6.30pm (18:30): doors
7.00pm (19:00): films start

Mancunian Man: documentary | 2023 | UK | 124 minutes | English | dir.: Jake West | cert. 18 (Tbc) /// G.B.H.: comedy/crime/drama | 1983 | UK | 73 minutes | English | dir.: David Kent-Watson | cert. 18 /// This is an 18+ event. Please note: this screening is NOT subtitled.

HE WALKS TALL WITH HIS HEAD HELD HIGH, BEFORE HE BACKS DOWN HE WOULD RATHER DIE, HE'S A MEAN MACHINE NONE TOUGHER THAN, THE MAN MAN MAN-MANCUNIAN MAN!

We celebrate the career of Cliff Twemlow - bouncer, novelist, composer, screenwriter, producer and action legend - with a film double bill; the fascinating, affectionate and very, very funny tribute Mancunian Man: The Legendary Life Of Cliff Twemlow, and his magnum opus G.B.H. (Grievous Bodily Harm), a zero-budget, straight-to-video, former Section 3 'video nasty' crime/action opus.

For over a decade, Twemlow was the UK's most prolific indie filmmaker.

Between 1992 and 1993, the Manchester-born Cliff Twemlow gathered a devoted team of local doormen, martial artists, variety performers, club DJs, models, girlfriends, gym friends, family members and industry B-listers to build his own cut-rate Hollywood empire.

Shooting on early pioneering video technology, composing all the music himself, and working on nearly non-existent budgets, Twemlow and his unlikely ensemble of misfits tackled gangster films, horror films, spy thrillers, sci-fi epics and beyond.

Perhaps best known for 1983's ultra-violent G.B.H. (Grievous Bodily Harm) - as if Garth Marenghi made Road House in early '80s Manchester and cast a PE teacher in the lead role; and which was banned as one of the UK's notorious 'video nasties' - Twemlow's unbelievable true story is now told by Jake West (Razor Blade Smile, Midnight Peepshow) through exclusive interviews, insane film clips, rare behind-the-scenes footage and more. 

With the film earning rave reviews from genre film festivals around the world, here's your chance to see it in Bristol with an adoring cult-loving crowd!

Mancunian Man: The Legendary Life Of Cliff Twemlow:

'An essential watch for anyone remotely interested in indie film and the crazy days of the VHS era.' Starburst Magazine

'Packed with nugget after nugget of delightful detail about the kind of fellow who may never pass this way again, Mancunian Man should chime with casual movie fans and struggling, zero budget filmmakers alike. For all his flaws, Cliff Twemlow was a true one-off, and this totally captures the essence of why.'LoveHorror.co.uk

'Mancunian Man left me wanting to see ALL of Twemlow's oeuvre: the good, the bad, the ugly … and the unreleased!' Nerdly

G.B.H.:

'As you'd expect, G.B.H. features dick hits, sucker punches, and bar-brawl beatdowns. [And] disco-dancing. Also jogging in slow-motion. But mostly disco-dancing. There is much to love about G.B.H. It's one part James Bond, one part Charles Bronson, and all parts dad.' Bleeding Skull

'[A] no-budget camcorder classic that didn't so much get released on video as escape on parole. Endearingly bad entertainment.' Worst Movies Ever Made

Bristol Bad Film Club | bad films, good times.
The Bristol Bad Film Club is a place where movie fans can behold some of the most unique and notorious films ever put to celluloid.

The worst thing a movie can be is completely unmemorable. When you watch a film, which is neither bad nor good, but is instead completely and utterly forgettable, takes up two hours of your life and gives you nothing back in return, apart from disappointment - then that is completely unforgivable.

The Bristol Bad Film Club believes that great movies fall into two categories: they have to be the very best… or the very worst. Whether they are Citizen Kane or Plan 9 From Outer Space, BBFC believes that at the very least, a movie should entertain… and there is something wonderful about a truly 'bad film'. Whether it's the head-scratching dialogue, the shoddy special effects or acting that would not look out of place in a nursery school's nativity play. Instead of ignoring these films and condemning them, the Bristol Bad Film Club is dedicated to showing them, and other cult films of their ilk, in all their terrible glory, and basking in their awfulness.

bristolbadfilmclub.co.uk