Mancunian Man: The Legendary Life of Cliff Twemlow (2023) Review

Mancunian Man: The Legendary Life of Cliff Twemlow (2023) Review

Meet Cliff Twemlow – AKA Mancunian Man…Bouncer. Novelist. Composer. Screenwriter. Producer. Stuntman. Star.

In 1980s Britain Twemlow was all of these and much, much more. For more than a decade, he was in fact Britain’s most prolific indie filmmaker and in his hometown of Manchester, he was – and remains – a bone-fide legend.

Between 1982 and 1993, he gathered a devoted team, including local doormen, martial artists, variety performers, club DJs, models, girlfriends, gym friends, family members and B-listers and created his own cut-rate Hollywood empire.

Perhaps best known for the ultra-violent G.B.H. (GRIEVIOUS BODILY HARM) – which was banned as one of the notorious Video Nasties – Twemlow was a true trailblazer. Shooting with pioneering video technology, composing the music himself and working to almost non-existent budgets – he crafted movies of all genres, from gangster flicks to horror films, spy thrillers to sci-fi epics and beyond, with the help of his unlikely ensemble of misfits.

Now his unbelievable, but totally true story is brought to life by director Jake West (VIDEO NASTIES: MORAL PANIC, CENSORSHIP & VIDEOTAPE, RAZOR BLADE SMILE and DOGHOUSE) and Severin Films through exclusive new interviews, insane film clips and rare behind-the-scenes footage.

There’s only one real Mancunian Man, a true one-of-a-kind and legend whose story needs to be seen to be believed.

Tickets available here:

Manchester-based writer-star Cliff Twemlow was a man big on ideas, and for him nothing was considered out of his reach. From writing music, making films, or writing books he kept himself busy right up to and including his untimely demise. If this documentary is anything to go by, no one has a bad word to say about him, in fact, everyone interviewed has very fond memories of him and you certainly couldn’t knock his never-wavering enthusiasm for his next big idea.

Twemlow excelled at bad movies, mainly of the action variety, but on occasional he dabbled within the realms of sci-fi and horror. Personally, I would have loved to have seen his THE PIKE, based on his own paperback, which had Joan Collins headlined to star, had he finished it (unfortunately the mechanical fish failed to work when featured on TV’s TOMORROW’S WORLD and nervous investors backed out) but that would have been the only feature film on his celluloid CV that I would have wanted to see.

Horror films might be interested to know that the former Manchester club bouncer also wrote a song that was included on the soundtrack of Romero’s classic 1978 flick DAWN OF THE DEAD – ‘Cause I’m a Man’, written by Twemlow and Peter Taylor under the pseudonym of Peter Reno. Otherwise Twemlow’s most notorious contribution to film would be his G.B.H. which was released on video in 1983 and became a nice little earner for him. Billed as being ‘More Brutal Than THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY’ it gained notoriety for being added to the controversial UK Video Nasties List.

There’s an abundance of entertaining tales to tell about Twemlow – my favourite being how he introduced actor Oliver Tobias as Oliver Reed to the bemused cast and crew of his sci-fi flick FIRST CONTACT – which lifts MANCUNIAN MAN: THE LEGENDARY LIFE OF CLIFF TWEMLOW above your average documentary and should ensure that it gets scene beyond the niche audience that might catch it at any number of annual film festivals.