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

SPACEHUNTER: ADVENTURES IN THE FORBIDDEN ZONE (1983) (Blu-ray Review)

SPACEHUNTER: ADVENTURES IN THE FORBIDDEN ZONE (1983) 

Label: Mill Creek Entertainment
Region Code: A
Duration: 90 Minutes
Rating: PG-13
Audio: English PCM 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1) 
Cast: Peter Strauss, Molly Ringwald, Ernie Hudson, Andrea Marcovicci, Deborah Pratt, Michael Ironside
Director: Lamont Johnson 

Spacehunter: Adventures In The Forbidden Zone hit the cinema back in '83 as part of the 80s 3D revival, the same year as Jaws 3D, Friday the 13th 3D, and Amityville 3D, the Canadian slice of sci-fi was produced by Ivan Reitman a few years before his success with Ghostbusters. It's set in the 22nd century, where somewhere in space a luxury space cruiser explodes and is destroyed for reasons unknown, the lone survivors are a trio of Earth women who escape in a lifepod, they land on a nearby habitable planet, Terra XI, where they are quickly kidnapped by a group of pirate-scavengers known as "scavs". 

Out in space salvage ship captain Wolff (Peter Strauss, XXX: State of the Union) receives the call for the safe return of the women, a large credit-reward has been issued for their safe return, so he and his sexy android engineer Chalmers (Andrea Marcovicci, The Stuff) head towards Terra VI, arriving on the planet's surface in a space-jeep, called a "scrambler", but it's not long before poor Chalmers is taken out in a battle with the space pirates, during which the trio of Earth women are stolen away by another group of scavs, a rival faction called the "zoners", who abduct the women via rocket powered hang-gliders!  The Zoners take the women to the planet's half-man/half-machine ruler, Overlord, portrayed by a heavily make-upped Michael Ironside (Visiting Hours), almost unrecognizable under all the prosthetic make-up. Overlord rules the wastelands with an iron-fist along with his evil sidekick, a mad scientist known as The Chemist (Hrant Alianak, Pontypool). 

With his android destroyed Wolff is on his own until he meets a spunky Earth orphan named  Niki (Molly Ringwald, Sixteen Candles) who offers to guide him through the wastelands in in exchange for some food and wheeled transportation, together they set out to recover the Earth girls, having to contend with more bands of deformed mutants, amphibious warrior women, and other Mad Max-styled menaces, plus a fellow salvager named Washington (Ernie Hudson, Ghostbusters).

The kernel of this movie probably started off as a pulpy maple-blooded Star Wars knock-off with a rogue salvage captain in space, but somehow it ends up more along the lines of a Mad Max/Road Warrior on another planet with apocalyptic wastelands and vicious, and a bit goofy, desert dwelling menaces. It's cheap, it's rough, and is not very good, but I do find it fun in a bad movie sort of way, if you have any love for the cheapie Italian post-apocalyptic movies like Exterminators in the Year 3000 then this might be worth a watch, but keep in mind that it's PG-rated and there's no blood or gore, this one is pretty sanitized for the kiddies. 

Not helping is that the movie is sort of dull, not just the action, but also the visuals are really hit or miss, there's some cool shots in space with miniature ships and corny explosions at the beginning, but this thing anchors on planet Terra VI quickly. There are some cool armored vehicles, mutants with various weapons, and a villainous lair for the Overlord complete with a "thunderdome" styles maze of death, but those exterior shots on the planet's surface are bathed in red which makes it an eyesore to watch, but the shots off the planet's surface and in the interior of caves and alien architecture are kinda cool, like when Niki and Wolff go up against a band of amphibious warrior women, only to be interrupted by a dragon-snake sort of thing, the setting is cool, the women look like extras in the Motley Crue "Looks That Kills: video, but that dragon thing looks damn awful. Sure, we get a cool shot or two, like a cool looking matte painting of the alien skyline, but more often than not the movie fails to deliver, as dull looking as the plot is derivative and confused. 

Strauss and Ringwald are just okay, Strauss takes the movie way too seriously, and Ringwald is just an annoying brat who I found hard to stomach, and that's coming from someone who has had a crush on Reinwald from the age of ten! Her character sputters off corny space-lingo like a galactic version of Heather's. She's probably lucky that John Hughes tapped her for Sixteen Candles the following year or she might have ended up in more dreck like this.

This review probably paint a poor image for the film, but it is very bad, but if you like myself find joy in the Roger Corman produced lo-fi sci-fi films of the 70s and you just happen to dig post-apocalyptic dreck, this is not without it's own brand of 80's cheese awesomeness. 

Audio/Video: Spacehunter: Adventures In The Forbidden Zone (1983) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Mill Creek Entertainment. The film has a bit of a storied history, originally presented in the cinema as a 3D movie framed in 2.35:1, but also screened in 2D in 1.85:1 from what I gather. It has been formerly released on DVD by Columbia Pictures in 2001 in the 1.85 aspect ratio. The presentation from Mill Creek is advertised as 1.78, which is a re-framing, and the image does seem to lose some minor information on all sides when compared to the 1.85:1 framed DVD, which is unfortunate, especially when some are already bumming about the fact that they aren't getting the 3D presentation. When this title was announced I know a lot of the forums were clamoring for a 3D release, but did anyone really think Mill Creek would be going all out for this Canadian slice of sci-fi schlock? The source and transfer look problematic, there's some chunky grain, noise artifacts, and grit and debris to contend with, the image is flat with poor depth and contrast, and fine detail is lacking. The image is not helped by the use of a red filter during the exterior shots on the planet's surface, the interior shots are more pleasing, but not significantly, but at least they're not bathed in red.  

Audio on the disc is limited to a lossless LPCM 2.0 stereo track, it's a crisp and clean stereo presentation that handles the action sequences and sound effects with some nice depth, the Elmer Bernstein (Ghostbusters, Heavy Metal) score sounds nicely buoyant. Optional English subtitles are provided. There are no extras on the disc, not even a start-up menu, you slip the disc and it starts to play. While Mill Creek, to my knowledge, have never produced any extras for their releases, unless it was supplied by the licensor, I wish they would maybe do a signature series with a few extras for fans, they have a decent catalog to pull from and it's a great value-add. One thing they did right was the artwork, totally digging the illustration, a big improvement over the 2001 DVD in my opinion.   

Spacehunter: Adventures In The Forbidden Zone (1983) is a pulpy post-Star Wars slice of Canadian schlock cinema, there's maple flowing through it's veins, but there's also a healthy dose of cheese. It feels more like a PG-version of an Italian post-apocalyptic Mad Max knock-off than a Star Wars knock-off, this is sub Ice Pirates stuff, but if you love bad b-movies this should fit the bill for a Friday night cheese-fest. The disc from Mill Creek is not great, but it is a slight improvement over the previously available DVD, but not by much, it's presented in the wrong aspect ratio and with no extras, not even a trailer. If you can find it for under $10 this might be worth the upgrade, it's also available on DVD as a double-bill with 80's fantasy film Krull from Mill Creek. 2/5  

EXTRATERRESTRIAL (2014)

EXTRATERRESTRIAL (2014)

Label: Scream Factory / IFC Midnight 

Release Date: May 12th 2015

Region Code: A

Rating: Unrated

Duration: 101 Minutes

Audio: English DTS-HD MA 7.1, English DTS-HD MA 2.0 

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1) 

Director: Colin Minihan

Cast: Michael Ironside, Freddie Stroma, Brittany Allen, Anja Savcic, Jesse Moss, Gil Bellows, Melanie Papalia

Extraterrestrial (2014) starts off with a frantic young woman (Emily Perkins) who arrives in a panic outside a rural convenience store just as they've close up shop for the night. Seeing a phone booth nearby she runs to it and frantically dials for help, as she is doing so  the booth's light flicker on and off and in a brilliant burst of light she disappears, not just her but the entire phone booth. The next scene features the store clerk admitting to the local sheriff (Gil Bellows) that while he may have a history of ingesting hallucinogenic drugs what he saw that night was some seriously freaky shit. It's a nice start and felt very much like an X-Files episode, which is quite appropriate.  

Next up we meet a young college couple, April (Brittany Allen) and her boyfriend Hyle (Freddie Stroma), whom are off to April's family's cabin in the woods. She's going out to the cabin to snap a few pics of the property for her mother who is selling the property following her divorce. Unexpectedly tagging along for the weekend getaway are Seth (Jesse Moss) and his girlfriend Lex (Anja Savcic) plus April's best friend Melanie (Melanie Papalia). The three pile into an SUV and head off to the rural properly for a weekend of fun, we have the typical assortment of 20-something shenanigans, a montage of illicit fireworks, drinking and smoking weed and some relationship turmoil thrown into the mix. So far we have a group of five young people and a cabin in the woods, we're on pretty familiar territory and there's not much new under the sun and we sort of know where we're headed... until a fireball falls from the sky exploding into the nearby forest.

Drunk and curious our group arrive at the scene of the crash where they discover not a meteor but a UFO straight out of Mar's Attacks! Furthermore they find a set of alien footprints leading off into the woods in the direction of their cabin. Unfortunately for them they do not just jump into their car and head get the Hell out of there, of course not, instead they head back to the cabin which just happens to be the same direction as the alien foot prints seem to have been headed. What I sort of love about this film is that the  Vicious Brothers are not out to reinvent the alien encounter film, instead they cram a lot of familiar tropes and mash it up with a cabin in the woods movie, and it's pretty effective stuff. 

Beginning with the characters we have a a typical cross-section of 20-somethings, April and Kyle are a sweet young couple experiencing some relationship troubles, they each have some minor depth to them which makes sense since they are the main characters. Their three friends are rather annoying from the start, especially Seth, but even he managed to grows on me before the inevitable body count begins,he suffers a particularly painful dismemberment and anal-plunging at the hands of the aliens. Separate from the group of friends we have the weed-growing neighbor played by the always awesome Michael Ironside, a 'Nam vet with a penchant for conspiracies who doesn't appreciate any sort of intrusion on his property. I only wish we had more of him but what we do get is pretty awesome, he adds some flavor to what is really a minor character. Additionally we have Gil Bellows as the local Sheriff and his deputy investigating the strange disappearance at the start of the film, they have a great scene in the squad car when they encounter one of the aliens, which is very memorable and a bit gory. 

It's a low-budget movie but looks great, shot on Red HD cameras the film is surprisingly polished with some nice locations and great lighting, you can see the tiny budget onscreen with loads of production value, quality digital effects and some great atmospheric lighting. Visually this one top notch production, major kudos to the production team for what they were able to get onscreen. The aliens look very good, again they're not reinventing the wheel here and keep with the standard large-eyed greys familiar to us in everything from Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind on through to the X-Files. 

At one point we arrive on the alien ship, which broadens the scope of the film, giving it a Fire In The Sky vibe by way of the Matrix, quite a feat for a low-budget movie but they pull it off well enough with scenes of slime covered cocoons and the not-unexpected bloody anal-probing, we get a nice balance of sci-fi and horrific gruesomeness throughout.

A fun watch, a mix of sci-fi and horror tropes mashed-up in a way that is fast paced and entertaining, even the love story that figures strongly into the finale didn't feel too forced. The inclusion of the Magnetic Fields tune "Book of Love" is a nice counterpoint to the nihilistic ending, which is dark, and includes an possible homage to the X-Files character Cigarette Smoking Man along with a great government cover-up to top it off. 

Audio/Video: The Blu-ray from Scream Factory  and IFC Midnight is solid with a crisp HD image with strong color saturation and black levels, a top notch presentation. The English 7.1 DTS-HD MA is powerful and immersive, the bombastic low-end blast that announces the arrival of the alien spacecraft was intense and rattled my shelves, plus the soundtrack featuring Crystal Castles, Magnetic Fields and Elton John among others sounds terrific.

Bonus content on the disc begins with an audio commentary with the Vicious Brothers and actors Brittany Allen And Melanie Papalia, The breezy commentary features the Vicious Brothers chime in from time to time with technical talk about lens choices and creating the many effects for the film, but mostly it's just commenting on scenes with anecdotes about making the film. Additionally there are a collection of deleted scenes, a making of featurette and a trailer for the film, plus additional trailers from IFC Midnight. Non disc extras include a slipcase and a reversible sleeve of artwork, which I always appreciate. 

Special Features
- Audio Commentary With The Vicious Brothers and Actors Brittany Allen and Melanie Papalia
- Deleted Scenes (7 Mins) HD
- The Making Of Extraterrestrial Featurette (8 Mins) HD
- Theatrical Trailer (2 Mins)

- IFC Midnight Trailers ( 6 Mins) HD 

Loved this one from start to finish, a spunky sci-fi horror mash-up with some quality special effects and a good cast. Proof that it doesn't have to be an original idea to give it a recommend, just entertaining, which this certainly is. *** 3/5 

DVD Review: MCBAIN (1991)

MCBAIN (1991)

Label: ArrowDrome
Release Date: September 19th 2011
Region Code: 0 PAL
Rating: 15 Certificate
Duration: 99 mins
Video: 16:9 Widescreen (1.85:1)
Audio: English Dolby Digital Stereo
Director: James Glickenhaus
Cast: Christopher Walken, Michael Ironside, Maria Conchita Alonso, Victor Argo
Tagline: War is Addictive!

I've said it a few times on the blog that action films were never really my thing. I've always been more of a horror, comedy, thriller and arthouse kinda guy at heart but occasionally a sweaty testosterone fueled action flick would find it's way to my TV screen. More often that not in the guise of an cop-action-comedy or a sci-fi-actioner along the lines of DIE HARD, STARSHIP TROOPERS or THE MATRIX. This may sound slightly pretentious coming from someone who thoroughly enjoys a silly slasher but the action genre always seemed kind of big and dumb to me which is kind of exactly why I dig this early 90's action flick from James Glickenhaus, the director of the revenge-actioner THE EXTERMINATOR. It's an absurdly action-packed flick that's low on brains but chock full o' testosterone and explosions galore.

Much like THE EXTERMINATOR the film opens with a sweet 'Nam sequence. The war in Vietnam has quite literally just ceased and a helicopter of soldiers are being withdrawn from the jungle when they spot a bamboo dome structure they believe to be holding American POW's. Landing nearby they assault the camp in a flurry of knifings, gunfire and explosions and sure enough the dome is a MAD BEYOND BEYOND THUNDERDOME style death arena pitting American POW's against their Viet Cong captors in a fight to the death. As the soldiers move in POW Robert McBain (Christopher Walken, DEAD ZONE) faces off against a brick wall sized VC soldier when his life is saved by US soldier Robertro Santo (Chick Vennera, NIGHT EYES). Santo tears a $100 dollar bill in half and a vow is made that should the two halves of the torn currency ever be reunited that McBain will repay his debt to Santo.

Eighteen years later McBain is a steelworker living in NYC and while throwing back a beer in the neighborhood bar witnesses the now Colombian rebel Santo executed on live television after a failed attempt to overthrow 'El Presidente', a despot Colombian general played by venerable character actor Victor Argo (BAD LIEUTENANT). A few days later Santo's sister Christina (Maria Conchita Alonso, THE RUNNING MAN) makes the pilrimage from Colombia to NYC tracking McBain to the very top of the Brooklyn Bridge where he's welding. Offering him the torn $100 bill she enlists him to help liberate Central America from it's corrupt drug trade fueled dictatorship.

McBain brings his 'Nam aging buds back together to assist with the coup. We have an embittered Detective Gil (T.G. Waites, THE THING), Eastland (Steve James, THE EXTERMINATOR), Dr. Carl Dalton (Jay Patterson, DEATH OF A PRESIDENT) and a reluctant Frank Bruce (Michael Ironside, VISITING HOURS) who has apparently struck it rich post-'Nam offering "What, you miss the smell of napalm in the morning?" to which McBain counters "When I come to see you.. you're sitting in a chair like an old man, staring at the ocean, you having fun yet?".

Bruce refuses to join the coup (though he later joins the fun, of course) but offers the use of a plane which comes with a hefty pricetag. In an attempt to raise the cash the mercs decimate the crew of a low-level narcotics peddler named Papo (Luis Guzman, BOOGIE NIGHTS) who indignantly tells them after they wipe the floor with his gang in a shit-storm of gunfire that "if you guys want money why don't you go after whats his face, John Gambotti, he's got the money, all I got is table drippings" and so they do. They ambush Gambotti (Dick Boccecelli, THE EXTERMINATOR) outside the the Old Homestead restaurant which will be familiar to those who've seen Glickdenhaus's THE EXTERMINATOR as Dick Boccelli again appears as a mafioso suspended from chains, this time from a skyscraper instead of a meat grinder and squeezed for millions to be wired into the mercs account who pose as Israeli agents.

With the cash wired to their account they charter Bruce's turbo-prop private plane and head to Columbia to free the poor and repressed people of that country. At this point all logic and sanity are abandoned as the twin-prop tries to evades two Colombian jet fighters with the help of Bruce's SAT-link briefcase computer. When one of the jet pilots orders the plane to land McBain fires a single shot from a handgun through the cockpit window killing the pilot and crashing the jet. Mind you there's no decompression, the window doesn't shatter and no one is stricken deaf from the close proximity shot. It's outrageously implausible but highly entertaining and so it goes for the remainder of the film as we see one of the most casual rebel coups ever slapped on the silver screen. The Hawaiian shirted mercenaries land unscathed in Bogata during a raging ground war, pose for vacational photos and walk through a hornets nests of gunfire only to walk away unscathed and victorious, 'natch.

It's a nutty, non-sensical action film featuring Christopher Walken is at his most badass Walken-ish delivering deliciously awful dialogue with nuanced pregnant pauses as only he (and William Shatner) can, it's whacky stuff. As where THE EXTERMINATOR took a few narrative shortcuts leaving your mind to fill in the gaps this Glickenhaus action-fest numbs the brain to such a degree that it would prove detrimental should your brain enter into the fray. That said the final third of the film definitely loses some steam despite it's explosive arsenal of badassery.

Sweat 80's Action lady

Glickenhaus and crew filmed the Colombian scenes in the Philippines which I guess would qualify this as a late-era Filipino exploitation film. It was fun to see Walken strut his stuff. Sadly, the usually badass Michael Ironside is atypically subdued, definitely a missed opportunity. The film's worst performance must be from the consummate 80's action-lady Maria Conchita Alonso who really hams it up in an overly dramatic performance as Santo's rebel sister Christina, pure 80's awfulness. MCBAIN is an early 90's film but the cheese is vintage 80's no doubt about it.

DVD: This is one of the first titles from Arrow Video's fledgling ArrowDrome imprint, a budget line of cult horror and exploitation films for the cinema fromage connoisseur. It's presented in anamoprhic 1.85:1 widescreen and the transfer is very good with few instances of print damage, there's good color saturation and decent black levels. The stereo audio track is clear and balanced with the dialogue, score and effects coming through nice and clean, it's not the most dynamic track but handles the film without distortion.   

The ArrowDrome titles are  budget-minded so don't expect a ton of bonus content, the lone extra feature here is Blast 'Em Up: The Making of McBain (13:56) a video interview with director James Glickenhaus who discusses the film's origins, the futility of the war on drugs, working with Walken and how he considers all his films to be comedies of the absurd despite a few moments during the interview when he seems to take the film a bit more seriously that one might expect. The High Rising Productions produced featurette is short but appreciated with clips of the film intercut with the video interview. The ArrowDrome screener I received was a check disc and did not include final the artwork with reversible sleeve or the booklet with writings from Calum Waddell. Nice presentation and a short but sweet feature, not too shabby.  

Special Features:
- Introduction by Director James Glickenhaus
- Reagan Flexes Some Muscle: McBain and the Golden Age of the American Action Film Collector's Booklet by Calum Waddell
- Blast 'Em Up - The Making of McBain (13:56) 16:9


Verdict: I won't lie to you McBAIN is just not a good film, in fact it's pretty bad cinema, a guilty pleasure of an absurd actioner overflowing with nonsensical machismo mayhem. My advice to you is to turn off your brain and board this testosterone fueled twin-prop plane to a napalm fueled fever dream of non-stop action and unintentional hilarity. **1/2 (2.5 outta 5)  

Say CHEESE!