SPLIT (1989)
30th Anniversary Special Edition
Label: Verboden Video
Duration: 85 Minutes/105 Minutes
Region: A
Video: 1080p HD Full Screen (1.33:1)
Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo with optional English Subtitles.
Director: Chris Shaw
Cast: Timothy Dwight, Joan Bechtel, John Flynn
Synopsis: Starker is the one man in a society of complacent people who can see the stifling control exerted on humankind by beings from another dimension. Living on garbage and in ever-changing disguise, he bounces from one person to another, trying to wake the world from its slavery. But as his ideas start to gain traction, he becomes the singular target of the Agency Director, a formidable dictator. Starker must race against advanced surveillance technology and evade countless agents to get his message out to the masses before he is neutralized by the forces of order.
In the category of low-budget, mind-fuck movies we have the late-80's slice of dystopian weirdness Split (1989), a film crammed with all sorts of ideas and themes, but one I didn't find to be all that cohesive, it's sort of an impenetrable mess touching on themes of paranoia, surveillance and the very nature reality, all cool stuff. We meet a disheveled young man with corny fake teeth, an apparent drifter whose name is Starker (Timothy Dwight), he wanders the streets of San Francisco, snorting Sweet & Low, ranting about how "they" cannot find him.
The big ad they "they" here seems to be some sort of inter-dimensional secret organization that monitors and records the activities of everyone via omnipresent surveillance techniques, the group is lead by a silver-skinned man known as The Director (director Chris Shaw), who sends his minion to follow Starker, who manages to elude them using a series of wigs and disguises to hide his identity.
Along the way he has interactions with a variety of colorful people, a sympathetic waitress named Susan (Joan Bechtel, Dead Pit), and a whacked-out artist type known as The Artist (John Flynn), all the while being pursued by The Director's henchmen, who seem to want to stop him from spreading a mind-freeing drug that he's created, which he plans to unleash into the water supply, thereby freeing the minds of everyone, which will somehow throw a wrench in the works of The Director.
What the fuck it's all about I couldn't say for sure, but I can say that this low budget but high on ideas film was never boring, a mind-warping slice of low-budget film making that is kinetic, odd and visually fascinating. From what I can tell this is director Chris Shaw's only film from, he's a visual artist, and this movie seems to be an exploration of the film medium, it's an interesting watch, but also a bit of a head-scratcher that doesn't subscribe to normal storytelling devices, but if your down for some strangeness this film has plenty to offer. They're dated now bit the film has some cool early computer effects done by the directors brother Robert Shaw, that combined with the cool editing and sound design make for an intriguing watch.
Audio/Video: Split (1989) arrives on Blu-ray from Verboden Video, coming from a new 2K restoration from the original 16mm film negatives, presented in 1080p HD full frame (1.33:1). It's not the sharpest looking image, but the elements are in good shape, looking like a low-budget 16mm production. Audio comes by way of an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track, which sounds limited in fidelity but clean, with some occasional source hiss and distortion creeping in, optional English subtitles are provided.
The disc features both the 85-min original cut of the film and the never before released 105-min extended version of the film, both with director's commentary. There's also interviews with stars Joan Bechtel and John Flynn, each running about 14-min long, plus unused footage with director's commentary, plus a remastered trailer for the film. Bechtel speaks about the existential themes of the film, the idea of brainwashing - which intrigued her as there's some cult history in her family! She gives a thoughtful recounting of the film, I like that she fingers the idea of is it visionary or delusional? That really sums up my experience with this film. John Flynn speaks about his character's wardrobe (that yellow blazer!), the San Francisco and Santa Cruz locations, the physicality of his performance, and speaking about how very Santa Cruz the film is.
The single disc release comes housed in a standard Blu-ray keepcase with a one-sided sleeve of artwork, inside you will find a 4-page booklet with writing on the film from Caroline Kopko, plus notes about the transfer and presentation.
Special Features:
- Includes both the original release version (85 min) and the never before released extended cut (105 min) of the film.
- Director Commentary on both versions of the film.
- Unused Footage with Director Commentary (8 min)
- New interview with actress Joan Bechtel (14 min)
- New interview with actor John Flynn (13 min)
- Original, Remastered Trailer (4 min)
Split (1989) is a brave slice of lo-fi science fiction from the late-80's, I didn't "get it", nbot all of it anyway, but the ideas floating around are fascinating as are the visuals. I've never heard of Verboden Video prior to the arrival of this release, if this is the sort of mind-bending lo-fi cinema they're peddling I am curious to dig deeper into their catalog. If you're an adventurous cinema type this might be something to check out, I would highly recommend it to those who have an affinity for both Slackers (1990) and Liquid Sky (1982).
