Short Sharp Shocks Vol. 4

Region B

Short Sharp Shocks Vol. 4 (BFI Flipside #52)
Director: Various

The fourth volume in the BFI Flipside's celebrated Short Sharp Shocks series – on an ongoing mission to curate an alternative Brit-screen history of overlooked rarities in deluxe home-entertainment editions – is another eye-opening assemblage of unusual, exceptional, exciting, horrific, eerie and eccentric short subjects - veering from the heyday of the British cinematic supporting programme, to the earliest days of commercial television; and far, far beyond.

Short Sharp Shocks Volume 4 features an uncanny cornucopia of ingenious micro-budget shockers, astonishing, award-winning amateur works, televisual twist-in-the-tale weirdness, breathtaking fantasy-film spectacle, blood-spattered rarities, petrifying public information frighteners and evocative avant-garde experimenta – all offering up oodles of atmosphere, and lovingly delivered to you, alongside an enviable assortment of newly-created interviews and extra features, in High Definition.

Disc 1:
The Fatal Night (Mario Zampi, 1948, 50 mins), Death in the Hand (A Barr-Smith, 1948, 43 mins), Strange Experiences: Halloween Party (Derick Williams, 1955, 3 mins), Strange Experiences: The Laughing Clown (Derick Williams, 1956, 4 mins), Night Ride (Denis Meikle, 1967, 19 mins), Mirror Mirror (Eastbourne Cine Group, 1969, 7 mins)

Disc 2:
Scarecrow (John Sharrad, 1972. 17 mins), Red (Astrid Frank, 1976, 24 mins), Sanctum (Bill Davison, 1976, 19 mins), Play Safe: Frisbee (David Eady, 1978, 1 min); Play Safe: Electricity (David Eady, 1978, c11 mins), Black Angel (Roger Christian, 1980, 25 mins)

Extras

• Interview with Mario Zampi Jr (2025): newly recorded interview with the son of the director of The Fatal Night
• Interview with John Attfield (2025): new interview with one of the stars of Night Ride
• Interview with Astrid Frank (2025): newly recorded interview with the director of Red
• Interview with Roger Christian (2025): newly recorded interview with the director of Black Angel
• Night Ride: Outtakes (1967, 4 mins, silent)
• Image galleries
• **FIRST PRESSING ONLY** Illustrated booklet with contributions from Jonathan Rigby, Vic Pratt, Dr. Josephine Botting, William Fowler, Astrid Frank, Bill Davison and Roger Christian
• Newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys