THE BLOB (1988) (Scream Factory Collector's Edition Blu-ray Review/Comparison)

THE BLOB (1988)

Scream Factory Collector's Edition 

Label: Scream Factory 
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 & 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles  
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 
Duration: 95 Minutes
Director: Chuck Russell 
Cast: Shawnee Smith, Kevin Dillon, Donovan Leitch Jr., Jeffrey DeMunn, Candy Clark, Joe Seneca, Del Close, Paul McCrane, Sharon Spelman

When what appears to be a meteor from outer space lands in the forest outside of a small town in California a drunken transient nearby investigates and begins to prod goo leaking from the meteor with a stick. As he does so the gelatinous glob clings to the stick and begins to consume his hand. The transient runs through the woods in fear and is hit by a passing car driven by local teens, the high school students take him immediately to a nearby clinic run by a local doc (Jack Nance, Eraserhead).  

The three teens are bad boy mullet-head Brian Flagg (Kevin Dillon, No Escape), Meg Penny (Shawnee Smith, Who'S Harry Crumb?) and Paul Taylor (Donovan Lietc, Cutting Class). Brian does not stick around long at the hospital, quickly jumping on his motorcycle and off to the local diner for eats while Meg and Paul stay behind with the transient. It's here that poor Paul witnesses the Blob dissolve the lower torso of the transient before it turns on him, dropping from the ceiling and consuming Paul in front of Meg who futilely tries to pull her boyfriend free of the acidic ooze only managing to pull his arm off in the process before being knocked unconscious as the Blob oozes out the window and into town. 

The local sheriff (Jeffrey DeMunn, Warning Sign) doesn't believe Meg's fantastic story and she winds up at the local diner with Brian who also doesn't believe her story, that is until the Blob shows up at the diner and sucks the grill cook down the sink drain head first! The sound of crunching bones and gross fleshy sounds in this scene still make me cringe - this is a brutal effect. It's after narrowly avoiding the tendrils of the Blob in the diner by hiding in the freezer that the teens discover it's only apparent weakness - the damn thing hates the cold. Not so lucky is the waitress (Candy Clark, Amityville 3-D) whom while in a phone booth outside the diner is overcome by the flesh-absorbing Jello-O mold. Again, the effects are of the old school practical variety and look amazing, with great use of various miniatures and reverse photography with tons of gooey grossness - the scene of the telephone booth imploding with the waitress inside very cool. 

With each victim consumed the Blob dissolves it exponentially increases in size and becomes and more of a threat to the community, but eventually the shady government agents in white contamination suits carrying machine guns and flamethrowers show up, you know to save the day, but mullet-headed bay boy Brian smells the bullshit after speaking with the head scientist, Dr. Meadows (Joe Seneca, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three), discovering that the Blob is not an alien creature but a Cold War-era biological weapon that arrived on Earth via a downed government satellite. Brian escapes the quarantine zone and flees into the sewers along with Meg and her younger brother Kevin (Michael Kenworthy, Return of the Living Dead Part II) where they must contend with not only armed government agents but also the gelatinous flesh-eating creature leading up to a liquid nitrogen fueled finale.

Co-scripted by Frank Darabont (The Mist) this is flick just a blast from start to finish with nods to the original 50's film and plenty of unexpected turns, plus it's loaded with awesome practical and in-camera special effects that hold up so much better than digital stuff, except for that scene of the film projectionist plastered on the ceiling, that effect is shit. The performances are damn decent even though I think that mullet on Kevin Dillon is chuckle worthy, but it certainly goes with his 80's bad boy image, it just hasn't dated well. Peripheral characters include a pair of young lovers in car that fall victim to the goo, the dude is awesome, a smooth ladies man with a full bar in the trunk of his car, he even a signature cocktail he makes for his dates. Plus we get a reverend (Del Close, Beware the Blob!) who preaches the end-time message once the Blob arrives on the scene, he plays into the final scene in the film, one that would have seemed to indicate a potential sequel which unfortunately never panned-out. Also be on the lookout for a small role for Bill Mosely (The Devils Rejects) as one of the government agents. 

The in-camera effects and gruesome death scenes are a blast, I love it when the Blob infiltrates the contamination suit of one of the science team, filling up the head gear not unlike something very similar that happens in Terry Gilliam's Brazil (1985). The story is fun and the characters keep you plugged-in, but for me its the gooey effects and the amped-up sci-fi action that keep me coming back to this classic 80's remake, it's right up there with John Carpenter's The Thing (19282) and David Cronenberg's The Fly (1996) as one of the best remakes of, not only the 80's, but of all time in my opinion, this is an essential slice of 80's horror/sci-fi! 

Audio/Video: The Blob (1988) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Scream Factory in 1080p HD widescreen framed in 1.85:1. This looks to be the same transfer we saw from Twilight Time a few years back, and that's fine, it's a quality transfer, but it is dated and new scan f this would have impressed even more. The framing both look near identical, but  the Scream factory disc is darker, the reds looking more red and slightly less pink and orange, not sure which is more accurate to theatrical exhibition but I prefer the Scream'a disc tone and color.   

Audio comes by way of an  English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround and 2.0 stereo, it has a good dynamic range with some nice use of the surrounds that really give the film an extra punch. Unlike the Twilight Time release there is no isolated score from composer Michael Hoenig, so you might want to hang onto that TT disc for the isolated score, the collector's booklet, and the 18-min Chuck Russell Q&A from Friday Night Frights at The Cinefamily. 

Blu-ray Comparison:

Top: Scream Factory Blu-ray 

Bottom: Twilight Time Blu-ray 

Scream Factory did not slouch on the extras for this one, but I was a bit surprised they crammed it all onto one disc, i think this should have been a double-disc with the extras on a separate disc, and given the film it's own disc to allow the encode room to breathe. The only extra carried over from the out-of-print TT release is the audio commentary with director Chuck Russell moderated by Blumhouse's Ryan Turek and co-host of the Shock Waves podcast. It's a fun commentary filled with a lot of facts about the film with special detailed to how the effects were created for each of the shots. Turek obviously loves the film and Russell is very enthusiastic when speaking about his experience making the film. 

New extras are expansive, including a pair of newly minted audio commentaries, the first with Director Chuck Russell, Special Effects Artist Tony Gardner, And Cinematographer Mark Irwin, Moderated By super-fan and filmmaker Joe Lynch (The Knights of Badassdom), the second with Actress Shawnee Smith.

We also get new interviews galore, these include a 49-mins with Director Chuck Russell, 14-mins with  Actor Jeffrey DeMunn, 17-min with Actress Candy Clark, 15-mins with Actor Donovan Leitch Jr., 18-mins with Actor Bill Moseley, 18 mins with Cinematographer Mark Irwin, 22-mins with Special Effects Artist Tony Gardner, 26-mins with Special Effects Supervisor Christopher Gilman, 21-mins with Production Designer Craig Stearns, 20-mins with Mechanical Designer Mark Setrakian, and 12 mins with Blob Mechanic Peter Abrahamson.  

And there's still more, we also get 28-mins of Behind-The-Scenes Footage of Tony Gardner and his FX team, 3-min of theatrical trailers, a 1-min TV spot and a 5-min gallery of still images, lobby cards, concept art, and posters. 

The single-disc release comes housed in a standard Blu-ray keepcase with a sleeve of reversible artwork featuring the original theatrical poster on one side and a new illustration from from David Levine. the disc itself features an excerpt of the same new illustration. The first-pressing also includes a limited edition slipcover with the new illustration.

Special Features:
- NEW Audio Commentary With Director Chuck Russell, Special Effects Artist Tony Gardner, And Cinematographer Mark Irwin, Moderated By Filmmaker Joe Lynch
- NEW Audio Commentary With Actress Shawnee Smith
- NEW It Fell From The Sky! – An Interview With Director Chuck Russell (49 min) 
- NEW We Have Work To Do – An Interview With Actor Jeffrey DeMunn (14 min) 
- NEW Minding The Diner – An Interview With Actress Candy Clark (17 min) 
- NEW They Call Me Mellow Purple – An Interview With Actor Donovan Leitch Jr. (15 min) 
- NEW Try To Scream! – An Interview With Actor Bill Moseley (18 min) 
- NEW Shot Him! – An Interview With Cinematographer Mark Irwin (18 min) 
- NEW The Incredible Melting Man – An Interview With Special Effects Artist Tony Gardner (22 min) 
- NEW Monster Math – An Interview With Special Effects Supervisor Christopher Gilman (26 min) 
- NEW Haddonfield To Arborville – An Interview With Production Designer Craig Stearns (21 min) 
- NEW The Secret Of The Ooze – An Interview With Mechanical Designer Mark Setrakian (20 min) 
- NEW I Want That Organism Alive! – An Interview With Blob Mechanic Peter Abrahamson (12 min) 
- NEW Gardner’s Grue Crew – Behind-The-Scenes Footage Of Tony Gardner And His Team (28 min) 
- Audio Commentary With Director Chuck Russell, Moderated By Film Producer Ryan Turek
- Theatrical Trailers (3 min) 
- TV Spot (1 min) 
- Still Gallery (5 min) 

The Blob (1988) is truly one of the best sci-fi/horror remakes of all time, a film with wonderful gooey special effects and a stupefying 80's mullet that delivers the goods and then some. 

CHRISTMAS EVIL (1980)

CHRISTMAS EVIL (1980) 

Label: Vinegar Syndrome

Region Code: Region-FREE

Rating: Unrated

Duration: 94 Minutes

Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio Mono 

Video:  1080p Widescreen (1.78:1) 

Director: Lewis Jackson

Cast: Brandon Maggart, Jeffrey DeMunn, Dianne Hull, Andy Fenwick, Brian Neville, Joe Jamrog

When Harry (Brandon Maggart) was just a young boy he experiences a rather traumatic event on Christmas Eve. While trying to sneak a peek of jolly old St. Nick leaving gifts under the Christmas tree what he ended up with was an eyeful of the bearded fat man doing a bit more than just kissing his mommy. Poor Harry didn't realize that the man in the Santa suit was his kinky father having a fun with mom, confused and frightened by what he saw Harry runs off to his room before cutting himself with a shard of glass from a broken snow globe. 

Now thirty years later Harry works at the Jolly Dream toy factory but still carries the mental scars of that awful night.  In the years since Harry has styled himself into a neighborhood Santa Clause of sorts, his home is plastered with Christmas decorations and he sleeps in Santa pajamas. Harry regularly goes onto the rooftop of his apartment with a pair of binoculars to spy on the neighborhood kids. Peeping through their windows he documents who's naughty and nice in a  set of ledgers labeled "naughty" and "nice". A kid looking at Penthouse magazine in his room ends up in the naughty book while another young girl observed taking out the trash is noted as good. 

Weird though he may be Harry seems like a well meaning guy and enjoys his job at the factory making toys for the boys and girls of the world.  Sure, he's odd but he seems mostly harmless at first. Harry's older brother Phil (Jeffrey DeMunn, THE BLOB) notices Harry is becoming more obsessive and weirder as Christmas approaches, he tries to reel him back into reality but it's a losing battle and only Harry descends further into madness as Christmas approaches. 

He finally snaps on Christmas Eve, now fully delusional and dressed in a Santa suit Harry sets about rewarding the good boys and girls in the neighborhood and punishing a few of the naughty adults who corrupt the true spirit of Christmas. In the process he leaves behind a small body count and a mob of towns folk armed with torched and pitchforks chase him through the streets before we come to a very surreal finale, one that the film is rightfully most remembered for. 

I think this film is often confused for the more bloody and cynical Santa slasher SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT. Both movies deal with a young men traumatized as kids who grow up into a delusional and homicidal Santa, this one is more of a character study along the lines of TAXI DRIVER or HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER. As the film moves along we witness Harry's  break from reality and the tragic aftermath. Maggart is pretty great and does a fine job portraying the descent into madness all the while keeping Harry a sympathetic character. There's something about his eyes that conveys so much, he really does carry the film on his shoulders, there's just so much that could have gone wrong here but he holds it together. 

While there are a handful of deaths none are overly graphic or gory and this might not satisfy the gore hounds but if you enjoy a demented slow-burn with a very strange finale there's some fun to be had here. There are a few times where the film does drag a bit but I find myself returning to this one every Christmas season and it's great to see it get a new restoration with loads of extras from Vinegar Syndrome. 

BLU-RAY:
Vinegar Syndrome have gone back to archival 35mm elements for this new transfer and the source material looks very nice with just a few blemishes and minor white speckling along the way. The new 4K restoration is mighty fine with accurate skin tones, decent black levels and vibrant colors. The cinematography is a bit on the hazy side so the image is not the sharpest but  the grain is managed quite nicely and the detail is far superior to previous releases and improves the image in all the expected areas. The print used bears the original title of YOU BETTER WATCH OUT, which is probably a more appropriate title but doesn't carry with the same exploitative cache. 

The English language DTS-HD Master Audio Mono does a fine job exporting the audio chores with a clean and nicely balanced presentation. 

Onto he extras we have three audio commentaries featuring director Lewis Jackson who is joined separately by actor Brandon Maggart and cult film director John Waters. The commentary with John waters is quite amusing, some might say that his interest in this cult-film resurrected it from obscurity. The king of bad taste is a true champion of the film and at a few points seems to stop commenting just to sit back and enjoy the film. 

Sourced from the previous releases are interview with director Lewis Jackson and star Brandon Maggart coming in just under fourteen minutes in length, the interviews cover the spotty distribution of the film and the cult status. The Tromatic interview with Maggart is conducted at what appears to be his  kitchen table and he is joined by Troma's Sgt. Kabukiman which is just weird. 

Also on the disc are nearly a half hour of screen tests, deleted scenes, original theatrical trailer, storyboard comparisons and my favorite, a collection of hilarious comment cards from early screenings of the film

SPECIAL FEATURES:
- BD/DVD Combo Pack
- Restored in 4k from 35mm archival elements
- Commentary track with Lewis Jackson
- Commentary track with Lewis Jackson and Brandon Maggart
- Commentary track with Lewis Jackson and John Waters
- Archival Video Interviews with Lewis Jackson (7 mins) 
- Archival Video Interviews with Brandon Maggart (7 mins)
- Original Theatrical Trailer (2 mins)
- Deleted Scenes (7 mins) 
- Screen Tests (26 mins)
- Storyboards (4 mins) 
- Comment Cards Gallery (3 mins) 

VERDICT:
CHRISTMAS EVIL may not the blood and guts fueled Santa slasher I think most might expect - and the artwork suggests - but it's definitely one of the most demented Christmas stories out there and it just happens to be a damn good film. Vinegar Syndrome are a very naughty label but I am pretty sure they're on Harry's good list this year with the definitive release of CHRISTMAS EVIL.