DOWN (2001) (Blue Underground Blu-ray Review)

DOWN (2001)(aka THE SHAFT) 

Limited Edition (3000) DVD/Blu-ray Combo 

Label: Blue Underground
Rating:  R
Duration: 111 Minutes
Audio: English, French: DTS-HD MA Surround 5.1; English, French Dolby Digital Stereo; English, French: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround EX; English, French Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1) 
Director: Dick Maas
Cast: James Marshall, Naomi Watts, Eric Thal, Michael Ironside, Edward Herrmann, Dan Hedaya, Ron Perlman
 

Director Dick Mass directed this American remake of his own film The Lift (1983) in 2001, which was a popular thing to do at the turn of this century, keeping the same basic premise and set-pieces as the original film wherein an evil-sentient elevator begins murdering people  in a busy high rise. The setting is re-located from Amsterdam to New York City, inside the Millennium Building, a fictitious skyscraper standing in for The Empire State Building. The film begins not with horny party-goers having a close call inside the elevator but with a group of very pregnant women trapped between floors and nearly running out of air, two of the women give birth inside the elevator, with a scene of one of the women's water breaking, fluid erupting onto the floor.  

Two repairmen from the METEOR elevator company are called into look into the possibility of a malfunction, we have Jeff (Eric Thal, The Puppet Masters) and Mark (James Marshall, Twin Peaks) who investigate but find no malfunction with any of the mechanical/operating systems. They give the elevator a clean bill of health the staff at the Millennium building resume normal operations, but the killer elevator proceeds kill in short order, including a pervy blind man and his seeing-eye dog, plus a security guard who loses his head. Both of these kills appeared in the original film but are expanded upon here, the decapitation scene is less rubbery looking, though more digital, and the blind guy drags his poor service dog down the shaft with him! 

Elevator technician Mark becomes our main guy this time around, and Naomi Watts (King Kong) play persistent underdog reporter Jennifer Evans, both teaming-up to solve the case, obsessed by the growing body count at the Millennium building. There's also a great cast of side characters played by familiar faces, we have Edward Herrmann (The Lost Boys) as the building manager Mr. Milligan, Dan Hedaya (The Hunger) as Lt. McBain, Ron Perlman (Hellboy) as Mark's boss at METEOR, and Michael Ironside (Scanners) as a creepy German scientist who is behind the evil A.I. that runs the elevators. 

Aside from the aforementioned blind guy and decapitation stuff  Maas also re stages the scene of a young girl playing with her dolly who is nearly killed by the menacing elevator, but adds a fun daycare element to the story with a stern, foul-mouthed nanny named Ilsa, which was fun. Also new is a high body count scene with the floor dropping out of the packed elevator, with people falling to their demise, bouncing off the walls of the shaft, which is rather fantastic and action-packed. Speaking of action, as where the original film featured the repairman facing off against the bio-chip based evil alone this one features an all out tactical response from the NYC S.W.A.T. team, a real amped-up finale that features a stinger missile launcher!

About the only scene that didn't really work for me was that of an annoying rollerblader (is there any other kind?) who gets sucked into the elevator on the bottom floor and projectile vomited onto the top floor observation deck. falling to his death one hundred floors below. The movie clocks in at nearly two hours long, so it takes a while to get going and the pacing if off from time to time, some of the green screen and digital effects leave a bit to be desired too, but overall if you liked The Lift (1983) I say give this American remake a watch, while I prefer the originals low-budget horror there's still plenty to enjoy with this more comic and over-the-top remake. Watching this again today I was struck how the art deco design of the elevator doors looks a bit like the Hellraiser puzzle box, I wonder if that was on purpose? 

Audio/Video: Down (2001) arrives on makes it US widescreen debut on Blu-ray and DVD from Blue Underground with a lovely new 2K restoration from the original negative approved by Dick Maas, looking great all the way around. Nicely sharp and detailed, colors are saturated, skin tones look good and blacks are solid. Audio options include both loss English and French DTS-HD MA Surround 5.1 options, the surrounds get some good use during the action sequences, everything is well-mixed and balanced, though there's a lot of dubbed English dialogue which can sound canned.  This time around Maas did not create the score, other than the opening main title credit score, with the rest of it created by Dutch composer Paul M. van Brugge, plus songs from The Zombies, Chuck Berry and the most on-the-nose selection, Aerosmith's awful "Love in an Elevator". Optional English subtitles are provided.

Onto the extras we get a new commentary from Writer/Director Dick Maas and Stunt Coordinator Willem de Beukelaer moderated by David Gregory, a good track that details the music of the film, the genesis of the remake, how certain shots and stunts were achieved, and how the movie's commercial potential was hampered when six days into it's theatrical run the 9/11 tragedy happened, and the movie which contains shots of the doomed World Trade Center and references to terrorism and Osama Bin Laden failed to connect.

There's also a 9-min extra detailing the making of the film, I was astounded how much work went into making this one, building the marble-lined interiors of the building, the elevator banks, the exterior and rooftop sets, it was s an eye-opener. There's also nearly three hours of raw behind-the-scenes footage of the making of the film, theatrical and teaser trailers, and a gallery of posters, home video releases, stills and behind-the-scenes images. 

This 2-disc release comes housed in a clear Criterion-style Scanavo case with a sleeve of reversible artwork featuring two art options including the original, The Down artwork and the alternate The Shaft artwork which accompanied the original 2003 Artisan DVD. The discs likewise offer up the same two key artwork options on their visage. There's a 20-page collector's booklet with new writing on the film by Michael Gringold, this includes cast, crew info plus chapter selection, and behind-the-scenes images and stills, plus various posters for this movie as well as Maas' Sint, The lift and Silent Witness. 

Special Features: 
- Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Dick Maas and Stunt Coordinator Willem de Beukelaer moderated by David Gregory 
- The Making of DOWN (9 min) 
- Behind-the-Scenes Footage [Blu-ray Exclusive] (151 min) 
- Theatrical Trailer (2 min) HD 
- Teaser Trailer 1 (1 min) HD 
- Teaser Trailer 2 
- Poster and Still Gallery (87 Images) HD 
- 20-Page Collectible Booklet with new essay by author Michael Gingold

Like the original this one is a lot of fun, totally absurd, not too serious or scary, but wonderfully cheesy with a great cast. The new Blu-ray/DVD combo from Blue Underground offers up a crisp HD  presentation, allowing fans to finally enjoy this one is the original scope aspect ratio with some quality extras.  

DOWN (2001) (aka THE SHAFT) on DVD/BD from BLUE UNDERGROUND 10/10

DOWN (2001)(aka THE SHAFT) 

Limited Edition (3000) DVD/Blu-ray Combo 

Label: Blue Underground
Release Date: October 10th 2017
Rating:  R
Duration: 111 Minutes
Audio: English, French: 5.1 DTS-HD; English, French: Dolby Digital Stereo / DVD: English, French: 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround EX; English, French: Dolby Digital Stereo
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1) 
Director: Dick Maas
Cast: James Marshall, Naomi Watts, Eric Thal, Michael Ironside, Edward Herrmann, Dan Hedaya, Ron Perlman
 
You May Want to Take the Stairs…

When the express elevators in New York City’s 102-story Millennium Building start to malfunction, elevator mechanics Mark (James Marshall of TWIN PEAKS) and Jeff (Eric Thal of THE PUPPET MASTERS) are sent to find the cause. After a series of gruesome and deadly “accidents” occur, Mark joins forces with spunky reporter Jennifer (Naomi Watts of THE RING), who’s on the hunt for a juicy story. As the death toll rises and the building is sealed off amid claims of terrorism, Mark and Jennifer attempt to unravel the horrifying secret behind the mysterious behavior of the bloodthirsty lift before it takes them – and the entire city – DOWN!  

Michael Ironside (SCANNERS), Edward Herrmann (THE LOST BOYS), Dan Hedaya (COMMANDO), and Ron Perlman (HELLBOY) co-star in this big-budget remake of THE LIFT helmed by original Writer/Director Dick Maas (AMSTERDAMNED). Previously released on home video in a cropped full-frame transfer as THE SHAFT, Blue Underground is now proud to present DOWN in a brand-new widescreen 2K restoration from the original negative, approved by Dick Maas!

Special Features: 
- Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Dick Maas and Stunt Coordinator Willem de Beukelaer
- The Making of DOWN
- Behind-the-Scenes Footage [Blu-ray Exclusive]
- Theatrical Trailer
- Teaser Trailers
- Poster and Still Gallery
- BONUS Collectible Booklet with new essay by author Michael Gingold

Sell Points:
- Writer/Director Dick Maas’ big-budget remake of THE LIFT finally arrives on U.S. home video in widescreen for the first time ever!
- WORLD PREMIERE of brand new 2K restoration from the original negative approved by Dick Maas
- Blu-ray features Full 1080p HD Resolution and DTS-HD Master Audio for the ultimate home theater experience
- Exclusive Limited Collector’s Edition includes Blu-ray, DVD, bonus collectable booklet, reversible sleeve, and special packaging
- Exciting NEW Extras produced for this release
- Extensive online exposure on top websites, including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Rue Morgue, Blu-ray.com, and many more
- National print advertising
- From acclaimed Writer/Director Dick Maas (THE LIFT, AMSTERDAMNED, SAINT) 
- Features an all-star cast, including Naomi Watts (KING KONG, THE RING, MULHOLLAND DR.), James Marshall (TWIN PEAKS, GLADIATOR), Eric Thal (THE PUPPET MASTERS, A STRANGER AMONG US), Michael Ironside (SCANNERS, TOTAL RECALL), Edward Herrmann (THE LOST BOYS, TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN), Dan Hedaya (COMMANDO, 
- “Maas Delivers Fun Horror Moments, Including a Spectacular Elevator Door Decapitation and a Bird’s-Eye P.O.V. of a Character’s Leap Off the Observation Deck!” – Digitally Obsessed

JOE VERSUS THE VOLCANO (1990) (Blu-ray Review)

JOE VERSUS THE VOLCANO (1990)

Label: Warner Archive
Region Code: A
Rating: PG
Duration: 102 Minutes
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.40:1)
Audio: English DTS HD-Master Surround 5.1 with Optional English SDH
Director: John Patrick Shanley
Cast: Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Lloyd Bridges, Robert Stack, Abe Vigoda, Dan Hedaya, Barry McGovern, Ossie Davis

In 1990 I was 17 years old, head over heels in love (okay, maybe more lust than love in retrospect) with my first serious girlfriend, and we went to the movies A LOT in those days. There were very few major motion pictures in '89 and '90 we didn't catch on the big screen, and I clearly remember seeing Joe Versus the Volcano on it's initial (doomed) run at the cinema. I'd been a Tom Hanks fan from an early age, I loved him on the TV series Bosom Buddies, and loved his early 80's comedies like The Man With One Red Shoe, The 'Burbs and Money Pit, so I was excited to see him in what looked to be a fun romantic comedy with a fairytale sort of aesthetic, and that's exactly what I got. I enjoyed it, it was quirky fun, but the girlfriend thought it was pretty stupid. That relationship failed not long after, not because she hated the movie, though that probably didn't help. What doomed it was that she apparently never quite got over her boyfriend before me, fuckin' Jeffrey Post, ugh, I hated that guy so much, but I've long since gotten over it, but not before properly making a fool of myself, I didn't have much forgiveness or dignity at 17, ha ha.

Anyway, Tom Hanks (Dragnet)stars in the movie as former fireman Joe Banks, so traumatized by the life and death rigors of putting out fires that he took on a thankless clerical job in a dreary factory, the American Panascope Company, "home of the rectal probe", a thankless job working under a tyrant boss, Frank Waturi (Dan Hedaya, Blood Simple), in an office bathed in the unhealthy glow of fluorescent lighting, which gives him a permanent headache. Joe sits at his desk, in charge of sending out company catalogs, on it sits a decorative Polynesian themed novelty lamp, festooned with a images of a tropical paradise which proves to be a fortuitous image. 

Tired of suffering from headaches, depression and fatigue, an obvious hypochondriac, Joe makes an appointment with the eccentric Dr. Ellison (Robert Stack, TV's Unsolved Mysteries), who fter running some tests confirms Joe's worst fear, that it's not all in his mind, he is dying, and not from terminal cancer or some obvious illness, nope, it's something improbably called a "brain cloud". With his worst fear confirmed and not much time left, with little to lose he reports back to work where he quits, giving Mr. Waturi a proper verbal send-off, and asking his now former co-worker, the mousy Dede (Meg Ryan, Innerspace), on a date. During the ensuing night out on the town he impresses her with his new found vim and vigor, before scaring her off just as he's about to get laid by announcing that he's terminal, which she cannot warp her head around. 

The next morning he is visited by a weirdo wealthy industrialist named Samuel Harvey Graynamore (Lloyd Bridges, Airplane!), who has been made aware of Joe's terminal condition, and he comes with a strange proposition. Graynamore needs a rare mineral that can only found in large enough quantities on the Polynesian island of the Waponi Woo, and they won't let him have any of it unless he can provide someone willing to jump into their volcano as a willing human sacrifice before it erupts. It seems no one among the orange-soda slurping Waponis are willing to make the leap for the sake of their people. Bridges is wonderfully loony as the eccentric millionaire, the offer is ludicrous, handing Joe a stack of limitless credit cards offering to make sure he lives his final days in the lap of luxury. Positing that if he's going to die why not do it in style! Joe accepts the nutty offer, and thus his whimsical adventure begins, a twenty-day odyssey leading up to a fateful nosedive straight into the heart of an active volcano, a chance to burnout gloriously rather than fade away slowly. 

Joe's hires a limo driver, played by Ossie Davis (Bubba Ho-Tep), who chauffeurs Joe around NYC, assisting Banks in dressing a bit snazzier and preparing for the ocean bound adventure, including purchasing a set of airtight steamer trunks, which save his life more than once on the fantastical adventure to come. From New York City Joe catches a flight to L.A., where he is met by Graynamore's vapid daughter Angelica (Meg Ryan again) as a spoiled brat with no identity of her own, siphoning funds off her father, she's a mess of a woman all the way around, and she must have been fun for Ryan to play. After a night out with her Joe is delivered to a boat dock where he meets up with Angelica's half-sister Patricia (Ryan again!), an adventurous free spirit not content to suck on the teet of daddy's wealth, and who only agrees to sail Joe to Waponi Woo in exchange for the title to the beloved boat, the Tweedledee. 

Along the way the boat encounters a fatal storm and Joe and Patricia finds themselves adrift at sea, but the airtight luggage explodes from beneath the waves to save the day, adrift for several days before they happen to wash up on the shores of Waponi Woo, greeted by the tribe, a strange bunch who wouldn't have been out of place on an episode of Gilligan's Island, a weird mix of Polynesian and Hebrew heritage, lead by Chief Tobi, played by Abe Vigoda, who is actually dead now, FYI. The chief's right hand man is played by the usually boisterous Nathan Lane (The Producers). There's a hug celebration, and just when Joe is about to fulfill his obligation and jump into the volcano Patricia confesses her love for him, throwing a wrench into the works. 

The movie was maligned from the get-go, it was savagely reviewed by critics at the time, even in '90 I remember people really hating it, including my own girlfriend. Remind me again why I was with her... oh yeah, nevermind, lust.  Anyway, I didn't get the hate then and I don't get it now, this is a fun romantic comedy loaded whimsy,  a fairytale of sorts not played for realism, it's a bit surreal, and there's a lover's magic about it that I love. The visuals are charming, the leads and supporting characters are wonderful, particularly Hanks and Ryan, whose chemistry is so obvious, it's no wonder they went on to co-star in the mega-hit romantic comedies You've Got Mail and Sleepless In Seattle, but for some reason this one has failed to elicit the same love. I think most people were on board for the quirky romantic comedy, but the only slightly more absurd than what came before finale might have put the final nail in it for viewers. Perhaps like Hanks and Ryan's characters they were ejected from the film and left adrift at sea, but unlike the characters, viewers had no airtight luggage to come to their rescue. Hopefully this long-overdue Blu-ray will turn the tide on the disdain this movie has suffered for so long, it deserves another chance to win you over. 
    
Audio/Video: Joe Versus The Volcano (1990) arrives on Blu-ray from the cinema lovers over at the Warner archive with a fresh new 2017 HD remaster looking crisp and clean, in the original 2.40 widescreen aspect ratio. Grain is tight and nicely managed, colors are rich, and the whimsical visual effects look great. In a time before digital effects we get some inspired visuals, from the depressing industrial German expressionists architecture of the American Panascope Company to the kitschy Waponi people, onto some fine looking matte paintings, there's just a lot to enjoy with this new HD image. The disc has an English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround audio mix that supports the visuals well, with a soundtrack featuring Ray Charles, Sergio Mendes and Brazil '66, and The Ink spots among others, plus a fine score from Georges Delerue (Biloxi Blues), with optional English subtitles. 

Onto extras, it does make me a bit sad that we're not getting a new  retrospective  featurette or interviews with the director or stars. This one bombed at the box office but I think it has a bit of a cult-following nowadays, I for one would have appreciated some new extras. They do carry-over the extras from the DVD, we get the trailer, the "Sixteen Tons" music video, and a vintage EPK with stars Hanks, Ryan and director John Patrick Shanley, but it doesn't amount to much at only four minutes.  Thankfully they've restored the original one-sheet movie poster artwork, the old flapper-case DVD artwork was a monstrosity.  

Special Features: 
- Theatrical Trailer (HD)
- Vintage Behind the Scenes Featurette (4 min) 
- Music Video - Sixteen Tons w/ Eric Burdon (4 min) 

Joe Versus The Volcano (1990) is not the awful movie it is often remembered as, it's a romantic comedy loaded with whimsy and quirky humor, and Hanks and Ryan are a wonderful pairing. If you love the movie, like myself, you've been waiting for this HD upgrade for years, if you're not a fan or maybe missed it somehow, this is worth a watch (or a re watch), this is a movie that deserves another chance to win your heart.

THE HUNGER (1983)

THE HUNGER (1983) 

Label: Warner Archive 

Region Code: A

Rating: R

Duration: 96 Minutes

Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono with Optional EnglisH SDH Subtitles

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.40:1) 

Director: Tony Scott
Cast: Susan Sarandon, Cliff De Young, Dan Hedaya, Suzanne Bertish, Willem DaFoe

Synopsis: Miriam Blaylock collects Renaissance art, ancient Egyptian pendants, lovers, souls. Alive and fashionably chic in Manhattan, Miriam is an ageless vampire. Although "vampire" is not a word you'll hear in this movie based on the novel by Whitley Strieber (Wolfen). Instead, debuting feature director Tony Scott fashions a hip, sensual, modern-Gothic makeover. Catherine Deneuve radiates macabre elegance as Miriam, blessed with beauty, cursed with bloodlust. David Bowie is fellow fiend and refined husband John. In love, in life, in longing, they are inseparable. But when John abruptly begins to age and turns to a geriatric researcher (Susan Sarandon) for help, Miriam soon eyes the woman as a replacement for John. The Hunger is insatiable.

Tony Scotts moody and stylish take on Whitely Stieber's source novel is a thing of arthouse beauty, an original vision of  what the life of contemporary bloodsuckers might have been in the '80s.  Miriam (Catherine Deneuve) and John Blaylock (David Bowie) are centuries long lovers, Miriam a vampire from the time of the Egyptian Pharpahs, John her companion whom she turned during the 18th century. The film opens with a phenomenal scene of the lovers at a night club where Goth rockers Bauhaus are performing, they meet a young couple and take them to their home where they exsanguinate the clubbers while professing their eternal love for each other, is sad and wonderful, and has a fatalistic mystique about it. 

We learn that while Miriam is eternal in her youth provided she feeds once a week that her companions who she turns begin to retroactively age at an accelerated rate after three-hundred years. John grows increasingly panicked by the aging and seeks the assistance of scientist Sarah Roberts (Susan Sarandon), who has been in the news having published a book about her research into the biology of aging, she has been able to accelerate the process but have not yet reversed it. Roberts blows off John at her clinic believing him to be a nut and asks him to wait in the lobby with no plans to follow-up, during the hours long wait John ages dramatically in a well-executed series of scenes. Frustrated by being blown-off John leaves but not before Roberts spots him on the way out, later she tracks John to his shared home with Miriam in Manhattan, and there's a certain chemistry between the two women.

Afterward, in a moment of desperation John's commits a heinous murder that is hard to frogive, the murder of an innocent and one of the Baylock's only regular visitors to their home. soon after the aging progresses leaving his body near useless, what follows is a haunting revelation as we learn that Miriam's former lovers through the millennia do not die in a traditional sense, they merely wither away physically but live on, useless, she keeps each of them in lovingly tucked away in a series of coffins she keeps in her attic.

When Robert's (Sarandon) comes calling at a later date to look in on John she is told by Miriam that he has since left for Sweden to seek a cure for his illness, and the two women conversate over wine with Miriam seducing Sarah. In an erotically charged lesbian scene that has been burned into my head since my younger years, it rivals anything from Bound, which is surprising as I do not consider sarandon to be an object of sexual desire, but Deneuve on the other hand has a classic and eternal beauty. During the encounter Miriam transfuses Sarah's blood with her, infecting her with the curse of vampirysm. 

What happens next is an exploration of the forced vampirysm with Sarah's behaviours becoming more erratic which alarms her boyfriend Tom (Cliff De Young), who is also a co-worker at the lab, where Sarah begins to run tests ion her blood, discovering that there are two strains struggling for supremacy within her, he own natural blood and the infected strain from Miriam. As things transpire Sarah struggles to reconcile the her relationship with Jon who is becoming more suspicious of Miriam and the way she was turned without permission. 

Audio/Video: Tony Scott's The Hunger (1983) arrives on a long overdue HD format courtesy of Warner archives who have released this as an manufacture-on-demand format in the original (2.40:1) widescreen aspect ratio. The 2K scan looks fantastic in 1080p HD, faithfully reproducing the deep shadow and light compositions, this film is drenched is neo-noir imagery, each scene is painterly with hard shadow and angles of light slicing through it, the blacks are deep and inky and there are textured wafts of smoke permeating the air. 

We only get a DTS-HD Mono 2.0 mix on the disc, but it's solid with a good dynamic range and good separation, from the opening scenes with Bauhaus's "Bela Lugosi is Dead" on through to the more classical composition and electronic augmentation we have a top notch presentation free of any distortion, very crisp and clean. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided. 

A fantastic commentary from with director Tony Scott and actor Susan Sarandon and a theatrical trailer is carried over from the 2004 Warner Bros.DVD, missing is the extensive still galleries from that disc. The commentary is stitched together from two separate commentaries, Scott and Sarandon are not together on this one, but chime in separately. 

Special Features: 
- Commentary by Susan Sarandon and Director Tony Scott
- Theatrical Trailer 

As a young kid I saw this movie on TV and didn't care for it, the stylishness of the production did nothing for me, I wanted traditional bloodsuckers and Gothic vampire lore, the contemporary setting felt cold and I couldn't appreciate how prescient the transmission of the "curse" through blood was at a time when the AIDS epidemic was in bloom. Watching it again in my twenties after I'd developed an appreciation for foreign and arthouse cinema it floored me, and remains one of my favorite vampire movies of all time. A stylish, slightly narrative-poor, slice of arthouse that is both haunting and gorgeous, with a certain amount of ambiguity that I've come to enjoy, not all of life's mysteries require definition. The Blu-ray from Warner Archive looks fantastic, and while I would have loved a new making of doc the commentary is really great. 4/5