FRIGHTMARE (1983) (88 Films Blu-ray Review)

FRIGHTMARE (1983) 

Label: 88 Films 

Region Code: Region-FREE

Certification: 15

Duration: 87 Minutes

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Audio: Eglish 1.0 DTS-HD MA Mono with Optional English Subtitles 

Director: Norman Thaddeus Vane

Cast: Ferdy Mayne, Luca Bercovici, Nita Talbot

Frightmare (1983) is a tasty slasher mash-up combing the body count of an 80s slasher with the vintage Gothic trappings of a Hammer film starring Christopher Lee, only this one stars Ferdy Mayne as aging horror star Conrad Radzoff (Ferdy Mayne, The Fearless Vampire Killers) whose bloodstained star had faded with age, once iconic the aged star is relegated to appearing in lousy TV commercials. At the top of the film we see him filming a commercial, when a take is blown the star gets a dress down from the director in front of the cast and crew, the ornery star walks up to him a short time later and pushes him to his death from balcony. Later Radzoff attends an event to a more appreciative crowd, at the local college he is given a lifetime achievement award for his work from the school's Horror Society, but while accepting the award he suffers a heart attack on stage, and he is revived by student Meg (Jennifer Starrett). He later retires to his home knowing death is near and plans his death, including some very elaborate funeral arrangements, but shortly before dying he manages to summon the strength to strangles his disrespectful chauffeur, who also happened to have been his former director, played by Leon Askin, who was General Burkhalter from TV Hogan's Heroes, for those old enough to remember it. Funny story, that show got me into a bit of trouble when I started scrawling swastikas on my first-grade homework, I loved the show and thought the Nazis were inept bad guy, but had yet to learn what exactly it was the Nazis stood for. Anyway, Mrs. Goldstein took exception to my artwork and kept me after school one day and showed me VHS footage from the Holocaust and set me straight about what that symbol meant. 

After the star's proper death there's an elaborate funeral service with a 'from beyond the grave' video message from him addressing his fans, after the survive his body is then interred in a rather fabulous mausoleum decked out in neon and video screens with more videos from beyond the grave that are intended to play to visitors coming to pay their respects, but also a message for those who would dare disturb his eternal slumber. Mourning the loss of their icon the horror society break-in to the mausoleum and steal the horror star's corpse, bringing it back to a mansion where they party with his corpse in disrespectful ways, not dissimilar to Bob Clark's Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things. They dance, drink and make-out with he star's dead body, eventually taking him up the attic and storing his body in a coffin. At around the same time his grieving widow discovers the body of her beloved has been stolen and approaches a spiritual medium who reaches out to the spirit of the horror star to try to find the body, during which Radzoff is somehow re-animated inside the coffin, rising from the dead he stalks the mansion and the body count begins. 

From here on in the film is pretty much a by the book body count film with the teens being picked off one by one by the angry horror star, who takes great pleasure in killing his fans in a myriad of gruesome ways. There's a tongue ripped out, a levitating coffin smashes a victim in the face, a beheading, a live cremation, someone bursts into flames and someone else is suffocated by noxious fumes released inside the booby-trapped mausoleum. That mausoleum is quite a technological marvel, set up with video screens, loads of neon-lighting, and a poisonous smoke machine, it's not very plausible for the time but it works for the movie. 

The film has loads of atmosphere, thanks in large part to cinematographer Joel King who did a lot on a little budget, tthere's lots of smoke and fog being pumped into the frames, good use of light and shadow, but the narrative has some big gaps in story and logic, but this is a film that I've always been able to watch and not get bogged down in the whole 'well, that doesn't make sense' arguments, I just dig it. Ferdy Mayne (Night Train to Terror) is near perfection as the Christopher Lee-ish horror star even if why he's out to kill everyone is properly explained, but maybe that hey disturbed his final sleep is reason enough, right? I like his air of self-importance, and be on the lookout for a very young Jeffrey Combs (Re-Animator) as one of the members of the horror society, and Chuck Mitchell (Porky from Porky's!) as a cop investigating the theft of the horror stars body. 

Audio/Video: Frightmare (1983), which is also known as The Horror Star, arrives on region-free Blu-ray from 88 Films using the same 2K restoration that Vinegar Syndrome did for it's own US release a few years back, it's presented in 1080p HD framed in 1.78:1 widescreen. The film is shot with a certain dreamy aesthetic with shrouds of fog and smoke throughout, there's an inherent haziness to it, but the grain is nicely managed and colors looks nicely dense and accurate. Audio comes by way of an English DTS-HD MA Mono 1.0 audio track with optional English subtitles, the elements are in good shape and sound good, if not exactly crisp and pronounced. 

88 Films do not skimp on the extras for this one, we get four audio commentaries on this release, beginning with the three that originally appeared on the Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray. The first with David Del Valle and David DeCoteau, a second with the The Hysteria Continues podcast crew, and an archival audio interview with Director Norman Thaddeus Vane which plays over the film like a commentary track, These are all great tracks, De Valle and DeCoteau have a wealth of knowledge about the film and the key players, while the Hysteria Continues track is more fun but also laced with loads of researched information. The audio interview with the late director has some sketchy audio but gives a nice overview of he director's career. Also carried-over from the VS release is a 12-min interview with cinematographer Joel King, who seems like such a character, having worked a few classic films including Brian de Palma's Carrie, opening the interview with "if you don't know light, you're not a photographer", going into his early career as a photographer and how he came into movies. He shows off some still photographs he took of Peter O'Toole and Sissy Spacek on various sets, speaking about working on Duel with Spielberg, borrowing stuff he learned on Carrie for this film, and how the film was lit with the possibility that it might end up black and white.

88 Films advance over the VS release with two new video extras, we get a new interview with actor Scott Thomson (Ghoulies) who recalls reading Stephen King's 'Danse Macabre' and chugging five espressos before going into his audition, the various shooting locations, and how his name helped inform his character, and him being a bit of horror-snob, plus we get a brand new audio commentary by Nathaniel Thompson and Tim Greer from Mondo Digital who cover some of the same info as previous commentaries but add some new insight and interpretation. Extras are finished-up with a trailer for the film and an image gallery with various poster designs and promotional images.  

The single-disc release comes housed in a cool red Blu-ray keepcase with a sleeve of reversible artwork, one side is the Frightmare artwork with the reveres showing the alternate The Horror Star artwork. The first 300 copies sold via 88 Films website includes the variant artwork, which was actually borrowed from the anthology film From Beyond the Grave, you know, the one with the awesome dagger through the skull image, both the spine of the wrap and slipcover are numbered, this being number thirty-eight in 88 Films' Slasher Classics Collection. We also get a 4-page booklet with writings on the film from Matty Budrewicz & Dave Wain.

Special Features: 

- Limited Edition Booklet notes by Film journalists Dave Wain and Matty Budrewicz

- All new 2K Scan and Restoration from 35mm Camera Negative

- Bobo's Confession - An Interview with Scott Thomson (16 min) 

- New Interview with Cinematographer Joel King (21 min) 

- Archival Audio Interview with Director Norman Thaddeus Vane (Played over the Film)

- Audio Commentary with David Del Valle and David DeCoteau

- Audio Commentary by the Slasher Loving Podcast, The Hysteria Continues

- Audio Commentary by Film Journalists, Nathaniel Thompson and Tim Greer from Mondo Digital

- Original Theatrical Trailer (1 min) 

- Stills Gallery (2 min)  

- Reversible Cover Artwork

Frightmare offers some fun old dark house creepiness and a slasher-y bodycount goodness, but it has some slow spots and the suspense is lacking. You'll stay for the fog-drenched atmosphere and Ferdy Mayne's fun performance but it's hard not to feel the shortcoming of the story and difficulty of tone, it feels like a send-up/parody of the genre almost but the humor just isn't there, which isn't to say I don't like it, I do, just go into this one with some tempered expectations, it's a bit on the loopy side of Gothic horror. 88 Films Slasher Classics Collection edition of the film is region-free and comes with all Vinegar Syndrome extras and a few new ones, making this the definitive version of the film to own. 

Blu-ray Review: PUPPET MASTER II (1991)

PUPPET MASTER II (1991)

Label: Full Moon Features
Rating: R
Region Code: A
Duration: 88 Minutes
Video: 16x9 Widescreen (1.85:1) 
Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1
Director: David Allen
Cast: Elizabeth MacLellan, Collin Bernsen, Gregory Webb, Charlie Spradling, Steve Welles , Jeff Weston, Nita Talbot
Tagline: They're Back. No Strings Attached!

Summary: The nasty little puppets are back to take care of unfinished business. Joined by Torch, the newest member of the sinister troupe, they exhume their beloved creator Toulon to gather the brain matter that keeps them alive. But the Puppet Master has a deadly plan of his own…


Film: Puppet Master 2 open with a nicely macabre pre-credit sequence as Pinhead, Leech Woman, Jester and Tunneler unearth the grave of their departed master Andre Toulon at the Shady Oak's cemetery which is conveniently located just a stones throw away from the Bodega Bay Inn. Pinhead pries open the casket and pours the re-animating serum onto the rotted corpse as the other puppets look on in wonder and awe as Toulon is the reanimated, his rotted skeletal arms reaching toward the sky from his casket. Some time later we see a group of paranormal researchers led by Carolyn (Elizabeth Maclellan, Crash and Burn) arrive at the Bodega Bay Inn to investigate the murder of the hotel's previous owner as well as the lunatic ramblings of Alex Whitaker, the lone psychic-survivor from the previous entry. Apparently the victims had their brain-matter extracted through the nose - Egyptian mummification style. Carolyn is joined in her quest for paranormal activity by her brother Patrick (Greg Webb, TV's Boone), the psychic Camille (Nita Talbot, Chained Heat), sexy red-head Wanda (Charlie Spradling, Wild At Heart), and techie Lance (Jeff Watson, The Player).

That night psychic Camille spots the puppets and plans to leave the Inn in fear of her safety but before she can go is pummeled  dragged off by Pinhead and Jester. The next to go is poor Patrick who gets his forehead rather bloodily excavated by Tunneler, it's a great gory scene. Lance runs into the room after hearing Patrick scream bit it's too late to save Patrick though he is able knock-out Tunneler. While looking at Tunneler's body under x-ray the team deduce that the puppets are being sustained by a chemical in their bodies. Soon after a mystery-man calling himself Enrique Channe (Steve Welles, Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers) appears and announces that he has inherited the inn. Mr. Chanee is really Toulon's reanimated corpse decked out in an Invisible Man-esque costume of gauze, goggles and a cape. Chanee/Toulon retires to his room were he sets about creating a new puppet, Torch, a  flame-throwing assassin. There is a flashback to Cairo Egypt at the turn of the century where we see the origins of the reanimating formula and how it came into Toulon's possession and catch a glimpse of two unique animated puppets; Mephisto and Hermuncules. We also find out that the formula involves human brains, and this is why the puppets are murdering people. In fact, the puppets are not content to murder visitors at the inn, they travel to a nearby farmhouse where they attack a farmer played by George "Buck" Flowers (They Live, The Fog) and his wife in an effort to get more brain tissue to complete the formula, the scenes wherein Torch, Blade and Leech Woman murder the couple is fantastic, she's set afire in a blaze and then Blade hacks a chunk of her brain with his hook. Torch really amps up the kills this time out including roasting a young boy he encounters in the forest with his deadly flame-thrower, it's dark stuff. Toulon's is portrayed as an obsessed madman in this film, not very likable, it seems that rotting in a casket for 50+ years has had a poor effect on his mental health . He's also laboring under the belief that the gorgeous Carolyn is the reincarnated soul of his long dead wife Elsa and has devised a plan by which the two can be reunited forever. 

This time around the puppets are more fully realized and articulated than the first film, great stop-motion effects works from director David Allen and his team of puppeteers, really imaginative and wonderful artistry on display here. We get to see them on screen more which is a treat and their movements are more fluid. I enjoyed the flashback to Cairo and the origins of the formula. Toulon's disguise is creepy and effective and while for 90% of the film he remains bandaged and his face is not visible Welles performance and vocal characterization recalled the great Christopher Lloyd, wonderfully dramatic and the final unmasking of his rotting face is just grotesque 

Something I did not care for was the need for brain-tissue to create the life-giving serum Toulon administers to reanimate himself and the puppets as I feel it it vilifies both Toulon and the puppets, which I guess was Allen was going for here, it really ramps up the gore and horror. In the first film you liked Toulon, he was a good man who sacrificed himself so that the Nazi's could not use his formula for evil and without giving too much away about either film the puppets obey their master until they realize they are being used or mistreated for evil purposes. Here they are more villainous and it degrades the characters a bit in my opinion. The ending of the film is also a bit wacky and felt too far out of left field for me. It's telling that future installments dismiss it or out right ignore the events of this film, which on it's own separate from the series is a very strong entry. 

In closing I must say that viewing the film in anamoprhic widescreen for the first time was a revelation, the 1080p visuals were popping off the screen at me with great locations, wonderful set dressing and seeing this 35mm film get the high-definition treatment made this feel like a first time viewing which is quite wonderful, very excited to see future installments of the series and other Full Moon titles like Stuart Gordon's Castle Freak (1991) and The Pit and the Pendulum (1995) get the 1080p treatment - let's hope they all look this good if not better,. 

Blu-ray: To my knowledge this may be the first-time ever that Puppet Master 2 has been presented in it's original anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) aspect ratio. The MPEG-4 encoded image is transferred from the original negative and remastered in high definition with all new color timing and color correction and the results are simply stunning, it's like night and day. I've seen this film several times in it's VHS and DVD incarnations and it's always been the same fullframe standard-definition transfer, interlaced with rampant compression issues and artifacting of both the audio and visual variety. The cropped image was always soft, murky and lacking any fine detail. What we get with this Blu-ray release is a pleasingly crisp 16x9 widescreen presentation from a very nice negative with a pleasant amount of natural grain left intact, with that though we also get a fair amount of noise, too. The noise is mostly noticeable during the darker scenes naturally but overall this widescreen presentation blows away any of the previous SD transfers of the film with wonderfully saturated and vibrant colors, natural skin tones, decent black levels and a fair amount of fine detail.

On the audio front we have something a bit less exciting than the image. Sure, we get a newly created 5.1 sound surround mix but it's Dolby Digital and not lossless. Like the previous DVD edition it is equally lamented by compression issues most notably with a metallic-ringing throughout the film. Dialogue and score sounds very nice but this is a disappointing oversight. More so than even the video upgrade that the 1080p format allows for is a sonic upgrade and this is a bit of failure.  

On top of the sweet widescreen transfer we get a nice array of bonus content beginning with a new Introduction (2:35) to the film from creator Charles Band filmed on the set of the forthcoming Puppet Master 10 in which the always fun auteur discusses the difficulty getting the early Full Moon Films on Blu-ray. Band also offers up a brand new commentary track for the film beginning with explaining that director David Allen passed in 1999. The commentary is regularly off topic but  quite a treat for fans of the series and of Full Moon Entertainment in general. It doesn't get too scene-specific but there's a ton of FM anecdotes and history, his association with director David Allen whom he met in the 70's whom he co-credits with creating the Puppets and commenting on his skill as an effects artists and director and that he was a protege of the works by Ray Harryhausen. Bands again goes into the troubles with getting early FM films on Blu-ray, creating new high-definition transfers and the financial woes that were prohibitive to that end. He speaks to his love of practical effects and disdain for CGI when overused it becomes cartoonish and he prefers the jittery stop-motion technique over it because of it's 3-dimension physicality. Band specifically talks about Dave Allen creating the iconic Bodega Bay Inn on a cliff shot used in the PM series. The interiors of the Bodega Bay Inn were shot at a an actual castle were they also shot Meridian, Skullheads, Castle Freak, The Pit and the Pendulum, and Demonic Toys 2. Lie k a lot of the commentary it's not Puppet Master II specific and he talks at length about the evolution of the FM Roadshow and the trials, tribulations and rewards of going theatrical with the film Ghoulies, including acquiring an R-rating from the MPAA. My favorite anecdote about Ghoulies being hate mail from pissed-off parents who had a Hell of a time potty-training their toddlers after viewing the film.  Band also discusses his wish to find all the deleted scenes and reinstate them, he also mentions wanting to find all the deleted scenes from this film and others and re-instating them at some point, it's a pretty entertaining listen. There's a Killer Puppet Montage (1:52),  a Rare Puppet Master Toy Promo (1:30) and one of FM VideoZone video magazine which were probably some of the first featurette/bonus content I ever recall seeing from the VHS era. This one featuring a behind-the-scene glimpse of  of PM2 highlighting the new character of Torch and some of the SFX work with interview with David Allen and the puppeteering team, Steve Welles, Jeff Weston, Nina Talbot, Gregory Webb and others. Also featured on the episode is an interview with director Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator) who speaks about his film The Pit and the Pendulum plus trailers for the film and Puppet Master (1989), Shadowzone (1990), Meridian (1990), Crash and Burn (1990). Finally we get a selection of eight Full Moon trailer in HD widescreen including Stuart Gordon's Castle Freak (1995) and The Pit and the Pendulum (1991) which are both slated for Blu-ray editions in the near future, so psyched for that!

Special Features:
-Brand New Introduction by Puppet Master creator Charles Band (2:35) 16x9 
-New 2012 Audio Commentary by Charles Band
-Behind the Scenes VideoZone  (21:37) 4:3
-Killer Puppet Master Montage (1:52) 4x3
-Rare Puppet Master Toy Promo (1:30) 4x3
-HD Full Moon trailers:
Puppet Master (1:38) 16x9
Castle Freak 2:15) 16x9
Zombies vs Strippers (1:19) 16x9
Demonic Toys 2 (1:15) 16x9
Evil Bog 3  (1:00) 16x9
Gingerdead Man 3 (1:02) 16x9
Killjoy's Revenge (1:39) 16x9
Puppet Master: Axis of Evil (2:06) 16x9 

Verdict: In the past I felt that Puppet Master 2 lacked much of the charm of the first film. It's definitely a bit darker and more menacing, the horror elements are ramped up and the puppets are rendered with more detail and articulated movement plus they get more screen time but the film just seemed a bit hollow in my opinion and was outmatched by the first film. However, viewing the film on Blu-ray and in widescreen for the first-time I think it's definitely stepped up a few notches, presentation is everything, it's a wonderfully entertaining watch, the Blu-ray looks great and while the audio leaves a bit to be desired this is still recommend. 3.5 outta 5