NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST (1958) + ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES (1959) (Film Masters Blu-ray Review)

NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST (1958) 

+ ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES (1959) 

Special Edition 2-Dic Blu-ray 

A mutant stalks the Earth when the body of a dead astronaut is used as an alien incubator … Meanwhile, people are being attacked by giant leeches … It doesn’t get any more revolting (or entertaining) than that in this ‘50s creature double feature from producer Roger Corman and Emmy-nominated director Bernard Kowalski (Hot Car Girl).

Night of the Blood Beast (1958)—with an extensive restoration, a new 4K scan from original 35mm archival elements—and Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959)—newly restored in HD.

NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST (1958) 

Label: Film Masters

Region Code: Region-Free 

Rating: Unrated 

Duration: 62 1 Second Minutes 

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

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) + Fullscreen (1.33:1) 

Director: Bernard L. Kowalski

Cast: Michael Emmet, Angela Greene, John Baer, Ed Nelson

Here we have another sci-fi cheapie from the Roger Corman stable, produced by his brother Gene, and directed by Bernard L. Kowalski (Sssssss). In it Astronaut John Corcoran (Michael Emmet) dies upon returning to Earth following the first manned-mission to space mission, forced to make a hasty return to Earth after a collision with an unknown object, crashing in a remote part of the woods near the space agency HQ. He does not survive the crash. A team of technicians, Dave Randall (Ed Nelson, The Devil's Partner), Donna Bixby (Georgianna Carter, The Wild Ride) are joined by lead scientist Dr. Alex Wyman, technician Steve (John Baer, Bonnie's Kids) and physician Julie Benson (Angela Greene, Futureworld) to recover the body, Julie being  the astronaut's fiancé. The body is noted to have some oddities about it, there's no rigor mortis setting in, so they take it back to the lab for more tests, discovering that even though the body is lifeless it somehow is maintaining a blood pressure, and his blood has alien properties to it.  

It seems that the magnetized space ship has knocked out power and communications lines in the area and the scientists find themselves stranded, and under attack from a bear-sized creature, which turns out to be an alien creature that has impregnated the astronaut's body with it's embryos, looking to incubate it's offspring inside it's newfound human host. Later Corcoran is revived and comes around, telling his cohorts that he is telepathically connected to the alien creature, and senses that it is not an imminent threat, and should not be treated as hostile. 

His co-workers are less than convinced, and even less so when  it later breaks into the lab and kills Dr. Wyman, presumably eating his brain, which later allows it to absorb human language skills through "photosynthesis", so it can verbally make it's case for why they should not kill it with fire, only for the alien offspring infested astronaut to realize that it means to enslave that human race as human incubators, and sacrifice himself to kill the beaked alien monster. 

There's a lot to like about this low-budget slice of sci-fi terror, sure it borrows heavily from classics of the era like  The Thing From Another World and Quatermass II, but it's got some interesting ideas and elements that I thought were cool. I like the human as alien incubator which was better realized in Alien decades later, and I liked the eating-the-brain to absorb verbal skills, And while those elements are never fleshed out satisfactorily they ideas are solid, and we get to see the familiar locations of  Griffith Park and Bronson Caves, because of course we end up in cave at some point. The alien-creature is a recycle of the same monster-suit seen in the Roger Corman directed Teenage Caveman (1958) earlier that same year! The effects are pretty ropey, the creature suits is meh, the animated alien embryos are a hoot, there's some low-budget black and white gore that feels like it's pushing the edge for the era but is not all that impressive these days, and certainly nothing that lives up to the poster artwork! 

ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES (1959)

Label: Film Masters

Region Code: Region-Free 

Rating: Unrated 

Duration: 62 Minutes 42 Seconds 

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

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 

Director: Bernard L. Kowalski

Cast: Ken Clark, Yvette Vickers, Jan Shepard, Bruno VeSota

The B-side to this double-bill is the z-grade drive-in creature feature, again produced by Gene Corman and directed by Bernard L. Kowalski, this time it's not a fertile alien creature run amuck in the remote California desert, but giant leeches after the moonshiners and fornicators who frequent a remote swamp in the Florida everglades. It starts when a local fisherman goes missing the game warden Steve Benton (Ken Clark, Arena) sets out to investigate the cause, which some locals blame on an aggressive alligator while others report seeing a slimy creature in swamp. The next to go missing are the local hussy Liz Walker (Yvette Vickers, Attack of the 50 ft. Woman) and Cal Moulton (Michael Emmet, Night of the Blood Beast) who are having an affair behind the back of her husband (Bruno VaSota, The Wasp Woman), who is a hot-head and gets the blame, and not wrongfully mind you, he did force them at gunpoint to get into the swamp water, though unaware what was lurking beneath the surface. Anyway, the poor guy feels bad about it commits suicide while in his jail cell. The strange thing is that there are no bodies to account for the missing swamp-dwellers, leading Benton to believe the bodies have been tossed into the swamp and are submerged, waiting to be found. He sets off to dynamite the swamp in hopes of sending an submerged corpses tot he surface, which it does, unaware that the deaths are actually being caused by giant leeches who take their victims to an underwater cavern where they slowly suck them dry!   

This is pretty z-grade stuff, the giant leeches are just poor  guys trapsing around the water in modified garbage bags, but the scenes of them sucking horrified victims dry down in the underwater cave is pretty creepy stuff. It's a hoot to see the very sexy Vickers here as the town hussy, and the underwater shots of Ken Clark in scuba gear with a speargun are fin, and some of the swamp people melodrama is decent, but this is certainly the lesser half of this double-bill, not unenjoyable by any means, just a notch below the top-billed Night of the Blood Beast. 

Audio/Video: Both films arrive on region-free Blu-ray from Film Masters, are presented with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, with Night of the Blood Beast also available with a TV aspect ratio of 1.37:1, each presented on a separate Blu-ray disc. Night of the Blood Beast is advertised as "newly restored 4K scan from 35mm archival elements" while Attack of the Giant Leeches is touted as "with a new HD print", both seem a bit nebulous and non-specific, but the images are certainly an improvement over the DVD editions I have watched in the past, but are not premium restorations and presentations. There's a bit of murkiness to both, a rough hewn though organic film-like appearance with plenty of film grain, but there are missing frames (mostly on Leeches) and some jutter to contend with, inherent softness is not uncommon, but this is easily the best I have seen either film look on home video just the same, with solid black levels. Likewise the audio is not the best, dialogue is intelligible and the scores fare well with uncompressed DTS-HD MA and Dolby Digital 2.0 dual-mono tracks, but there are age related hiss and distortions throughout on both, that I didn;t find overly distracting but were ever-present. 

Onto the extras, this is where the 2-disc release shines the brightest for me. We get Audio Commentaries by Tom Weaver and The Weaver Players for both flicks with commentary subtitles, both are terrific. I don't know if I have mentioned this previously in a review but the Film Masters Blu-ray offers Commentary Subtitles, so if you're so inclined you could watch the movie with the commentary via subtitles, or obviously, if you are hearing impaired I would think this would be a very cool extras that, to my knowledge, no one else does, these days. Also excellent is the Born From TV: Bernard Kowalski as a Director, a new documentary on director Bernard Kowalski by Ballyhoo Motion Pictures featuring C. Courtney Joyner that runs 27-min and explores the career of Kowalski. 

That in itself would be quite enough, but Film Masters as usual go above and beyond, we get a 4x3  Television Version of Night of the Blood Beast, plus a 7-min 8mm Silent Digest Version​ of the Film as well. There are also MST3K Episodes of Night of the Blood Beast and Attack of the Giant Leeches, plus Re-cut Trailers for both films using restored elements. The last of the on-disc bonus stuff is a 3-min Before/After Film Restoration Comparison of Night of the Blood Beast, a 2-min Yvette Vickers Still Gallery from the private collection of Tom Weaver with 27 images; and a 3-min Publicity Slideshow of both films, courtesy of Mike Barnum. Tucked away inside is a 24-Page Full-Color Illustrated Booklet with essays by Tom Weaver. 

  

Special Features: 

Disc 1:  Night of the Blood Beast +_Special Features 

- 4x3 presentation of Night of the Blood Beast (1.37:1)

- Audio Commentary by Tom Weaver and The Weaver Players with commentary subtitles. 

- Born From TV: Bernard Kowalski as a Director - New documentary on director Bernard Kowalski by Ballyhoo Motion Pictures featuring C. Courtney Joyner

(27:00) 

- 8mm Silent Digest version​ of Night of the Blood Beast (6:56)

- MST3K Episodes of Night of the Blood Beast (91:44)

- Re-cut trailer of Night of the Blood Beast using restored elements (1:33) 

- Before/After Film Restoration Comparison of Night of the Blood Beast (2:38)

Disc 2: Attack of the Giant leeches + Special Features 

- MST3K Episodes of Attack of the Giant Leeches (91:37) 

- Audio Commentary by Tom Weaver and The Weaver Players with commentary subtitles. 

- Yvette Vickers Still Gallery from the private collection of Tom Weaver - 27 Images (2:12) 

- Re-cut Trailer for Attack of the Giant Leeches using restored elements (1:37) 

- Publicity Slideshow of both films, courtesy of Mike Barnum (2:22).

- Full-Color Illustrated Booklet with essays by Weaver. 

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1982: GREATEST GEEK YEAR EVER! (2023) (MVD Rewind Collection Blu-ray Review)

1982: GREATEST GEEK YEAR EVER! (2023) 

Label: MVD Rewind Collection 

Region Code: Region-Free

Rating: 

Duration: 163 Minutes, 30 Seconds 

Audio: English DTS-HD MA  2.0 5.1 Surround with Optional English Subtitles

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1) 

Director: Roger Lay Jr.

Cast: Ron Howard, Paul Schrader, John Sayles, Amy Heckerling, Henry Winkler, William Shatner, Sean Young, Joanna Cassidy, Keith David, Cameron Crowe, Michael Deeley, Lisa Henson, Dean Devlin, Bruce Campbell, Dee Wallace, Felicia Day, Susan Seidelman, Roger Corman, Barry Bostwick, Marc Singer, Bryan Fuller, Leonard Maltin, Mike Medavoy

1982: Greatest Geek Year Ever was a four-part television documentary miniseries that originally aired on July 8, 2023 on The CW, I didn;t catch it at the time but have long heard about this documentary celebrating the titular year, purported to be the greatest geek year ever. Now the MVD Rewind Collection presents the doc in it's original, unedited feature length form for the first time for fan to enjoy on physical media. It would be hard to argue that 1982 was not one of the greatest geek years ever - it brought is stone-cold sci-fi, fantasy and horror classics like E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Blade Runner, John Carpenter's The Thing, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Poltergeist, Creepshow, The Dark Crystal, Tron, Conan The Barbarian, Cat People, and The Road Warrior; and terrific comedies like 48 Hours, Fast Time at Ridgemont High, and Night Shift. I myself was nine years old in 1982, which means one, that I am old, and two, a total mark for this sort of golden-age, cinematic nostalgia trip.  

It's quite a celebration of this very special year, with thoughtful examinations of what was in the air in 1982 that made it so special, comparing and contrasting theater going experiences then and now, and chock full of film clips that take you back to that era, and loaded-up with interviews with directors Ron Howard (Night Shift), Paul Schrader (Cat People), John Sayles (Lone Star), Amy Heckerling and Cameron Crowe, the director and writer of Fast Times at Ridgemont High, actors Henry Winkler (Heroes), William Shatner (Impulse), Sean Young and Joanna Cassidy from Blade Runner, Keith David (The Thing), Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead 2), Dee Wallace (The Howling), Susan Seidelman (Smithereens), Barry Bostwick (Megaforce), and Marc Singer (Beastmaster), film critic Leonard Maltin, producers Roger Corman, Bryan Fuller (TV's Hannibal), Lisa Henson (The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance), Dean Devlin (Independence Day), Mike Medavoy (Black Swan), Michael Deeley (Blade Runner) and quite a bit more. Now as someone who reads about film and watches loads of extras there's not a whole lot new under the sun here, but I just loved watching it and soaking-up the 80s vibes, and seeing the clips of these terrific flicks. 

Audio/Video: 1982: The Greatest Geek Year Ever (2023) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from MVD Rewind Collection, presented in 1080p HD widescreen 1.78:1, the mix of interview, behind-the-scenes and clips from the flicks look terrific. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 and 5.1 with optional English subtitles. 

Extras include an Audio commentary with Director/Producer Roger Lay, Jr. and Writer/Producer Mark A. Altman; a second Audio commentary with Producers Scott Mantz, Thomas P. Vitale & Writer/Producer Mark A. Altman; and 41-minutes of Deleted/Extended Scenes which I loved, give me more, I'll watch it all, and I appreciate the discussion of art-punk classic Liquid Sky which was not present on the main feature. We also get the 17-min The Fans Speak: Fans Favorite Films Featurette with fans showing off/talking about their favorite flicks, plus the 28-min 2022 San Diego Comic-Con Panel. We also get the 1-min Trailer for the doc and a selection of MVD Trailers for One Dark Night, Swamp Thing, The House on Sorority Row, Liar's Moon, The Last American Virgin, Mortuary. 

The single-disc Blu-ray arrives in a clear keepcase with a s-sided non-reversible wrap,  There's also a First-Pressing Only Slipcover with the same key artwork artwork as the wrap. Inside there's a Fold-Out Poster featuring the same artwork.  

Special Features: 
- High Definition (1080p) presentation of the feature length, unedited main feature in 1.78:1 Aspect Ratio
- Audio: English LPCM 5.1 Surround
- Optional English Subtitles
- Audio commentary with Director/Producer Roger Lay, Jr. and Writer/Producer Mark A. Altman
- Audio commentary with Producers Scott Mantz, Thomas P. Vitale & Writer/Producer Mark A. Altman
- Deleted / Extended Scenes (41:01) HD 

- The Fans Speak: Fans Favorite Films Featurette (16:51) HD 
- 2022 San Diego Comic-Con Panel (28:17) HD

- Trailer (0:58) 

- MVD Trailers: One Dark Night, Swamp Thing, The House on Sorority Row, Liar's Moon, The Last American Virgin, Mortuary. 

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BLINK TWICE (2024) (WBDHE Blu-ray Review)

BLINK TWICE (2024)

Blu-ray + Digital 

Label: Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment 

Region Code: Region-Free 

Rating: R

Duration: 102 Minutes 

Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles 

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.39:1) 

Director: Zoë Kravtiz

Cast: Naomi Ackie, Channing Tatum, Christian Slater, Simon Rex, Adria Arjona, Kyle MacLachlan, Haley Joel Osment, Geena Davis, Alia Shawkat

Actor turned director Zoë Kravtiz debut film is the paranoid psychological thriller Blink Twice (2024), in it a cocktail waitress Frida (Naomi Ackie, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) meets a formerly disgraced tech billionaire named Slater King (Channing Tatum, Deadpool & Wolverine) who at some point had to step down as CEO of his company and public life after a series of non-specificized past behaviors, for which he says he has sought therapy for, and is now a changed man. At the gala Frida and her best pal Jess (Alia Shawkat, The Final Girls) crash the party with Frida hoping to catch the eye of King, which she does, by literally crashing into him in a mess of broken glass, but despite the awkward introduction it seems that sparks fly. So much so that he invites her and Jess to join him and his friends on his tropical private island. 

They are whisked away on his private jet, arriving at the island paradise; they are joined by King's boys posse of Vic (Christian Slater, Heathers), Cody (Simon Rex, Greedy People), Tom (Haley Joel Osment, The Sixth Sense), and Lucas (Levon Hawke, Wildcat), and their dates, a reality show star named  Sarah (Adria Arjona, Andor), app developer Camilla (Liz Caribel), and squeaky voiced stoner-lawyer Heather (Trew Mullen).  

The island vacation is an absolute tropical paradise, complete with it's very own indigenous flower that only grows there, they are treated to gift bags with perfume and drugs by Slater's assistant  Stacy (Geena Davis, The Fly), and are supplied with all the alcohol, weed and psychedelic drugs they could ever wish for. Laying around the pool in the sun and just having a terrific time. 

Cracks in the island paradise veneer begin to show, the ladies seem to be suffering some sort of memory loss, which could be attributed tot heir alcohol and drug regimen, but Frida starts to notice insidious things like dirt under fingernails and small bruises, missing time, the strange stares from the island's staff, and the way that the staff hunt down a venomous snake that's indigenous to the island sets a dark tone. After Jess is bitten by one of the snakes her mood changes, she wants to go home, and the next day when she goes missing no one seems to be able to remember her except for Frida, who drank a green liquid offered to her by one of the older women on the kitchen staff. Eventually Frida and the other women experience a moment of clarity  revealing a horrific predatory secret about the island and the men, and the women have to take their survival into their own hands!

I won't spoil it because I think this should be seen unspoiled, it's not perfect but it's quite an interesting thriller, along the lines of something like Get Out with some interesting observations about predatory men, fame seekers, and surviving trauma, and it's told quite stylishly, before going full-tilt exploitation there at the end. It doesn't quite stick the landing for me with a tables-have-been-turned twist at the end, but I found it quite a thrilling watch. 

The cast is pretty dang interesting, it was great to see Slater and Osment among the cast, even if they are underused. Speaking of underused, Gina Davis is terrific as the quirky assistant full of nervous energy, but seen far too little, as is Kyle MacLachlan (The Hidden) who shows up briefly in a few scenes as King's therapist, great to see him, but sad it was brief. There's not a lot of character development happening here for anyone to be honest, it's shallow in that way, but the vibes, themes and situational threat of it all kept me pretty rapt from start to finish, I thought this was a very well-directed debut feature film, perhaps a bit light on character development, but quite interesting and insidious, and I appreciated the full-tilt turn at the end, even if I could have done with out the tables-have-turned stinger at the end. If you're a fan of stuff like Get Out, Revenge, Don't Worry Darling or The Stepford Wives this is something worth checking out, it even has a bit of the M. Night Shyamalan vibe to it, in a good way, that I quite loved.  

Audio/Video: Blink Twice (2024) arrives on Blu-ray from WBDHE in 1080p HD widescreen (2.39:1) with a crisp and sharp looking transfer The digital shot film has gorgeous colors and fine-tuned detail and textures throughout, the lush tropical island has gorgeous greens, colorful flowers and skin tones look spot-on. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 5.1 with optional English subtitles. The track is dynamic and robust, dialogue is well-placed, and the ominous tones of the score hit hard. 

Sadly, absolutely no extras for this release, I would have loved an audio commentary from the Kravitz talking about directing her first film, especially as I found it quite an interesting watch, but nope. We do get an insert with a digital code for the film. 

Special Features: 

- None

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FUN CITY EDITIONS TWO-FER REVIEW: HEAVENLY BODIES (1984) & PARADISE (1982) (Fun City Editions Blu-ray Review)

THE HORNY '80'S 

FUN CITY EDITIONS TWO-FER BLU-RAY REVIEW: 

HEAVENLY BODIES (1984) 

&  

PARADISE (1982)  

Oh the early 1980, a time when I was coming of age, finally hitting those double-digits, a time when 80s pop culture was a zesty enterprise of sex and vibrant colors, my own pop-culture tastes were being cultivated by steady viewing of late-night cable TV offerings and regular trips to the video store, which is where I would occasionally convince my parents to rent something other than the usual horror flick, usually a goofy comedy. But sometimes it would end up being a sex-comedy, or some other slightly risqué, some semi-erotic adventure that would turn me on. Not porn mind you, my parents were not that permissive, but just something with enough sexuality and a bit of nudity, just enough that it worked me up a bit, and awoken some emerging sexual feelings - something like Porky's or The Last American Virgin. Along those lines I would put both of these Canadian flicks, which were sort of knocking off more popular blockbusters, those being coming-of-age flick The Blue Lagoon and the horny dance flick Flashdance. 

HEAVENLY BODIES (1984) 

Label: Fun City Editions

Region Code: Region-Free

Rating: R 

Duration: 89 Minutes 35 Seconds 

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

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 

Director: Lawrence Dane

Cast: Cynthia Dale, Richard Rebiere, Walter George Alton, Laura Henry, Stuart Stone

A year after the box-office success of Flashdance (1983) we got the Canadian knock-off version with Heavenly Bodies (1984), aka Scratch Dance, an aerobicized slice of leg-warmer romance starring the bodacious Cynthia Dale (My Bloody Valentine) as aerobic-dance instructor Samantha Blair who operate the Heavenly Bodies aerobics studio who is in direct competition with the larger corporate studio, Sporting Life,  run by Jack (Walter George Alton, The Pumaman). When the opportunity arises to audition for the instructor on a local fitness television show it outs her in competition with Jack's bitchy girlfriend Debbie (Laura Henry), who gets even bitchier when she loses out to Samantha. These sorts of shows were wildly popular at the time, I remember watching one in the mornings before the school bus would pick me up, not that I was interested in aerobics, but watching those pretty women in their neon colored skintight leotards and leg warmers stretching and undulating to what sounded like softcore porno music really moved me, if you know what I mean, and my mom certainly did, she would change the channel every time she caught me watching it. 

The sore Debbie is super-jealous of Samantha, catching her boyfriend Jack smooching on her in the pool, so she cones Jack's business partner to buy out the warehouse housing Heavenly Bodies, effectively shutting the business down, but Samantha uses her newfound public outlet hosting the aerobics show to publicly challenge Jack and the Sporting Life aerobics staff, including the bitchy Debbie, to a grueling hours-long aerobicizing dance-off to save the studio in Joysticks fashion!

It's a fun flick, the star is truly the charismatic and glowing Cynthia Dale, who is an actual dancer, and it shows in the choreography, there's a joy that she conveys that is totally infectious, and her smile is truly radiant, She has a charm that reminds me a bit of Jessica Harper (Suspiria) that attracted me. One of my favorite bit of choreography is when she first enters the TV studio believing she is alone,  and she just starts swaying and eventually erupts into a prolonged choreographed number that perfectly conveys her inner-joy and love of dance, it's quite something. There are plenty of scenes of her a s a single mother raising her young son, and a tepid romance with a footballer named Steve (Richard Rebiere, Happy Birthday To Me), with way too many montages of their burgeoning romance, but the sizzle here is Dale's easy to love charms and the dance sequences, which are beautifully choreographed and nicely lensed as well. 

Notably this is the sole directorial effort by actor Lawrence Dane who horror fans will know from Rituals, Scanners and Happy Birthday to Me. It was well-directed so I am a bit surprised he never sought out or got more directing work, whatever the case may be.  The film also has a banger '80s soundtrack featuring choice cuts by Bonnie Pointer, Sparks, and my favorite, the synthy new-waver  "Into the Flow" by Boys Brigade - the whole soundtrack is a total 80's earworm that will be stuck in your head for days afterward.  

Audio/Video: Heavenly Bodies (1984) makes it's worldwide Blu-ray debut from Fun City Editions with a brand new 4K restoration of its original 35mm internegative, presented here in 1.85:1 widescreen. A nicely filmic presentation with natural looking grain, nice vibrant colors and solid black levels. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo with optional English subtitles. It's clean and well-balanced, there are no age related issues like hiss or distortion, and the infectious soundtrack sounds terrific. 

On-disc extras include  a new Audio commentary by Millie De Chirico and Jeffrey Mixed; the wonderful 14-min A Little Bit of Gold Dust - Cynthia Dale on Heavenly Bodies, plus a 3-min Image Gallery. The single-disc release arrives in a clear keepcase with a Double-sided wrap with legacy artwork

Inside there's a 16-Page Illustrated Booklet with new essays by Margaret Barton-Fumo and Nathan Holmes. The booklet is designed to look like a retro TV guide complete with TV listings for FCE compatible flicks, and synopsis for a handful of FCE films. There are also cast and crew credits and Blu-ray  credits as well. It's quite a nostalgically designed and brought me back to a time when we would get the TV listings weekly in the Sunday paper, right after I would read the comics I would snag the guide and highlight all the comedies and horror flicks I wanted to watch for the week.

Special Features: 
- Audio commentary by Millie De Chirico and Jeffrey Mixed
- A Little Bit of Gold Dust - ,Cynthia Dale on Heavenly Bodies 14:02) 

- Image gallery (3:07) 

- Double-sided wrap with legacy artwork

- 16-Page Illustrated Booklet with new essays by Margaret Barton-Fumo and Nathan Holmes (First Pressing Only)

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PARADISE (1982)

Label: Fun City Editions

Region Code: Region-Free 

Rating: R

Duration: 101 Minutes 56 Seconds 

Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo Theatrical and Pre-Release Mix Audio with Optional English Subtitles 

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 

Director: Stuart Gillard 

Cast: Willie Aames, Phoebe Cates, Tuvia Tavi, Richard Curnock

As mentioned before it would be hard to watch Paradise (1982) and not think of coming-of-age tale of The Blue Lagoon, but it's more than just a cheap knock off. It tells teh tales of two teenagers during the 19th century who find themselves travelling together in the Middle East, on the road from  Baghdad to Damascus via camel-caravan. David (Willie Aames, Zapped!) is travelling with his Christian missionary parents, while and Sarah (Phoebe Cates, Gremlins), the daughter of a wealthy British Merchant, is chaperoned by her loyal manservant Geoffrey (Richard Curnock). While camping in the desert the caravan is massacred by a slave trader known as the Jackal (Tuvia Tavi, Sahara), who earlier spotted Sarah at a market and has become obsessed with her. beauty. Only David, Sarah and Geoffrey survive the attack, finding shelter in an cavernous underground oasis with a fresh supply of water, where they stay for a bit, hoping to make it to Damascus somehow, but the Jackal kills Geoffrey and the teens find themselves alone in the desert, travelling by camel at night to distance themselves from the Jackal's marauding men who are searching for them. 

They end up stumbling onto a lush desert oasis complete with greenery and a waterfall, which they call "Paradise", and place which also seems to be quite close to the sea apparently. It's here that The Blue Lagoon influence really come into play, instead of a deserted island the teens coming-of-age story happens at a lush desert oasis, the pair bonding and finding love and discovering sex, as well as befriending a chimp, dealing with pregnancy and the threat of attack by the Jackal's marauders. 

The film is attractively shot by cinematographer Adam Greenberg (Terminator, Near Dark) whose camerawork  make the desert and oasis locations look gorgeous, but the serious sizzle here is the stunning Phoebe Cates in her many nude scenes that drew the eye of this once young man when he saw it on a cable as a kid, she is absolutely glowing and gorgeous, and it should be noted that this uncut version contains several minutes of never-before-seen footage. When I first saw this i had an instant crush on her, how could you not, her turn in both Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Gremlins further solidifying my crush as well-justified. As a kid I was less interested in Willie Ames physicality, but he was a pretty stunning young man back in '82 and he looked terrific with Cates onscreen, though he was nominated for a Worst Actor at the fickle Raspberry Awards that year. The film is also notable for having a theme song sung by Phoebe Cates, which apparently topped the charts in foreign lands.

It's most definitely A Blue Lagoon knock-off, but that didn;t detract from how entertaining and charming I thought it was, with it's attractive lensing and exotic locations, gorgeous young stars, there's a lot here to love, and it certainly gave me the nostalgic warm and fuzzies watching it.  

Audio/Video: Paradise (1982) makes it's worldwide Blu-ray debut with a region-free disc from Fun City Editions, sourced from 4K Restoration from the original 35mm camera negative, frame din the original 1.85:1 widescreen. The film looks appropriately grainy, no ugly digital-scrubbing here, it's quite filmic with pleasing detail and textures, skin tones look spot on, and colors are robust throughout. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo Theatrical Mix with optional English subtitles. We also get the Isolated Score Track and a Pre-release Sound Mix. It sounds terrific, dialogue is clean and well-balanced, and the score by Paul Hoffert (The Groundstar Conspiracy) breathes nicely in the mix. 

Disc extras include a new Audio commentary by Nathaniel Thompson; both the 3-min Red Band Trailer and Green Band Trailer; an 8-min Image Gallery; 2-min of Radio Spots and 1-min of TV spots. Additionally we get an Isolated Score Track and the option to view the film with a Pre-release Sound Mix. 

The single-disc Blu-ray release arrives in a clear keepcase with a Reversible Wrap featuring legacy artwork on both sides. Inside there is a 16-Page Illustrated Booklet with new essays by Margaret Barton-Fumo and Amanda Reyes, which is available only with the first pressing. Like with Heavenly Bodies the booklet is designed to look like a retro TV guide complete with TV listings for FCE compatible flicks, and synopses for a handful of FCE films. There are also cast and crew credits and Blu-ray release credits as well.

Special Features: 

- Audio Commentary by Nathaniel Thompson

- Red Band Trailer (2:47)

- Green Band Trailer (2:33) 

- Image gallery (7:31) 

- Radio spots (2:16) 

- TV spots (0:42) 

- Isolated Score Track

- Pre-release Sound Mix

- Theatrical Sound Mix

- Double-sided wrap with legacy artwork

- 16-Page Illustrated Booklet with new essays by Margaret Barton-Fumo and Amanda Reyes (First Pressing Only)

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KINJITE: FORBIDDEN SUBJECTS (1989) (MGM Blu-ray Review)

KINJITE: FORBIDDEN SUBJECTS (1989) 

Label: MGM 

Region Code: A

Rating: R

Duration: 97 Minutes 53 Seconds 

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

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)

Director: J Lee Thompson

Cast: Charles Bronson, Perry Lopez, James Pax, Peggy Lipton, Sy Richardson, Juan Fernandez, Marion Kodama Yue, Bill McKinney, Gerald Castillo, Nicole Eggert

Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects (1989) was the last team-up of action superstar Charles Bronson (10 To Midnight) and director J. Lee Thompson (Happy Birthday To Me). They really go all-out in the exploitation department for this cop-thriller, a two-fisted, gritty thriller about a hardnosed LAPD vice-squad detective, Lt. Crowe who is hellbent on destroying a child prostitution ring after his teen daughter Rita (Amy Hathaway, The Client) is molested on a city bus. 

Interestingly, the molester that feels her up on the bus is a Japanese businessman named Hiroshi (James Pax, Invasion U.S.A.) who is imitating something he saw on a bus back in Japan, something that turned him on then, but which does not have the same end result here when he attempts it. When she screams and sounds the alarm he gets off the bus in a panic, and in the aftermath several innocent Asian men are beat-up because of his actions; be warned there is a lot of anti-Asian sentiment in this flick, especially from Bronson's character. Even more interesting it's the offenders daughter Fumiko (Kumiko Hayakawa) who ends up being kidnapped by a child prostitution ring led by the sleazy "Pimp King" Duke (Juan Fernández, The Collector), which leads to the already enraged  Lt. Crowe and his partner Det. Eddie Rios (Perry Lopez, Chinatown) to go after Duke, breaking plenty of laws themselves along the way, including  "accidentally" tossing one of the Duke's henchmen off a high-rise balcony to his death in the pool below. While they rescue Fumiko she is so traumatized by the experience she suicides by overdose soon afterward, leading to a pretty frenzied and action-packed finale that happens at a port on the harbor, with Bronson's cop riding atop a huge crane-claw firing his hand-cannon. It's plenty entertaining, the whole flick punctuated with sleaze and cop on thug action, including the infamous opening scene with Bronson shoving a dildo up a bad guy's butt! It's a wildly racist and rape-y Bronson flick, plenty entertaining, and about the only redeeming message here is that the racist cop played by Bronson seems to overcome his Asian racism when he sees how much the secret bus-molester Hiroshi cares for his kidnapped daughter - so, I guess that's redeeming, sort of, right? Anyway, no one is watching Bronson flick looking for redemption, they're looking for vigilante-cop carnage, and this delivers all that and more in spades. 

Audio/Video: Previously issued on Blu-ray from the noel defunct Olive Films back in 2015 Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects (1989) is back in print widescreen from MGM, presented on Blu-ray in 1080p HD framed in 1080p HD widescreen (1.85:1). This is probably the same HD master as that Olive release but I do not have it for comparison. Grain is well-managed, looking naturally course and grainy, fine detail and textures are pleasing, and the colors are robust.  Audio comes y way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles. The track is clean and well-balanced, dialogue is well-placed, and the sounds of Bronson causing all sorts of carnage in his pursuit of the baddies with gunshots, screeching tires and explosions are impactful. The score from Greg De Belles (Men At Work) also sounds solid. 

As with most of these MGM Blu-ray catalog reissues there are no extras, no even a trailer. The single-disc Blu-ray arrives in a standard keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork. 

Special Features:

- None

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DESPISER (2003) (Visual Vengeance Collector's Edition Blu-ray Review)

DESPISER (2003) 

Visual Vengeance Collector's Edition

Label: Visual Vengeance 

Region Code: Region-Free

Rating: Unrated 

Duration: 104 Minutes 52 Seconds 

Audio: English or French Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo with Optional English Subtitles 

Video: 1080p HD Fullscreen (1.33:1) 

Director: Phillip J. Cook

Cast: Mark Redfield, Doug Brown, Gage Sheridan, Frank Smith, Mark Hyde

Action-sci-fi-fantasy hybrid Despiser (2003) comes to us from prolific micro-budget filmmaker Phillip J. Cook, a wild mix of live-action and greenscreen/digital backgrounds that tells the tale of down and out graphic artist Gordon (Mark Renfield, Netflix's The Fall of the House of Usher) who is having a truly bummer of a day; first he quits his job and when he gets home his wife Maggie (Gage Sheridan, Twilight of the Dogs) is about to dump his unemployed ass. That night on his way to his buddies he crashes his car and lands in the otherworld of Purgatory, caught between heaven and hell, where he's attacked by enslaved souls called Ragmen who are minions of the realm's demonic-looking overlord the Despiser, and his body-jumping henchman Shadowman.

He is rescued by a band of freedom fighters from different historical eras, all of whom died in noble acts of self-sacrifice, which I guess is how you end up in Purgatory. Among them we have WWI soldier Carl (Doug Brown); Charlie (Tara Bilkins) is a young woman from the 80s; WWII Kamikaze pilot Fumie Tomasawa (Frank Smith) and the mysterious Jake Tulley (Michael Weitz).  In reality Frank is in a coma and ends up escaping Purgatory when he wakes up, but soon after his wife ends up there after trying to save a suicidal man (the Shadowman in disguise) from jumping from an apartment building ledge, and she ends up in a coma herself and in Purgatory, forcing Gordon to drive his car off a bridge so that he can once more enter the realm.

Now both are in Purgatory, joining the forces of the freedom fighters to face-off against the Despiser, who turns out to be an alien trapped in Purgatory after the his spaceship crashed to Earth in 1905, resulting in the Tunguska explosion. It turns out that the Despiser is planning on amassing an arsenal of nuclear weapons, which comes from who knows where, it is Purgatory after all, to blow a hole in reality, so that he can escape into the Earth realm. 

For a micro-budget DIY flick this is a pretty massive undertaking, the film uses lots of early 2000s digital effects, the actors up against greenscreens and digital backgrounds to create a surreal, hellish landscapes that sort of looks like PS2 gameplay. There are loads of monstrous creatures that look cool as Hell, and there are even some intense car chases over rivers of lava. As ambitious as they are, they;re a bit too overly ambitious for the budget, and the effects and digital world they created don't always hold up, especially 20 years later. With that said, there is so much heart and love poured into this thing that I fell in love with it. The story is ambitious, certainly more ambitious than any sane person would hope to achieve with little to no budget, but what they scraped together with a cast of spirited novice actors and some scrappy digital effects is mighty impressive stuff. On top of that the story itself is interesting, I was plugged right into it from the start, it's a good old fashioned good vs evil sci-fi action hybrid wrapped up in dated digital effects, and one that never bored me, the flick was just good fun, and its easy to appreciate the scrappy DIY vibes and can-do spirit of the thing. 

Audio/Video: Despiser (2003) makes it's Blu-ray debut with a region-free release from Visual Vengeance, presented in 1080p HD framed in the original 1.33:1 widescreen, sourced from a Producer-supervised SD master from original tape source. The flick looks pretty terrific for an SD master, colors are bold, depth and clarity are modestly pleasing, the mix of live action and dated green screen and digital backgrounds come together quite nicely and translate well to HD. This is probably the best-looking flick I've seen from Visual Vengeance to date. Audio comes by way of English or French Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo with optional English subtitles. Like the video I thought the sound design was quite well-done and it sounds great here. 

As usual Visual Vengeance stuff this release with extras, lots of 'em! We get an Audio Commentary with director Philip J. Cook and stars Mark Redfield and Gage Sheridan, and a second Audio Commentary with Sam Panico of B&S About Movies and Bill Van Ryn of Drive-In Asylum. Additionally there is a 14-min New 2023 Interview with director Philip J. Cook and star Mark Hyde; and the 16-min The Making of Despiser. 

There are also 10-min of Deleted Scenes; a fun 4-min Blooper Reel; a 13-min Outtakes Reel; and a 3-min Despiser: Storyboard To Animation piece.  Also included are the Original DVD Menu Animated Intro; both a Behind The Scenes and Image and Art Gallery; the 2-min Despiser Producer Trailer, the 1-min Despiser Visual Vengeance Trailer. There are also a selection of Visual Vengeance 

Trailers for Dinosaur Valley Girls, Kung Fu Rascals, and Fungicide, plus Trailers for Outerworld and Invader, which were also directed by Phillip J. Cook. 

Visual Vengeance also do not skimp on the packaging, as usual, making this another tasty treat for collector's looking to won cool-ass physical media editions. The single-disc release arrives in a clear keepcase with a Reversible Wrap featuring cool artwork with both new artwork and the original VHS artwork, plus a Limited Edition Slipcover with its own unique artwork by Andrei Bouzikov. Be aware that the slipcover is limited to the first-pressing only. Inside there's a 2-Sided Insert with a synopsis and credits, plus a 

Folded mini-poster featuring the kick-ass Andrei Bouzikov artwork, and the usual 'Stick your own' VHS Sticker Sheet. 

Special Features: 
- Producer-supervised SD master from original tape source
- Audio Commentary with director Philip J. Cook and stars Mark Redfield and Gage Sheridan
- New 2023 Interview with director Philip J. Cook and star Mark Hyde (14:15) 
- Audio Commentary with Sam Panico of B&S About Movies and Bill Van Ryn of Drive-In Asylum
- The Making of Despiser (15:36)
- Deleted Scenes (10:14) 
- Blooper Reel (4:12) 
- Outtakes Reel (12:43)
- Despiser: Storyboard To Animation (2:59) 
- Original DVD Menu Animated Intro (0:17)
- Behind The Scenes Gallery (1:19) 
- Image and Art Gallery (1:29) 
- Despiser Producer Trailer (1:44) 

- Despiser Visual Vengeance Trailer (1:20) 
- Visual Vengeance Trailers: Dinosaur Valley Girls (1:08), Kung Fu Rascals (1:00), Fungicide (0:49)
- Outerworld Trailer (1:08)
- Invader Trailer (1:34) 
- Optional French audio soundtrack
- Optional English Subtitles
- Folded mini-poster
- 'Stick Your Own' VHS Sticker Sheet
- 2-Sided Insert
- Reversible Sleeve With Original VHS Art

- Limited Edition Slipcase by Andrei Bouzikov - First Pressing Only 

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THE MAD BOMBER (1973) (Severin Films Blu-ray Review)

THE MAD BOMBER (1973) 

Label: Severin Films 

Region Code: Region-Free 

Rating: Unrated 

Duration: 91 Minutes 

Audio: English 5.1 Surround, English 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles 

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 

Director: Bert I. Gordon 

Cast: Chuck Connors, Neville Brand, Vince Edwards

Director Bert I. Gordon (Food Of The Gods)  was best-known for his giant monster movies, but this curio from the early '70s sees him in crime-thriller exploitation mode, in a flick about a disgruntled citizen terrorizing Los Angeles with a sting of bombings. The titular mad-bomber is William Dorn (Chuck Connors, Tourist Trap) who is planting deadly bombs across Los Angeles to express his anger over his daughter's drug overdose. Connors wears these tiny little spectacles in a suit and tie, walking down the street and accosting people he feels are breaking the law or just being rude. When a guy (Royce D. Applegate, Splash) in a sports car honks his car horn at him while he's in the crosswalk he goes lectures the guy about having the right of way as a pedestrians, reaches in and  pulls his keys out of the ignition and drops them in a nearby mail drop box on the nearby corner. 

On the case of the bombing is Det. Geronimo Minnelli (Vince Edwards, Cellar Dweller), and he has no clue who the bomber might be, but they catch a break when he bombs a psychiatric center, and the cops discover that one of the mute patients (Christina Hart, Charley Varrick) was raped, and deduce that because of where he raped the woman the rapist must have seen the bomber. To that end Minnelli organizes a group of lady cops to dress sexy and walk the streets hoping to bait the rapist into an attack - and it works! The rapist turns out to be George Fromley (Neville Brand, Eaten Alive), a serial rapist who when he not raping hangs out at home jerking it to homemade porn that he's made with is wife (Ilona Wilson, Airplane II: The Sequel).  I love that the key to identifying the bomber is a depraved rapes, the idea really highlights the nuttiness of this sleazy exploitation entry, because making a rapist the key witness allows for their to be plenty of nudity in this seedy L.A. bomber flick. 

Everyone is just chewing up scenery here left and right, and I am loving it. When the rapist is seen on the news identifying the bomber and making gest of his what kind of man he is Connor's character of course goes after him at home, blowing the guy up while he's jerking it to homemade porn. I don't think Connor's is especially terrific here, the acting is rather poor in my opinion, but it's plenty over the top just like everything else that is happening here so it absolutely works for the film, as he walks around the city with is tiny glasses wild-eyedly chastises litterers and rule-breakers, making this feel like a pretty direct precursor to something like the disgruntled citizen flick Falling Down. and it works for me, this is quite a terrific exploitation gem, chock full of sleaze and nudity, deranged characters, and shitty police work, including a super-computer that is fed information Weird Science style and sputters out leads for the cops, which was just weird. 

Audio/Video: The Mad Bomber (1973) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Severin Films in 1080p HD framed in 1.85:1 widescreen, sourced from a 4K scan of the internegative, with The Police Connection title card. The image looks solid, grain is preserved and well-managed, colors are robust, and black levels are decent. There's some softness that look inherent to the source in a couple of shots, but detail and depth are modestly pleasing. Audio comes by way of both English DTS-HD MA 2.0 dual-mono and 5.1 surround with optional English subtitles. Both tracks are clean and well-balanced, I found the mono more to my liking, sounds of gunfire, explosions and the Michel Mention score come through just fine.

Extras start off with Audio Commentary By House Of Psychotic Women Author Kier-La Janisse With Retired Bomb Squad Detective Mike Digby, the addition of Digby is in interesting, so we get not only Janisse' in-depth look at the cast and crews, but Digby speaks of several real-life bombing incident that seem to inform the move and getting into the bomb making aspects of the film. There's also an 80-min Audio Interview With Director Bert I. Gordon Conducted By David Del Valle that plays as alternate commentary track, with Gordon talking about his career at length which is quite interesting. We also get the 27-min Patricia Gordon Remembers Her Father, offering a look at him as not just a director but as a father, and then onto the 11-min  To Be In The Moment – Interview With Actress Cynthia MacAdams who talks of how she was cast and what her experience of making the film was like, as well as her thoughts on the film 50 years after making it. The 10-min On The Trail Of The Mad Bomber – Locations Featurette offers a then and now comparison of a handful of locations. 

Another nice add is the  8-min The Mad Bomber TV Cut presented in HD in 1.33:1 aspect ratio with uncompressed audio, looking less stellar than the uncut version but it's cool to have it on disc. Disc extras are buttoned-up with the Isolated Score (DTS HD-MA 2.0 Dual-Mono) highlighting Michel Mention's score, plus a selection of  

TV Spots. 

The single-disc Blu-ray release arrives in a black keepcae with a single-sided wrap with what looks to be the original movoe poster artwork. Inside there's a 16-Page Illustrated Booklet with the The Mad Bomber Story – Essay By Andy Turner With Exclusive Images From Still Photographer Carol Gordon. There's also a Limited Edition  Severin Store Web Exclusive Slipcover with embossed lettering on the front cover and both spines with alternate artwork, that also looks to be theatrical poster artwork. 

Special Features:

- Audio Commentary By House Of Psychotic Women Author Kier-La Janisse With Retired Bomb Squad Detective Mike Digby

- Isolated Score (DTS HD-MA 2.0 Dual-Mono) 

- Audio Interview With Director Bert I. Gordon Conducted By David Del Valle (Plays as Alternate Commentary Track) (79:53) 

- Patricia Gordon Remembers Her Father (26:59) 

- To Be In The Moment – Interview With Actress Cynthia MacAdams (11:03) 

- On The Trail Of The Mad Bomber – Locations Featurette (10:17) 

- The Mad Bomber TV Cut (87:31) HD 

- TV Spots (0:28) +33

- The Mad Bomber Story – Essay By Andy Turner With Exclusive Images From Still Photographer Carol Gordon

The Mad Bomber (1973) is a terrifically entraining slice of '70s exploitation from director Bert I. Gordon (Empire of the Ants), featuring wildly unhinged performances from Neville Brand, Chuck Connors and Vince Edwards, and absolutely dripping with sleaze and absurdity, so yeah, it's a definite recommended from me. 

 

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