NETHERWORLD (1992)
Label: Full Moon Features
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: R
Duration: 84 Minutes 31 Seconds
Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo and 5.1 Surround (No Subtitles)
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Director: David Schmoeller
Cast: Adolfo Bartoli, Ananjette Comer, Michael Bendetti, Denise Gentile, Robert Burr, Holly Floria, Alex Datcher
In the David Schmoeller (Tourist Trap) directed Louisiana black magic-romp Netherworld (1992) a young man named Corey Thornton (Michael Bendetti, Screwball Hotel) inherits a sprawling Bayou estate after the passing of his estranged father Noah (Robert Sampson, Re-Animator), a mysterious man who dabbled in the occult. Arriving at the mansion by boat he meets his father's lawyer Beauregard (Robert Burr, A Return to Salem's Lot), his father's caretaker Mrs. Palmer (Anjanette Comer, The Baby) and her horny jailbait teen daughter Diane (Holly Floria, TV's Acapulco H.E.A.T.). Visiting town he ends up at a brothel where he befriends Mary Magdalene (Alex Datcher, Body Bags) but is absolutely transfixed by the witchy beauty of Dolores (Denise Gentile, TV's Babylon 5) who seduces him. She tells him that she knew his father and was privy to his plans to resurrect himself, a plan involving Corey, but when the kid finds out that this plan involves sacrificing himself to a Netherworld so that his father may live again he has some second thoughts about going through with it, but he may already be in too deep to save his skin (and soul).
In the David Schmoeller (Tourist Trap) directed Louisiana black magic-romp Netherworld (1992) a young man named Corey Thornton (Michael Bendetti, Screwball Hotel) inherits a sprawling Bayou estate after the passing of his estranged father Noah (Robert Sampson, Re-Animator), a mysterious man who dabbled in the occult. Arriving at the mansion by boat he meets his father's lawyer Beauregard (Robert Burr, A Return to Salem's Lot), his father's caretaker Mrs. Palmer (Anjanette Comer, The Baby) and her horny jailbait teen daughter Diane (Holly Floria, TV's Acapulco H.E.A.T.). Visiting town he ends up at a brothel where he befriends Mary Magdalene (Alex Datcher, Body Bags) but is absolutely transfixed by the witchy beauty of Dolores (Denise Gentile, TV's Babylon 5) who seduces him. She tells him that she knew his father and was privy to his plans to resurrect himself, a plan involving Corey, but when the kid finds out that this plan involves sacrificing himself to a Netherworld so that his father may live again he has some second thoughts about going through with it, but he may already be in too deep to save his skin (and soul).
I found this to be quite an atmospheric black magic slow-burner, it opens strong with a scene at the brothel of a customer nosing around where he shouldn't, happening upon the witchy Dolores and then ill-advisedly raping her, while he's getting his illicit kicks we see a stone hand carving on a wall somewhere in the brothel spring to life, the stone hand (as seen on the cover art) flies through the air not unlike the Phantasm sphere and attacks the mans face, somehow turns him into a bird - that's right, there's s a black magic cult here that turns people into birds! The lore of it is a bit ambiguous, as is the transformation process, but we get just enough of it that I was fascinated by it. Not that it's explained in anyway whatsoever, but when someone falls under the influence of Dolores they begin to spout feathers in their hair, it's kind of cool.
The flick is no blood bath, it's more of an atmospheric slow-burn punctuated by some tasty surreal visuals, the plot sort of falls apart but it's interesting enough to keep me plugged in. The flying stone hand is a curious thing, not sure how it's connected to the larger story, and it makes me thing of how Charles Band would commission movie posters of films that hadn't been written yet to generate funding, as the hand doesn't quite fit into the vague lore the film establishes I think this might be the case here, and that the flying hand was just a remnant from the poster that had to be included in the final film. There is some decent gore associated with the hand, which has a snake head tipped finger, which attacks several people pulling their faces apart, with some decent gory special effects from Mark Shostrom (From Beyond).
I thought lead Michael Bendetti was fairly bland in the role, an attractive young man but not a lot of real depth, though he does manage to convey someone in over their head pretty well. The film is chockful of lovely ladies who are briefly nude at time, among them Denise Gentile, Holly Floria, and Alex Datcher, with Gentile being quite a captivating femme fatale, very witchy and mysterious, quite beautiful as well. Another odd element is what appears to be a Marilyn Monroe lookalike working at the brothel, played by Holly Butler (Vendetta), who turns out to be a resurrected Monroe, but the likeness is a bit elusive and the portrayal is highly campy and really just feels creepy.
The flick also features a little person running around in in creepy Mardi Gras masks, one of which looks a lot like something from Schmoeller's Tourist Trap. While I think the plot sort of falls apart in the middle third after a promising set-up followed by a decent finale, the flick gets by on some terrific Bayou atmosphere, with handsome lensing by Adolf Bartoli (The Pit and the Pendulum), and an atmospheric score by Bon Jovi keyboardist David Bryan.
Audio/Video: Netherworld (1992) makes it's Blu-ray debut from Full Moon Features in 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1) advertised as being "totally uncut and remastered from the original camera negative", marking the film's widescreen HD debut on home video. The source is in fantastic shape with nary a blemish in sight, grain is well-managed and it hasn't been aggressively DNR'd either, so were off to a good start. Colors look accurate, while its not the most vibrant color-splashed image I've ever seen green, blues and red shine when called upon, and black levels are decent if never reference quality. Audio is less stellar, Full Moon still have not embraced uncompressed audio on Blu-ray in the year 2023, what we get are a lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 an 5.1, the 5.1 is still pretty front focused, but does flesh out the score by David Bryan, the keyboardist for Bon Jovi, also featuring tunes by Edgar Winter, who is also seen performing as the brothel house band alongside Bryan.
Extras feature about 12-min of Full Moon Trailers, plus a vintage Videozone featurette with the usual intro by Charlie Band, plus on-set interviews with actors Michael Bendetti, Denise Gentile, Alex Datcher, Holly Floria, director David Schmoeller, special FX creator Mark Shostrom , plus rocker David Bryan, and a separate spotlight on director/FX Creator John Carl Buechler who did not work on this film. The single-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a single sided sleeve of artwork featuring the original illustrated movie poster artwork, which is also featured on the disc inside.
Special Features:
- Full Moon Features Trailers: Subspecies: Bloodsrise (2:19), Netherworld (2:35), Puppet Master: Doktor Death (1:50), Don't Let Her In (1:50), Puppet Master III (2:16), Weedjies: Halloweed Night (1:57),
- Netherworld Videozone Behind-the-Scenes F
- Netherworld Videozone Behind-the-Scenes F
Featurette (26:24)
Screenshots from the Full Moon Features Blu-ray:
Extras:
