APT PUPIL (1998)
Label: Umbrella Entertainment
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: MA 15+
Duration: 111 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video:1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Bryan Singer
Cast: Brad Renfro, Ian McKellen, Joshua Jackson, David Schwimmer, Bruce Davison,
Ann Dowd,
James Karen, Elias Koteas
Following The Usual Suspects (1995) I was very excited to see what newcomer director Bryan Singer would do next, when it was announced it would be an adaptation of Stephen King's Nazi next door novel Apt Pupil I was very excited. Set 1984 the film stars Brad Renfro (Ghost World) as high schooler Todd Bowden who is a bit too curious about Nazi culture. So much so that he is able to identify his elderly neighbor Arthur Denker (Ian McKellan, Lord of the Rings) as fugitive Nazi war criminal Kurt Dussander, an officer in the ranks of the SS, who oversaw an extermination camp where atrocities were committed against the Jews.
The first sign that the kid is not your average teen is when he doesn't report the criminal to the authorities, instead he approaches the elderly man and informs him after some polite conversation that he knows who he is and what he has done, calling him by his true name and indicating the camp he oversaw. He uses this leverage to ply the man for detailed information about how it felt to do the things he did, going into great detail about the atrocities he committed. These morbid tales ignite a growing darkness within the teen, at one point purchasing a Nazi officer uniform which he demands the elderly Nazi wear while he puts him through his paces, it's a disturbing scene.
The increased time spent together reliving Nazi atrocities has an effect on both individuals, the old Nazi's sadistic tendencies are seemingly re-awakened, while Todd's growing darkness continues to consume him, with his academic studies suffering, while growing apart from his best friend Joey (Joshua Jackson, TV's Fringe). Both men begin to dabble in animal cruelty, the old man attempts to roast a stray cat in his oven while Todd needlessly kills a pigeon at school. The old man's blood lust eventually leads to him luring a homeless gigolo (Elias Koteas) into his home with the intent to kill him with a knife, but a heart attack requires him to bring in Todd to finish the job, with a bit of black mail of his own leveraged over the teen.
Eventually a chance encounter at the hospital has the Nazi being recognized by an elderly death camp survivor which puts Nazi-hunters n the trail of Denker, threatening to expose not just him but the teen's complicit nature in the whole ordeal.
I've always found this film compelling, how it begins to explore the dark nature of the boy's disturbing fascination with Nazi culture, but it never really nails it down to a satisfying degree. Singer's adaptation also explores homosexuality and homophobia as well as the holocaust, but that too doesn't really have a satisfying message to convey, it's a film that has a lot of ingredients but they don't all come together in a way that I feel it should, it lacks depth.
The late Brad Renfro turns in a nicely dark performance here, he was a talented guy and he portrays the kid's sickening curiosity with good intensity. He plays well off of the chilling turn from McKellan, with the pair entangled in a wicked cat and mouse game of blackmail and leverage, with increasingly dire results for both individuals. Watch for appearances from Bruce Davison (Willard) as Todd's dad, plus James Karen (Return of the Living Dead), Elias Koteas (Let Me In) and TV's Friends star David Schwimmer as Todd's guidance counselor with a hideously bad moustache.
Audio/Video: Apt Pupil (1998) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Umbrella Entertainment presented in 1080p HD and framed in 2.35:1 widescreen. The image looks solid throughout. There's no mention of a new scan for this release, so this is probably the same HD master used by Image for their out-of-print Blu-ray, it looks solid, the colors are strong and the black levels are decent throughout. The film has a bit of haziness to it because of some soft focus cinematography, so it's not a super sharp and crisp looking presentation, butt overall this is a solid looking presentation, a nice upgrade over the DVD.
Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo with optional English subtitles, it's a healthy sounding stereo presentation with no issues with distortion that I could discern. The score from John Ottman (Lake Placid) holds up nicely, it gets some nice life in the mix, too bad we don't get a 5.1 audio track for this one, I am fairly certain all previous home video releases had one.
Extras are slim, we get a 7-min vintage making of featurette with interviews from Bryan Singer, Brad Renfro, Ian McKellan, with loads of behind-the-scenes footage. We also get a theatrical trailer for the film and some TV spots.
The single-disc release comes housed in an oversized Blu-ray keepcase with a sleeve of reversible artwork, both sides featuring the same image, what looks to be a collage of a pair of original movie posters for the film, with one side not having the unsightly ratings logo on the cover. Like the other Stephen King adaptations released by Umbrella the sleeve has the worn, dog-eared look of a paperback which gives the collection of Blu-rays a nice symmetry on the shelf when placed next to each other. The disc has an excerpt from the same key art.
Obviously I would have loved some new extras for this title, it's controversial for several reasons, especially some behind-the-scenes stuff involving director Bryan Singer and some lawsuits filed against him by some young men who felt that some shower scenes, but that's not usually the sort of thing you find on an extra for a film, particularly about a still working director. That said, some new interviews would have been appreciated.
Special Features:
- Behind-The-Scenes (7 min)
- Theatrical Trailer (3 min)
- TV Spots (2 min)
Apt Pupil (1998) is an underrated gem of Stephen King adaptation, it lacks depth and doesn't fully explore the themes it sets up, but I still find it a compelling Nazi-next-door film. Kudos to Umbrella Entertainment for making this release available again on Blu-ray, the out-of-print Image release has been fetching some steep prices on the secondary market, so this is a welcome release, and it's region-free!
WILLARD (1971)
Label: Scream Factory
Release Date: May 16th 2017
Region Code: A
Rating: PG
Duration: 95 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Daniel Mann
Cast: Sondra Locke, Elsa Lanchester, Ernest Borgnine, Bruce Davison, Michael Dante
Willard Stiles (Bruce Davidson, Lords of Salem) is a bit social misfit, he lives with his overbearing mom Henriette (Elsa Lanchester, Bride of Frankenstein) in a run-down Victorian mansion. He works at a factory formerly owned by his now deceased father, a business stolen away from the family by his new boss Al Martin (Ernest Borgnine, Escape from New York), who is always on him, pushing him around and making him feel small in front of everyone at work.. At home his mother is both a doting harasser and totally smothering, between her and his boss Willard is about at his rope's end. Increasingly unhappy with his lot in life Willard befriends a pair of rats he find living in the basement of his home, a white rat he names Socrates and a darker rat named Ben, who becomes the lead rat to Willard's legion of the rats.
Hiding away in his basement Willard develops a rudimentary form of communication with his rats, forming an army of rodents who begin to perform his bidding, beginning by ruining his bosses annual party, the rats invading his home and causing quite panic. At work Willard befriends a new employee, the pretty and kind Joan (Sondra Locke, The Outlaw Josey Wales), with his new found rat friends and a lady in his life things are looking up for Willard, but his nagging mother is in failing health, and his boss is trying to screw him out of his Victorian mansion, he's at the edge and things turn dark soon enough, first with the death of his mother, and second when his boss kills Socrates at the office.
After being fired from his job by Mr. Martin Willard goes to the factory after-hours with his army of rats and confronts Mr. Martin in his office, calling him out for all his evil deeds and slights against him, before commanding the rats to "tear him up!", which they do, forcing the bastard to leap out a window to his death as he is gnawed upon my dozens of rats. Unfortunately, in the aftermath Willard begins to mistreat his rat-friends, tricking them and drowning them, and Ben is not having any of it, launching an attack against Willard, proving that you should never betray your friends, even yur rat friends. I love it when Willard is on the run from the horde of vengeful rats, screaming "I was good to you Ben!".
The shots of rats are well-filmed and rather creepy, directed by Daniel Mann (Our Man Flint) the films has a nice look and atmosphere, though the film does have a certain TV look about it, not surprising since cinematographer Robert B. Hauser (The Frisco Kid) worked in TV for twenty-five years, but the shots are nicely lit with colored lighting adding a dramatic flair. If you have a fear of rats this is gonna be an icky watch for you, they did good work capturing the rodents on film, particularly the shots of the lead rat Ben, some of which do give him some kitschy menace. You have to laugh when you clearly see that the rats are obviously being flung in the cast from just off camera.
Willard is a weird, dark movie that holds up well, Bruce Davidson is wonderful as the sort of pathetic weird guy turned rat-commander, who himself proves to be a villainous character in the end, but he is the most likeable of the characters the movie focuses on. Ernest Borgnine is superb as the cruel, larger-than-life Mr. Milton, who puts upon poor Willard at every turn, but he gets his comeuppance and then some. Elsa Lanchester as Willard's mum is also a blast, a slightly insane sort of woman in poor health, her eyes read crazy, and his relationship with both her and Mr. Milton makes for some great scenes, you can see why Willard is such a frustrated weirdo.
This was my first time watching the movie, I've seen clips pop-up here and there on YouTube through the years, but this is the first time the film has been available on any digital home video release, this sucker has been dormant since the days of VHS! It was worth the wait, this is a great film and a wonderful looking release, the extras with actor Bruce Davidson are fantastic, highly recommended.
Audio/Video: Willard (1971) arrives on Blu-ray for the first time-ever on any digital format from Scream Factory, benefiting from a gorgeous new 4K scan looking sharp and details from the origial negative, blues and greens really pop, the textures and fine detail are wonderful, those 70s furnishing and fashions pop right off the screen. There's some modest depth to the image, the moody lighting in the latter scenes look great, this is a wonderful presentation.
The extras are slim but good, beginning with a brand new commentary with actor Bruce Davidson moderated by Nathaniel Thompson of MondoDigital.com, a fun track with Bruce waxing nostalgic about his time working on the film with not just the rats but the amazing cast, including Elsa Lanchester (Bride of Frankenstein) who gave him some sage advice about director';s and their loads of codswallop, plus some great anecdotes about working with the larger-than-life Ernest Borgnine (Escape from New York), impersonating him while saying his line "This place is a woodpecker's hamburger". Davidson approaches his own career with some wry humor, mentioning how after kissing a rat in this film he didn't have the chance to kiss a girl on film for the next years! Thompson does good work keeping the conversation flowing, prompting Davidson to speak about his work in Short Eyes and Long Time Companion, and his own ideas about what the sequel should have been.
There's also an on-camera interview with Davidson, he touches on a lot of the same information as the commentary, speaking about what an enthusiastic director Danny Mann was, again relaying the story of how at one point when struggling with a scene Mann told him to "think of the Nazis", and his love for actress Sondra Locke. We also get a selection of radio spots, TV spots and the theatrical trailer for the film, plus a gallery of images which includes promotional stills, lobby cards, and posters from various territories. This release is a dual format BD/DVD Combo, containing both HD and SD versions of the film, each disc having the same feature and extras, two-discs housed in a standard blue keepcase. The artwork is not reversible but features a scene from the film on the reverse side.
Special Features
- NEW 4K scan of the original camera negative
- NEW audio commentary with actor Bruce Davison
- NEW interview with actor Bruce Davison (12 min) HD
- Theatrical Trailer (2 min) HD
- TV Spot (1 min)
- Radio Spots (1 min) HD
- Still Gallery (6 min) HD
This is the sort of cult releases I celebrate Scream Factory for, we've been waiting for Willard (1971) and it's sequel, Ben (1972), to come to Blu-ray for years, and now it's here, and it was totally worth the wait. I hope this release brings some younger viewers to the altar of Willard, a film that deserves a wider audience, but because it has been so scarce for so long it's reputation has languished and waned. I'm sure many folks don't even realize the 2003 movie was remake, and that's just a damn shame. 4/5
