DVD COMPARISON: MARK OF THE DEVIL (1970)

DVD BATTLE:

MARK OF THE DEVIL (1970) 

It's been awhile since we had a DVD comparison up on the site but here we go, this time out it's MARK OF THE DEVIL (1970) with editions from Blue Underground and Cheezy Flicks. .

This is my attempt to guide genre film fans towards the most complete and proper presentations of our favorite films through comparison of special features and audio visual qaulities. I'll make my decision known and why but take a look at what each release offers and make your own decision based on what's important to you as a buyer. Some go for the commentaries and 5.1, others may take a shine to interviews and artwork or just price point. Let's just be thankful that we have choices and that there are niche labels the world around competing for our hard earned dollars because choice is a very good thing indeed.

MARK OF THE DEVIL (1970) 

Label: Blue Underground
Region Code: NTSC 1
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 96 Mins
Aspect Ratio: 16:9 Widescreen (1.78:1)
Audio: English Dolbu Digital 2.0 Mono
Cast: Udo Kier, Herbert Lom, Reggie Nalder, Herbert Fux 
Director: Michael Armstrong 

Synopsis: Uncensored!This is the one that historians and gorehounds alike still speak of with shock and awe, the movie so extreme that audiences were given free barf bags! Herbert Lom (THE DEAD ZONE), Udo Keir (BLADE), Herbert Fux (EUGENIE) and the ultra-creepy Reggie Nalder (SALEMS LOT) star in this infamous epic of fanatical 18th Century witchfinders who rape, torture, dismember and burn thousands of nubile young women falsely accused of fornicating with Satan. Can you stomach the agonizing torment of the damned? Behold the gut-wrenching horror of MARK OF THE DEVIL! 

BLUE UNDERGROUND MENUS

Special Features: 
- Audio Commentary with Director Michael Armstrong

- Fear and Loathing in Austria - Interview with Star Udo Kier (6:42)
- The Devil's Torturer - Interview with Star Herbert Fux (13:14)
- Burn, Gaby, Burn! - Interview with Star Gaby Fuchs (7:05)
- The Devil's Assaulted - Interview with Star Ingeborg Shoner (7:04)
- Theatrical Trailer (3:26)
- 3 Radio Spots (1:40)
- Poster and Still Galleries

VS.

MARK OF THE DEVIL (1970) 

Yach Pack Edition

Label: Cheezy Flicks 
Region Code: NTSC 1
Rating: R
Duration: 96 Mins
Aspect Ratio: Letterboxed  (1.78:1)
Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Cast: Udo Kier, Herbert Lom, Reggie Nalder, Herbert Fux 
Director: Michael Armstrong 

Synopsis: Banned in many countries!  - Udo Kier is a witch hunter apprentice to Herbert Lom. Udo believes strongly in his mentor and in the ways of the church but loses faith when he catches Lom strangle a man to death for calling him impotent. Kier begins to see for himself that the witch trials are nothing but a scam of the church to seduce women, rob people of their land, money, and other personal belongings. in the end, the towns people revolt, Herbert Llom escapes and poor Udo is tortured to death by the towns people with the his own devices from the dungeon. 

CHEEZY FLICKS MENU

THE VOMIT BAG!

Cheezy Flicks Special Features: 

- Vomit Bag

- Trailers: I DRINK YOUR BLOOD (1:38), HORRORS AT THE BLACK MUSEUM (3:8) 

- About Cheezy Flicks

- Intermission (1:05)

DVD SCREENSHOT COMPARISONS

Blue Underground: Top

Cheezy Flicks: Bottom

Verdict: Michael Armstrong's sadistic tale of a witchfinder (Herbert Lom) and his apprentice (Udo Kier) is still a fantastically exploitative period piece delving into the dark underbelly of just how truly evil and corrupt the witch hunts were, sure it's dated but it still packs quite a punch and is riddled with perversity and bloody torture. 

Cheezy Flicks novel vomit bag is a strong impulse buy based on kitschy appeal alone but in the face of Blue Undergrounds film-specific special features which include not just a great commentary with director Michael Armstrong but also four featurettes with video interviews with the principle cast including Udo Kier. 

That's just the extras, now when you take into consideration the quite poor video and audio quality of Cheezy Flicks edition which is a dark, washed-out muddy mess that seems to be sourced from a VHS the scales are even further unbalanced in favor of Blue Underground whose edition has been completely restored and it shows every level, the saturated color is gorgeous, fine details are abundant and black levels are generally strong, there's just no comparison to be made. Blue Underground bests Cheezy Flicks in all regards, if you can find it cheap enough I would suggest snagging the Cheezy Flicks edition if only to snag the cool vomit bag and stick inside the Blue Underground DVD as pictured below then toss the inferior edition on the sell pile.

THE WINNER: BLUE UNDERGROUND!

http://www.blue-underground.com/

http://cheezyflicks.com/

DVD Review: THE THEATRE BIZARRE (2011)

THE THEATRE BIZARRE (2011)

Label: Image Entertainment
Region: 1 NTSC
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 114 Minutes
Aspect Ratio: 16:9 Widescreen (2:35:1)
Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1
Directors: Buddy Giovinazzo, David Gregory, Douglas Buck, Jeremy Kasten, Karim Hussain, Richard Stanley, Tom Savini
Cast: Udo Kier , Guilford Adams, Suzan Anbeh, Lindsay Goranson, André Hennicke, Kaniehtiio Horn, Lena Kleine, Catriona MacColl, Victoria Maurette, Virginia Newcomb, Debbie Rochon, Tom Savini, Melodie Simard

When Enola Penny (Virginia Newcomb) enters a derelict theatre she is enraptured by a bizarre series of six anthology vignettes introduced by a creepy marionette character (Udo Kier, Mark of the Devil) and a cast of eerie automatons creations.

Up first is the Lovecraftian tale "The Mother of Toads" directed by Richard Stanley, the director of Hardware (1990) and Dust Devil (1992). The segment features Italian horror icon Catriona MacColl who appeared in many of Lucio Fulci's films including The Beyond (1980). An American couple Martin (Shane Woodard) and Karina (Victoria Maurette) are touring the French Pyrenees when by chance they encounter a witchy woman named Mere  (Catriona MacColl, The City of the Living Dead) who lures Martin, an anthropologist by trade, to her countryside villa with the promise of the fabled Necronomicon. Once the young man is is alone with her he discovers she  is quite more than she at first appears. It's a well-crafted creeper and the seduction of Martin by the aged witch is quite unnerving and it only gets more grotesque when he wakes up next to something quite a bit more severe than a horny witch. The gooey low-budget creature effects are pretty great, the anthology starts off strong with what turned out to be my favorite of the bunch. It's great to see Stanley back directing horror his aforementioned early 90's features were among the decades brightest and darkest entries. The short features gorgeous settings and great cinematography accentuated by Dario Argento-esque lighting and an atmospheric score that brought to mind Goblin at moments. The piece really has an Italian horror feel to it, definitely a short that left me hungering for more from Richard Stanley, this was a great Lovecraftian tale rich with occult symbolism.

Up next  from director Buddy Giovinazzo (Combat Shock) is a twisted tale of demented love and betrayal "I Love You". Axel (Andre Hennicke) is a pathetic and insanely insecure man pleading for his cheating lover Mo (Suzan Anbeh) to stay with him despite her painfully honest admissions of infidelity which she lays bare on the table in a series of promiscuous flashbacks. This one is heavy on dialogue but we get a satisfying and twisted finale that delivers the goods. 

"Wet Dreams" from Tom Savini follows a douche-nozzle named Donnie (James Gill) who steps outside the bounds of  marriage to Carla (Debbie Rochon) regularly but he is haunted by castration anxiety nightmares of emasculation and towards that end seeks the help of a psychiatrist named Dr. Maurey (Tom Savini). Turns out Donnie is sticking it to the psychiatrist's wife on the side and you have to imagine that a head shrink, when provoked, is capable of some dark and twisted shit. Tom Savini also directed the remarkable Night of the Living Dead (1990) remake but has done very little since that has stuck with me, my least favorite of the bunch but there's some revenger fun to be had here with gory special effects gore from the Toetag Pictures crew. 

Douglass Buck's somber "The Accident" deals with the aftermath of a motorcycle accident witnessed by a mother (Lena Kleine) and her adolescent daughter (Melodie Simard). It's a gorgeous looking film and has a tenderness to it that sets it apart from the other dark-hearted tales, the young girl's questions about death to her mother was quite touching and maybe a bit misplaced on this anthology.

Enough about a innocent young girls questions about mortality, let's get back to some squirm inducing eye-gore with Karim Hussain's "Vision Stains" a rather unique vision of terror indeed as a young woman (Kaneihtiio Horn) mortally wounds street walkers, junkies and the homeless and as they lay dying inserts a needle into their eyes withdrawing the ocular fluid and then injecting it into her own eyeball - fans of Fulci's infamous eye-gore will just love this, some very nasty effects work going on here - it will have you squirming in your seat for sure, just nasty. The transference of ocular fluid sets of a series of memories in her own brain and she hurriedly scrawls the life memories of each of her victims into a journal, a weird addiction and compulsive .

The last of the vignettes is a candy-colored nightmare of gluttony and lust from David Gregory entitled "Sweets". Estelle (Lindsay Goranson) and Greg (Guilord Adams) are engaged in some bizarre fetish that involves mass digestion of confectionery delights to the point that it's just gross> When the two attend a party hosted by Mikela Da Vinci (Lynn Lowry, Romero's The Crazies) things get even more bizarre, a beautifully filmed and shocking bit of nastiness right here.  

DVD Special Features:
- Audio Commentary for each Segment with the exception being Douglass Beck "The Accident"
- 'Shock Till You Drop' Interviews with Gergory, Giovanizzo, Kasten (38:21) 
- Behind-the-Scenes (7:45)  
- Theatrical Trailer (1:35) 

Verdict: What attracted me to this film at first was the return of Richard Stanley to the horror genre - now that's something to get excited about right there and I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of all of these dark vignettes.  Not all were of the caliber of Stanley's Lovecraftian "Mother of Toads" but each was well-crafted, interesting and stylish, very few anthologies fire on all cylinders, that's just the way of the anthology but The Theatre Bizarre makes for some artfully disturbing viewing from start to finish, impressive stuff. (3.5 Outta 5) 

DVD Review: Demeking, The Sea Monster (2009)

DEMEKING, THE SEA MONSTER (2009)

"Terror Lies Beneath"
Cinema Epoch


RATED: G
RUNNING TIME: 99 Min.
DIRECTOR: Kohtaro Terauchi
CAST: Takashi Nadagi (Hachiya), Kohei Kiyasu (Kame)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Japan

SUMMARY: In 1969, a young man named Hachiya finds an anonymous letter in a glass bottle which foretold of the apocalyptic arrival of a cosmic monster known as Demeking. Since then, he has physically prepared himself in a lone struggle for that fateful day when the monster will arrive. (from CinemaEpoch.Com)

FILM: Demeking, The Sea Monster is a live action adaptation of Takashi Imashiro's 1991 cult manga Demekingu which I've not read as I'm not a huge manga fan, to be honest. As the film begins we see an ominous asteroid as it hurls through space, presumably on a collision course with Earth, setting up the expectation that some creature feature disaster further awaits us. The setting of the film is the early 1970's and  we are introduced to Kame (Kohei Kiyasu), an awkward high school student who just doesn't fit in with kids his own age, he's bullied and generally disliked by his peers. He lives in a sleepy port town where he works at his families tofu shop and has little aspirations other than spending his time with a trio of adolescents who look up to him. Together they form an exploration club and go off on fantasy filled expeditions in search of adventure and fun. While on one of these expeditions at the port they come across a "ghost ship" and decide to explore it. Once inside they are interrupted by the owner of the vessel, Hachiya (Takashi Nadagi), a young man who works at a local theme park.  He tells the exploration club of the Demeking - a creature he is destined to defeat before it can destroy Tokyo. When pressed to give more information about this creature he sends the group on a scavenger hunt that will lead then to the truth. It doesn't really, but it allows them to do what they do best - letting their imaginations soar with the possibility of discovery.

I really enjoyed the acting in this film, very subtle, it's not comedic but it has a definite streak of humor throughout. The two main characters give understated performances as Kame (Kiyasu) and Hachiya (Nadagi), two similar but different young men who seem lost in life with no direction, each filling the void with fantasy. There's a quiet desperation and sadness to their lives that the actors capture really well. They lose themselves in their fantasies. Kame avoids the stress of high school by taking on the role of a big brother to the adolescent exploration club. Hachiya is consumed by the notion that he has been tasked to defeat the Demeking which allows him to internally avoid the pressure by his father to do something meaningful with his life.  And what comes of the mythical creature?

Well, the titular Demeking does finally appear in the final 1/3 of the film, albeit during a fever dream Kame suffers. Dream or not it is a well rendered sequence, Gojira has nothing on this super-beast. As the previously mentioned asteroid slams into the Earth, a gargantuan, stalk-eyed, armored slug emerges and begins laying waste to the cityscape with an irradiated beam it emits from its mouth. It is a thing of beauty as the glowing eyed creature tromps through the village laying eggs and setting buildings on fire. Of note, the creature origins are outer space, not the sea as the title would indicate. I guess Demeking, The Space Monster sounded too much like a schlocky 50's era b-movie.

I really enjoyed Demeking, The Sea Monster and director Kohtaro Terauchi's handling of the material which while not at all what I expected, I did end up enjoying it.  This is much more a tale of two people entering young adulthood while trying to hold onto the delusional fantasies of childhood than a true creature feature though it does meet that criteria as well to some degree.

DVD: The Cinema Epoch DVD of Demeking, The Sea Monster is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen with a 5.1 Japanese language surround sound mix with optional English subtitles. It's a good looking film shot on HDCAM and the cinematography wonderfully captures the sleepy atmosphere of this seaside village. On the downside, the only special features are trailers for other Cinema Epoch films and I would have loved a featurette that touched on the source material.
 

VERDICT: Demeking, The Sea Monster seems to be marketed as creature feature and this is really dismissive of the film's true nature as a offbeat character piece about two young men lacking direction in their lives. If you go into this expecting a creature feature/disaster film I think you'll be hugely disappointed, but as a dramatic, nuanced character piece it is a great watch that is punctuated by a brief but fun monster attack on a sleepy port town. The DVD from Cinema Epoch is available today, so check it out. *** (3.5 Out of Five Stars)

- McBASTARD

DVD Review: The Dark Lurking (2009)

THE DARK LURKING(2009)
"In Space, Terror Knows No Bounds"
Cinema Epoch

RATED: R
RUNNING TIME: 96 Min.
DIRECTOR: Greg Connors
CAST: Tonia Renee (Lena), Ozzie Devrish (Kirkland), Roslyn Van Doorn Yutant), Dirk Foulger (Konieg), Anthony Edwards (Dare), Bret Kennedy (Michaels)

SUMMARY:  Outpost 320 is a secret research facility located one mile beneath the Earth. Researchers make a critical mistake and an ancient evil is unleashed. Eight survivors including two former research patients, three mercenaries, two researchers and a medic fight for survival against a horde of creatures. They're only escape is through 13 levels of terror that will lead them to the surface. However, one of them is not what they appear.

FILM: The Dark Lurking is the feature-length debut from writer/director Greg Connors. This is an action-packed film that wears its influences on it's sleeve, just check out the box art which unlike Cinema Epoch's Psycho Shark delivers what the box art promises - an adrenaline fueled homage to James Cameron's Aliens that mixes in a healthy dose of Resident Evil type creatures that makes for a potent combination of sci-fi and action-gore.

The Dark Lurking is set in the underground research facility Outpost 320, it's a dark labyrinth of narrow, claustrophobic corridors and rooms complete with strobing red lights, misty atmosphere and ravenous creatures running amuck. The researchers have accidentally unleashed an ancient evil that mutates the majority of the crew into ravenous creatures. Our eight survivors make their way through research facility in an effort to escape to the surface while avoiding the vicious horde of creatures. There's a good mix of familiar iconic characters. You have the roughneck mercenaries, the suspect researchers, a few research patients, and a medic. The acting is decent, not fantastic, but the actors suit the characters and play there parts sufficiently.

What sets The Dark Lurking apart from other low-budget sci-fi/horror knock-offs is that the cinematography and editing are top notch. Great use of interesting angles, movement of camera and well edited action sequences provide a visually interesting film. I also enjoyed the pulsing filmscore, which is also heavily influenced by the films of Cameron. A criticism I have of the film would be that there may be too much action. The rarely slows down and I would have appreciated a few more character moments because you don't get a great feel for the characters. That aside, this film is all about relentless action and killing mutated creatures and to that end this film delivers in spades.

On par with the cinematography and editing are the outstanding creature SFX.  Grotesque, clawed mutations rendered using old school practical latex and rubbber suits and they look great. While more an sci-fi actioner than a horror flick The Dark Lurking  has more than enough blood, guts and splatter to satisfy most gorehouds.  The film just feels old school in regards to it's action and creature effects, it's an appealing combination.

DVD: The Dark Lurking is presented in anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen with a 5.1 surround sound mix. It's a good looking , not stunning, but better than your average micro-budget sci-fi action film. A decent amount of extras including Trailer, Behind-the-Scenes Featurette, the short film "Netherworld" and a still gallery.

VERDICT: The Dark Lurking was a ton o' fun. A high recommend to fans of bloody action-packed sci-fi horror, particularly if you dig Aliens, Predator, or Resident Evil. I look forward to the next project from director Greg Connors, a promising debut from a new talent. The Dark Lurking is set to be released October 12th 2010 from Cinema Epoch.
***(3 Out of Five Stars)


- McBASTARD

DVD Review: Psycho Shark (2009)

PSYCHO SHARK (2009)

"Underwater Terror!"

Cinema Epoch

RATED: UR

RUNNING TIME: 70 Min.

DIRECTOR: Hijiro John

CAST: Nonami Takizawa, Airi Nakajima, Mika Inagaki


SUMMARY: Beautiful girls are in danger. At Sunny Beach, a huge shark is waiting for his prey. College students Miki and Mai arrive on a private beach on a tropical island. They can't find the hotel where they booked their reservations, and have gotten hopelessly lost, until a handsome young man shows up, offering to take them to his lodge. But something is not right about the place. The owner's fingernails are tainted with blood and Miki feels something sinister lurking nearby. (from CineEpoch.Com)

FILM: What would you expect from a DVD whose artwork features an impossibly large shark swallowing a woman whole? You might say "There's a Region 1 release of GREAT WHITE (1981)?" which was a film infamously pulled from theatres after Universal Pictures won a lawsuit against it's producers for being too derivative of JAWS. Furthermore, I tell you the original title was JAWS IN JAPAN and that to avoid legal confrontation with Universal Pictures the title was changed shortly before it's release here in the States? Well, I expected some blood-soaked shark carnage exploitation. What we get is a bikini exploitation bonanza with very little shark.

Two very attractive young women named Miki and Mai are vacationing on a gorgeous island when they befriend a handsome young man who turns out to be a serial killer. What ensues is a confusing tale to say the least. Maybe perhaps because I found it difficult to concentrate on the subtitles while these bikini-clad women frolicked on the beach and in the shower I may have missed out on the subtle nuances of the storyline, but I doubt it. In reality this is a serial killer flick and the shark played very little into the storyline. If you make it through to the end of the film you'll be treated to the most heinous looking CGI shark ever created. It's an absurd thing of beauty and you'll be asking yourself  WTF!

DVD: Psycho Shark is presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen in Japanese with an English subtitle option. Special features include an18 minute Making Of featurette (in Japanese with no English subtitles), a Stills Gallery and several trailers for titles available from Cinema Epoch.

PSYCHO SHARK aka JAWS IN JAPAN (2009) Vs. GREAT WHITE (1981)

VERDICT: Massive disappointment. Don't promise me a bloody shark-sploitation film and hand be a contrived serial killer flick with a hackneyed found footage element, this I cannot abide. PSYCHO SHARK is set to be released on October 12th through Cinema Epoch. Next up from Cinema Epoch is THE DARK LURKING (2009) which I must say I enjoyed quite a bit. *1/2(1.5 Out of Five Stars)

- McBASTARD