STUNT ROCK (1978) (Umbrella Entertainment Blu-ray review)

STUNT ROCK (1978) 

OZPLOITATION CLASSICS #8 

Label: Umbrella Entertainment 
Region Code: Region-FREE

Rating: PG 

Duration: 91 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo with Optional English Subtitles 

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1) 

Director: Brian Trenchard-Smith

Cast: Grant Page, Monique van de Ven, Margaret Trenchard-Smith

Brian Trenchard-Smith's Stunt Rock (1978) is a paper thin excuse to showcase the balls-of-steel stunt work of Australia's greatest stuntman intercut with concert footage of a sword and sorcery metal band, it  might sound a bit slight but it's quite a fun watch. The thin story such as it is features Grant Page (Mad Dog Morgan), playing himself,  travelling from Australia to Hollywood to do stunt work in a new TV show starring staring Monique van de Ven (Turkish Delight). While there he teams-up with sword and sorcery themed heavy metal band Sorcery to help them amp up their already impressive theatrical live show, while also catching the attention of an entertainment TV journalist named Lois (Margaret Gerard, Deathcheaters, and future wife of the director) who is looking to do a piece on him. It's through her interviewing him that they are able to shoe-horn in a ton of his stunt work into the film, culled from the previous films, including the infamous fire fall from Mad Dog Morgan. 

The whole film is basically a love letter to Grant Page's seemingly inhuman stunt work mixed with live performances from 70's rockers Sorcery -who have a pretty cool stage performance that features a the wizard Merlin battling the Prince of Darkness with kick-ass pyrotechnic and laser-light show. Narratively challenged but never dull this heavy metal and stunt-porn hybrid is absolutely ass-kicking fun from start to finish, a non-stop parade of theatrical heavy metal thunder and the death defying stuntwork of Australia's legendary Grant page - so turn of your brain and have a blast, you won't regret a second of Stunt Rock. 

Audio/Video: Stunt Rock (1978) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Umbrella Entertainment as #8 in their Ozploitation Classics line-up, presented in 2.35:1 widescreen in 1080p HD, sourced from a 4K scan of the interpositive. Generally a very pleasing HD image with some speckling and small scratches. That the film stitched together from what looks to be both 16mm and 35mm elements highlighting Grant page's stunty work, so grain, depth and clarity can waver a bit, but overall I found it just fine. The best looking stuff is the Sorcery concert footage with deep blacks and bright colors. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo with optional English subtitles. It's not the most immersive stereo track, but the concert footage sound pretty good, there's a bit of distortion in the higher ranges but nothing too awful. 

Umbrella do right by the film, stuffing it with vontage and new extras.  New stuff comes by way of a new 80-min The Ultimate Rush: A Conversation with Brian and Margaret Trenchard-Smith conducted over a video conferencing platform, plus a 41-min Brian Trenchard-Smith Trailer Reel containing trailer for Arctic Blast, Absolute Deception, BMX Bandits, Britannic, Megiddo: The Omega Code 2, The Cabin, Chemistry, Danger Freaks, Day of the Panther, Dead End Drive-In, Death Cheaters, Drive Hard, Frog, Dreaming, 

Leprechaun 3, Leprechaun 4: In Space, The Love Epidemic, The Man from Hong Kong, Night of the Demons 2, Operation Wolverine, Out of the Body, Strike of the Panther, Stunt Rock, Turkey Shoot - and it's quite a spectacle of genre filmmaking! 

We also get a ton of vintage extras originally appearing on the Code Red 2-disc DVD, beginning with a pair of 2008 Audio Commentaries, the first with Director Brian Trenchard-Smith and Cast members Grant Page and Margaret Trenchard-Smith; the second with Director Brian Trenchard-Smith, Producer Marty Fink and Actor Richard Blackburn - both feature some great anecdotes about the making of the stunt-packed production. 

We also get a 2-min Introduction to the Film by Brian Trenchard-Smith and Richard Taylor, 18-minutes of Extended Interviews from Not Quite Hollywood with Director Brian Trenchard Smith and Actor/Stuntman Grant Page. Also present are 68-minutes of interviews with Brian Trenchard-Smith, Smokey Huffs and Marty Fink from 2009, 

a 22-min Audio Interview with Sorcery Drummer Perry Morris, and a 25-min collection of Brian Trenchard-Smith's Alamo Drafthouse Appearances, a 20-min Cannes Promo Reel. The extras are buttoned-up with the brain-busting 2-minute Theatrical Trailer and a 3-min Trailer From Hell with Commentary by Brian Trenchard-Smith. 

The single-disc release arrives in an oversized keepcase with a sleeve of reversible artwork featuring four artwork options including the alternate Sorcery, Crash and La Rage de la Casse in addition to the Stunt Rock moniker. There's also a limited edition Ozploitation Classics branded and spine-numbered slipcover with a fifth artwork option. Inside there's a handsomely illustrated 16-Page comic book adaptation by Dark Oz that is limited to 3,000. 

Special Features: 
- NEW! 16-Page Comic Book Adaptation By Dark Oz (Limited to 3,000 Copies)  
- NEW! The Ultimate Rush: A Conversation with Brian and Margaret Trenchard-Smith (80 min) 

- Extended Interviews from Not Quite Hollywood with Director Brian Trenchard Smith and Actor/Stuntman Grant Page 
- 2008 Audio Commentary with Director Brian Trenchard-Smith and Cast members Grant Page and Margaret Trenchard-Smith 
- 2008 Commentary with Director Brian Trenchard-Smith, Producer Marty Fink and Actor Richard Blackburn 

- 2009 Introduction to the Film (2 min) 

- 2009 Interviews - Brian Trenchard-Smith, Smokey Huffs and Marty Fink (68 min) 
- 2009 Audio Interview with Sorcery Drummer Perry Morris (22 min) 
- Brian Trenchard-Smith's Alamo Drafthouse Appearances (25 min) 
- Cannes Promo Reel (20 min) 
- All New Brian Trenchard-Smith Trailer Reel (41 min) 
- Theatrical Trailer (2 min) 
- Trailer From Hell with Commentary by Brian Trenchard-Smith (4 min)