Characula is a horror rock goddess with a difference. Currently living in Southern California where she’s already caused a storm, she is neither vampire, nor werewolf, mummy nor any other creature known from myth and folklore. Part sci-fi, part horror and all glamour, she-demon Characula is an entity to behold –and hear!

Mummy Dance is her latest track, full of fantasy and drawing attraction between old and new mythology. You can check out the creepy video if you dare

Still three weeks to go and the BIM-Festival in Antwerp takes place. It's not only time to buy your ticket, get them here, but also to present you the bands in our BIM-Files.

Second band on this year's BIMFest are No Sleep By The Machine.

Who are they?

No Sleep By The Machine or NSBTM was formed in 2004 by TB and S.Nutzoid after they met at a party in Stockholm. Sharing the same interests and backgrounds in music, film and culture the duo was soon to be found recording together in their home studio.

Throughout the first four years, it was more like experimenting without a goal, looking for beats and sounds while TB was still involved as a singer in another band.

At the beginning of 2009, TB left the other band to concentrate on NSBTM. Soon they were asked to to perform at several festival and clubs.

After some self released CDR's their first full Album 'Close' was released on Sham Recordings in 2010. In 2012 the limited double album 'Quadrilateral'(LP/CD) was released on Dödsdans Rekords.

How do they sound?

Well, click on the video.

What do they have to say?

Well, click here for our interview!

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In March of this year “Paria” (Seja 04) appeared; the debut of Fatal Casualties, a duo coming from Stockholm consisting of Stefan Ljungdahl and Ivan Hirvonen. And that as many as 27 years after the band had started making music. You can call that a long incubation period. This long wait was not in vain, whilst the band came up with a memorable album that refers to the best 80’s dark electronic music in a contemparary style and context. Now when they have a taste for creating new songs and playing live again, an ultra limited CD-EP (150 copies) will see the light at the end of this year. “SITM Remixes” contains two new tracks and three remixes.

“Somewhere In The Middle (single edit)” is a hypothermic track with smooth synths and distorted vocals. The new track Laica is an oppressive beauty.

The first remix is by Graue Substanz. SITM evolved under the hands of label mates Stefan Gonser and Michael Kissing in a track that recalls the quiet, dark streets of Ultravox’s “Vienna”. The repetitive power of Kraftwerk and Can seems to have become the new creation that Daniel B. made of SITM, and Beate Bartel with her SITM ODD RMX was responsible for the most alienating version of the song.

All this makes us just more curious about the new Fatal Casualties album that is on the agenda for spring next year.

Season 1 from The Bridge was a big international success. The series got nominated for a BAFTA Award for best international series and an Amùerican-Mexican and British-French remake was made.

In the Benelux the first season sold 95.000 times (!). This impressed the makers from Sweden and Denmark, and so Lumière became co-producent for the second season.

The iconic Øresund-bridge between Sweden and Denmark also plays a central part in the second season. An old cargo that transports oil bumps to the bridge. No one seems to be oin board apart from some Swedish and Danish youngsters who are chained. Saga Norén is charging the investment and seeks contact with Martin Rohde. It suddenly evolves in a race against the clock to avoid a disaster. Someone wants to put attention to the ecological problems and isn’t afraid to offer some blood.

The second season from The Bridge is out now on Lumière on both DVD and Blu-ray.

Second Run DVD, the fine UK-based label which is specialized in obscure (but magnificent) releases from East-Europa has some very nice things for us in the future.

First there is Illumination by Krzysztof Zanussi.

Unanimous winner of all three main prizes at the 1973 Locarno International Film Festival, Zanussi's landmark film is a dazzling kaleidoscope of ideas and images. Illumination explores the life of a self-absorbed young physicist trying to understand his place in the universe. He thinks science will provide the answers, but ultimately learns far more about himself through experiencing love, betrayal, loss, and facing his own mortality.

As much a philosophical essay as a narrative feature Illumination is a cinematic mosaic combining art and science, intellect and emotion. Innovatively structured, this unflinching examination of one man's life became an iconic cultural marker for a whole generation.

The DVD is presented from a superb new high-definition restoration of the film, approved by the director and contains the short A Trace (Ślad) - Marcin Latałło's acclaimed 1996 film about his late father, the lead actor in Illumination, Stanisław Latałło plus a new interview with Zanussi and a booklet featuring a new essay by film critic and author Michał Oleszczyk.

Also out is Ikarie XB 1

Jindřich Polák's pioneering and much-imitated feature Ikarie XB 1 is one of the cornerstones of contemporary sci-fi cinema. It predates Star Trek and Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and was clearly an influence on both, as well as on almost every other science-fiction work that followed.

Adapted from Stanisław Lem's 1955 novel The Magellanic Cloud, the film is set in 2163 and follows a mission deep into space in search of alien life. During their perilous journey the crew confront the effects of a malignant dark star, the destructive legacy of the 20th century and, ultimately, the limits of their own sanity. With outstanding design and cinematography, Ikarie XB 1 is imbued with a seriousness, intelligence and attention to detail rarely seen in science-fiction cinema of the period. Second Run are delighted to present this seminal work of fantasy cinema for the first time ever in the UK. 

The DVD is presented in a new anamorphic transfer with restored picture and sound and features a new filmed appreciation by author and critic Kim Newman and a new essay by writer and film historian Michael Brooke.

Another release is One.Two.One by Mania Akbari.

Mania Akbari, star of Abbas Kiarostami's Ten, is one of Iran's most distinctive filmmakers and One. Two. One is her most confrontational work, whose banning finally led to her exile from Iran.

Composed of rhythmically structured and meticulously planned long takes, the film presents a series of conversational pieces connected to a beautiful woman named Ava whose face has been disfigured in an acid attack. Truths emerge in close-up and a narrative of love, loss and renewal unfolds.

Transgressive and deeply critical of a society where women are considered inferior to men, Akbari also questions the concept of beauty and the weight placed upon it by her society. Her protagonist Ava also functions as a metaphor for the scars her country bears, making this deceptively modest film inherently rich in courage and ideas.

"This disarmingly, deceptively simple film,which takes the form of a series of dialogues, brilliantly played by a sizable cast and directed with a magnificent sense of rhythm, light and movement" Chris Fujiwara