THE KINDRED (1987)
Special Edition Blu-ray
Label: Synapse Films
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration; 93 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 English Stereo Surround and Original Theatrical 2.0 English Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Director: Jeffrey Obrow & Stephen Carpenter
Cast: Rod Steiger, Kim Hunter, David Allen Brooks, Amanda Pays, Talia Balsam, Timothy Gibbs, Julia Montgomery, Peter Frechette, Bunki Z
In the tentacled 80's slime-fest The Kindred (1987)
Dr. Amanda Hollins (Kim Hunter, A Streetcar Named Desire) is an aging molecular scientist, who on her death bed pleads with her adult scientist son John (David Allen Brooks, Manhunter) to go to her home and destroy all of her secretive genetic experiments and research, specifically mentioning the cryptic “Anthony Journals”, and dropping a doozy of a nugget, that he has a heretofore unknown brother, just before dying. After his mother's funeral the dutiful and curious son, along with his girlfriend Sharon (Talia Balsam, Crawlspace) and their med school buddies Hart (Timothy Gibbs, Witchboard 2: The Devil's Doorway), Cindy (Julia Montgomery, Girls Nite Out), Brad (Peter Frechette, The Hills Have Eyes Part II), and Nell (Bunki Z, Hide and Go Shriek), head out to his isolated childhood home to carry-out his mother's final wishes.
Also figuring into the equation is Dr. Philip Lloyd (Rod Steiger, The Illustrated Man), a sinister former associate of Hollins who is familiar with her genetic experimentation into creating animal-human hybrids. He has been carrying out his own brand of demented mad science with interspecies genetic manipulation, producing a literal dungeon full of hideous animal-human hybrids monstrosities. He knows that Hollins had perfected the hybridization process which has eluded him for years, and he wants her data by any means necassary. To that end he sends in his sexy but mysterious assistant Melissa (Amanda Pays, Leviathan) to intercept the scientific data before John and his friends can scrap it, with her infiltrating the group, and attempting to seduce John, while posing as a medical student who was a fan of his mother's published works - but John's girlfriends can definitely tell there's something fishy about this mysterious woman.
While sorting through his mother's research and her laboratory it becomes apparent to John that his mother was up to some seriously shady mad-science shit, and whatever it is it's still very much alive and none too pleased about the strangers inhabiting the home. What emerges from beneath the floorboards of the home is a vicious red-eyed tentacled creature covered in slime that's hungry and going through a bit of a growth spurt.
I didn't know who Steiger was when I was watching this in the 80's, but seeing it now some 20+ years later I had somehow forgotten he was in it, and all I could thing was "Why the fuck is Rod Steiger in this gooey tentacle horror flick!?!". When he remerges at the end of the film he chews up the scenery the way that Rod tended to do, and it's pretty great. His character gets what looks like a five-gallon bucket of KY jelly poured over his head, and I would have loved to have heard the pitch meeting where this was explained - you're gonna do what now? I'm fairly certain that he requested that his character wear a hat in this slimy scene, otherwise it would have been dumped straight on his skull.
The story itself is pretty basic stuff, no great shakes, and the characters don't have a lot of depth, and they don't need to, it's not that sort of movie. It's the fantastic creature effects that hold this baby together, and they're off-the-charts cool. If you're a monster kid or lover of slimy 80's gore this is a giddy celebration of oozing tentacle horror. This just feels like a horror movie made by horror fans for horror nuts, and the execution of the tentacle-based terror is top-notch. The creature starts off small, tony enough to hide itself inside a watermelon before emerging to kill it's first victim as she drives alone in the dark; slipping it's tentacles into her nose and ears, the the tentacles move under her skin is absolutely horrifying, you might even say it gets under your skin... Anyway, later we get Dagon-esque fish-lady transformation that looks unbelievably cool, it really makes you appreciate how great old school slime and latex practical effects were! Aside from the goopy special effects we also get some terrific action set pieces by way of a speeding Porsche exploding into a fireball, another car ramping off a bridge and careening into the water, and the creature, having grown much larger later in the film, overturning a car.
The Kindred was a VHS staple back in the 80's, I remember renting the Vestron Video VHS release with the baby bottle artwork several times from my local mom and pop video store when I was in my early-teens, which were the prime discovering horror years for me, as I am sure they were for many of you. My parents would often take-off for a weekend getaway, throw me a few dollars for pizza, sub sandwiches, and video rentals, and I would settle in for a weekend of late-night horror marathoning. I think The Kindred sits well alongside John Carpenter's The Thing, Stuart Gordon's From Beyond and Chuck Russell's gelatinous The Blob remake as a particularly solid tentacled creature horror entries from that era. Over the years all these cult films have received lavish special edition DVD and Blu-ray releases, but not The Kindred, it's sort of languished in video vault obscurity for a long while. That seemed destined to change however when Synapse Films announced back in 2007 (I think) that they'd acquired the right to the film, and I was elated, and then a bit deflated, when it actually took fifteen years to finally emerge from the Synapse audio-video laboratories, but I am here to tell you that it was worth the wait!
Audio/Video: The Kindred (1987) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Synapse Films in 1080p HD (1.78:1) widescreen sourced from a new - 15 years in the making - 4K restoration of the unrated version of the film. Originally shot on cheap 80's 35mm stock it has an inherent heavy grain presence, especially in the darker scenes, but the grain is well-managed and uniform throughout with an organic filmic appearance. The level of fine detail in the image looks terrific, the goopy slime-dripping textures of the creatures tentacles looks solid as do the vibrant hues of beakers filled with neon-green fluid and lavender colored lighting gels. It looks better than I had anticipated given that the only way I'd ever seen it previously was on a horrid looking VHS tape in the 80s, now I can actually see what's happening in those darker scenes. Watching the murky VHS I just had to sort of imagine what I was happening during those dark final scenes, now I can literally see it like I've never seen it before. Audio comes by way of both uncompressed English DTS-HD MA 5.1 stereo surround and original theatrical 2.0 English mono with optional English subtitles. For my money the stereo is the way to go, offering a potent mix that supports both the grotesque sounds of oozy tentacles, frequent screaming, and the fantastic score from David Newman.
Extras on the special edition Blu-ray mirror that of the Limited Edition steelbook release, minus the standard-definition DVD, CD soundtrack and the limited edition packaging and booklet. Extras start-off with a fun Audio commentary with directors Jeffrey Obrow and Stephen Carpenter, moderated by horror journalist Steve Barton (aka Uncle Creepy). At times there's a bit of dead-air and its more of a jovial watch-along, but quite enjoyable if not exactly jam-packed with wall-to-wall insight, but still a great listen if you're a fan. The guys are genuinely excited by what they're seeing onscreen, you can tell they put a lot of heart into it.
The center-piece of the bonus junk assortment is the 52-minute Inhuman Experiments – The Making of “The Kindred”, an all-new documentary produced by Red Shirt Pictures that is just a blast from start to finish. Talking heads include co-writers/co-director directors Jeffrey Obrow and Stephen Carpenter, production designer Chris Hopkins, co-writers/co-editors John Penney and Earl Ghaffari, actors David Allen Brooks and Amanda Pays, special effects & creature design guys Matthew Mungle, James McPherson, and Michael McCracken Jr., and composer David Newman. Everybody seems to thrilled to be chatting up the making of this 80's gem, and the doc is loaded-up with cool behind-the-scenes footage and stills, it's a treasure trove of stuff. Another cool addition is the 18-min A special compilation of creature effects artist Michael McCracken, Jr.’s never-before- seen on-set footage offering glimpses into the mask sculpting
process, special effects set-ups and more. Disc extras are finished up with an 11-min Still Gallery featuring behind-the-scenes images and VHS video artworks, plus 2-min of Original Storyboards, the 2-min Original Theatrical Trailer, 1-min Original Video Promotional Trailer for the Vestron Video release and a 1-min TV Spot for the film. The single disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with the single-sided sleeve of artwork featuring the original baby bottle movie poster artwork.
process, special effects set-ups and more. Disc extras are finished up with an 11-min Still Gallery featuring behind-the-scenes images and VHS video artworks, plus 2-min of Original Storyboards, the 2-min Original Theatrical Trailer, 1-min Original Video Promotional Trailer for the Vestron Video release and a 1-min TV Spot for the film. The single disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with the single-sided sleeve of artwork featuring the original baby bottle movie poster artwork.
Special Features:
- New 4K restoration of the unrated version of the film.
- New 5.1 stereo surround sound remix (Original 2.0 mono theatrical mix also included).
- Audio commentary with directors Jeffrey Obrow and Stephen Carpenter, moderated by horror journalist Steve Barton.
- Inhuman Experiments – The Making of “The Kindred”, an all-new documentary produced by Red Shirt Pictures (52 mins.)
- A special compilation of creature effects artist Michael McCracken, Jr.’s never-before- seen on-set footage. (18 min)
- Still Gallery (11 min)
- Original Storyboards (3 min)
- Original Theatrical Trailer (2 min)
- Original Video Promotional Trailer (1 min)
- TV spots (1 min)
It's really quite simple, if you love old school practical effects, goopy 80's gore and tentacled creature horror The Kindred is a must-own slice of 80's gooey goodness. It's been a long wait for this gem to get a proper HD home video release and it was absolutely worth the wait, Synapse's 4K restoration is stellar and the making-of doc and extras are fantastic.
Screenshots from the Synapse Films Blu-ray:
Extras:
