POLTERGEIST II: THE OTHER SIDE (1986) (Blu-ray Review)

POLTERGEIST II: THE OTHER SIDE (1986)

Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Rating: PG-13
Duration: 90 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Brian Gibson
Cast: Heather O'Rourke, JoBeth Williams, Julian Beck, Oliver Robins, Craig T. Nelson, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Zelda Rubinstein, Will Sampson

While it'd actually been six years since the original Poltergeist hit theaters before the sequel arrived in '86 in movie time it'd been a year since the Freeling family survived that paranormal attack from the first film, the one that ended with their house imploding into nothingness. In that time they've relocated to another city and are, not surprisingly, still without a TV - much to the chagrin of their young son Robbie (Oliver Robins, Airplane II: The Sequel), who seems like he might just ie without hs Saturday Morning Cartoons! Steven (Craig T. Nelson, The Incredibles) and Diane (JoBeth Williams, Stir Crazy)along with Robbie and daughter Carol Anne (Heather O'Rourke, Poltergeist) have relocated to Phoenix, Arizona where they live with Diane's mother, Jess (Geraldine Fitzgerald, Arthur), whom it is shown is spirit-sensitive or clairvoyant, the granny has supernatural leanings and and she believes her granddaughter Carol Anne is, too, though momma Diane doesn't want to hear any of it - she's had about enough of the spirit world given the events of the first film, and I don't blame her. 

Meanwhile back in the Feeling's old neighborhood in Cuesta Verde, California the entire neighborhood has been evacuated and bulldozed, there's some sort of archaeological dig happening and the pint-sized medium Tangina (Zelda Rubinstein, TV's Picket Fences)from the first film finds an underground cavern located right beneath where the Freelings' former home stood. Inside the cavern they find the remains of a religious doomsday cult-leader Rev. Henry Kane (Julian Beck, The Cotton Club) and his followers. we come to find out that Kane was the human origin of the Beast who went after Carol Anne in the first film, the one seeking the light, and it's more of the same here with a new twist. 

At about the same time Granny Jess passes away, which seems to unlock Carol Anne's spirit powers, receiving a call on her toy phone in the middle of the night from her granny - from beyond the grave!  It seems that Carol Anne's spirit-powers have also attracted the attention of the evil-spirit of Rev. Kane, who also reaches out to the young girl also through the toy phone, culminating in some supernatural shenanigans happening around the home, and as expected the family flee the home but are intercepted at their own doorstep by the Native American shaman Taylor (Will Sampson, The White Buffalo), who has been sent by Tangina to protect the family, convincing them they must stay and battle the evil, that you cannot run from it. 

Kane has now taken human form, approaching Carol Anne at the Mall before showing up at their new home, creepily demanding to be let in, singing a strange religious song that gave me the goosebumps, before screaming "You're all gonna die in there!" and sauntering on down the street looking like the world's most menacing Mennonite, the guy is frightening, and by several measures the creepiest aspect of the movie. Sadly Beck dies just after filming P2, his gaunt appearance in the film owing to the fact that he was in the final stages of stomach-cancer, which is a damn shame. 

As sequels go this is not too shabby, gone is the guiding hand of producer Steven Spielberg and director Tobe Hooper (Eaten Alive), but new director Brian Gibson (What's Love Got To Do With It) does good work with a script from writers Mark Victor and Michael Grais who also penned the first film, it has a lot of the elements that made the first so good, and changes things up just enough that it doesn't seem like a sequel retread. They had the good sense to bring back the core Freeling family members - minus poor Dominique Dunne who was murdered in real-life after the first film by her boyfriend. They've also brought back Rubenstein as the pint-sized medium Tangina, and she who brings a lot of quirk and otherworldly presence to the role. The family dynamic is largely what made the first film such a success for me, Nelson and Williams are still great together onscreen, though Williams takes a bit of a backseat to Nelson this time out, O'Rourke and Robbins are quite good, too. After Beck as Kane it is Nelson steals the show, his skeptic-interactions with the shaman Taylor are fun, he gives a great speech about how he's "into downward mobility" following the events of the first film, and there's a scene where he's possessed by Kane which is uber-creepy, taking on a few of Julien Beck's facial ticks and pronunciations before attempting to rape his wife, weird stuff for a PG-13 film.  

The addition of the shaman character played by Will Sampson is a nice touch, I liked the Native American folklore and mystical aspect of it, I think it goes overboard a bit towards the end of the movie when things get too goofy, and the character might be considered a bit of stereotypical magic Indian, but I like it, I like the visuals, I like the folklore of it, it's a nice addition. 

The filmmakers get the family stuff mostly right, I like the Native American shaman stuff, and to top it off it also features some very cool makeup special effects from Richard Edlund (Fright Night) and his team which included Steve Johnson (Species 2) and Screaming Mad George (Society), based on designs by artists H.R. Giger (Alien). The cool effects include a grotesque tequila worm that gets swallowed, them vomited up as a larger worm, which crawls under a bed and mutates into a limbless slime-covered skeletal-monster that is frightening as fuck, it scared the bejesus outta me as a kid, and it's still super weird, the entire sequence holds up so well. Not all the effects as well executed though, a scene of Robbie being attacked by his own braces starts of sort of cool but then goes a bit too far, like something from a ate-era A Nightmare on elm Street sequel. Also, the revelation of Kane's true spirit form as the great beast is very poorly realized, what on paper looked like a freaky  Lovecraftian/Giger mash-up looks just silly and anti-climactic onscreen. 

The finale of the film is where it loses me a bit, it doesn't wrap up too well, things begin to get too goofy when we have a chainsaw attacking the family station wagon - perhaps a nod to Tobe Hooper? Then the family returns to the cavern in Questa Verde to do battle against the Great Beast to rescue Carol Anne once again, on the spirit plane. We also have a too saccharine scene of Grandma Jess returning to save the day, it's all a bit too much, but I still enjoy the movie a lot, it gets more right than it got wrong, and it holds up pretty well for the most part. Also helping is that the movie was lensed by cinematographer Andrew Laszlo (The Warriors) and has a gorgeous orchestral score from Jerry Goldsmith (Gremlins) which goes a long way towards recapturing some of that Spielberg-ian charm and atmosphere of the first film, even revisiting his own score for The Omen at points. 

Audio/Video: Poltergeist II: The other Side (1986) arrives on Blu-ray for a second time, the first release from MGM was actually quite solid in respect to the A/V presentation - but it was bare bones. The new Scream  Factory Collector's Edition benefits from a brand new 2K scan of the interpositive and a wealth of extras. The new transfer is a step-up, with a tiny bit more depth and detail, grain looks good, and the color reproduction is solid, maybe even a tad more saturated. Audio options on the disc come bay way of both DTS-HD MA 2.0 ad 5.1 surround tracks, the stereo track is just fine with good channel separation, everything comes through crisp and robust, including the stellar score from Jerry Goldsmith. The surround option is a good one, making good atmospheric use of the surrounds with the Goldsmith score sounding fuller in surrounds, and some nice spooky use of the rear channels, optional English subtitles are included.

Scream Factory give this sequel some very cool extras, beginning with two audio commentaries, the first with  Writer/Producer Michael Grais which is moderated by Michael Felsher from Red Shirt Pictures, who produced the new extras. Felsher does a good job keeping the commentary focused on on point, prodding the writer/producer, who also wrote the first film and brings a lot of info and background to the table. The second commentary is from Poltergeist II Webmaster David Furtney, a bit subdued, but they guy knows a lot about the movie and the production, he points out differences in the original script versus what ended up on screen. New interviews begin with a 14 minute interview with then child star Oliver Robins who begins by saying he was very happy to get the call for the sequel, having had quite enough of being bullied in school at the time. He speaks about working with the cast, remembering Nelson kept things fun on the set seeing Jobeth Williams as a maternal figure, working with the director who apparently was not keen on Gibson ad libbing on-set the way he did on the first. He also speaks fondly of the late Heather O'Rourke whom he remembers as a sweet girl with aspirations of becoming a filmmaker, being around Will Sampson who he saw as mysterious. Robbins also goes into filming the brace-face special effects, and how difficult flying sequence in the spirit world were to film. 

Fans of special effects are in for a treat, we have a 22-min featurette with new interviews from Steve Johnson, Richard Edlund and Screaming Mad George who go in-depth divulging the secrets behind the cloud tank used to create the shaman effects, brace-face, the tequila worm monster and it's various transformations, and the Carol Anne zombie sequence - all great stuff, this is lead for the most part by Johnson who shows up on many of the Scream releases, he's becoming a favorite of mine on these xtras. 

Something I didn't realize for a long time was that H.R. Giger (Alien) did the production artwork and creature designs for the movie, this 22-min featurette puts that into focus, with interviews from Edlund, Johnson and Screaming Mad George who speak about creating the creature effects based on the artist's design. Giger's friend and Agent Les Barany also appears, speaking about Giger's work on film, how that affected his standing in the art community, Giger's not liking to travel because he didn't want to leave his cat at home alone, and his visit to the set of the movie, and how he was often not pleased with how his work was realized on screen, including this one, which culminated in an unannounced set-visit from the artist. what I loved about this was how much this artwork is featured throughout the featurette, glorious stuff. 
  

Scream have also included about fifteen minutes worth of vintage EPKs with on-set interviews from producer Michael Grais and Freddie Fields, actress Jobeth Williams and others. Additionally we have the original theatrical trailers, some TV spots, an image gallery and the 124 page script for the movie. Packaging wise we get a the standard Collector's Edition slipcover with new artwork from artist Justin Osbourn, plus a sleeve of reversible artwork.

Special Features:
- NEW 2K Scan Of The Interpositive
- NEW Audio Commentary With Writer/Producer Michael Grais
- NEW Audio Commentary With Poltergeist II Webmaster David Furtney
- NEW Robbie's Return – An Interview With Oliver Robins (14 min) HD 
- NEW The Spirit World – An Interview With Special Effects Designers Richard Edlund, Steve Johnson And Screaming Mad George (22 min) HD 
- NEW Ghosts Of Giger – A Look At The Contributions Of Artist H.R. Giger Featuring Rare Photos And Illustrations And An Interview With Giger's Friend And Agent Les Barany And Special Effects Designer Steve Johnson, Richard Edlund And Screaming Mad George (22 min) HD 
- Vintage Featurette: They're Back: The Making Of Poltergeist II ^ min)HD
- Vintage Featurette: Monster Shop And Ghostmakers: The Magic Of Poltergeist II (3 min) HD
- Vintage Featurette: Ghostmakers: The Magic Of Poltergeist II
- Theatrical Trailer(6 min) HD
- TV Spots (2 min) 
- Still Galleries (Behind-The-Scenes Photos, Stills, Posters)(75 images) 
- Script Pages (124 pages) 

I probably love this sequel as much as I do because I caught it on cable in the 80s A LOT, the same reason I love Amityville 3-D (1983)beyond reason, actually. It does a lot right, it brings back the core family from the first film and Zelda Rubinstein as the mystical-midget Tangina, plus it adds some shaman mysticism by way of Will Sampson. What holds this together for me is the creepy performance of Julian Beck as the demonic cult-leader Kane, this guy scared me to death as a kid, and he's still gets under my skin! Sure, it pales in comparison to the original, but so does ninety-percent of all other scary films in my opinion, but as sequels go this one is not without it's supernatural charms, and the new Collector's Edition Blu-ray from Scream Factory is top-notch, good stuff. 3.5/5

LOVE CAMP 7 (1969) (Blu-ray Review)

LOVE CAMP 7 (1969) 

2-Disc Limited Edition DVD/BD

Label: Blue Underground
Release Date: January 31st 2017 
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 96 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Mono 1.0, English Dolby Digital Mono 1.0 with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.66:1) 
Director: Lee Frost
Cast: Bob Cresse, Maria Lease, Kathy Williams, Bruce Kimball, John Alderman

Synopsis: The story of LOVE CAMP 7 is based on fact! During the darkest days of World War II, two young American WAC officers volunteer to infiltrate a depraved Nazi Love Camp on a desperate rescue mission. Once inside, they are subjected to unspeakable indignities and horrifying humiliations at the hands of their sadistic captors. Can they survive the sick degradations and perverted orgies long enough to complete their objective and escape with their lives - and bodies - intact? 

Love Camp 7 (1969) has the dubious distinction of being the movie that launched the notorious Nazi exploitation cycle of low-budget movies in the 1970s, it was cooked-up in part by the demented mind of exploitation pioneer/producer Dave Friedman (Blood Feast) and directed by Lee Frost (The Black Gestapo). While it might seem pretty tame in hindsight today this must have been a wild slice of nazi-cinema when it first appeared on drive-in screens, it was even certified as a video nasties in the UK where it is still banned today!

The story begins in 1969 in a London office as a pair of aging men are discussing a business transaction when the conversation turns towards their shared WWII experiences, one of the men details a wartime story that involved sending two undercover women soldiers, WAC Lt. Linda Harman (Maria Lease, The Scavengers) and WAC Lt. Grace Freeman (Kathy Williams, The Babysitter), into a notorious Nazi love camp, a place where the Jewish women were sent to serve as sex slaves to the front line Nazi soldiers and their superiors. So what we have here is a one-two punch of Nazi exploitation cinema mixed with the trappings of a scuzzy women-in-prison film. We have the expected rapes, some forced lesbianism, sadistic rope bondage, whippings, and some good old fashioned Nazi boot-licking, plus nude women as far as the eye can see.  

Their mission, to track down a female scientist named Dr. Martha Grossman who has vital information about the development of a jet propulsion engine that the Allies are keen to have, she was sent to the Nazi brothel when it was discovered she had been leaking critical information to the French Resistance. To that end the women find themselves captured and imprisoned at the infamous Love Camp 7 run by the tyrannical Commandant, played with a bit too much Nazi glee by rumored closet-Nazi Bob Cresse, House on Bare Mountain. 

The women are subjected to the humiliation and rape you would expect from a WIP film with a Nazi twist, making it just that much more hard to swallow, I found some of this stuff difficult to watch, but it is also sort of silly, despite the distasteful content. For example, the American actors portraying British, French and German officer have awful foreign accents, with actor Bruce Kimball (Drive-In Massacre) portraying a more pervy and rapey version of the clownish Schultz from TV's Hogan's Heroes, as Sgt. Klaus Müller. Not all the Nazi's are rapey jerks though, we have a more sensitive type by way of Sgt. Gotthardt (Wes Bishop, Race with the Devil), who is kind enough to make love to, not rape, one of our undercover women, but you know the only good Nazi is a dead Nazi and it doesn't pan out so well for him in the end. 

The movie culminates during an orgy put on for high-ranking sex-mad Nazis, as the French Resistance assaults the prison from outside our women inside stage a daring prison break that goes wrong, with piles of dead Nazis and one of our ladies biting the bullet. The snivelling Commandant (Creese) ends up being blinded by a broken bottle to the face, crying hysterically and blindly gunning away at the women, it made for a high-energy finale. 

Like I said, this is a pretty tame slice of softcore Nazi exploitation compared to what would follow in the 70s, but this is still a seedy roughie with some dark and perverse content. Sure, the plot is a bit on the ridiculous side, just the contention that women soldiers would volunteer themselves to be whores for the Third Reich in a "love camp" in the name of the war effort is dubious to say the least, but that's all part of the charm of exploitation, right? Love Camp 7 earns extra points for being the first slice of Nazi nastiness, and for doing so with a certain amount of restraint that is commendable, we already have Nazi exploitation and WIP tropes in place, without resorting to hardcore sex and more visceral onscreen violence, which would come in the following decade. 

Audio/Video: This slice of Nazi exploitation arrives on Blu-ray from Blue Underground looking way better than I had thought to be possible, having only viewed YouTube clips of this one previously the crystal clear 4K transfer, framed at 1.66:1, is a stunner. Grain is nicely managed, and the amply seen nude women's skin tones look healthy and natural. Blue Underground went back to the recently discovered original camera negative for this 4K restoration and it is mind boggling how nice this looks in HD with loads of fine detail and texture, the image is near flawless with nary a scratch to be found. Like the visuals, the audio sounds great, clean and crisp, no issues with distortion or hiss, while the lossless mono track is not very dynamic it does the trick. 

Extras are a bit thin by the usual standards of Blue Underground, but we do get a extended trailer, a poster and still gallery, and they've licensed the Nazithon: Decadence and Destruction (2013)trailer clip show from Full Moon Entertainment, hosted by the tattooed female SS Officer Frau Bombshell (Michelle McGee), which is a bit silly but hey, it's there to watch if you want. There's also a collectible booklet featuring "The History of Nazi-Exploitation" by author Paolo Zelati which does a good job of detailing the swastika-laden sub genre of nazisploitation. 

The 2-disc DVD/Blu-ray Combo comes in a clear Criterion-style Blu-ray keepcase with a sleeve of reversible artwork, the main feature and extras are the same on the DVD and Blu-ray, the discs also feature two art options mirroring the reversible sleeve of artwork.  
Special Features: 
- Nazithon: Decadence and Destruction (80 min) 
- Theatrical Trailer (8 min) HD     
- Poster and Still Gallery (118 images) HD 
- Reversible Sleeve of Artwork 
- Collectible Booklet featuring "The History of Nazi-Exploitation" by author Paolo Zelati

Love Camp 7 (1969) was the first Nazi Nasty, not the best by any means, but it deserves a certain amount of respect and notoriety for that fact alone, though I'd be lying if I didn't say it was a bit sloppy and funnily inept in a lot of ways, but if you dig exploitation with a nazi twist there's fun to be had, particularly with Bob Creese unleashing his inner Nazi as the seething Commandant, he's way over the top and loads of fun. Blue Underground's Blu-ray looks phenomenal, I wish it had some interviews, featurettes or a commentary to accompany the film but the new 4K restoration is awesome, so now you can enjoy this notorious Nazi nasty in all it's crisp HD infamy. 3.5/5  

WAIT UNTIL DARK (1967) (Blu-ray Review)

WAIT UNTIL DARK (1967)

Label: Warner Archive
Region Code: PG
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 108 Minutes
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Director: Terence Young
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna, Jack Weston, Samantha Jones, Julie Herrod

Blind woman Susy Hendrix (Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast At Tiffany's) lives in a tiny basement apartment in New York City with her photographer husband Sam (Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Beyond Witch Mountain), whom at the start of the movie has just left on a business trip out of town. What neither can know or suspects is that a doll recently given to Sam at the airport by an attractive young woman named Lisa (Samantha Jones, The Way We Live Now)is loaded with heroin, and the sinister hood Harry Roat, Jr. (Alan Arkin, Argo) wants it in the worst sort of way. 

To that end Roat enlists, through nefarious blackmail, natch, a pair of small time crooks, we have nice guy Mike Talman (Richard Crenna, First Blood), and the chubby Carlino (Jack Weston, Short Circuit 2), who aid Mr. Roat in running a con on the seemingly vulnerable blind woman in hopes of obtaining the doll without resorting to violence, though Roat seems perfectly fine with the prospect of murder, just ask the recently deceased drug mule Lisa about that. The con involves them men portraying a military friend of Susy's husband from the past, a cop, and casting aspersion on the marital fidelity of her husband. 

The film is an adaptation of a stage play by Frederick Knott (Dial "M" For Murder), and it does feel like it, too, the scope is close-quarters and claustrophobic, with most of the film taking place in the tiny basement flat, with our trio of hoods trying to run their con on the blind woman, which seems unfair and awful, but it turns out that Susy, as played by Hepburn, proves to be more resourceful and intuitive that anticipated. As the con unfolds she begins to notice small things that cast aspersion on the scenario as performed by the trio of men, possible giveaways like the fact that one of the men seems to be dusting the her furnishings, characters presented as two separate men seem to be wearing the same squeaky shoes, and they keep opening and closing her blinds for some reason. Aside from her heightened senses and wit she also has a secret weapon, a young girl named Gloria (Julie Herrod) who lives upstairs and frequents her apartment to assist Susy from time to time, but the girl turns out to be quite a brat, prone to lashing out at Susy from time to time, knocking over stuff onto the floor in a fit of anger, and borrowing things without permission. 

As stated, the movie is a bit stagey, confined to mostly this one space, and the cinematography isn't the most inspired, this is not David Fincher's Panic Room (2002) with loads of elaborate camera movement, but the movie is well-directed by Terence Young (From Russia with Love), but you have to wonder what a master of suspense and technical know-how like Alfred Hitchcock would have brought to it. The suspense is perhaps a bit slow to build for a modern young audience, which I am not, I have always loved this movie. The suspense builds as the con gets deeper, and as Susy becomes more aware of certain irregularities and violence seems forthcoming, the tension builds, and the final eight-minutes are nail-bitingly good, with an iconic jump scare that is probably why this one is so fondly remembered, and not without excellent reason. 

Audrey Hepburn is just wonderful as the blind woman, she's not helpless, not too naive, and she's not a superhuman heroine either, but she is a clever woman in a bad situation. Both Weston and Crenna as the con men are crooked but don't come of as too menacing, Alan Arkin is a true menace, a super weird cat in a black leather jacket and dark shades, so deeply sinister in a role where he becomes three different persons, he makes it a memorable turn as a twisted baddie. 

This movie is a suspense classic with a good reason, the performances are top-notch and the close-quarters tension slowly steeps, building to almost unbearable levels, and they just don't make them like this anymore, but you can see it's influence on modern thriller movies like this years Don't Breathe (2016) and Hush (2016).   

Audio/Video: Wait Until Dark (1967) arrives on Blu-ray from the the Warner Archive looking very nice, a step-up in crispness and clarity from the 2003 DVD, the grain is nicely managed and the textures and details are improved all the way around - this presentation is a real treat for fans of this classic suspense-thriller. Audio is handled nicely with an English DTS-HD MA Mono 1.0 track that renders the dialogue and the cool Henry Mancini score with good fidelity and without issue, optional English subtitles are included. The Blu-ray box erroneously lists the aspect ratio as scope 2.35:1, but the true aspect ratio is 1.85:1.  

Extras on the disc are a bit slim, we have the interview with actor Alan Arkin and producer Mel Ferrer  which is ported over from the previous release alongside the original theatrical trailer and a cool teaser trailer stating that during the final eight-minutes the theater will be darkened to the legal limit! Unfortunately we don't get a new commentary or extras, the Warner Archive are not known for creating new supplemental material for their releases but this is certainly a suspense classic deserving of a new examination.  

Special Features: 
- Featurette: Take a Look in the Dark-Alan Arkin and Producer Mel Ferrer Reminisce About the Making of the Film (9 min) SD 
- Original Theatrical Trailer (3 min) HD 
- "Warning" Teaser Trailer (1 min) SD 

Wait Until Dark (1967) arrives on Blu-ray with a fine A/V presentation from the Warner Archive, who are doing some good work down there in the basement at Warners getting these classics into the hands of fans. I wish we had some new extras for this one but it's hard to be too disappointed when we have a classic suspense-thriller like this one on Blu-ray which looks and sounds top-notch. 4/5

FAIRY TALES (1978) (Blu-ray Review)

FAIRY TALES (1978) 

Label: Full Moon Entertainment
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 82 Minutes
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1) 
Audio: English Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0. Surround 5.1 
Director: Harry Hurwitz
Cast:  Quigley, Don Sparks, Sy Richardson, Brenda Fogarty, and Martha Reeve

Synopsis: Kinky classic Fairy Tales (1978), starring "Scream Queen" Linnea Quigley in her first feature role, sees fairy tale characters Little Bo Peep, Old King Cole, Little Tommy Tucker, Snow White, and many others all grown up - embarking in dance, lust, and romance in a land where everything is possible and clothing is optional!

It is good to see Full Moon digging into the vault to unearth this lusty fairy tale sex-comedy from the 70's, a delightful softcore romp full of 70s campiness, nudity and a load of surprisingly fun musical numbers, because yes sir, this is a softcore fairy tale musical! 

We open with the Prince (Don Sparks, TV's L.A. Law)who awakens on his 21st birthday and is told he must prove to his father the King that he can sire an heir to the throne or risk losing his future Kingdom. To that end the King sends a trio of docs; Dr. Eyes (Irwin Corey, Car Wash), Dr. Ears (Robert Harris) and Dr. Moustache (Simmy Bow, Alligator) to the Prince's bed first thing in the morning, they've brought along a gorgeous blond (Idy Tripodi) who mounts the young Prince in his bed but the Prince's limp-dick cannot rise to the occasion. To my eyes the Prince seems not to favor women but he says that his true love is that of a blond woman as seen in portrait hanging on his bedroom wall, sure, but it is said that the Princess in the portrait disappeared years ago and has not been seen since.

The Prince is sent off by himself to the Land Of The Fairies to find a cure for his limp prick, his first sexy encounter is with the buxom Little Bo Peep (Angela Aames, Chopping Mall), a cutie in a yellow and white bonnet and a dress that leaves little to the imagination, and even that melts off her pretty damn quickly, but still the Prince's prick fails to rise to the occasion, again. Peep advises the Prince to seek The Little Old Lady Who Lives in a Shoe, Madame Gussy (Brenda Fogarty, Trip with the Teacher). Of course the shoe is a whore house run by Gussy, with a wise-cracking doorman played by Roberts Staats, and this wise-cracking guy steals the show. The Shoe is also visited by the smooth pimp Sirius (Sy Richardson, Repo Man), who also steals every scene, these guys are comedy gold.

While traveling through the kingdom on his way to the Shoe the Prince encounters Jack (Jeff Doucette, TV's Alien Nation) and Jill (Lindsay Freeman, Boardinghouse), the latter of whom of course tries to get in his pants without success. Arriving at the Shoe the Prince discovers that each themed room in the shoe is home to a different fairy tale story, we have a kinky Snowhite (Anne Gaybis, Bachelor Party), and her horny seven dwarfs, with my favorite musical number of the show, fun and raunchy! Of course there's also an Evil Queen and her sexy mirror image, a trio of dominatrix including Evelyn Guerrero, Toolbox Murders) who perform a song along the lines of WWII swing jazz classic boogie woogie bugle boy, which was all sorts of awesome, but it also fails to get the Prince's royal dick hard. 

Martha Reeve's of Martha And The Vandellas fame shows up for a fine disco-soul number as a voodoo priestess in a bubbling cauldron, and according to Band's commentary the soul singer didn't even realize she was performing in a softcore sex-comedy until she brought her Church group to see the movie - if that's true that is amazing! Aso notable is the appearance of a sex-loving Old King Cole (Bob Leslie, The Florida Connection) who receives a rather pleasant and oiled up erotic belly-dance from the exotic dancer Nai Bonet (Nocturna). The Prince has no luck fixing his wang-thang until he becomes privy to a secret room on the upper floor of the shoe which may or may not contain Sleeping Beauty (Linnea Quigley, Return of the Living Dead) in her first role and looking so fresh-faced and cute.

The movie is so silly and fun, loaded with hairy-bushed nudity, and eyefuls of softcore orgies, and raunchy musical numbers that are surprisingly catchy, this thing never wears out its welcome, not even for a minute. Sparks is decent in the role of the naive Prince but the movie is stolen in my opinion by motor-mouthed doorman played Roberts Staats, he seemed so familiar to be, a wonderful combination of used car salesman and 42nd street carnival barker, telling Bo Peep he cannot see the future but can tell by her bruises what she did last night, loved this guy.

Fairy Tales (1978) was low-budget and strapped for cash which probably necessitated the cheesy sets and costuming, but that's all part of the charm of it, I like the shoe house/brothel they constructed, it sort of looked like it belonged at a miniature golf place, you know, cheap.  Though it was low-rent the cast are a fun bunch and the musical numbers are excellent, there's a lot to love about this raunchy sex-comedy cum musical.

Audio/Video: Fairy Tales (1978) arrives on Blu-ray from Full Moon restored from its original 35mm negative, framed in the original widescreen scope (2.35:1) aspect ratio, and it look quite good overall, very natural and not artificially sharpened. There's a fair amount of grain present and some minor print damage is visible from time to time but overall this is a good looking release. 

Par for the course for Full Moon there is no lossless audio option on the disc, we have instead choice of Dolby Digital 2.0 and 5.1 Surround. Dialogue, musical numbers and effects sound fine,though, everything is clear and well-mixed. There are no subtitle options on the disc. 

The only substantial extras on the disc is an audio commentary by writer Frank Perilli and Charles Band who kind of do it by the seat of their pants without having done much research before their viewing, which is still informative and entertaining but not the most scholarly of tracks. The disc also includes a handful of trailer for other Full Moon movies. It should also be noted that this is apparently the first time the "director's cut" of the film has been released on home video, running about five minutes longer in length than the previous DVD version. From what I've been able to gather this is mostly extended softcore orgy sex scenes, as this was a first time for I am not exactly sure. 

Special Features:
- Audio Commentary by Writer Frank Perilli and Producer Charles Band 
- Full Moon Trailers: Trancers 2( 2 min), Vampire Journals (2 mins), Puppet Master 2 (2 min), Puppet Master 3 (2 min), Subspecies 2 (2 min), Specters (2 min)


Fairy Tales (1978) is a fun watch, a 70's sex comedy loaded with nude woman and fun raunchy musical numbers, what's not to love? 3/5 

HEAD OF THE FAMILY (1996) (Blu-ray Review)

HEAD OF THE FAMILY (1996) 

Label: Full Moon Entertainment
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: R
Duration: 82 Minutes
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1) 
Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0 
Director: Charles Band
Cast: Blake Adams, Jacqueline Lovell, J.W. Perra, Bob Schott, Alexandria Quinn 

In this weird 90s entry from Full Moon we have a local diner operator named Lance (Blake Adams, The Killer Eye) who is having an affair with a married woman, a scrumdiddlyumptious slice of white trash hotness named Loretta (Jacqueline Lovell, Lolita 2000). The problem is that Loretta is married to a long-haired biker thug named Howard (Gordon Jennison Noice, Virtuosity), a brute of guy who is trying to muscle in on Lance's business as a silent partner-type. Howard is scary but not too bright, and the two lovers manage to carry on with the affair right under his nose, and he seems none the wiser, early on they hook up in the employee bathroom at the diner while Lance finishes his meal. 

On their way home from one of their nightly sex-flings Lance and Loretta observe something strange on the road home, discovering that the local weirdos the Stackpoole's are abducting people right off the highway and experimenting on them for nefarious purposes. Lance uses this tidbit of info to blackmail the Stackpoole's into making Howard disappear on his behalf, in addition to extorting them for $2000 a week, but as you might expect crossing the Stackpoole's is just a bad idea. 

You see, the Stackpoole's are a family of quintuplets, the family is headed up by Myron (J.W. Perra, Mystery Monsters) who has a tiny wheelchair ridden body with an enormously deformed head, he's the brains of the family, of course. He has the ability to mind-control his other siblings who are a bit on the tiny-brain side. We have the wide-eyed Wheeler (James Jones, The Dark Mist) with eagle-sharp vision and an enhanced sense of smell and hearing, the brainless strongman Otis (Bob Shott, Vamp), and sister Ernestina (one-time underage porn star Alexandria Quinn, Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster)is just a sexy vixen. Through them Myron is able to perform his oddball experiments in his basement dungeon, where he hopes to transplant his evil-genius brain into a normal sized person's body, he also puts on stage shows for his own amusement from time to time. 

Head of the Family is a fun watch, if you love the weirdness and silly humor of Full Moon stuff I think you will have a good time with this one, just put that thinking cap aside for about eighty-minutes and you're good to go. The characters are fun, Myron is a creepy Southern mad doc of sorts with a giant head with the psychic ability to control his mindless drone siblings, it's a fun conceit. Lance and Loretta are also a fun pair as they fornicate and conspire to do away with her pesky husband, doing both at the same time usually, ninety percent of their conversations are had while having sex! Blake Adams plays Lance as a fast-talking hustler, full of charms and cheap charisma, while Loretta as played by Jacqueline Lovell comes of as a trailer park version of Scarlett Johansson, she's easy on the eyes and kindly sheds her clothes to reveal her top-shelf assets, which is always appreciated. For his part J.W. Perra gives the character of Myron nice Southern evilness, the make-up effects used to create his bulbous deformed head are impressive, and there's a drool-filled nipple licking scene with Loretta that was just so icky to watch, this movie certainly has it's moments. 

Audio/Video: Head of the Family Arrives on Blu-ray from Full Moon Entertainment looking solid for a low-budget 90s production, on par with what we've seen from Full Moon to date, including the absence of lossless audio option, we have instead choice of Dolby Digital 2.0 and 5.1 Surround. There are no subtitle options on the disc. 

Extras include a commentary from Actor J.W. Perra who does the commentary as both himself and as his character Myron which was sort of neat. Other extras include a promo for the planned 2008 sequel Bride of Head which never happened, at least not yet. We also get the original trailer (2 min) and the 2016 HD trailer (2 min) for the film plus trailers for Vampire Journals(2 min), Puppet Master 2 (2 min), Puppet Master 3 (2 min), Subspecies 2 (2 min) and Specters (2 min). 

Special Features: 
– Audio Commentary with Actor J.W. Perra
– Bride of Head Promo (2 min) 
– Original Trailer (2 min) 
- 2016 HD Trailer (2 min) HD 

– Full Moon Trailers: Vampire Journals (2 mins), Puppet Master 2 (2 min), Puppet Master 3 (2 min), Subspecies 2 (2 min), Specters (2 min)

The movie doesn't have a lot of atmosphere unfortunately, which would have escalated this one a bit, but it does have a peculiar softcore-horror feel that was at least fun, with some goofy humor and campiness, but the lack of atmosphere and that quick wrap ending brings it down a bit, but if you're a Full Moon fan there's plenty to enjoy about Head Of The Family.  2.5/5

Genre icon Bill Oberst Jr. joins the HUNTING GROUNDS, On Demand February7th from Uncork’d Entertainment

HUNTING GROUND (2017) 

Genre icon Bill Oberst Jr joins the HUNTING GROUNDS this February 7th

Uncork’d Entertainment has set award-winning creature feature HUNTING GROUNDS for a Feb 7th release.

Winner Best Sci-Fi Horror Film at the Toronto Independent Film Festival 2015, writer-director John Portanova’s acclaimed film sees a fractured family forced to go up against an angry clan of Bigfoot.
Festival audiences and horror critics have gone crazy for the story of a father and son, forced to move to an old cabin in the woods after a devastating tragedy, who unearth a tribe of Sasquatch.
Written and directed by John Portanova and produced by horror label The October People, Hunting Grounds stars Miles Joris-Peyrafitte, Jason Vail, David Saucedo, D'Angelo Midili, and Emmy winner Bill Oberst Jr (Criminal Minds).

Official Synopsis : After losing their home following a devastating tragedy, a father and son are forced to move to an old family cabin. When two old friends arrive for a weekend of hunting, what begins as a bonding trip becomes an unimaginable nightmare. This trip deep into the forest will not find wild game, but does unearth a tribe of Sasquatch that are determined to protect their land.

Chad Ferrin's PARASITES Debuts on VOD on January 24th

Chad Ferrin's PARASITES Debuts on VOD from 108 Media

Indie Nightmare Follows a Murderous Band Through DTLA

Rent or Own the Festival Hit on Digital HD January 24th

                                                        
Chad Ferrin's harrowing festival favorite Parasites will be available to rent or own in the US and Canada starting January 24th on iTunes, Amazon Instant, Google Play, Vudu and Xbox from 108 Media.  Veteran genre director Ferrin (Someone's Knocking at the Door, Horse) presents one long night on Skid Row as a sadistic reimagining on the true story of John Colter and his flight from the Blackfoot Indians.  

Since the world premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival, Parasites has made audiences and critics scream, earning rave reviews for being both terrifying and thought-provoking.  Dread Central hailed the film at Fantasia, praising the "white-knuckled tension and action that holds its ground."  Parasites has gone on to screen at a number of festivals, including HorrorHound, Shriekfest, STUFF MX, the New York City Horror Film Festival, Zinema Zombie Fest and more.

Genre vet Robert Miano (Donnie Brasco) headlines as Wilco, the leader of a band of bloodthirsty vagrants who rule the underpasses and alleyways of downtown LA.  When he and his men come across a trio of lost college boys (centered around newcomer Sean Samuels), all hell breaks loose.

The industrial barbarianism of downtown Los Angeles is equal parts player and punisher in this survive-at-all-costs tale of a group of friends who get lost in the seedy streets where they encounter a crazed gang of homeless derelicts that captures and maims them one-by-one.  One lucky man escapes on foot, naked and unarmed, with a pack of depraved transients in pursuit, staying only seconds ahead. Clinging to sanity and reduced to helpless prey, with only instinct to guide him, can he survive this coliseum of horror?