of the same source, a low budget shot-on-VHS film called G.B.H. (Grievous Bodily Harm), which was a success on home video. The film is about Cliff during his days as a bouncer, and puts him in a sort of Charles Bronson-type role, and it set the standard for what would be the mantra for the rest of his life, casting himself in super low budget movies in hyper masculine roles where he romances gorgeous women, smacks around thugs, and is ultimately a hero. But each film after this one got smaller and jankier and sometimes the films were never even released, but his social circle rallied around him and helped him to keep making films, despite how junky they ended up becoming. His story is sad, but inspiring, and with entertaining interviews from his co-stars, filmmakers who worked with him, and those who loved him, the documentary is as good as you could hope for about a subject you might know nothing about.
Packed with footage from his films, behind the scenes moments and bloopers, personal photographs and private moments, Mancunian Man is a great starter pack for newcomers to Twemlow’s work, and on the flipside it’s a great companion piece to the already-fans, which is why I saved the film for last after watching all the other discs in the collection. Personally, it works better that way if you’ve already seen his work. It’s well produced, funny, and informative, and should be a blast to anyone who gives it a try.
Disc 2:
Tuxedo Warrior (1982) Plot:
Stolen diamonds come into play in and around a gambling den in Zimbabwe.
Review:
The Omega Bar is a watering hole and gambling den near Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe where expatriates, smugglers, gorgeous women, and ne’er do-wells commingle. The establishment is owned and run by a lanky tough guy named Cliff (John Wyman who the previous year was on screen as a hit man in the 007 film For Your Eyes Only), and Cliff is an amoral guy living amongst the wolves. He sleeps with every other woman who gives him passing interest, and one said woman is the blonde beauty Lisa (Carol Royle), who is married to a wealthy gambler named Wiley (John Terry who was Hawk the Slayer). Lisa falls hard for the tough-talking Cliff, but he’s also sleeping with Sally (Holly Palance who was married to filmmaker Roger Spottiswoode at the time), a photojournalist. With his hands already full, Cliff ends up in possession of a small bag of diamonds, thanks to a young smuggler (played by James Coburn’s son James Coburn IV) who comes into the bar, wounded and running from the corrupt African authorities. Cliff hides the diamonds in the cage of his pet monkey Crapshoot, and keeps them there, even when the young smuggler is murdered in his bar and more thugs bust in, roughing everyone up, including him. Cliff bides his time, submitting the Omega Bar to random searches by the police, and he engages in mind games with Lisa’s husband, who knows he’s sleeping with his wife. All Cliff wants to do is leave Africa behind, but he’ll need to choose the exact right moment to abandon his bar with the diamonds in his pocket …
Based on a semi-autobiographical book by real-life adventurer and bodybuilder Cliff Twemlow, Tuxedo Warrior is a surprisingly well-produced riff on Casablanca and Cabo Blanco (with Charles Bronson), with a pretty solid cast doing their best to make the film as rich as possible, despite how melodramatic it is overall. It was shot on location in Zimbabwe with very impressive visuals, good spurts of action and sexy stuff, with lots of sex and nudity sprinkled throughout. It feels very much like a pulpy men’s adventure come to life, and while it’s a bit overcooked and underwhelming on the whole, I honestly have no complaints because it was so earnestly done. Twemlow has a bit role as a thug who fights Cliff in the bar, which must have been interesting considering that Wyman was playing Cliff! Director Andrew Sinclair directed it.
Disc 3:
G.B.H. (1983) Plot:
A nightclub bouncer butts heads with gangster looking to muscle in on his territory.
Review:
Fresh out of prison, Steve Donavan (Cliff Twemlow) is approached by some old friends to be a bouncer at a high-end nightclub as his first job. He’s a big guy, can handle himself, and sure enough, he takes the gig and excels at it. He’s soon sweeping the floor with thugs, and he starts taking home pretty gals who size him up and go, “Yes, sir.” One such gal is Tracy (Jane Cunliffe) who soon falls in love with this beast of a man but eventually she gets the picture that to love him is to have to accept that he’s an animal, and not just in bed. Steve has his work cut out for him when a bunch of gangsters try to muscle their way into his circle to try to be rid of him when he roughs up some members of a gang, who are working to take over the nightclub.
Loosely based on Twemlow’s own memoir Tuxedo Warrior, which was also adapted for a film of the same name, G.B.H. (Grievous Bodily Harm) is a down and dirty little gangster flick shot on videotape, but it’s an effective piece with hard-hitting violence, gore, sex, and nudity … and lots of disco dancing. Seriously, though: The movie has some great music (composed by Twemlow) and songs on the soundtrack, and the film itself was labeled a “video nasty” in England in the 1980s, which helped give it a notorious reputation. Twemlow himself is great in it, and this is arguably his best film with a lead role that basically casts him as himself in a sort of Charles Bronson-esque light, and there’s even a joke about that in the movie. Director David Kent-Watson did a lot with a little here, and it’s definitely worth checking ut for low budget action movie connoisseurs.
Disc 4:
Target: Even Island (1983) Plot:
A secret agent goes to the Caribbean to obtain top-secret evidence that is somehow connected to the Granada Invasion.
Review:
British agent William Grant (Brett Sinclair with a name more suited to a secret agent character) is dispatched to the West Indies to track down a woman who was kidnapped and taken by the Russians for interrogation regarding some top-secret evidence she was in possession of. The U.S. invasion of Grenada is imminent, and Grant must get all this done before the invasion takes place. He gets to the Caribbean, encounters foxy women, tough assassins, a really strange Russian asset (who seems like he belongs in another movie altogether; he reminds me of that “I’ll buy that for a dollar!” guy in Robocop), and when he gets his hands on the microcassette tape with the top secret intel, the Granada invasion gets going just as the plot wraps up.
A step down from the classier Tuxedo Warrior, Target: Eve Island eerily resembles an Andy Sidaris flick with all the trappings of a sexy, pulpy men’s adventure novel, but the film appears to have been shot on videotape rather than film (the aspect ratio is 1:33:1), and while it has plenty of action and stunts, and even an explosion or two, plus lots of sex and nudity, it feels cobbled together to fit the narrative of the real-life Grenada Invasion, splicing in news footage and chaotic footage of soldiers invading the island. The plot never really makes much sense, but I didn’t expect it to, and sometimes things happen and I didn’t understand what was going on or why. One scene has a naked woman drowning another woman in a Jacuzzi, and I seriously couldn’t figure out why. Still, this is a pretty entertaining little flick with 007-type shenanigans on an “R”-rated level, and writer Cliff Twemlow appears in a bit role as a thug. David Kent-Watson directed.
The Ibiza Connection (1984) Plot:
Trouble plagues the making of an action movie in the Mediterranean.
Review:
An action movie called Thunderflash is being shot in the Mediterranean, and the lead actor and director Wolf Svenson (Cliff Twemlow, who wrote the script) is faced with local trouble in the form of a gangster who controls the island and everything (and everyone) in it. Wolf must deal with graft and corruption to get his film shot, but he also has temperamental talent and actresses who gripe that they’re not being given enough freedom and leeway to be “artists.” One of the girls (played by future Bond girl Fiona Fullerton from A View to a Kill) is having an affair with one of Wolf’s co-stars, and a thug the size of Jaws (from the Bond movies, that is) is harassing Wolf to cooperate.
Shot on videotape and entirely redubbed over with goofy narration and voices that clearly don’t match the film, The Ibiza Connection is a really odd duck of a movie, another step down for Twemlow, who clearly had a passion for this story. The film is surprisingly well shot for a crummy-shot-on-tape film, with good fight scenes, nice local scenery, gorgeous girls, almost all of whom get naked for multiple scenes that require them to, and a distinct flare for Twemlow’s hyper masculine approach to telling his stories. The film is very masculine-forward, with tough guys and submissive young women who are at the command of (much) older men, and it resembles an Andy Sidaris flick with the flavor of a Playboy video with some fisticuff and Uzi action. It’s not your typical action film, that’s for sure. Directed by Howard Arundel.
Disc 5:
The African Run (1985) Plot:
A hired gun tries to get some stolen diamonds from a ne’er-d-well playboy.
Review:
This won’t be a proper review, because this isn’t a proper movie. The African Run is Tuxedo Warrior (literally), with a few newly shot scenes (shot in 1985, on videotape) that incorporate new material to expand the minor character that Cliff Twemlow played in that film. In that movie, Twemlow played a hired thug named Chaser who has a few moments (a very incidental supporting bad guy) where he roughs up the lead character Cliff, and for some bizarre reason Twemlow got it into his head that he wasn’t finished with that character and instead of making a completely new film or prequel or something, he grabbed a camcorder and shot a couple of hastily written scenes where his character gets some backstory and a bit of a boost, but the format he shot the material in is a downgraded videotape compared to the shot-on-film Tuxedo Warrior, so when he splices in the new material, it feels like two completely clashing films … because that’s exactly what this is. By splicing the grubby new footage into this, he created a Frankenstein movie with obvious and glaring rips and tears, and it’s quite honestly unwatchable. When I put the disc in, I thought I was getting a brand new movie, and when I figured out I’d been fooled (like a lot of people were, I’m sure, when the movie was originally released), I skipped forward each chapter just to watch the new footage. Was it worth it? No. Essentially, Twemlow made “deleted scenes” after the fact and made a unique “producer’s / writer’s cut’ with this.
Moon Stalker (a.k.a. Predator: The Quietus) (1988) Plot:
A creature is eating people and animals in the moors of Ireland, and a journalist and a hunter team up to find it.
Review:
Ireland has a new local urban legend / cryptid on the loose, some kind of humanoid creature that preys on people and animals alike. When a New York newspaper hears about it, they send an intrepid reporter named Kelly O’Neill (Cordelia Roche) to investigate. She is to meet up with a tough big game hunter named Daniel Kane (Cliff Twemlow looking pretty darn fit) who has experience in hunting the unhuntable. They traipse around Ireland, stopping at pubs to hear tall tales about the beast, and they find a strange character who seems to have some kind of poetic connection to the creature. What’s the creature? Well, the movie is called Moon Stalker, so it ends up being some kind of a werewolf.
A very slow moving and anticlimactic creature feature with a woefully unimpressive looking monster reveal, Moon Stalker had all the ingredients in play to be a halfway decent film, but it just hobbles on crutches the entire time, with a finish line that all but disappears and vanishes in thin air as the movie limps to its conclusion. I liked the dynamic of Twemlow’s portrayal of the hunter and the journalist character, and there’s some weird business and a mood that permeates the film, but the big confrontation between the hunter and monster is just very poorly staged and executed, and for some strange reason the sound effects and impact of all the gunfire in the film sounds and feels like popgun toys. It’s not at all what you’re hoping it will be, which is a shame because this could’ve worked. Similar in a lot of ways to Rawhead Rex (it’s obvious the filmmakers looked to that for inspiration), but woefully bereft of action and thrills, this one pales in comparison. Leslie McCarthy directed. Shot on film.
Disc 6:
The Hitman (The Assassinator) (1992):
Plot:
A hitman-for-hire’s wife is taken hostage to force him to do a job.
Review:
Chris (John Saint Ryan, who also wrote the script) is a busy hitman with a heavy mustache. Business is good, and he keeps his family life healthy, with an adoring son and a wife who has no clue what he does. When he performs a hit that goes wrong, he senses that his life is going to get real messy real quick, so he sends his son away to keep him safe, and in a cute moment, his son gives him an Ewok toy as a good luck charm for safe keeping. His wife, however, stays home, leaving her vulnerable to all the bad things that are headed his direction. A guy he works for, a well-guarded government-connected goon named Stewart (Ronald Lacey from Raiders of the Lost Ark and Red Sonja) insists that Chris correct the job he messed up, and forces his hand by kidnapping his wife. This does not sit well with Chris, and he goes on the hunt to get his wife back, but they kill her anyway, putting Chris in the position to shirk all his rules of honor and get revenge.
John Saint Ryan is almost a dead ringer for Untouchables-era Sean Connery, which is very telling since he was actually Connery’s stunt double for him in the film Medicine Man, which was released the same year this movie was made. It’s uncanny how he’s able to remind you of him, and he plays a sort of cold-hearted, non-nonsense guy in the way Connery sort of played Bond. That said, the movie is very minor, but still pretty watchable simply because the film has plenty of action and a more or less well-executed plot. Ryan (who passed away this year) was a stuntman and a martial artist, and you can tell with the way he carries himself in this movie. He’s cool, confident, and strong, and luckily the film cast character actor Lacey in a villain role in the sort of character role where he literally cheats at checkers to beat his underlings simply because he can. It’s this sort of thing that elevates this movie from trash to “B” status, and it works, despite an out-of-nowhere shock ending that the film didn’t need. Cliff Twemlow has a walk-on bit part as a thug. Directed by David Kent-Watson. The film was basically (unfairly) unreleased until now.
The Eye of Satan (1988) Plot:
A cursed jewel comes into play when it’s brought to England from Africa … which could mean the end of the world!
Review:
During some kind of ritual sacrifice in Africa, a mercenary makes off with a glowing red rock – The Eye of Satan – which he mistakes for some kind of treasure. In fact, it’s the opposite: A cursed jewel that completely transforms he who possesses it into a demonic super being, capable of transforming into a puma … or a demon! Once the cursed Eye is in England, it comes into contact / possession with a hulking, totally ripped out blonde-mulleted guy named Kane (Cliff Twemlow in incredible shape in his mid-50s), who takes particular umbridge with anyone who kills or misreats animals. We see him tackling and killing some duck hunters in the wilderness, prompting a befuddled police investigation. More bodies pile up, and more clueless investigating commences. Kane is on the loose … and he sets his glowing green eyes on a damsel in distress, the daughter or moll (not really sure what she is, but she’s played by Twemlow regular Ginette Gray) of a gangster (another Twemlow regular John Saint Ryan), and when she’s in Kane’s clutches, she tries teasing him with her sexuality, but he’s basically immune … because he has the Eye of Satan!
Goofy to the max, but mercifully short at less than 80 minutes, The Eye of Satan has an oddly unsatisfying and incomplete plot that feels trimmed and abandoned, ending on a totally bewildering note that made me rewind a few minutes to see if I’d missed anything, but nope: It just ends. The plot is intriguing, if half-baked, and while the movie has a sort of a fun “B” movie quality (it was shot on videotape), the pulpiness of the ensuing events are pretty much undone by a lack of focus and a budget that really hurts the film. Twemlow’s character is a sort of supernatural vigilante, but it’s confusing because you’re not sure if he’s the antagonist or the protagonist. It’s just a really bizarre little movie, oddly under populated and sometimes unintentionally funny. From director David Kent-Watson.
Disc 7:
Firestar: First Contact (1991) Plot:
A mission to space ends in disaster when an alien killer decimates the crew.
Review:
Years after a space mission ends in catastrophe, a marooned astronaut recounts the tale to the tribe he has become a leader to. The astronaut is Trooper (Cliff Twemlow), and we learn that he was a part of a mission, led by Captain Bremner (Oliver Tobias), who left Trooper to lead the mission after they were reprimanded by a salty Commodore (Charles Gray in what must have been a one-day shoot). Stuck on earth to hope that Trooper would lead the mission with a flummoxed crew (which included John Wyman, who played Twemlow in the feature film of Tuxedo Warrior) to success (not really sure what the mission was, though), Trooper takes time for sexy time with one of the female crew members (there are two) … but unfortunately for the crew, an alien intelligence (an early CGI floating pyramid) gets aboard and transforms into a humanoid monster that rips out hearts from chests. From then on, it’s a by-the-number riff on Alien.
Pretty ambitious for a David Kent-Watson / Cliff Twemlow picture, Firestar is confusing, very (very) thrifty, and yet manages to have a few inspiring moments, such as when Twemlow is trying to get himself laid and the AI system that runs the ship mocks him for not trying hard enough. The creature / monster is just a guy in a mask (and not a very convincing one), and though the film includes some ex-007 cast members (two), the movie desperately needed a better script and better film stock (it was shot on videotape).
Disc 8:
G.B.H. 2: Lethal Impact (1991) Plot:
A nightclub bouncer’s niece is kidnapped by pornographers in Manchester … and he’ll stop at nothing to get her back.
Review:
Still alive after being gunned down years ago by gangster, nightclub bouncer Steve Donavan (Cliff Twemlow in his last significant film) is called back into vigilante justice when his cute little niece is kidnapped by a gang of pornographers and forced into filming kiddie porn. Not needing to be asked twice, Steve combs the Manchester streets and nightclubs to track down the scumbags who are operating illegal porn rings, and he cracks skulls, steps on necks, and guns down the slime who are connected to the kidnapping of his kin.
Looking much slicker than his previous barely-released very low budget films, Lethal Impact is far more satisfying that I expected, even better than the first film with lots of bone crunching action and tough guy dialogue with a grizzled and world weary-looking Twemlow, who might’ve been near the end of his rope financially and emotionally when he made this film. It’s a mean spirited little film with a pessimistic worldview, but it suits Twemlow’s persona, and he spits and snarls lines of hardboiled dialogue like gravel in his mouth. Some of the shots of deserted Manchester were shot without permits, and some of the best moments in the film involve chases through nighttime city streets. This was a pretty solid “B” movie, and it’s a shame that it was never properly released until now. A longer version with flashbacks from the first movie is also included, but I preferred the shorter version that just cuts to the chase. From David Kent-Watson.
Disc 9:
Fitness Over 40 (1992) / The Art of Nude Massage (1992) Plots:
Instructional Fitness / Massage videos, no plots.
Review:
Well, folks, here we have two pretty basic instructional videos, each for adults, but only one of which is suitable for watching with a family, as it were. The Fitness Over 40 video runs about 40 minutes long, maybe just over 30 minutes, and it’s filmed and presented in such a way that it requires studying with notes because it gives bullet points and specific dietary goals. It’s not meant to watch and exercise simultaneously like a Richard Simmons or Jane Fonda-style workout. It says as much at the very beginning, and merely suggests doing as those on camera are doing and demonstrating. Everyone on screen is clearly over 40, with Cliff Twemlow the buffest “old dude” in the video, but he’s silent and not “the star,” as it were, just one amongst maybe a dozen people featured in the video, alongside a bunch of grandmotherly looking ladies and some middle ages gym bros.
The Art of Nude Massage is meant to be much sexier and Twemlow is one half of several couples featured in the video, and in the end credits he’s billed as “Cliff,” which is funny since none of the performers are billed with last names. It’s much edgier than you’d expect with full-frontal nudity (even male nudity, with erections), but there’s no penetration or coitus. It’s all massage footage, lots of rubdowns, hand-on-naked-skin stuff, pretty basic, genteel and calm. Nothing hot and heavy, though, as I said, the nudity is what you might find in an old Playboy tape. The lighting is sultry and sexy, there’s a segment in a shower, there’s lots of bedroom rubbing, and there’s a voice-over narration on what to do during a massage just in case you need instruction. Twemlow is featured, but is not “the star,” but there’s no star, just intercut couples and lots and lots of rubbing.
Do you actually want to watch these videos? These types of types were pretty prevalent in the late ’80s to early ’90s, and they’re all extinct now, so these are relics of the past, but otherwise I can’t imagine why you’d want to watch these. I watched both of them in fast-forward. So there you go.
Ultimately, this collection is pretty astonishing in that collects every single thing that Twemlow was involved with, from the slick Tuxedo Warrior to the documentary feature that covers the entire gamut of Twemlow’s impressive oeuvre, including a CD of his music (which is pretty awesome) and even the two instructional videos he was in … which are interesting from a historical perspective. If you’re like me, you likely have never heard of Twemlow or any of his movies, but this is an amazing collection that actually over delivers in terms of his work. Most of the films are rough and sub-par, and indeed were never properly released on any format until now, so this is a treasure trove of obscure action and horror moviemaking, and honestly I feel enriched by this stuff. Twemlow was a one-of-a-kind and now unfortunately extinct type of guy, but this collection from Severin preserves it for the ages to come.
Bonus Materials
- MANCUNIAN MAN Additional Scenes
- Manchester Locations Tour
- The Swedish Connection – Interview With Jonathan Sisson On G.B.H.’s First-Time/Last-Time Investors
- The Pike Rediscovered – The Hunt For The Mechanical Monster
- MANCUNIAN MAN Manchester Premiere
- MANCUNIAN MAN London World Premiere
- MANCUNIAN MAN Glasgow Premiere
- Trailer
- Image Gallery
- TUXEDO WARRIOR Outtakes
- TUXEDO WARRIOR Gag Reel
- TUXEDO WARRIOR Trailer
- Audio Commentary For G.B.H. With Actor Brian Sterling-Vete And Cult Movie Historian David Flint
- G.B.H. Alternate Credits Sequence
- G.B.H. Teaser Trailer
- G.B.H. Trailer
- THE PIKE TV Special
- MASON’S WAR Promo
- Audio Commentary For TARGET: EVE ISLAND With Actor Brian Sterling-Vete And Producer Martin De Rooy
- For The Love Of Cliff – TARGET: EVE ISLAND Audio Commentary Outtake With Brian Sterling-Vete, Martin De Rooy And Severin Films’ Carl Daft
- Granada Tourism Promo
- TARGET: EVE ISLAND Alternate Credits Sequence
- TARGET: EVE ISLAND Rushes
- TARGET: EVE ISLAND Trailer 1
- TARGET: EVE ISLAND Trailer 2
- Audio Commentary For THE IBIZA CONNECTION With Director Howard Arundel And Cult Movie Historian David Flint
- Actor Brett Sinclair’s Ibiza Videos
- THE AFRICAN RUN Scene Breakdowns – Compilation Of New Scenes With Detailed Production/Location Notes
- THE AFRICAN RUN Alternate Credits Sequence
- David Ball Test Footage
- Audio Commentary For MOON STALKER With Actor Brian Sterling-Vete And Cult Movie Historian David Flint
- MOON STALKER Alternate Credits Sequence
- MOON STALKER Trailer
- THE BLIND SIDE OF GOD Promo
- HARRISING MOMENTS – Jerry Harris Showreel
- THE HITMAN Alternate Credits Sequence
- THE HITMAN Trailer
- THE EYE OF SATAN Deleted Scenes
- THE EYE OF SATAN Bloopers
- THE EYE OF SATAN Trailer 1
- THE EYE OF SATAN Trailer 2
- FIRESTAR: FIRST CONTACT Deleted Fight Scene
- FIRESTAR: FIRST CONTACT Trailer
- TOKYO SUNRISE Making-Of
- TOKYO SUNRISE Outtakes/Bloopers
- TOKYO SUNRISE Promo 1
- TOKYO SUNRISE Promo 2
- BAD WEEKEND – Cliff’s Final Production, An Unreleased Short Film Intended As A Half-Hour TV Pilot
