ROAD GAMES (1981) (Scream Factory Collector's Edition Blu-ray Review)

ROAD GAMES (1981) 
Collector's Edition 

Label: Scream Factory 
Region Code: A
Rating: PG
Duration: 101 Minutes 
Audio: English DTS-H MA 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1) 
Director: Richard Franklin
Cast: Stacy Keach, Jamie Lee Curtis, Grant Page

Directed by Richard Franklin (Psycho II) the Hitchocock-ian road thriller Road Games (1981) stars Stacy Keach (Body Bags) as American truck driver Pat Quid working in Australia, we catch up to the quirky driver as he's hauling frozen slabs of meat across the Australian outback, playing what he calls "road games" to keep himself occupied on the long stretches. These games includes peering into the vehicles of passing vehicles and making-up stories and dialogue about the occupants of those vehicles to pass the time on the long drives. Quid dubs the other drivers with names like 'Captain Careful' and the 'Sneezey Motorcyclist', all the while carrying on a one-sided conversation with his loyal sidekick, a dingo-dog named Boswell. 

Early on Quid picks up a feisty older woman whose husband seemingly abandoned her on the side of the road after an argument, she gets the trucker to stop for her by creating a barrier of what looks to be ribbons of pink toilet paper across the roadway, but quid seems only happy to have the company. He teaches her how to play his road games, during which she tells him off a string of rape/murders being committed in the area by a serial killer. 

The macabre story captures his attention and makes him think of a peculiar thing he saw at a roadside motel earlier, a suspicious man who was carefully eyeing the garbage truck as it picked up trash at a motel. With the murderer on his mind the conversation gets a bit darker, upsetting his passenger who begins to suspect that Quid could potentially be the killer, which causes her to panic and flee the truck when he pulls over, nearly sending herself right off a cliff into the ocean. This is when Quid spots a green minivan driven by the suspicious man from the motel, who looks to be burying a large black trash back in the middle of the outback, which seems very odd indeed. 

Increasingly obsessed with the driver in the minivan Quid picks up a new hitchhiker after leaving the previous gal at a gas station, a charming, free-spirited hitchhiker (Jamie Lee Curtis, Halloween) whom he dubs "Hitch". The pair share conversation and further theorize about the motivations of the serial killer. They eventually catch up with the minivan at a roadside garage, Quid following the killer is in the restroom to confront the culprit, while Hitch goes to check out the could-be killer's vehicle. The scenario ends with Hitch in a bit of peril and Quid giving chase, hoping to save his new found lady friend from the killer before it's too late.

The film is an offbeat road film with the affable but slightly loony Quid being a likable enough character, it's a slow-burn thriller set on the open road with director Franklin and the screenwriter straight-up lifting directly from Hitchcock's classic thriller Rear Window, only set in the cab of a semi-rig, which is a set-up I liked quite a bit. 

Stacy Keach and Jamie Lee Curtis are likable characters, they play well against each other, though Curtis's character doesn't have all that much to do. It's Keach who carries the entire film all on his own with his brand of humor and charm, assisted by the technically well-executed and suspenseful direction from director Franklin (Cloak and Dagger), with atmospheric cinematography that captures the rouged charms of the Australian Outback. 

I think this film gets short shrift because it's been lumped in with the early 80's Jamie Lee Curtis slasher films, partly because of the iconic movie poster with the girl being strangled by a guitar string, it screams slasher film, but it's not that sort of film. The gore is nearly non-existent, though there is that nice guitar-string strangling at the top of the film in a seedy hotel room that has a certain giallo-tinge to it, but the movie lives and breathes on a clever Hitchcock-ian script and taught direction. it's a slow-urn, with the film culminating with Quid pursuing the killer through the narrow streets a small town and into an even tighter alleyway, finally picking up some steam, delivering some car-crunching action here at the end. 

While I love the film but I can see how this pot-boiler might not have the visceral impact someone expecting a slasher might be craving, but it as it's moments of excitement, like when Quid's semi plows through a wooden boat on the road, but for every pulse-raising scene there are eight more of Keach's character just talking to himself, but it works for this slow-burn thriller, it's just not a action-packed slasher film.  

The cat and mouse suspense and the Keach performance kept me rapt throughout, the writing and visuals are clever and well-executed. The joy of this one is in the execution and build-up, keeping a steady boil going for the most part, but if you're coming into it expecting an bloody early 80's slasher you're gonna be disappointed, but what you will get is a well-crafted suspense film with taught direction that one delivers the goods. It might not be bloody but it is darkly perverse, a highlight for me would be the mystery of a slaughtered corpse potentially hanging in Quid's semi-rig's refrigerated trailer that makes for a particularly delicious stinger right there at the very end with a fun visual gag that always brings a smile to my face. 

Audio/Video: Road Games (1981) arrives on Blu-ray from Scream Factory presented in 1080p HD framed in 2.35:1 widescreen. This is not advertised as a new scan of the film, and it looks to be the same 4K scan of a release print that was used by Umbrella Entertainment for their 2016 Blu-ray release. Since we do not get a new scan I am assuming that the original film elements are no longer available or missing, but again this is easily superior to long out-of-print Anchor Bay DVD release. It does have some issues that I would associate with it being from a theatrical print, including anemic blacks, some wonky contrast and a general lack of fine details, all of which we've seen previously from theatrical sourced transfers. That said, the source is in good shape, there's been some restoration to remove nicks and scratches and the results are good without appearing overly digitally manipulated. Grain is not as finely resolved as I would hope for, but it's been been left intact. Colors look good but not great, nothing here really pops, it's muted, but considering the source I think it's acceptable. 

Audio comes by way of an English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono presentation with optional English subtitles. The sleeve and slipcover both indicated a DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio option but there's only a mono track on the disc. It is uncompressed though, an improvement over the Umbrella release which only had a lossy Dolby Digital presentation, though they did also include a 5.1 option as well. The suspenseful score from Brian May sounds fuller with the uncompressed option, but the film is mostly dialogue driven without a lot of bombast. 

Scream Factory complement their own extras by porting over nearly all the extras from the Umbrella release, these archival extras include an audio commentary with Richard Franklin, the 21-minute Kangaroo Hitchcock featurette from the Anchor Bay and Umbrella releases, over an hour of uncut 'Not Quite Hollywood' interviews with Jamie-Lee Curtis, Stacy Keach, Grant Page, Richard Franklin, Everett De Roche,Vincent Monton and Tom Burstall. We also get the a pair of audio-only interview with the director from 1981 and 2001, plus a 1981 lecture with the Franklin, composer Brian May and co-producer Barbi Taylor, and 2016 audio interviews with both Stacy Keach and actor/stuntman Grant Page. 

The one extra not carried-over from the Umbrella release is featurette about the 4k telecine transfer with an interview from the movie's DOP Vincent Monton.

New extras come by way of a brand new 13-min on-camera interview with Stacey Keach, a lot of what is covered is regurgitated from previous interviews included on the disc, but its great to see him on-camera discussing the film. we also get a new audio commentary with Cinematographer Vincent Monton, Production Coordinator Helen Watts, And Costume Designer Aphrodite Kondos, moderated by 'Not quite Hollywood!' director Mark Hartley, plus an audio only script read with Producer/Director Richard Franklin and actors Stacy Kea and Marion Edwards, plus 4-min of composer Brian May music demos . The disc is buttoned-up with an extensive gallery of images including stills, production shots, storyboards, newspaper clippings, and promotional and artwork.

The single-disc release comes housed in an standard Blu-ray keepcase with a sleeve of reversible artwork featuring a new illustration by artist Joel Robinson and the familiar gloved hands strangling a woman with a guitar string, which is my preferred option, I love that seedy artwork! The new artwork at first glance looks like a knock-off of The Hitcher, not a fan of it, so thankfully we have the original poster artwork. The disc itself features an excerpt of the new illustration.    

Special Features: 
- NEW Australian Long Haul – An Interview With Actor Stacy Keach (13 min) HD 
- NEW Audio Commentary With Cinematographer Vincent Monton, Production Coordinator Helen Watts, And Costume Designer Aphrodite Kondos, Moderated By Filmmaker Mark Hartley
- NEW 1980 Script Read With Producer/Director Richard Franklin And Actors Stacy Keach And Marion Edwards (117 min) (Audio Only)HD 
- NEW Composer Brian May Music Demos Accompanied By Stills And Poster Gallery (4 min) HD 
- Archival Audio Commentary with Producer/Director Richard Franklin
- Kangaroo Hitchcock: The Making of "Road Games" with Producer/Director Richard Franklin and Actor Stacy Keach (21 min) 
- Uncut 'Not Quite Hollywood' Interviews with Jamie-Lee Curtis, Stacy Keach, Grant Page, Richard Franklin, Everett De Roche,Vincent Monton and Tom Burstall (64 min) 
- Lecture On The Making Of Road Games With Richard Franklin, Co-producer Barbi Taylor, And Composer Brian May, Introduced By Critic Tom Ryan - November 20th 1980 (131 min) 
- Extensive Gallery accompanied by Essay written by Fangoria writer Lee Gambin: Gallery of stills, Production Shots, Storyboards, Newspaper Reviews, Promotional and Artwork Materials (33 min) 
- Profile of Richard Franklin (1981)
- 1981 Interview with Richard Franklin (25 min) HD
- 2001 Audio Interview with Richard Franklin (24 min) HD
- 2016 Audio Interview with Road Games Lead Actor Stacy Keach (10 min) HD
- 2016 Audio Interview with Road Games Stunt Coordinator and Actor Grant Page (33 min) HD
- Theatrical Trailer (3 min) HD

Richard Franklin is a bit of an unsung director, he made some thrillers that are worth re-discovering, and Road Games is a fantastic showcase for the talents of Stacey Keach, I think it's his best film. Scream Factory do good work carrying over almost all the extras from the past releases and adding a few of their own, making this the more definitive release in regard to the extras package.

ROAD GAMES (1981) (Umbrella Blu-ray Review)

ROAD GAMES (1981) 

Label: Umbrella Entertainment
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: M
Duration: 101 Minutes 
Audio: English Dolby Digital Mono 1.0, Dolby Digital Surround 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1) 
Director: Richard Franklin
Cast: Stacy Keach, Jamie Lee Curtis, Grant Page

Directed by Richard Franklin (Psycho II) the Hitchocock-ian road thriller Road Games (1981) stars Stacy Keach (The Ninth Configuration) as American truck driver Pat Quid working in Australia, we catch up to the quirky driver as he's hauling slabs of meat across the Australian outback, playing what he calls "road games" to keep himself occupied on the long stretches, these games includes him peering into the vehicles of passerbys and making-up stories and dialogue about the occupants to pass the time, Dubbing the other drivers with names like Captain Careful and the Sneezy Motorcyclist, all the while carrying on a one-sided conversation with his trusty sidekick, a loyal dingo-dog. Quid picks up a feisty older woman whose husband seemingly abandoned her on the side of the road after an argument, she gets the trucker to stop for her by creating a barrier of what looks to be pink toilet paper across the roadway, but he seems happy to have the company and the pair play road games, during which she tells him off a string of rape/murders being committed by a serial killer on the loose in the area. The macabre story captures his attention and makes him think of a peculiar thing he saw at a roadside motel earlier in the film, with a suspicious man carefully eyeing the garbage truck as it picks up trash. With the murderer on his mind the conversation goes a bit darker, slightly upsetting the old woman who begins to suspect that Quid could very well be the killer in question, causing her to panic and flee the truck when he pulls over. This is when Quid spots a green minivan driven by the suspicious man he saw back at the motel, the driver looks to be burying a large black back in the middle of the outback, very odd indeed. 

Now increasingly obsessed with the driver in the green minivan Quid picks up a new hitchhiker, a charming young woman (Jamie Lee Curtis, Halloween) whom he dubs "Hitch", short for hitchhiker, and the two share conversation and further theorize about the motivations of the sadistic killer. They catch up to the minivan at a roadside garage/gas station, while Quid believes the killer is in the restroom, so he goes in looking to confront the culprit, meanwhile Hitch moves in to check out the could-be killer's vehicle and ends up in peril with Quid giving chase, hoping to save his new found friend from the killer before it's too late.

The film is an offbeat road movie with the affable but slightly loony Quid being a very likable character, it's a thriller set on the open road with director Franklin and the screenwriter making no bones about this being a straight riff on Hitchcock's Rear Window set in the cab of a semi-rig, and I liked it quite a bit, it's a good premise. Stacy Keach and Jamie Lee Curtis are likable characters, they work great against each other, though Curtis's character is a bit downplayed, but she does good work here opposite Keach who really makes the film all on his own with his brand of humor and charm, assisted by the very capable and technically well-executed direction and cinematography behind the camera. 

Road Games is a suspense film that I think gets short shrift because it's been lumped in with early 80's Jamie Lee Curtis slashers, but it's not that, the gore is nearly non-existent, but there's a nice guitar-string strangling at the top of the film in a seedy hotel room that has a giallo-tinge to it, but the movie lives and breathes on a clever script and good suspense. The film culminates with Quid pursuing the killer through narrow streets and into an alleyway, finally picking up some steam, delivering some car-crunching action there at the end, but while the film has had a boil going it never really boils-over properly at the end, though there is a fun scene earlier with the Quid's semi plowing through a wooden boat on the roadway, offering some Mad Mad style thrills.    

The cat and mouse suspense and the Keach performance kept me rapt throughout, the writing and visuals are clever and well-executed, the joy of this one is in the execution and build-up, keeping a steady boil going for the most part, but if you're coming into this one expecting an early 80's slasher starring Jamie Lee Curtis you're gonna be seriously letdown. However, if you're down for a road movie with oodles of suspense and some fine cinematic craftsmanship this one delivers the goods. I really enjoyed the darkly perverse nature of it, it's not graphic but the discussion of the killer's psycho-sexual motivations and the idea that there might be (and what happened to?) the slaughtered corpse of a woman hanging in the semi's refrigerated trailer is particularly twisted.

Audio/Video: Road Games (1981) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Aussie label Umbrella Entertainment as part of their Ozploitation Classics line-up, presented in 1080p HD framed in 2.35:1 widescreen. This is a 4K scan of a release print, for reasons unknown to me it seems the original elements are not available, but it's easily better than the old long out-of-print Anchor Bay DVD release but does have some issues that I would associate with it being from a release print, such as some occasional wonky contrast and lack of crisp details, this is something we saw from Scream Factory's Blu-ray of Hell Night, which was also sourced from 4K scan of print and not the original elements. That said, the source appears to be in good shape, there;s been some restoration to remove nicks and scratches and the results are goof without appearing overly  digitally manipulated, grain has been left intact and the colors look superior to the previous incarnations I've seen on home video, so I am pleased with what we have here even if the source is not optimal. 

Looking at the audio we get two options, both are lossy, Dolby Digital mono 1.0 and surround 5.1, though I preferred the more natural sounding mono track, optional English subtitles are provided. Despite the lossy audio it sounds good, the suspenseful score from Brian May sounds nice and full, the film is mostly dialogue driven without a lot of bombastic scenes, but when called upon the audio has some decent depth to it. 

Umbrella give this one a healthy dose of extras, porting over the great audio commentary with Richard Franklin and the 21-minute Kangaroo Hitchcock featurette from the long out-of-print Anchor Bay DVD and adding quite a few new ones on top of that. The new stuff begins with over an hour of uncut 'Not Quite Hollywood' interviews with Jamie-Lee Curtis, Stacy Keach, Grant Page, Richard Franklin, Everett De Roche,Vincent Monton and Tom Burstall, the Curtis interview is particularly fun and well humored, I like that she has such a matter-of-fact and unvarnished view of her career leading up to this movie, detailing what it was like on set and how she was received as an American actor an an Australian shoot.   

We also get a featurette about the 4k telecine transfer with an interview from the movie's DOP Vincent Monton, I love these extras that go into restorations with the before and after comparisons. DP Monton is on hand but sadly mostly speaks about the benefits of digital cinematography versus film.

There's an archival 1981 interview with the director, a 2001 audio interview with him, plus a 1981 lecture with the Franklin, composer Brian May and co-producer Barbi Taylor, the quality of this on is straight from VHS. Also produced for this release are two 2016 audio interviews with Stacy Keach and actor/stuntman Grant Page, the Keach interview regurgitates a lot of what he said on the vintage making of doc. 

The single-disc release comes housed in an oversized Blu-ray keepcase with a sleeve of reversible artwork, the a-side and b-side being the same familiar gloved hands strangling a woman with a guitar string, the b-side is minus the unsightly ratings box on the cover, the disc also features the same key art. 

Special Features: 
- Audio Commentary with Producer/Director Richard Franklin
- Kangaroo Hitchcock: The Making of "Road Games" - Featurette with Producer/Director Richard Franklin and Actor Stacy Keach (21 min) 
- Uncut 'Not Quite Hollywood' Interviews with Jamie-Lee Curtis, Stacy Keach, Grant Page, Richard Franklin, Everett De Roche,Vincent Monton and Tom Burstall (64 min) 
- Newly-Discovered Two Hour lecture on the Making of Road Games from Richard Franklin, Barbi Taylor and Brian May - November 20th 1980 (131 min) 
- New Extensive Gallery accompanied by Essay written by Fangoria writer Lee Gambin: Gallery of stills, Production Shots, Storyboards, Newspaper Reviews, Promotional and Artwork Materials (33 min) 
- Featurette on 4k Telecine Transfer by Roar Digital featuring SD-to-HD Comparisons, Quality Approval and Interview with DoP Vincent Monton (11 min) 
- 1981 Interview with Richard Franklin (25 min) 
- 2001 Audio Interview with Richard Franklin (24 min) 
- New Audio Interview with Road Games Lead Actor Stacy Keach (10 min) 
- New Audio Interview with Road Games Stunt Co-ordinator and Actor Grant Page (33 min) 
- HD Theatrical Trailer (3 min) 

Richard Franklin was an unsung master of suspense in my opinion and he made some great slow-burn classics that are worth re-discovering, it's great to see this one get the deluxe treatment with loads of extras from Umbrella. Fans of road pictures and clever thrillers should really dig into this one, it's a rewarding watch if you go in with tempered expectations, just don't watch it expecting a slasher, it's not that exactly, but it's plenty entertaining and a good slice of suspense cinema set on the open road.

SUN, SAND AND SWEAT (1983-1985) 4-MOVIE COLLECTION (Blu-ray Review)

SUN, SAND AND SWEAT (1983-1985) 

4-MOVIE COLLECTION

Label: Mill Creek Entertainment
Region Code: A
Duration: 391 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Dgital Stereo 2.0 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen 
Directors: James Bridges , George Bowers, Mark Griffiths, Sean S. Cunningham
Cast: Johnny Depp, Rob Morrow, John Travolta, Jamie Lee Curtis, David Knell, Perry King, Grant Cramer, Teal Roberts

Mill Creek Entertainment have put together a four-film collection of classic '80s boner-jams guaranteed to please anyone who was a horny teen or adolescent in the '80s. This one brings together three juggernauts of heavy petting from the post-Porky's era and adds in the John Travolta - Jamie Lee Curtis aerobic drama Perfect (1985), which features some '80s hard bodies but falls short of the boner-popping awesomeness of Spring Break (1983), Hardbodies (1984) and Private Resort (1985). The '80s were a very special time, a decade oozing with cheesy comedies, among them were an arousing sub genre of cinema I fondly refer to as boner-jams, movies that often dealt with teens on spring break and were loaded with copious amounts of nudity.  Late night cable was overstuffed with these back in the day, and I loved them. If I was cruising cable channels after hours and Hardbodies was airing I would watch in teen-ecstasy with no small amount of pant-swelling anticipation. In an age before the Internet and 24 hour porn these teen sex-comedies were my only source for spank-bank masturbation fuel.

PRIVATE RESORT (1985) 

Rating: R
Duration: 82 Minutes 
Audio: English Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0 
Video: 1080P HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 
Director: George Bowers 
Cast: Johnny Depp, Ron Morrow, Emily Longstreth

Synopsis: Jack and Ben check in at a posh Florida resort, planning to spend every hour in hot pursuit of babes. But their plans hit a major detour when they try to bed the wife of a conniving jewel thief. They'll have to outsmart him, a nasty security guard and an obnoxious jock if they're ever going to get a moment alone with the girl of their dreams!

Private Resort stars Johnny Depp and Rob Morrow as teen dudes who prowl a local resort looking for sex, a movie littered with scene after scene of topless women. It was everything a teen could hope for from an '80s boner-comedy, plus it mixed in a goody subplot involving a inept jewel thief called The Maestro, played by Hector Elizondo, and a near nude scene from Leslie Easterbrook from Police Academy, which might be worth the price of admission alone. I am sure Johnny Depp is ashamed of this one, coming right on the heels of A Nightmare on Elm Street and a few years before his star-making turn in Oliver Stone's Platoon. Private resort is a standard teen sex comedy, perfectly throwaway and delightfully cheesy. 

HARDBODIES (1984)

Rating: R
Duration:87 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0 
Video: 1080P HD Widescreen (1.78:1) 
Director: Mark Griffiths 
Cast: Grant Cramer, Teal Roberts, Gary Wood, Michael Rappaport, Roberta Collins

Synopsis: When three middle-aged geezers move into a swinging beach house, they hire a young stud to teach them how to score with the local beauties.'80s band Vixen and hundreds of Southern California's hottest swimsuit models co-star in the legendary cult comedy.

Hardbodies always seemed to me to be the flagship boner-jam movie, with a sort of creepy set-up of three middle-aged divorced men who enlist teen surfer dude Scotty Palmer who helps them pick-up young ladies on the beach in California. Scotty is played by Grant Cramer of Killer Klowns from Outer Space fame, and the movie paints him as a sort of con man with a way with the ladies, which the three divorced men exploit to their advantage. However, when Scotty begins to develop real feelings for a new girl in his life he tries to change his ways, but in a movie loaded with breasts and buns it will not be easy. 

The movie also co-stars one Courtney Gains of Children of the Corn and The 'Burbs fame as Scotty's best mate Rags, a righteous '80s dude and one goofy looking sumbitch. Watching it again the movie has not aged well, but does well as a tawdry piece of '80s trash cinema, with an endless parade of topless young women, which is sort of what this set is all about. 

SPRING BREAK (1983)

Rating: R
Duration: 102 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0 
Video: 1080P HD Widescreen (1.78:1) 
Director: Sean S. Cunningham
Cast: David Knell, Perry Lang, Paul Land

Synopsis: Adam and Nelson are naive college students who have come to Fort Lauderdale to perform these rites of Spring Break. Due to a mix-up, the boys end up in the same room with a pair of experienced guys from New York who coach the boys on the finer points of seduction - with mixed results.

Spring Break (1983) comes by way of director Sean S. Cunningham who most will know brought us the Friday the 13th, this teen-sex comedy is sandwiched in-between Friday the 13th (1980) and the teen-thriller New Kids (1985), the movie is about a pair of teen-dweebs named Nelson (David Nell) and Adam (Perry Lang) who arrive in Fort Lauderale to reap the horny rewards of spring break. They find that they have to share their small hotel room with a pair of party-animals named Stu (Steve Bassette) and O.T. (Paul Land), two skilled pussy-hounds who take the nerds under their wings, learning them in the ways of bedding strange women.

Along the way the four find themselves involved in an effort to save the hotel from a buy-out scheme by the crooked brother-in-law of the owner, a plot involving the step-father of Nelson and a shady building inspector. This one is tame in the nudity department compared to Private resort and Hardbodies, dare I say even nuanced to a degree with a story with an an actual arc, it's not quite American Graffitti, but it is not too far removed from The Last American Virgin. It also features the best soundtrack of the set, with tunes from NRBQ, .38 Special and a bonafide theme song from Cheap Trick, which is not their best stuff. The movie is fun, there's a sweetness to it, a vibe that reminded me a bit of Caddyshack, with a sweet love interest, and of course the prerequisite amount of boobies.

PERFECT (1985)

Rating: R
Duration: 120 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0 
Video: 1080P HD Widescreen (1.78:1) 
Director: James Bridges 
Cast: John Travolta, Jamie Lee Curtis, Anne De Salvo, Marilu Henner, Laraine Newman

Synopsis: Based on a series of Rolling Stone articles by Aaron Latham, this romance was set in the world of L.A.'s hip fitness scene. Rolling Stone reporter Adam Lawrence (John Travolta) comes to L.A. to write a story about a prominent businessman who's been arrested for drug dealing (shades of the John DeLorean scandal). He's also decided to research a piece on the exercise fad and how health clubs have become the "singles bars of the '80s." His boss (real-life Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner as himself) OK's the project. At a club called The Sports Connection, an incognito Adam meets the regulars, including promiscuous Linda (Laraine Newman), airhead Sally (Marilu Henner) and aerobics instructor Jessie (Jamie Lee Curtis), a former Olympic swimmer. Adam and Jessie begin a romance, but it ends when she discovers that he's there to trash her and the club in print. Conflicted, Adam wrestles with publishing the story, but the final decision isn't his.

Perfect is based on true-life story about a Rolling Stone journalist (John Tavolta) who is writing an article on how 80's L.A. fitness clubs are the new singles spot, when he falls for a aerobic instructor played by Jaime Lee Curtis (John Carpenter's Halloween). There is no nudity and no horny teens anywhere to be found, but I will say that the short-coiffed Curtis rocked the spandex and has some nice moves, with both her and Travolta turning is decent performances, but the movie just did nothing for me - this was the dud of the bunch, and it did not belong on this teen-lust collection. 

The Sun, Sand and Sweat 4-movie collection from Mill Creek is a ton of boner-jam fun, three of the four movies are loaded with copious amounts of horny teen fantasies, and as a child of the '80s these were my cumming-of-age movies, and they look pretty good in HD. I wish they would have excised Perfect in favor of another trashy slice of '80s boner-comedy but the other three are top-notch '80s cheese. This can be picked-up for about $10, which is cheaper than what you can buy the now out-of-print Spring Break DVD for on Amazon or eBay. 3/5 

PROM NIGHT (1980) (Synapse Films Blu-ray Review)

PROM NIGHT (1980)

Special Edition Blu-ray 

Label: Synapse Films

Region Code: A

Rating: R

Duration: 93 Minutes

Audio: DTS-HD MA 5.1, DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles

Video: 1080p Widescreen (1.78:1)

Director: Paul Lynch

Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Leslie Nielsen, Eddie Benton, Casey Stevens

Life at Hamilton High sure can be murder - particularly when you belong to a group of teens whom six years previously made a pact to hide the truth of their friend's death. At the top of the film a group of five kids play a mean spirited variation of hide and seek called "killers" in which they stalk a victim and chant "the killer is coming" inside of what appears to be an abandoned school, it's a creepy set-up.

A young girl named Robin is chased down a hallway by the four kids during the game and backed-up against a window of which she falls through to her death two stories below onto a broken window pane. The four kids not wanting to get into trouble make a pact to keep what happened a secret. Hours later her body is discovered and the death a known sex offender in the area is blamed for the crime. The sex offender flees from the police when they come for him only to crash and burn in a car wreck. Scarred by burns we are told he has been sent to the State Hospital. 

Flash forward six years later and the four kids are high school seniors at Hamilton High and have apparently kept their vow of secrecy. Among them we have the blond bombshell Wendy (Anne-Marie Martin), Jude (Joy Thompson), Kelly (Mary Beth Rubens), and Nick (Casey Stevens) all preparing to attend the prom - the prom theme is "Disco Madness"  - which in 1980 was already dated. Enter into the picture Robin's surviving twin brother Alex (Michael Tough) and older sister Kim (Jamie Lee Curtis) plus their father Mr. Hammond (Leslie Nielsen) and wife Vivian (Antoinette Bower). 

Wendy's a white-hot bitch at war with the much nicer Kim, the beef is over her choice of prom date - Wendy's ex Nicky. Then we have the virginal Kelly and her boyfriend Drew (Jeff Wincott) who is on a mission to deflower her. There's a nice bit of comic relief with cute Jude and her jokester boyfriend Slick (Sheldon Rybowksi). The scene where they meet is fun as Slick rolls up on her in his Chevy van and makes a pass which somehow works.  

Alex and Kim are the children of school principal Mr. Hammond and are well liked by everyone with the exception of Wendy and uni-brow burnout Lou (David Mucci). Lou and Wendy are obvious knock-offs of the Travolta and Nancy Allen characters in Brian De Palma's adaptation of Stephen King's Carrie (1976), it is also cashing-in on the success of Saturday Night Fever (1977) and John Carpenter's Halloween (1978). 

After the effectively creepy opening at the abandoned school the film slows down quite a bit which is to say slow by any modern movie convention which allows ample time to set-up the character before the bloodletting begins. During this time the teens receive threatening phone calls from a raspy-voiced weirdo and someone posts pictures of them inside their lockers with a broken shard of glass taped to them - which is sort of threatening. These scenes provide a decent amount of suspense leading up to the final stretch. It so happens that the prom falls on the anniversary of Robin's death - we see her family visiting the cemetery and how hard it is on her slightly deranged mother. Additionally the suspect in her murder has escaped the asylum and the nurse he took hostage is found murdered at the abandoned school igniting fears that the killer may strike again. 

The prom does not actually begin until about an hour into the movie and the deaths don't start for another 10 minutes after that.  Once the disco dancing starts the kids are dispatched in quick succession but not before some prolonged disco dancing sequences, it should be noted that Jamie Lee Curtis has got some serious moves on the dance floor - this is seriously the Saturday Night Fever of slashers. 

The set-ups for each kill are decent even though they are not graphic and the camera turns away just before the actual slicing and dicing which is a damn shame. The first kill happens inside the locker room after an unsuccessful deflowering attempt. It's a notable scene as it is the only bit of nudity in the film, I felt a lot of sympathy for this character. My favorite set-up features young lovers coupling in the back of a Chevy sex van - these two are sweet and fun couple and seeing them go was pretty sad - one of the benefits of spending time with characters before they die is you start to develop a fondness for them. It was also quite sad to see that sweet Van go up in a fiery explosion!

White-hot bitch Wendy has the most prolonged stalk and slash sequence when she is chased throughout the school and into the auto shop where the feisty bitch manages to put a hurting on our masked murderer if only momentarily when a chained door stops her escape. While most of the kills are just off screen the scene the film most known for is a sweet decapitation with the severed head rolling out onto the dance floor as horrified disco dancing teens look upon it and panic - this is the one kill where the film revels in the gore and it's quite nice. 

Prom Night sets-up more red-herrings than pretty much any other whodunit. You have quite a choice of potential culprits. It could be the escaped sex fiend or maybe the creepy gardener. It might even be Mr. or Mrs. Hammond! You just never know, the one thing I can safely say is that the first time I watched it I had a notion of who I thought it would be and I was wrong. One might say that the movie doesn't earn the reveal at the end of the film but there's a nice dynamic at play during the final scenes that smooth that over for me. 

The appearance of the masked-killer here is very simple, a balaclava and dark tight-fitting clothing, probably a bit too simple to inspire a franchise but apparently not as we have three sequels though it should be noted that none of them seem overly influences by the originator. A weapon of choice is an elongated shard of mirror which is a device used in the Australian slasher Nightmares (1980), it's an effective weapon but the killer also grabs an ax and a knife at some point. When physically engaged the killer is a spry character, during the fight scene with Nicky on the dance floor he has some cat like moves and this might be the only clue as to whom the murderer is for eagle-eyed first time watchers. 

A few things have always bothered me bout the film. The first being that the kills and nudity are a bit too tame for a slasher of this era. Another being this weird cop story that is peppered throughout - turns out this was tacked-on at the request of the distributor - it definitely feels like an insert. My biggest issue would be we do not see these teens dealing with the guilt of having covered-up the death of Robin just six years earlier - this was a missed opportunity - especially when you considering what a slow-burn the first hour of the film was, could have been an interesting dynamic that ramped up the tension. 

Even with some negatives I do love Prom Night even if it would not enter my top ten list of slashers - it wouldn't even be on the top five Canadian slashers. It's a slow burn and the deaths are weak but the cast is pretty great and the final twenty minutes are fun. We have Jamie Lee Curtis in her first post-Halloween horror, after this she would go straight into the Terror Train (1980) which is a far better watch in my opinion.  

Blu-ray: Synapse present this maple blooded slasher with a brand new 2k restoration straight from the negative and the results are simply gorgeous. There's a nice layer of natural film grain, a digitally over-scrubbed scrubbed image is a blasphemous sight and Synapse do it up right. The film has a preference for soft-focus cinematography which does not always look great in HD but the dreamy quality it gives the film suits certain scene quite nicely - others not so much.  DVD where it languished for years with a murky transfer. 

Colors are strong and vibrant with good contrast and a few nice moments of fine detail.  Those who suffered for years with a murky DVD plagues by compression will certainly appreciate the outstanding black levels and shadow detail. Previously the final twenty minutes of this film were ruined by an impenetrable murkiness that made it nearly impossible to follow what was happening onscreen - this is a glorious new transfer worthy of celebration. 

The disc features two audio options, a DTS-HD MA Mono presentation for the purists and a newly created DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround Sound Mix for the kids with fancy home theater systems. The Mono option is very nice but I dig the new surround mix  which some nice atmospheric use of the surrounds, very clean and well-balanced with optional English subtitles. 

The restored PQ is the entree now lets dig into the dessert -  the new extras! We begin with a brand new Audio Commentary with Director Paul Lynch and Screenwriter William Gray which is a great listen from start to finish. These guys are fun bunch with an arsenal of gossip, anecdotes and facts about the production and the cast and crew. Lynch starts off with the formation of the project and pitching the idea of a OB/GYN themed medical slasher to Halloween producer Irwin Yablans before coming up with the prom theme - which he brought to producer Peter R.Simpson. The duo are quick to point out various homages featured throughout and gossiping a bit about Eddie Benton's marriage to author Michael Crichton and the lucrative divorce some years later in between commenting on how gorgeous she was. A lot of great anecdotes including Lynch revealing that the van used for a particularly explosive scene was stolen off the street of Toronto!

Up next is a forty-minute making of doc featuring the participation of director Paul Lynch, art director Reuben Freed, composer Paul Zaza, prosthetic creator Warren Keillor and stars Mary Beth Rubinstein, Joy Thompson, Michael Tough and Jeff Wincott. A fun featurette with behind-the-scenes footage ad a lot of great commentary on the film from cast and crew. 

REVERSIBLE ARTWORK OPTION

We also have eleven-minutes of additional scenes added for the TV broadcast with an introduction from editor Michael Laverty who assembled the TV version. These scenes were just trims from the editing room floor and were not created for the TV version and add very little to the story except to point out that Alex and Robin were twins and an ill conceived stab at making Mr. Hammond a suspect. There are two additional scenes with a ditsy blond secretary which are just awful. These scenes have been available for quite a while on YouTube but it's great to see them cleaned-up a bit with a new video introduction - love that Synapse go the extras mile for us fans. 

Two of the extras are exclusive to the Blu-ray version - this is not the standard BD/DVD Combo we've come to expect from Synapse - and they just could not cram everything onto a DVD. We have twenty-three minutes of never-before-scene outtakes with score from the film layered over it in the absence of original audio elements. The other is a six-minute motion still gallery of behind-the-scenes pics, stills and lobby cards accompanied by Zaza's score. 

Extras are capped off with the theatrical trailer, radio spots and TV spots for the film. Watching th TV spots I noticed at least three versions of the Prom Night logo including one that was appropriately reminiscent of the Saturday Night Fever logo. All of the extras are presented in HD and there's a sleeve of reversible artwork - which I prefer to the standard  art option. 

Here are a few screenshot comparisons of the old Echo Bridge DVD and the new 2K restoration on Blu-ray from Synapse Films.The Echo Bridge DVD featured a open matte presentation while the new Synapse version is framed at 1.85:1 and loses some information along the top and bottom - at least that's what appears to be happening here. 

ECHO BRIDGE Open Matte (1:3:1)  TOP

SYNAPSE Widescreen (1.85:1) BOTTOM

Special Features:

- Brand-New 2K High-Definition Transfer from the Original 35mm Camera Negative

- 5.1 Surround Remix Specifically Created for This Release (Original 2.0 Mono Included)

- Audio Commentary with Director Paul Lynch and Screenwriter William Gray

- THE HORRORS OF HAMILTON HIGH: The Making of "Prom Night" (41 minutes)

- Collection of Additional Scenes Added for Television Broadcast (11 minutes)

- Never-Before-Seen Outtakes from “Prom Night” [Exclusive to Blu-ray] (23 minutes)

- Motion Still Gallery [Exclusive to Blu-ray] (6 minutes)

- Original Theatrical Trailer (2 minutes) 

- 6 Television Spots (3 minutes)

- 2 Radio Spots (1 minute) 

Verdict: Prom Night is a bit of a slow-burn but it makes up for it with some decent tension and character building leading up to a spirited final sprint to the finish line with some fun kills with plenty of blood and whodunit fun. The new HD restoration from Synapse is a love-letter to the film and a must-own for fans of eighties horror. Easily one of the year's best horror releases. 

On the way from Synapse are what I hope to be the definitive version of Dario Argento's masterpiece Suspiria (1977) and the nineties slasher entry Popcorn (1991). Don May and the Synapse crew have been killing it with outstanding  transfers and sweet extras - support these guys - they deserve it.