Robin Bougie started “Cinema Sewer” around 1997 in Victoria BC, Canada when he was reading different zines about B and cult movies, zines like Joe Bob Briggs’ zine “Joe Bob Report” and Fred Adelman’s “Critical Condition” and wondering why comics hadn’t been combined with the zine format (their were a lot of cult movie zines out there, the cult and B movie zines for the most part hadn’t incorporated comics into their framework). He came up with the name after writing a column in his buddy’s zine “Poopsheet”, he couldn’t figure out a name for his column so his wife Rebecca came up with “Cinema Sewer” and he thought that described what he wanted to get across. Robin has put this zine out and hasn’t stopped since, and I got to give him props, the guy carries the zine torch. While finding the original and first issues are near impossible, your in luck because Fab Press has put out all of the issues in a series of seven books, with added and/or updated material by the Bougster himself.
While the Bougster does dive into cult films and B movies of yesteryear, his main focus is 1970’s to 1980’s soft core and hardcore porn, see for me I use porn for only one thing and one thing only, as do many people. I don’t want to read treatises and long winded philosophical pieces on something I nut to and put aside. I’ve even tried watching the classic porn, and I’ve had to watch them in pieces because once I come to a certain scene, SPLURT, I am done and its served its use. The Bougster actually goes into depth on these movies and their stories, he interviews actors, actresses, directors, producers etc. involved in that scene. While some of it was interesting I was tempted to turn to the pieces where he or a guest reviewer actually goes in depth about the shitty B movies I love. I’ve only found one porn director, Stephen Sayadian aka “Rinse Dream” who has made interesting, weird and twisted porn like the post apocalyptic “Cafe Flesh”, the surreal “Night Dreams” and the soft core, weird sequel to “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” named “Dr. Caligari” which is his best work.
RANT START, IF YOU DON’T WANT TO BE BORED SKIP THIS SECTION TO “RANT OVER”: Too many times the Bougster gets up on a soapbox about porn, the guy is a bug eyed fanatic about it, almost the way I was when I was a younger and hornier guy, he claims on his soapbox that it does no damage whatsoever to society, the people involved in making it etc. Hell, the dude even did a porn mocking religion, but here is the deal, I am no prude, I am not one of these idiots who goes around yelling about how porn destroys everybody and everything, however, he is so biased that he can’t see past his own nose. People in the porn industry seem to die of drug overdose, suicide, violent accident and death in higher proportions than other professions, he’d say “well look at any other commercial business, that all happens in other places” problem is it happens in larger percentages in that industry. In his zine he tries to paint the porn industry as victimless and if a girl or guy goes on to change their life and point out the problems in the industry he gets downright brutal and mean, he tells others to be “non judgmental” while judging those critical of what it seems he is addicted to. Now don’t get me wrong I don’t think porn should be illegal and the Bougster is right, most of these people make the choice to be in this line of business but its also equally as ignorant to ignore all the damaged people that go in and come out of the industry, whether that be through retirement or a body bag. He points out studies that prove porn industry people have a high self esteem but this study was put out by a former porn star, Sharon Mitchell, kind of like the fox guarding the hen house? Sorry about this tangent but it had to get out there. Sure we should have honest discussions about sex and porn but being honest also means looking at the negative and bad of things to which the Bougster seems to not be able to do at all in his zine, he isn’t objective when it comes to the subject. He also does the false equivalency argument that prostitutes and porn stars make when attacked for their profession “Well its no different if your going into work to a job you hate and a boss you hate, your prostituting yourself, no different from what I do”, and its weak, the difference between a Big Box store stocker and a porn star/prostitute is the Big Box store stocker isn’t getting physically fucked in every orifice and having mental qualms and other psychological damage from it, you could argue that the stocker is getting fucked in different ways but that stocker is less likely to kill his/herself, shoot up smack, get beaten up etc. all of which the Bougster would deny but is a fact. I am a bit of a hypocrite I just got on a soap box now push me off. RANT OVER.
But all that is a small quibble, I love the fuck out of “Cinema Sewer” you not only get the Bougster’s musings and scribblings you also get guest artists and reviews. While Bougster mainly covers the retro soft/hardcore porn, he also does a bang up job of covering more of what I am interested in, weird TV shows, twisted B movies and WTF?! Cult Films. He also has a huge collection of one sheets and ad bills for some of these rare grindhouse films which he reprints in “Cinema Sewer”. These books are a treasure trove of info and he turned me on to movies that I have never heard before and dammit, I am glad somebody is actually printing an actual zine you can hold in your hands, its a lost art. I wish the Bougster had continued with the feature of “Comics I’d Like to See Turned into Movies”, I am not sure if has the rights to reprint some comic strips like “Ramba” but damn does it add to the visual flare of the material. While you might agree or disagree with the Bougster’s positions, you need to get down and dirty with “Cinema Sewer”. So open that manhole of your mind and plug your nose its gonna get nastEEEEEEEE!!!!!
To get nasty go here, the Bougster has got a lot of cool stuff up there, the books, his zine and his dirty cartoon zine check em’ out and support him!: https://cinemasewer.storenvy.com/products