RUBY (1977)
Label: VCI EntertainmentRegion Code: A
Duration: 85 Minutes
Rating: R
Audio: English PCM Mono 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080P HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Curtis Harrington
Cast: Piper Laurie, Stuart Whitman, Roger Davis, Janit Baldwin
Sixteen years later Ruby has gone legit and is now the proprietor of Ruby's Drive-In movie theater, where she strangely employs several of the men responsible for her lover's death, which sort of puts into question whether she was involved in the murder or not. The drive-in is quite a success, drawing in the masses with horror shockers, the drive-in is currently screening the anachronistic sci-fi feature Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958) to the delight of the local kids.
Weird stuff begins to happen at the drive-in beginning with the apparent suicide of the projectionist Jess (Eddy Donno, Invaders from Mars) who seemingly hangs himself with reels of 35MM film stock, the idea of a drive-in movie about a drive-in wherein someone is hanged with film - that's all sorts of tasty. Ruby tells her right hand man/theater manager Vince (Stuart Whitman, Eaten Alive) to quietly dispose of the body in the nearby swamp and to not report it to the police, she doesn't want the authorities snooping around her place. It becomes hard to deny that some sort of supernatural revenge is happening at the drive-in as employees start dying off in mysterious and gruesome ways, stalked by an unseen force. One character named Barney (Len Lesser, Blood and Lace) ends up a corpse inside a soda machine that dispenses his blood into an unsuspecting customer's cup, which she sips before realizing that ain't no Cherry Coke, now that's just fun stuff.
Ruby's deaf and mute daughter Leslie (Janit Baldwin, Phantom of the Paradise) becomes the focus of attention, she might possibly be possessed by the spirit of her murdered father, out for revenge against those whom were responsible for his death years earlier. To assist in the strange matter Vince calls in a prison psychiatrist who moonlights as paranormal psychologist named Dr. Keller (Roger Davis, TV's Dark Shadows), the priest-like character in this Exorcist rip-off, and things just get weirder from there.Ruby is not a perfect film by any means, far far from it, but what I loved about it was the great setting at a 50's era drive-in located right next to a swamp, as if mosquitoes at the drive-in weren't bad enough without it being set right on the swamp! The 1950's nostalgia is in full effect, a great period setting at a location that is all but gone from the modern cinema landscape, I miss the drive-in, was sad when our own De Anza drive-in abruptly closed here in Tucson back in 2009. There's some great Southern Gothic atmosphere, particularly the fog saturated swamp scenes at night which are eerie, it's very well shot, but drenched in a bit too much soft focus cinematography, the film is lousy with gauzey visuals, which can both enhance and detract from certain scenes. Some of the special effects are hokey as Hell (eyeballs in a jar!) but I love 'em, at one when it's clear that Young Leslie is possessed we get some fun Exorcist-esque sequences a version of the spider-walk. As victims are attacked by an unseen force a few of the sequences are very nicely executed, such as when Vince is running through the drive-in to escape whatever it is that's attacking him a speaker-box attacks him like tentacled creature, fun 70's drive-in fare, it must have been a blast to watch this at the drive-in for sure!
Audio/Video: Ruby (1977) arrives on Blu-ray from VCI Entertainment framed in the 1.85:1 OAR with a new 2K restoration - originally touted as being from the original negative in online press announcements, but it appears we have a scan from a print. Ruby was never a film that looked good on home video, murky and soft focused, it has always had a hazy quality about it that did not translate well on DVD and doesn't much improve on Blu-ray, the same comments can be leveled at the new Blu-ray. Unfortunately, at the 21:30 minute mark the image fades to black for about nine seconds, the audio is intact but the image is missing, worsened by the fact that it happens during a death scene. These issues have been acknowledged by Bob Blair of VCI in forums and they are working on a disc replacement program to fix the issue. The English DTS-HD MA Mono audio sounds good, clean and free of distortion, not overly dynamic or nuanced, but the frenzied, Psycho-esque score from composer Don Ellis (The French Connection) comes through well. Optional English subtitles are provided.
While the video presentation suffers I can say that VCI have done a fine job with the extras, they carry over the audio commentary from their 2001 DVD featuring Director Curtis Harrington and actress Piper Laurie, plus the hour-long interview with Harrington by David Del Valle which covers all of Harrington's career. New to this release are two half-hour episodes of Del Valle's public access TV show the Sinister Image from '88 featuring director Curtis Harrignton who passed away in 2007, again covering his whole career, plus we get a brand new 2017 audio commentary from Del Valle and Curtis Harrington expert Nate Bell, which is a good listen and covers a lot of the director's career with some good insights into the film. This release comes housed in a clear Blu-ray keepcase, the artwork in not reversible but there are liner notes on the inner sleeve from Nate Bell, reading the black type on a red background was an eye-strain to be sure but they are decent and informative liner notes, though I've always preferred a booklet to sleeve-notes. There are 2 discs, a Blu-ray and a standard-def DVD with the same feature and extras, the disc artwork is identical, too. Of note, VCI have debuted a new logo with this release, with the VCI Retro Elite tag.
Special Features:
- 2K Film Transfer and Restoration
- 2001 David Del Valle Video Interview with Director, Curtis Harrington (59 min) HD
- Audio Commentary with Director Curtis Harrington and actress Piper Laurie
- Sinister Image Episode – David Del Valle Interviews Curtis Harrington- Vol 1 (circa '88)(28 min) HD
- Sinister Image Episode – David Del Valle Interviews Curtis Harrington- Vol 2 (March 8th 1988)(29 min) HD
- 2017 Commentary Track with David Del Valle and Curtis Harrington expert Nate Bell
- Liner Notes by Curtis Harrington expert Nate Bell
- Original Theatrical Trailer – Restored HD (2 min) HD
- Includes a Bonus DVD copy!
Ruby (1977) is a fun 70's slice of supernatural-revenge schlock from the 70s, and while this Blu-ray/DVD combo is an upgrade from previous DVD editions it is marred by missing video and an overall lackluster visual presentation, and what looks to be poor disc authoring. The David Del Valle-centric extras are a great value-add, this is definitely worth the upgrade, but maybe wait until the disc replacement program is up and running.
