ENDGAME (1983) (Severin Films Blu-ray Review)

ENDGAME (1983) 

Label: Severin Films

Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated

Duration:

Audio: English and Italian DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 

Director: Joe D’Amato

Cast: Al Cliver, Bobby Rhodes, Gabriele Tinti, George Eastman, Gordon Mitchell, Laura Gemser

Italian director Joe D'Amato (Deep Blood) never met a movie trend he couldn't reinvent, replicate and/or steal and mash-up with several other genres, and that holds true of this flick which came during the ‘80s Italian post-nuke cycle following John Carpenter's Escape From New York and George Miller's Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior. It opens appropriately with nuclear mushroom clouds filling the sky and then settles into a dystopian future where a Nazi-esque fascist government sponsors a deadly game show called "Endgame", not unlike what we saw with Lucio Fulci's  Warriors of the Year 2027. The gameshow features "prey" and "hunters", the latter of whom have 24-hours to hunt their prey through the dilapidated ruins of a city all while it is beamed to the homes of whatever's left of humanity. The new government is a tyrannical fascist regime that control the streets with Nazi-looking goon squads with S.S. insignias who are secretly using Endgame as a cover to exterminate mutants, people who have mutated into animal-human hybrids or have psychic-powers which the ruling government deems a threat.  

The "prey" of Endgame is Ron Shannon (Al Cliver, Zombie) who is pitted against a trio of "hunters" Woody Aldridge (Bobby Rhodes, Demons), Gabe Mantrax (Alberto Dell'Asqua, Vengeance) and Shannon's former friend turned nemesis Kurt Karnack (George Eastman, Anthropophagous).As the game commences Shannon makes his way through the apocalyptic ruins where he meets the still very human and sexy looking psychic-mutant Lilith (Laura Gemser, Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals) who recruits him to smuggle her and her mutant-powered son out of the city before the government extermination squads, led by Colonel Morgan (Gordon Mitchell, Fellini Satyricon) catch up to them. 

This is a pretty obvious mash-up of Escape From new York and Mad Max set in a radiation-ravaged future with some interesting nods to stuff like Carrie and even Empire Strikes Back, D'Amato always stole from the best and it makes for a fun and briskly paced post-nuke outing with a solid cast of euro-cult royalty. It's fun to see the somewhat wooden  Cliver in a starring role, he and Eastman have some fun entanglements, but I wish that Bobby Rhodes had a bit more to do, he's so great in the Demons films.  It's also always great to see Gemser in a D'Amato flick, and of course she provides some brief nudity which is always appreciated. The gore in this one is pretty light but the make-up effects are decent. We get some Planet of the Apes looking mutants, a blue-skinned mutant toad-man who is the leader of one of the wasteland warrior clans who is always in the company of two nude women at his side. Once we get away from the ruins of the city The Escape from New York vibe gives way to a more Max Max 2 styles adventure with cool armored cars and various scavenger clans providing constant threat, including a cult of white-eyed blond monks in black robes with swords!

There's no escaping the meager Filmirage budget, it feels like it was done on the cheap, as did most of the early 80's Italian post-nuke apocalypse stuff, but D'Amato keeps things moving at a brisk pace and it's never dull ride. There's lots of nice little touches that keep it interesting like a guy cemented into a concrete wall stockade style, and the variety of post-nuke vehicles, plus a bit of Carrie-styled telekinetic mutant mayhem, and I loved the open-ended freeze-frame nod to Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid at the end. 

Audio/Video: Endgame (1983) arrives on Blu-ray from Severin Films with a 2K scan from the original negative in 1080p HD framed in 1.85:1 widescreen. It's a good looking source that is largely free of blemish with good grain structures throughout. It has the inherent softness of other post-apocalyptic Italian films of the era, lots of smoke machine generated atmosphere that saps fine detail, but other scenes looks quite good in HD offering plenty of texture in the close-ups. It's not an overly colorful flick but colors do look accurate and black levels are solid. 

Audio comes by way of both English and Italian DTS-HD MA 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles. I preferred the English dub over the Italian-dub, dialogue is clean and intelligible throughout, and the synth-pulsing score from Carlo Maria Cordio (Shocking Dark) sounds quite nice in the mix. 

Extras are somewhat slim, the only new interview is the 15-minute After The Bomb: Interview With Actor Luigi Montefiori (aka George Eastman) who talks about the film being inspired by Mad Max 2, how budget constraints hampered the execution and getting into some of the fight scenes, locations and cast and crew, as well as other influences on the film. The only other extras is the theatrical trailer. The 2-disc BD/CD releases arrives in a dual-hubbed black keepcase with a reversible sleeve of artwork, inside there's a CD containing the Carlo Maria Cordio score and an postcard sized insert with artwork featuring the track list for the 22-song CD that runs approximately 44-minutes. 

Special Features:
- After The Bomb: Interview With Actor Luigi Montefiori (15 min) 
- Trailer (3 min) 
- Bonus: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack CD (22 Songs, 44 mins)
- Sleeve of Reversible Artwork

Severin's November onslaught of post-nuke mayhem has probably been my favorite genre film grouping of since their animals-attack pack back in May, both are highly entertaining exploitation clusters that deliver the good for fans of b-movie making at it's most entertaining. Endgame (1983) is another post-nuke rarity finally given a proper HD release from Severin making it easier to check off you must-see list of post-apocalyptic films. While there's not a ton of extras the reversible artwork and CD soundtrack are terrific value-adds that make this easy to recommend to cult films fans. 

Screenshots from the Severin Blu-ray: 

Extras: